Doctor Appointment Notice

As I look at the notice for a future
appointment for the doctor to be
made, I think about my childhood
and how different it was as oppose
to this notice...

You see, the notice of a need for an
appointment, wasn't for the King
or I. It was for Rokon, our cat.

Many years ago, our farm had
many animals pass thru its gates.
We had dogs, cats, chickens,
guinea pigs, geese, and horses.
We were mainly a horse farm.
Show horses. My mother's hobby
of her life.

The vet came into play with mainly
the horses. Dr. Ball. He and Mom
had a good relationship going, and
as in a lot of cases, the owner called
with the symptoms and the Vet told
what to do. The owner did it. If it was
meds, then the owner went to the
Vet's office and got them. My mother
could give her own animals shots.
So taking the animal to the Vets
was not a normal thing.

The cats, chickens, guinea pigs,
geese were low on the Vet chain.
Our cats were 99% barn cats.
I think only 4 cats made it in the
house over the 50 some years.
So when any of them got sick,
well.. they just died.

The dogs were different. We
started out with Boston Terriers
from my birth time, and switched
to Dalmatians about when I was 5
or 6. Buddy, who lived forever, or
at least it seem to be. And the routine
was, as each dog got to be 10, a puppy
was bought to take over after the
other died a natural death. Mom could
never bring herself to putting a dog
down. She did breed the dogs for a
couple of years, but quit when prices
went down. The dogs were treated by
Mom with Dr. Ball's advisory. These
dogs were the privilege. They lived
inside the house. They were allowed
outside, but mostly when she was
with them.

The horses over the years where
the ones who actually saw the Vet.
And the Vet made house calls. She
ran the gamut of American Saddle
Bred, 5 Gaited Saddle horses, to
Jumpers. And in their senior years,
Hackney ponies and one Hackney
horse that they drove/showed in their
buggies. Showing horses up in to
their 60's. They have always had
anywhere from 3 to 20 horses.

When my mother got cancer, they
were down to 7. It was my job with
my brother and father, and Cy Allen's
(the Vet) to put down 6 of them.
While my mother was in the hospital.
All in one day. Something I hope
I never have to go thru again.

But what a change in animals lives.
Now they have to go to the doctor on
a regular basis. As I read in one blog,
where the bloggers dog had higher
prescription bill than they did.

While losing a pet never is easy.
But it seems the older we get,
the more endearing them become
in our lives.