Caged heat

One consequence of having an adorable ball of fur which requires regular attention and maintenance is that when you're not there to do it, someone has to take over.

I have a perfectly good kennel I stash Ciara in when I go out of town: Mossland Kennel, which has been around since 1946, is family-owned, and has owners who write things out on 3x5 cards rather than type away on computers. And they're only $16 a night. Of course, there's always a but -- they're in College Point, which is officially a Pain in the Ass to get to. It's either $20 bucks or more each way with a car service, or it's a subway ride to the end of the line and then a bus another 10 minutes or so. I called the Pet Delivery car people; they'll charge $35 each way to pick Ciara up and drop her off. So it's down to me. Since the place is so cheap, I just factor it into the overall cost -- the car service, I mean -- and it's still cheaper than kennelling her anywhere else. Not like there are a lot of options: Queens, for some reason, has tons of dogs and no walkers and almost no kennels. (Compare viz. Brooklyn, where the dogs can come into restaurants.) I digress.

So I'm looking around and I learn that the Queens Animal hospital is within reasonable walking distance (or one stop on the subway) and only charges $20 a night. Around there is where the but begins: I took a quick tour and they're cramped compared to Mossland, plus being noisy, plus you're leaving your dog in an area where sick dogs might be, plus they're just ... a wee ... bit ... flaky. I went to have my tour, which I'd called about ahead of time and really only required about 5 minutes -- and waited about 45. Ok, par for the course, they have patients. I was still willing to give it a shot for the end of this month, when I'll be going home for a couple of days.

So I call: Oh, she'll need to be examined. I hear "ca-ching" and say, "Are you sure, because I spoke with the doctor" -- while I was there the doctor came out from seeing patients and gave me her card -- "and someone else on the phone and nobody ever said she'd need a checkup. She's caught up on her shots and I can have all of that information sent from her regular vet." So, fine, I talk the receptionist down from her high platform and call my doctor and off go the vaccine records, etc. I call back to make sure they've received them, and schedule Ciara to be taken in.

I get a call later. You can't bring her in; she has to be examined officially. Again: "ca-ching." The dog doesn't need an examination; she's well and healthy and up to date and has her own doctor. I feel fleeced, and I feel as though someone should have told me this ahead of time. Like, say, when I first called, or when I visited and sat around for 45 minutes. When I was finally told, it seemed like a policy nobody was really sure of, and that's why the receptionist backed down. All I wanted was for someone to tell me, "Hey, we messed up. Thing is...." and take a little responsibility. Instead, the yahoo who called me got all snippy and started getting into this meta conversation: She insisted the doctor could never have seen me when I came to visit, and furthermore insisted that the doctor would never have said she didn't need a checkup. This was not my issue: I wasn't trying to prove a positive (that the doctor told me she wouldn't need a checkup), I was trying to assert a negative (that I wasn't told about a checkup by anyone who should be in a position to tell me these things). But she kept going on in this very hostile manner, as if I had slandered the doctor, which made me hostile, when all I wanted was to be told that they'd erred. "I have the doctor right here with me and she swears she never met you." (Like, she would remember me how, exactly? From my name alone? I didn't even bring the dog when I came last time.)

I get very worked up sometimes for stupid, stupid reasons, and then have a hard time backing off. Particularly when I feel like I'm dealing with morons. So I finally asked: How much is the stupid checkup? $35. Familiar number. But I was so annoyed I just told them to forget the booking and I hung up. Doing the math, it'll actually cost me $15 more if I do the car service both ways to take Ciara to Mossland but you know what? That's where she's going.