 Pet Quandaries |
|
I've been giving some thought to what I feed my animals. The dogs get Purina Dog Chow Little Bites. The cats get Purina One Cat Food because any cheaper cat food makes them shit with careless abandon. Is this bad? Am I a bad pet owner? Because a lot of people online seem to feed their pets Iams and Science Diet and all kinds of expensive foods. And while Purina and Purina One aren't the cheapest, they certainly aren't the most expensive. And does most expensive mean best? Best how, exactly? My animals are all relatively young. Daisy is almost 5, Khaki is 4, Zuko is 3, and Marley is 2. (All ages are approximate as all origins are unknown except for Marley, whose foster parent reported the actual month and year she was born.) They've all been in good health save for Daisy's recent intestinal explosion and Marley's tapeworm extravaganza. But I think about them getting older, and I mean, I want them live as healthily and long as possible, for Lord's sake. So I wonder if I should be forking out some more dough to buy better food. I don't know. And while we're talking about pet health, Daisy's back teeth are horrifyingly brown. Clearly, they need to be cleaned, and she practically sneers at the beef- or poultry-flavored toothpaste when I wave it remotely in her direction. As a first time dog owner, I plead ignorance. I thought dry food and the occasional rawhide would clean her teeth. But no. They are abysmally grotesquely brown, as the vet noticed when I took her in for the runs. I had no idea! I almost fainted. Her breath is fine, and I'm not in the habit of inspecting her teeth way back there because her front ones and side ones look white and sparkly. But to clean her teeth, the vet puts her under. What? The paranoid part of me, and that is a big part, thinks "general anesthesia" and thinks "always a risk!" Is having her teeth cleaned really worth the risk? I know I am being histrionic, but these are thoughts that I have. I realize that as she gets older and they are not cleaned, her teeth are going to rot right out of her head, and surely that won't be pleasant, so I guess I'm just going to bring her in on a wing and a prayer. I also just forked over $91 for Khaki's annual vaccinations and I'm wondering why I continue to get the cats vaccinated for feline leukemia when they never set foot outside unless I'm carrying them to and from the car for yearly trips to the vet's office. Marley's due to be vaccinated next month, and I'm going to look into this. I think it's required by law to vaccinate them for rabies, and I certainly want to get them checked out every year for overall health, but fuck! That's a lot of money, and I hate to think of them being shot up with unnecessary chemicals, for Lord's sake. Maybe rabies isn't even required. I need to check into this. Okay, this is what Khaki got yesterday: FVR-CP, FELV, Chlamydia, FIP, and rabies. Somebody please tell me that these indoor cats don't need all these shots. This is kind of like the teeth, something I've just never thought about. I think I need to have my head examined. Poor Khaki. I couldn't even be consoling to her on the (2 minute) drive home because I was having some sort of bizarre episode. Shooting, sharp stomach pains, sweating, heavy breathing, and the feeling that I was about to explode from either end (or both ends) at any moment. The pain was so localized on the right side that I was convinced my appendix was combusting right then and there. I managed to drop her off and drive back to work, where I writhed around in my office chair for a little while until the pains and nausea subsided. Perhaps my appendix was not in fact combusting. Perhaps I just had a bad peppermint mocha. Speaking of mochas, mo pie, aren't peppermint mochas supposed to have frothy milky goodness and those little red sprinkles on top? Because this one had no such froth or sprinkles, and now I'm wondering what that zany freckled barista boy even gave me yesterday. And OF COURSE my Vanity Fair subscription has lapsed the very month that Viggo Mortensen is on the cover. Fuck it all.
© Copyright 2003 elb |
|
