Yesterday was Diesel's long-awaited annual wellness visit. He was scheduled for three vaccines and a blood draw. On his last visit in April, he tried to bite the vet tech, nearly choked himself, and thrashed all over. Since then, we've been doing a lot of work: muzzle training, regular happy visits, finding the right drugs, getting him used to being hug-restrained and palpated.
And we did it! A vet tech and I held him and reassured him; I bribed him with hot dogs and whipped cream; and another vet tech and the vet did their thing. It took about an hour, with all four of us on the floor. By the time it was finished, there was fur and whipped cream everywhere, but we were all still friends.
I'm so grateful to have a vet who's willing to work with us on this. In addition to vet phobia, Diesel has separation anxiety, so he totally loses it when they try to take him "in back" at the vet. Letting me hold him in the exam room made it possible. And Diesel didn't even try to run out when it was time to go. He wanted to greet everyone and let them congratulate him on how well he did, even though he made it all much harder than it needed to be.