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  #18  
Old July 29th, 2004, 08:45 PM
MBRA518 MBRA518 is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Blackstock, Ontario
Posts: 316
I'm thinking though that the more experianced you get with owning pets... the more you can handle yourself... for instance with the horses... it's rare that I call the vet for other than regular check-ups... but I know enough what I can handle and what I can't... and I probably handle more than the average horse owner. Same with the dog... although it doesn't help that Rosie is terrified of the vet and tences up - so it's usually much easier for me to try and figure it out then for the vet to try and figure out what's bothering a stressed out dog that whimpers when every they touch her (when she was a pup, my regular vet was busy when I took her in for her final shots, so the other vet came in - she was terrified of him from the time he opened the door - she hasn't been the same since)... like her hip and shoulder problems - I mean I mentioned to the vet what I was doing to be sure it was ok - but I looked after it myself (she gets people joint pills). We've had dogs all my life and I grew up on a hobby farm with not much money for the most part... that maybe ment you didn't go to the vet all that often, but it didn't mean that the animals suffered, just that you looked after it yourself... of course I look back at some of it and think OMG I would never do that now - but it all worked out back then.

I think that pet owners should be able to take a basic pet first aid course... and it should be manditory for people adopting from a shelter.