Chico Hates the Vet

At first glance Chico was an unassuming gelding. Average sized, average colored, a little chunky maybe. I had an appointment to give him his spring vaccines. His owner was a middle aged woman. She didn't look too athletic, but this was a simple appointment. The first sign of trouble was when the owner started to talk baby talk to Chico and refer to herself as mommy. Uh Oh.

I was able to give Chico one vaccine. He hadn't met me before and didn't realize I was the vet. That wouldn't happen again! He was supposed to get two vaccines that day, but we never could get near him again. He just charged around dragging his 'mommy' and bumping both of us out of the way. We gave up on the second vaccination. His owner did get a bit angry with him and decided if he was going to be so difficult, he could just live without the protection of vaccines.

The annual vaccine appointment became more and more traumatic every year. One year Chico decided he was leaving without us. He made a break for the door. His mom was holding the lead rope about 6 feet away from his head and somehow I was between her and his head. When Chico bolted for the door of the stall, his mom didn't let go, but was dragged along with him. I was trapped in the lead rope and couldn't get away. All three of us tried to go through the door at the same time. We didn't fit. The owner fell down behind me, without letting go of the rope, as she fell down she tripped me up. Chico of course didn't trip and eventually got away out into the pasture.

After this I wouldn't agree to see Chico unless he had been sedated before I got there. I showed the owner how to give an intramuscular injection and dispensed the strongest sedative I had. This worked fairly well. At least, Chico was slowed down enough that he didn't bolt out the door anymore.

One weekend Chico's mom called to say something was wrong. Chico wouldn't eat and was drooling. She wanted me to come look at him. I offered the usual sedation for her to give before I got there, but she didn't want to wait that long, her baby was in pain. Grumbling the whole way, I drove to their farm. What was I supposed to do I wondered, the most I could do is a physical exam.

Chico was not happy to see me, as usual. I did a physical exam and other than his heart rate being elevated (worried what sort of shot I had brought with me this time), all was normal. He was still drooling. An oral exam would be the next step, but I had never done one on Chico unless he was good and tranquilized. Chico's mom assured me he would behave so I could help him. Sure. I very slowly started to feel around Chico's mouth and tongue. Everything seemed normal. He hadn't tried to run away yet so I grasped his tongue and pulled it out of his mouth so I could look at the teeth in back. I was quite surprised when Chico let me look AND I saw something wrong. Chico had a stick that was about 1/2 inch in diameter jammed between his molars and bridging the roof of his mouth. I tried to reach it, but it was too far back and firmly wedged in. Chico was actually a good sport for this. The only way to get at the stick was to use a full mouth speculum to open Chico's mouth wider so I could reach in.

Full mouth speculums are large metal things that weigh a several pounds. I really didn't relish the idea of Chico smacking me in the face with my own speculum and then running over me and out of the stall with it on. But Chico's mom talked me into trying it. It did seem as though Chico was willing to cooperate as long as it didn't involve a needle. I had to go through the whole 'this is the speculum, do you want to smell it' thing. Eventually I tried putting it on and Chico was surprisingly willing to allow this. Once the speculum was on, it was easy to reach in and pop the stick out. I think Chico's owner said something about it being a very expensive stick. He actually looked relieved.

The owner and I had hoped this 'non-painful, no needles, rescued by the nice vet' visit might make Chico a little more trusting. He was happy to be rid of the stick but his memory for all those shots turned out to be longer. He still gets his sedation and the 'once a year / do it all' vet appointment. One thing did change - I can do an oral exam without sedation on him now.