The week Bear arrived in Montana, so did the first mosquitoes. So, off we went to the vet to get heartworm medication. They do a blood test first. You can see the pink shaved patch on Bear’s “arm”. I hated putting Bear through a vet visit so soon after arrival, but he was a champ and sat still and quiet while they got the bit of blood needed. The prize was the yellow star toy WITH squeaker! – a freebie from Heartguard, the heartwork med company.

While at Calm Veterinary, Bear got a wellness exam and passed all with flying colors except for teeth… Two molars were questionable, 1 definitely had to come out…bleah! But everyone wanted to give him a bit of time to adjust to all of the changes before a procedure and there was no emergency so we scheduled the surgery for a month later, June 13.

When the office called on the Friday before to confirm and remind me of no food the morning of surgery, I asked if Bear could be first and if we could get a drop off time very near the start of surgery so that he wouldn’t be too long in a kennel, alone, in a strange place. I was offered the opportunity of a room where I could wait with him pre-op and they would return him to me in the room post-op …if I was ok staying that long.

Yes-siree I was! I took computer and snacks and set up in a beautiful room with a bay window. Bear impressed everyone by lying down on command and staying still while they inserted the catheter. After, I had him lie down and stay while we waited and I sat on the floor beside him. We had been working diligently on down-stay and it was not only helpful for the prep but was calming as we waited.

Dr. Calm extracted only 1 molar, cleaned and checked the rest of his teeth and then they brought him back to the room to wake up on a nice foam mattress…with me.

Not too bad and none of the trauma of waking up in a kennel! Bear was fairly alert and able to walk shortly after noon and we were on our way home by 1:00 p.m.

Although, he was tired from all, he did not appear to be uncomfortable….

…and the next day resumed his Yoga routine….

Well, what would you call it?

Looks like yoga to me :)!