Everyone has had "one of those days". You don't really need to elaborate more than that, because regardless of your profession or interpretation, we all know that this phrase means that it wasn't a good day. Well, today I had one. Let me give you some insight into what "one of those days" might mean to a vet.
Firstly, I am not kidding when I say that the majority of dogs I saw today needed to be muzzled in order for me to examine them. I was almost bit at least three times. It's not unusual to have a patient or two in a day where this is needed, but pretty rare for it to be most of them. All of us in the profession have to deal with aggressive, fearful, or otherwise "difficult" patients, but we always hope that most of the pets we see will be pretty tolerant of our services.
Secondly, I was having a hard time getting people to agree to treatments. I had several sick pets, including one dachshund who hadn't been eating well for a week and had difficulty walking for the last couple of days. She appeared to have a partially slipped disk on her back, leading to some neurological dysfunction. The owner couldn't afford any diagnostics at all, even though I told her that this was very serious. Oh, and this was one of the dogs I had to muzzle. I had more clients than average who were like this. I ended up seeing a lot of patients, but didn't have much to show for it. It was one of those days when you really spend much of the day working hard, but don't bring in enough revenue to feel like it was worth it, and don't feel like you helped many pets.
Thirdly, I had several "stupid" clients. Yes, I'll use that word. One had a pomeranian who had previously had problems with vomitting. The owner gave her some eggs and potatoes from an egg salad, and then was surprised and worried that she had a little vomiting and diarrhea. Another person wanted ear medications for her cat, even though she was last seen at a vet in Oklahoma in Novemeber, and never followed their directions. She beame upset when we talked to that vet, they wouldn't authorize further medication without an exam, and we refused to sell her the medication.
Fourthly, while trying to handle one of the "difficult" dogs today I slammed my hand against the wall, and apparently have bruised it. Nothing serious, but darn annoying.
To top it all off, I wasn't even supposed to work today! It was one of my days off, but the other doctor I work with was sick, so I came in for her and switched another day off. So this day should have been hers, not mine.
But thankfully I was able to come home to the arms of a wonderful woman and a cute new puppy. The best news of the day is that Inara is slowly but surely starting to get the idea about housebreaking, and hasn't had anywhere near as many accidents today.
Tomorrow I get another try at a decent day, and then have a day off. It's a good thing that every day isn't like this, or few people would be a vet.
