Has she always been that...big?

We took Annie and Amos to a new vet today for their annual check up and vaccinations. We've never been too impressed with the vet that we've been going to since we moved back to Austin (mostly because we were so spoiled by our vet in College Station), so when my mom mentioned that one of her friends takes her dog to a "country vet" in Buda that she loves and that has prices that are much more reasonable than a "city vet", we decided that we needed to check him out.

Everything about it is definitely county. The building is an old white barn with window air conditioning units, the waiting area has a single old wooden pew, and the vet was wearing a camo baseball cap. It wasn't fancy by any means, but I loved it. The vet and his two assistants were both so nice, and I could tell from the beginning that they weren't just trying to make money off of us. One of the assistants had explained over the phone prior to our appointment that the vet just wants people to be able to afford to have family pets while still being able to take care of their needs, and it really felt that way.

Although neither Annie nor Amos wanted to be there, they both did really well. When I put Annie up on the table, the vet asked how old she was and then asked, "Has she always been this...big?" He suggested that we do a thyroid test to see if that was the cause of the excess weight. It only took about 10 minutes to get the results of the test, and guess what -- she has a thyroid problem. The results came back in the "low normal" range, which means that the problem isn't full blown (yet), but he suggested that we start her on a low dose of thyroid medicine and give her half a pill twice a day. Definitely not the most ideal situation, but only the best for Annie Baby.

Her pills smell just like beef bouillon cubes, and apparently, she loves them. I realize that this is a good thing considering she's probably going to have to take them for the rest of her life, but unfortunately, I made the mistake of giving her one before I finished cutting them all in half. Needless to say, I had my best friend there to support me until all 60 pills were cut and back in the bottle. Overall, I'd the say the vet trip was a success. Annie is now on her way to getting skinny, and instead of paying $515 for our appointment, which is what our old vet would have charged and doesn't even include the thyroid test or medicine, we only paid $159, which includes the test and the medicine. Pretty good if you ask me.