Snipped and Chipped

It was Kai’s turn to get ready last week. He got both “snipped” and “chipped”.

Unfortunately, he has had a super rough go at the snipping (neutering). He had a very scary reaction to the pain med he was given resulting in him having a severe, heart pounding/total-freak-out/panick attack for hours on end in which nothing we did comforted him. During this all, he managed to pull out his sutures. The next day he went from all-out freak-out to 24 hours without eating, drinking, peeing, or standing up. It took two more visits to the vet for stapling back up and new meds and he is finally on the mend. It’s been a week, but he has started coming around to his lovey, playful self. He is also sporting two new cone collars for another six days. One just didn’t to the job. Cute huh?

Through all the trauma he has had some pretty serious spoiling going on too, though-sleeping on the bed, being carried down the dock, wet food meals, and lots of ice cubes. His girlfriend, Lucy, even dropped him off a get well baggie of treats. (Lucy’s mom had to go buy extra because Lucy ate the first ones 🙂 ) Thank You Lucy (and Lucy’s mom)!

As for the chipping, it was much less traumatic-thank goodness! Microchipping is pretty common place, but in some of the countries we plan on visiting it is also required for entry. The vaccination and health record have to match the dog and they scan the pet during the clearing in process to verify. The world standard is the ISO 11784/11785 approved 15 digit chip. Pretty much every country uses this, and only this, type of chip. Guess which country doesn’t? Here’s a clue-they don’t use the metric system either. Yep, the US of A. Fortunately, you can buy the correct chip online and take it in for your vet to be injected. Simple and off the check list!

Thanks for being such a trooper, buddy. We promise, there are lots of dingy rides and romps on the beach in your future!