Vet Dilemma

Yesterday, I took Pongo for a trial run at a local vet. Matt read mixed reviews on this place and I have to admit that I was not impressed. I guess I really got lucky in Overland Park. I needed a vet immediately when I got Pongo because he had worms and parasites so I took him to a vet across the street from my work. They were WONDERFUL.
The issues I have with the new vet are as follows. First of all, they told me that Pongo doesn’t need to be on heart worm guard pills anymore which immediately sent up a red flag. I think I’m just overly worried about this issue since Pongo had every kind of worm imaginable as a puppy. They also said he doesn’t need to be on flea and tick meds anymore because it’s too dry out here for fleas. While this makes sense, I also worry about mosquitoes which seem to be in abundance here as well as ticks which are possible to come in contact with when we camp.
While eliminating all of his meds would be a lot cheaper, my gut feeling tells me it’s a bad idea. We will probably lay off the flea and tick meds in the winter, unlike last year. They do make him itchy and they are expensive. But as for heart worm, I refuse to take him off that, especially since it doesn’t have bad side effects for him.
My other issue with this vet is that it took him a while to come up with a reasonable dosage of Benadryl for Pongo’s itchy skin when Matt came up with it immediately. (We’ve been giving him Benadryl all summer.) I guess that just got on my nerves a bit. I have trouble accepting advice from this guy, even though he is from Wichita and went to K-State. I do like that he is from Kansas.
The last downside is the expense. For a heartworm test, 6 heart worm pills and a vet exam, our bill was $109.00! A bit outrageous to me. Our old vet usually would waive the vet fee for something like that.
There are many other good vets in this area, including one called Alameda East, which TLC featured in a television series called “Emergency Vets.” They chose that place because of its reputation of good vets and interns. We might check it out.
I also wanted to use this post to brag on my awesome husband a bit. Yesterday, he let me take his car to work so he could get my tire looked at. It has been getting low very quickly to the point where I would have to fill it with air twice a week at the gas station. I used to work near a Firestone which made car repairs easy. Now I find that my car is getting neglected due to my schedule and no convenient mechanic nearby.
Anyway, Matt had the tire repaired and then drove to my work, brought me lunch and we switched out cars again. I was very appreciative of that. It’s so nice not to have to worry about that tire anymore!