I deal with difficult patients on a daily basis and it's just part of the job. But sometimes we get pets that really seem to go out of their way to be especially frustrating.
Today I had a young Rottweiler, about a year old, in for a neuter. He wasn't aggressive but didn't seem like he had been trained and was extremely resistant to any restraint. Vets and our staff are trained in safe and effective restraint techniques that work for us most of the time. But this dog wasn't having any part in that! We couldn't hold him still to even collect blood for pre-anesthetic testing.
But the worst part was when I attempted restraint. I'm stronger than most of my staff so I end up holding pets that others can't handle. I got him into one of my almost sure-fire grips and then he started to struggle. His back leg landed on my inner thigh and he started to push and squirm. His claws dug into my pants and leg and I ended up not being able to hold him. I made the decision that rather than continuing to fight against him we would give him a sedative to knock him out enough to collect blood and place a catheter.
That's when I noticed my pants. His struggles had split the seam on the inside of my thigh, leaving a large gap several inches long. It was high enough on my leg that if I wore boxers you'd be able to see the Batman logo. This was less than an hour into my day! There was no way I was going to be able to make it through the day potentially flashing my clients.
Thankfully we are located next to a Target store. Between morning appointments I ran over there and quickly bought a new pair of pants. Thankfully there were no more "events" and the second pair of pants made it through the day without incident.
This kind of problem is exactly why I never wear nice clothing to work.
