A Visit to the Vet

Tai is such a trooper when it comes to his regular visits to the vet. We stopped in earlier this week for his regular shot. He stands there like the brave boy he is and takes his jab without even a flinch. Quite frankly, he's more interested in all the smells that pervade the office rather than in what the doctor is doing. His little nose sounds like a hoover as he covers every inch of the office floor in search of... well, whatever he's in search of.

Only three times has he had any kind of adverse reaction to his shots. Once was in Bangkok. He needed two shots, so the vet did one in each hip. Within a week, Tai developed quite a sizable lumps at those sites. It looked like he was about to sprout wings. It didn't occur to us at first that it was the result of a badly given injection, but that's what another vet told us. Sure enough, within about 4 months, the lumps gradually disappeared, just as the second vet said they would.

Another time, when we were living in Chiang Mai, we took Tai for his shot, and then immediately went to one of our favorite restaurants for supper. (Our favorites tend to be those that let us have Tai with us.) We had just finished our supper when poor Tai suffered a reaction to the meds. He threw up under our table. The restaurant staff, bless them, took it all in stride. We learned a lesson from that, though. After we take Tai to the vet, we don't go anywhere for at least an hour afterwards. Just a precaution. We make sure he's outside so that if he does throw up (or something else even more disgusting), we don't need to 'embarrass ourselves', if you know what I mean.

The third time, also when we were living in Chiang Mai, we came home immediately after visiting the vet. We wanted to make sure Tai didn't have any reaction before we went out for the evening. (He was going to have to stay home alone on this particular occasion.) We knew something was up when he started walking around in a strange way, like he was entirely uncomfortable--which of course he probably was. Then it happened. He vomited and pooped in the middle of the living room floor... at the same time. He looked so pathetic, standing there in the middle of that mess. If a dog can look embarrassed, he sure did at that moment. Poor Tai. Fortunately, though, we haven't encountered that kind of reaction since then.

Winter in the tropics...

Yes, it's winter here in Southeast Asia, and the thermometer seems to be doing its rollercoaster thing. Racing up to the low 30s C (85F) during the day, and sliding down to the upper teens C (60F) at night. Very comfortable, if I do say so myself (which of course I just did). Sure beats the snow and cold back home in Canada.

Lately, though, Mother Nature has been toying with us. Nighttime temps had slipped down to 12C (54F) for a while. Brrrr! And at the moment, daytime is near 38C (100F). Poor Tai doesn't know whether to wear his Santa jacket (complete with brown leather belt and fake fur trim) or his boston bikini (I'm not even gonna try to explain that one!).

I guess we should enjoy the cool while we have it. Won't be long before tropical summer returns to these parts, with days near 40C (104F) and nights not much cooler.

Eating Out

We had visitors over the New Year holiday, so we took them across the street to an all-you-can-eat buffet barbecue restaurant. A charcoal barbecue on every table. You do your own cooking. It's convenient, it's open-air, and they don't mind us having Tai with us. Usually he lies on the concrete floor while we eat; but this is winter season, and even in the tropics it can be pretty cool at night, so the ground was a little too cold for him. Instead he curled up on a chair next to us.

He's usually a good boy, never pestering us or begging during the meal. But this time, he must have been really hungry and insisted on sitting on my lap while I had my dinner. Well, at least I thought it was because he was hungry. Turns out he was after my chopsticks. He loves to chew chopsticks. To him, there's no difference between a small tree branch and a chopstick. They make for great chewing. I won't let him have free reign with them, though, for fear he chews it to little pieces and tries to swallow them. As soon as the end of the chopstick is nicely crushed, I take it away and we start on a new one.

The best part is that nobody bats an eye when we have Tai with us at these restaurants. He's always so polite and friendly and quiet, and the staff often comment about it. The perfect guest.