Whiskers

Pay Attention

(A bit shortish, not feeling great x.x)

Thankfully, his team was very proficient, even so late into the evening. The giant wolf was settled quickly into the  new holding area, cement and a steel door making for much safer barriers. They'd gotten him hooked up to an anesthesia machine, too, and so far, he was still out cold. 

Granted, it was hard for their vet to figure out his readings since they were all over the place, but Jared was determined to get the medical exam over with since he was already down. For safety purposes, however, they did tape his mouth again, along with tie up his back legs. 

"I feel pretty crappy to do this to him..." Jamie said as he knelt down next to his brother, a surgical mask covering his mouth like everyone else who was near it. They had the anesthesia up fairly strong and they honestly had no history on the wolf, either, so they just wanted to keep safety the number one priority. 

Jared only spared him a short glance before beginning to comb through the large beast's fur with a lice pick. It was no surprise when the comb got stuck a few times, then came away covered in fleas, but it was disgusting. 

"Give him a couple doses of the topical flea control for now, but space them out a bit." Jamie said to the techs as his brother, along with their vet, began checking his teeth after they'd drawn some blood and given him all of the immunity shots he likely hadn't gotten in a long while, if at all. 

Jared held one of the wolf's lips up as the vet poked around with some tools, scraping away layers of built-up tartar. 

"Not the greatest, but from what you've said, Jamie, I'm honestly surprised they aren't worse." The vet mumbled as he quickly went around the beast's jaw, trying his best to get at least some of the junk off of his large teeth. 

While they worked, Jamie moved his attention to the wolf's feet. The pads looked damaged, likely from him standing in fecal matter for periods of time, but that would heal over time with some medication. He dug through one of the medical bags beside them and pulled out some cream. After a few minutes of massaging it into each pad, he set it aside, then checked its back claws. 

As expected, they were overgrown. "At least this is an easy fix." He mumbled to himself as he fished a pair of large nail clippers from the bag and began cutting back the wolf's claws. 

He knew not to go too far too soon, though, because the quick was going to be much closer to the end of the claw than normal. If he cut it, it would definitely bleed and be tender to walk on. He didn't want to make it any less comfortable than it was already bound to be after being shocked, poked and prodded. 

When he'd finished with the back nails, he moved to the front. They actually looked a lot better than the back ones. Odd. He thought as he picked up one massive paw and tried to maneuver it so that he could easily cut the claw. 

"Here." Jared said, suddenly appearing beside him. 

His brother leaned over, grabbing the large paw and pressing down between the digits. Jamie had forgotten that trick, which pushes the nails out a bit to make them easier to cut. He lifted the clippers, only to drop them as his mouth gaped open. 

"I really wish I'd been seeing things back there... but it seems like I hadn't." Jared said as they both stared in shock at the massive, clearly-retractable, talons. They were several inches long and came to quite impressive points. 

"Damn lucky these didn't catch you, Jamie." Jared said as he leaned back to dig in the bag, pulling out a much larger pair of clippers and handing them to his brother. 

"Get them done quickly." He said as he grabbed one paw and pressed down, making the talons extend. 

Jamie was thankfully fast after years of practice. He nicked a few quicks, but he had plenty of medicine that stopped the bleeding fast. They finished with the claws as a deep growl echoed through the area.