Tank's Vet Visit

I'm not wasting any time with this one. I got Tank to the vet today to get him vaccinated and checked for heartworms. He was good with the vet, though a bit excited when there were other dogs around. He was sweet, friendly, lab-like to his core, which is hidden somewhere deep inside 107+ pounds of mostly fat.

Tank is fat. He probably needs to drop 25 pounds. He's not eating much around here, probably because I'm not offering whatever he was accustomed to eating. I bet that he was eating canned food in his original home, something put a lot of weight on this dog at a relatively young age. The vet looked at his teeth and guessed his age at about three years. The teeth might have given an even younger estimate but it took some time for the dog to get that fat. Unfortunately, some people get the idea that bigger is better in a big dog and they overfeed and tell themselves the dog is just big. We do that to ourselves too and fail to recognize obesity and all the health problems it brings. Tank and I both need to drop 25 pounds, probably more in my case.

I may not be good at controlling my own food intake, but I can and do control how much my dogs eat. Tank is getting one cup of dry food twice a day here from now on. I tried adding in the canned green beans but he didn't seem impressed, although I recall that being an acquired taste with the last fat lab we had around here. In spite of his size Tank was able to jump into the back of the van on his own and he's pretty active running around the yard, but he doesn't like to do it alone. I'll start getting him out to the pasture with other dogs. I expect he just never got any exercise. He played with Serena for a bit indoors this evening until I went to get my camera, then he stopped, of course.

I made a neuter appointment for Tank for next Wednesday too. That will take a couple pounds off him, Tank is extraordinarily blessed in that department.






































On the way to the vet I stopped at Green Dogs to return another load of puppy paraphernalia that I had borrowed. Erika met Tank and pronounced him nice, and I got to see Killian. I could still pick him up, so I did. He's a sweet boy and I think he remembered me. He was happy to see me, but I'm sure he's happy to see everyone.

He reminds me of Snoopy in this picture.