You spend too much time with your vet when...
When you call the emergency after hours line, the operator at the answering service doesn't ask for details, just asks "home or cell number, dog or cat this time".
When the vet calls back, he says "Hi, it's Rick." And laughs when you respond with "it's always you."(In the 7 years he has been my vet, I can only recall 2 occasions when I needed help after hours that he was not the vet on call).
You fondly remember the days when you called him Dr. Brown and had no idea what his first name was, or his wife's or his children's names...didn't even know he had a family!
While explaining what happened, he interupts to say "you've never called when it wasn't an emergency. why don't we just meet at the clinic in half an hour?"
He knows your kennel name and all your phone numbers off the top of his head. (I have two accounts at the vet, one for the sled dogs under my kennel name and one under my name for the cats and non-working dogs.)
While checking out your injured dog, he jokes about how his kidneys are in the right spot and his tail muscles are intact(referencing previous injuries suffered by your other dogs!)
He no longer bothers to explain which medications do what, cuz you know as well as he does what Domitor, Metacam, Cephalexan and Amoxyicillan are for, what they do and potential side effects.
He comments that you've had a run of bad luck since Preacher died. I did not point out that it actually started when Kasha died a month before Preacher.
While waiting for the sedation and pain control to take effect, you sit on the floor petting the injured dog and go over the progress of the other animals he's seen recently. (Anvik, Tehya, Earle...)
The bonus of spending way too much time with your vet...being able to walk out of the clinic at 10pm on a Saturday night knowing that your dog could be in no better hands and that when Rick says Founder will be alright, Founder will be alright.
Plus the knowledge that his two kids will be able to afford the best post-secondary education money can buy!
