The Vet

I’m a trusting sort. Not especially suspicious. An optimist really. This morning I was sleeping peacefully when I got taken out to the car. Dog park? Pick up a friend? No. Instead we end up at a vaguely familiar place—the vet’s office. I’m not sure what happened there last year, but it doesn’t quite feel like a happy memory.

As we walk in, three dachshunds started barking at me. The air smelled of dogs, many dogs, unhappy dogs. And just as I got past the barking, a black and white dog came hopping out of the back on three legs, with a big bandage on the fourth. He was making little crying sounds and not even looking at me. Then a lady came in with a sad white dog and shows a man the dog’s tummy to see if it’s healing all right. I sat on the cold tile floor wondering what they were doing to all the dogs here?

Another limping dog came out of the back with his leg bandaged and bloody. They were doing something bad to dogs’ legs back there. I could hear faint cries and whimpering. Then my human mom took me to meet a dog that was a little bigger than me. She has diabetes, they were saying. She almost died. I just wanted to leave before I caught some terrible disease or they started messing with my legs. I have been taken to some no-fun places before, but nothing this scary.

I jumped on my owner’s lap and tried to get her to leave. She just read her book and petted me. When the door opened, the crying and barking got louder as I literally got dragged into a little room. I tried to hide behind my owner’s feet, but she put me on a slippery table that felt like it was made of ice.

A woman came in who turned out to be the vet. She looked in my ears and squeezed various body parts. I wasn’t sure if it was going to get better or worse when I felt a sharp pain in my leg. That’s when I knew I was going to limp out of there with a big bandage and never run around normally again. I looked up and saw that the doctor had a glass needle full of my blood. What was the vet going to do to me? I started crying and howling. Loud. Other dogs joined in. They understood. The humans thought this was hilarious, God knows why.

Well, I got out with a small pink bandage on one leg, but at least I was walking on four paws. I pulled it off at home and the leg seems fine. Good thing I whimpered and cried a lot.