| You are absolutely right Pete.My vet that we went to for over 30 years before he retired knew all my animals.Knew they were well treated and cared for. My dog gets terrified by loud bangs and tries to hide in impossibly small places.We once had to virtually dismantle the kitchen once when he got stuck in a cupboard.For bonfire night, my vet used to give me some low strength tranquillisers for him and I would give him small amounts, just enough to make him slightly sleepy.He would then happily go to bed and with the curtains closed and the tv turned up, we would manage to get through bonfire night.This year I go to the vet and ask for tranquillisers.The vet says they couldn't possibly prescribe these to be administered unsupervised as they no longer like doping dogs to keep them quiet.They tell me they now recommend 'pheromones' which release 'calming hormones' What a complete load of b*llocks.My vet used to charge me £6 for 10 tablets.This would be enough for bonfire night and sny residual overspill at the weekend.I must stress only enough was ever used to give a very mild sedative effect.This year, the bright 15 year old in the smart green uniform informs me that the pheromones will gently calm my dog without any nasty side effects, and that will be £36 for the consultation, twenty quid for the plug in mumbo jumbo box plus VAT, thank you very much.So that's best part of 70 quid for something that used to cost me £6.Last saturday night at about 7:30 the sky lit up and the back of our garden sounded like down town Baghdad.The dog takes off do quickly he could'nt make the door and ran straight into the wall.I find him a quivering wreck under a small bedside table.I plugged in the mumbo jumbo box and waited for him to calm down, and waited, and waited.Needless to say he stayed under the table until just after 10 when he came slinking back into the living room with his eyes wide open with fear and his tail between his legs.I phoned the vets on Monday and told them what had happened with the pheromones and the bright young thing tells me that it was my fault as I should have switched it on earlier to give it time to take effect.It has been been turned on since I put the phone down and there is no change in the dog whatsoever.If I spend all night having to placate my dog and trying to stop it running up the curtains in terror, the bright young thing in the green uniform will be taking a trip to A+E to get the mumbo jumbo box surgically removed. |