Moose had an appointment with my vet last weekend where he was scheduled to have his teeth floated but I also had a few things I wanted the doc to look at. First, this was the first time my normal vet met Moose. Moose was a real charmer! He won the vet over very quickly standing patiently and letting the doc poke and prod him. Multiple times doc said how much he liked this pony.
I wanted Moose's eyes checked, which were reported to look great. I had heard Moose cough a few times so the doc listened to his lungs, which was also reported to sound great. He suspected the unusual and random cough to be due to weather more then anything. Since I had both the boys treated with sand clear a month or so ago, I had the vet listen to his gut too which he said he heard no sand in.
When the doc looked into Moose's mouth, we had a real surprise! The doc reported that Moose was no five year old, in fact, he suspected him to be about 11. Wow! That was quite the birthday Moose! Although I'm a little surprised, my affection for the little guy isnt phased by the new age. My vet could pretty easily assess that Moose most likely hadn't had his teeth done before, but after an initial inspection he didn't find much to be concerned about. Moose had some hooks "doc called them fangs haha" on his first molars and some tartar so we proceeded with the float.
Moose pleased the doc when he quietly accepted his small ccs of the doc's "cocktail" barely flinching at the prick at all. He quickly started to stagger as we led him to the chute. I handed the lead to the vet assistant, a long time rodeo friend, and took a seat behind the poor doc who had lowered his stool as low as it could go and still had to hunch a bit. Moose's mouth was cranked as far as his little cheeks could spread and the vet was very kind as he floated quickly and gave him lots of breaks. He even did a little "hand floating" to which Moose did great.
I had noticed a strange crunch sound when Moose ate and questioned my vet about it. It mostly went away after his fangs were grinded down but may just be his bite.
Moose did wonderful for his first visit with the regular vet and I was also very pleased in how much better he did in the sterile environment versus the first time he was there four months ago.
