Trip to the vet!

On the last day of 2008, we took Mochi and Obiee to the vet. Mochi hasn't been to the vet enough times to hate it, and Obiee had no idea what was going on. So it was a good, or at least not traumatic trip for the dogs. Tracy, on the other hand...well, we'll get to that. Here's what we learned:

Weight
-Mochi - about 14 lbs
-Obiee - about 15 lbs (for reference, he was about 12 lbs at the beginning of the month)
-both still have a visible waist, and the vet said that both are at a healthy weight

Teeth
-Mochi - some tartar, so we need to brush his teeth more often.
-Obiee - the vet said his teeth were "beautiful." Nearly all of his adult teeth were present. We also asked about his bad breath. The vet said it was "puppy breath" in that "well, duh" tone of voice. She said she's used to it, and that it bothers some people but not others. (Tracy later said "Yeah, people who don't mind the smell of butt...")

Shots
-Mochi - (anti) rabies (3 year), DHP, bordetella plus the other "P" in DHPP in the nose
-Obiee - (anti) rabies (1 year), DHPP. To let the vaccinations take full effect, we need to wait a week before walking him outside. I guess I shouldn't have been walking him earlier. Oops.
-both dogs are now on the same schedule for the annual vaccines.

Meds
-Mochi - no change
-Obiee - started on Sentinel.
-Both dogs are now on the same Sentinel schedule.

Poo check
-The "fecal centrifuge" (I think that's what it was called) did not find any presence of worms in either dog.

Based on the state of Obiee's teeth, the vet estimated that Obiee was 5 months instead of 4. Obiee's previous owner wasn't certain of his exact birthday, but this is within a month of her vet's estimate. However, this led to a surprising revelation. Our vet said that usually you can double a dog's weight at 4 months to determine their full grown weight. This potentially means that Obiee could grow to be between 20-25 lbs. Our vet said that while it's a bit big for a Jack Russell, it's nonetheless "normal" for Obiee (which makes sense, he can't change the way he is :) Tracy and I both expected Obiee to be closer in weight to Mochi. I'm fine with a bigger dog since my childhood dog was about 20 lbs in his prime. Tracy, meanwhile, kept asking questions like "Are you _sure_ he's going to be that big?" :)

Regardless of how big he gets, we both still love Obiee very much. It's going to be fun watching him grow up with Mochi. It's a good thing Mochi is used to bigger dogs. Not only is Obiee already heavier than Mochi, but he's taller than him too (items on the counter are definitely not safe). Yet they continue to play and snuggle together (usually) just fine. We'll talk about some of the snuggling differences  in another post.

And yes, one of these days one of we will put up a post with more pictures. :)