Pets are often things to boast of and I often hear stories where I know the truth has been stretched a bit. Just like the fish that got away I will hear of the 100kg Rottweiller and the 35 year old cat and know the truth lies far short of these tales. I will actually have people in the examination room telling me that they just celebrated their cat's 20th birthday and I will look down at my chart and realize I saw the cat as a kitten 14 years ago. I usually just comment 'Yes, Kitty is getting is definitely a senior citizen' rather than imply they are lying and push the truth in their face.
People like to boast of their pet as living long, being large or small, being the smartest, fastest and even better looking than their children (there have been ocassions where the children have been in the room and I have to agree). But I guess people love their pets and part of that love is the pride they take in them just as they do with their children.
I once had a dog hit by a vehicle where the son brought in the dog saying to be sure I saved it because his mom loved the dog more than him. I doubted that until the mother came in the next day and said the same thing.
When it comes to size, exotic pet owners tend to exaggerate the most. I remember arguing with a fellow when he brought his snake in. He told me his snake weighed over 60lbs and when I put the snake on the scale I told him it weighed only about 10kg. He quickly retorted that 10kg converts to around 60lbs so I let him leave with that supposed victory but made sure I calculated the drug dosages based on a 22lb snake.
When Adrian phoned to bring in his 100+ lb Burmese python I thought it was going to be another exaggerated fishing tale. When two people were needed to carry in the large Rubbermaid containing the snake my interest was piqued. Like a large coil we slowly unraveled the 12' 5" snake out of the Rubbermaid container and one by one we each took a part.
My physical examination was longer than normal due to the length of the snake but at the end I could gave the large gentle giant of a snake a clean bill of health. The final part of the examination was recording weight and we placed the snake on the weigh scale ………… 126 lbs. No fish story there!
