Vacation Vet

Roxy doesn't feel well.

Some of you know that the location of my summer vacation often revolves around where the Boston Red Sox are playing. We've seen the Sox in Oakland, Seattle, Phoenix and of course Boston. Now you can add Tampa to the list. Most of the trips often require air travel, so the girls do not tag along. But this year's trip only took 5 hours in the car, so we officially enjoyed our first family vacation.

While there was beach time, baseball and of course a celebration centering around the Boston Bruins winning the Stanley Cup, we had a bit of drama just prior to Wednesday night's game. It was wicked hot in Tampa on Wednesday and we spent a bit of time with the girls lunching at John's Pass and then spending a few hours in the ocean (a swimming lessons post will follow - stay tuned). It was HOT. There was NO BREEZE. But, the girls seemed comfortable soaking in the salt water and chillin' in the shade.

Upon leaving the beach Roxy took a tinkle. Of course all crazy good greyhound owners inspect what goes in and out of our dogs, so you can imagine my horror when her urine was black/red. Not cool, but my skills as a amateur veterinarian diagnosed it as a UTI. After a call to Dr. Hottie back home, he confirmed my diagnosis suggested we seek medical attention as UTIs/bladder infections get bad pretty quickly.

Now comes the tricky part. It's 4:15p on Wednesday afternoon. Google maps (thank you iPhone) found four vets within miles of where we were.

I thought this was vacation?

• Vet Number 1, didn't have time to see us. Thanks for nothing. 
• Vet Number 2 wasn't open after noon on Monday, Wednesdays and Saturdays. Who keeps these crappy hours? 
• Vet Number 3 didn't answer the phone. I guess I got the message. 
• That brings us to Vet Number 4 - The Animal Hospital of Seminole. Fabulous service. Friendly people. An Auburn University trained vet who is familiar with greyhounds. And they took us without hesitation. 

Roxy had a nasty bladder infection. She's never had any urinary tract issues in the past, so this was a bit unexpected. According to the vet, low squatters (Roxy fits that description) can pick up bacteria much easier than other dogs. She could have gotten it in the water, on the beach or in the tall grass at our condo. The only concerning result in her urinalysis was even though we could see the blood in her urine, there were no blood cells present in the sample. According to vacation vet, this is a sign of overheating in a greyhound, as the heat destroys the red blood cells in their bodies. Basically, I'm a bad mommy.

A shot, a week's worth of antibiotics, instructions to keep her inside the next day and a charge on the debit card later, we were out the door. I figured this was the last time we would hear from our friends at AHS.

Nope, their fabulous customer service didn't stop after I signed the debit card slip. They called to follow up the next day. How fantastic! And then I received this birthday card especially for my sweet little girl via e-mail yesterday. You must check out the link as it is breed specific! Ok, I know it's a whippet, but it's pretty close.

So any of you Florida folks are looking for a new vet or are in the St. Petersburg area and need a vet, I highly recommend The Animal Hospital of Seminole. For our next family vacation I will print out a list of vets prior to our arrival just in case. You can never be too prepared.