My new young mentors (see previous blog), or rather one of them, has been responsible for re-awakening me to the ‘okay factor’ in quitting.  She arrived with a nasty intestinal infection which required treatment for the next ten days to save her life. She had to have a quarter of a tablet twice a day.

Now that may sound easy enough considering how small she is. However, small comes with needle sharp teeth and nails and a heightened sense of taste and smell to outwit any attempts to camouflage the bitter pill in food. So physical insertion it had to be.

Buoyed with a sense of confidence from my history of successfully inserting tablets down the throats of my past pets, I secured the puppy on my lap, and the ordeal began.

Well, the said quarter of a tablet never even reached the back of her mouth. In fact it disintegrated into separate molecules of treatment smeared along my punctured fingers. My wrists resembled those of a self-laceration junkie.

It was time to quit before puppy and I slid into a shared panic attack. It was also time for me to acknowledge that my skill in inserting pills down puppy throats was non-existent.

And the solution? – Call on someone who can and is willing to help. So every morning and evening I visit my most understanding vet, who in a matter of two seconds, pops the pill down her throat. After witnessing his deft and speedy popping, I could have slumped into feeling pathetic and utterly useless. But I chose to accept that from his seven years of training and many more of experience, popping pills down unwilling throats is like touch typing to me. There are many skills that are not part of my personal repertoire and that’s okay!

As for the trips twice a day to the vet … from a time perspective they’re a far more efficient and peaceful option!