One of the most difficult things in the annual vet visits for my pets is the request to bring in a fresh fecal sample. When you have five dogs and three cats, you have to SEE the poop come from the source to be sure which animal it's from. It's relatively easy for me to get fecal samples from the dogs, provided I remember the little sample container while we're out on walks. Perdy, Suzu, and Miki perform without fail during walkies, and Akane does as well on the two days she gets a run rather than running behind my bike. Krista was a bear to get a fecal from in January because she doesn't poop on walks, and she doesn't like me to watch her in the backyard...I finally sort of guessed based on where in the yard I found the fresh poop since I know her preferred potty area.

Getting fecals from the cats is almost as difficult as milking a bull. There are three litter boxes, and all three of the boys use all of them. Rhys' poop used to be easy to guess because it was small and kitten sized, but he's a big boy now. I could shut Gabe into the spare bathroom with a box in the morning, but he didn't always want to use the box then...forget about getting an accurate fecal from Namir unless I put both Rhys and Gabe in the bathroom and left Namir alone in the computer room with a clean litter box! At least I don't have to worry about that anymore since Namir doesn't have to go to the vet regularly anymore.

Intestinal parasite screenings are important, but I do long for the days of the plastic hoop thing being shoved up my animals' butts. It was so much easier than trying to figure out who had pooped what where.