A Mom of Many Kinds

You may recall that before I had my daughter, Victoria, I was a mother first to Imogen, the cat, and then to Dean, the dog. On Saturday I got to revisit my motherly duties to both of them, as they were both overdue for visits to the vet. Unfortunately for me, the vet’s office couldn’t schedule their appointments back-to-back, so I had to take Imogen first at 8:45 a.m., and Dean, a short while later, at 11:00 a.m.

The vet is a good 20 minutes away, so add in the time it took to drive there and back, and that made for about an hour and a half on the road. Did I mention I was fighting off some sort of stomach bug? You can picture it now: Imogen riding shotgun in the Pet Taxi, with me hunched over, slurping on my Diet Ginger Ale, and scarfing down some Saltines. However, it was my fault for putting their needs off for months on end,  and I’m so very grateful our vet is open on Saturdays. Weekdays are way too busy to try fitting in trips to our dear Dr. Jones. 

Imogen riding shotgun

 So off we went, down I-95 to I-64, headed to the West End of Henrico to the Quioccasin Veterinary Hospital. Imogen was going in for a disgusting bit of matted hair that had made a nice home for itself in the middle of her back. We had tried cutting it out ourselves, but were afraid of what might be underneath (eeek!). Turns out poor Imogen is a little overweight, and as Dr. Jones informed me, cannot reach that part of her back to clean. She could not say what caused such a mess, but pulled out her trimmers and buzzed it right off. Only dry, flaky skin revealed itself. Shew! Dr. Jones recommended switching Imogen to a salmon-based diet to help with the dandruff, as well as brushing her every so often to help out with the parts she couldn’t reach. I felt guilty about Immy’s weight and lack of brushing; blaming it on the fact that Dean and Victoria got most of our attention. I reminded myself of some of the parents I deal with as a teacher who have endless excuses for their child’s poor behavior or missing work. Uh oh…

At 9:15 a.m., we were back on the road to home. Fortunately, Imogen made it out with only a bald spot from where her matted hair had been. I ran by Wal-Mart, then dropped off the groceries, picked up Dean, and headed back down I-95 to I-64. Thank goodness I could leave the baby home with her daddy! This story would probably be way more eventful had the 8-month-old been tagging along.

You can picture it this time: Dean pacing in the back of the Explorer, whimpering, as he often does when he gets excited, and me hunched over, still sipping on my Diet Ginger Ale, and munching on Saltines. Dean is a lot harder to handle than Immy, considering he is much heavier, stronger, and determined to say hello to every living thing he encounters. Dean was overdue for two of his shots, and also needed a nail trimming.

When we first arrived, they weighed him. In November, at Dean’s last appointment, he weighed 68 lbs. On Saturday he weighed in at 78 lbs. Dr. Jones walked into the room, mouth wide-open and gaping, and exclaimed, “TEN POUNDS! WHAT HAPPENED?!”. Again, I felt like I was on the other side of the parent-teacher conference table in my classroom. Dr. Jones (the concerned and frustrated teacher) and me (the clueless parent), feeling embarrassed and guilty for the current state my child (Dean) was in. I honestly didn’t know how he had gained ten pounds, but I had my speculations. Could it be my latest, accidental purchase of his food in the puppy version, which has a much larger fat content? Perhaps it's the fact that he hasn’t been on a walk in a month, since the weather has been up and down and we’ve been busy trying to get our house on the market. Or maybe, it’s because we delight in spending our time and energy with Victoria, after working all day, and once she’s in bed, we all collapse on the couch. Dean included. Excuses, excuses. Oh! And we give Dean a Kong with a spoonful of peanut butter every morning (mostly due to our guilt of leaving him all day). That probably doesn’t help his weight, either.

However, I told Dr. Jones I hadn’t even noticed he had gained 10 lbs. (again, sounds like the parents I work with who haven’t even noticed their child hasn’t done homework all week…), but that we would make sure to do whatever she recommended to get him in shape. So far, so good (it’s been two days). Sunday we made a trip to PetSmart to get him on the appropriate food for his size. We’ve also taken him for walks the past two days. We have high hopes for change, and for Dean and Immy’s sake, I hope we stick to it.

Being a mommy is tough! And I want to have how many more kids? Three? Four? Five? Yikes….

To my loyals and newcomers as well, thanks for visiting!

Love,