A Vet's Guide To Life

God, you are such a money grubbing veterinarian. J...

2012-06-02T02:31:24.266-04:00

God, you are such a money grubbing veterinarian. Jeez.

J/K, of course.

I had a totally demoralizing weekend topped of by an abdominal surgery I did coming back with a septic abdomen and a linea dehiscence. I don't know which came first - the sepsis leading to weakened and ultimately failed sutures or the dehiscence followed by sepsis.

Oh and my kid is sick, and I worked 5 nights in a row. I am DONE. So. I feel your pain was the point.

I just wanted to say Thank You for the advice of o...

2012-06-01T23:09:16.250-04:00

I just wanted to say Thank You for the advice of our crazy cat. Since we moved where she couldn't get outside it became apparent that she couldn't mentally handle it. After she blatantly attacked my 4 year old sister and was stalking her we were able to place her in a indoor/outdoor home. She will be well loved and taken care of.

My sister is only 4 years old and despite the cat attacking her she was very attached to her. This was the first pet that she has had to say good bye to. It was pretty tough on her, as with the rest of the family. She will never be forgotten as the strangest cat I ever met.

2012-06-01T23:07:56.473-04:00

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I think that's a great idea and more people sh...

2012-05-24T19:01:49.131-04:00

I think that's a great idea and more people should take such a "detox" every once in awhile. I'm only 25 but my parents had a rotary phone in the kitchen until we moved to another house when I was 18! Before cell phones became so common, I always had to teach my friends how to dial when they needed to call home :)

Particularly with my generation, people always complain they don't have any free time, but then they can list at least a half a dozen prime time shows they watch, older shows they are watching on netflix, new video games they buy every couple of months and they are ALWAYS on their smartphones. My generation is so used to this technology we don't really think how to entertain ourselves without it.

I have a simple cell phone that can't connect to the internet and I don't even have a television, so I'm not really like the rest of my generation.

In new mexico we have to print everything bi-lingu...

2012-05-24T02:08:52.768-04:00

In new mexico we have to print everything bi-lingual and it is ridiculous. I totally agree with you. Why should we accomidate those who choose to live here. They should learn our language instead of expecting us to change our daily lives to compensate for their laziness or lack of care in general. No one forced you to live here, we shouldnt be forced to speak anything but english. Most people here speak such poor english that the ones who do cant even understand the people they're ordering burgers from! Its insane

Taking time off right when Diablo 3 was released!?...

2012-05-21T19:26:23.219-04:00

Taking time off right when Diablo 3 was released!? I empathize with your plight though. There are a lot of types of online roleplaying groups as well, and I've had a lot of fun in both forum and email based writing clubs. My creativity and plotting ability has never been so great!

I sometimes wonder if you and my husband are long ...

2012-05-21T13:33:38.921-04:00

I sometimes wonder if you and my husband are long lost brethren...or a long lost brethren from the group of guys he grew up with. The role playing, sci-fi love fits right in with them :-). Enjoy detoxing and using your creative side!

Absolutely feel free to share!

2012-05-19T17:38:44.605-04:00

Absolutely feel free to share!

I was going back over some of your posts looking f...

2012-05-18T14:23:25.064-04:00

I was going back over some of your posts looking for something specific and found this instead.

I might just print it out to keep on hand when I get sick of trying to defend the profession to people I meet who make generalizations about what constitutes a "good" veterinarian.

One has to wonder why some occupations and profess...

2012-05-17T20:09:17.421-04:00

One has to wonder why some occupations and professions go from being dominated by males to dominated by females?

In the olden days, teachers were mostly male (because women didn't get education enough to be teachers). I remember when seeing a female veterinarian or doctor or lawyer or dentist or optometrist or minister was a surprise. Now women dominate the first (according to your post) and are quickly growing in the others. Even the proportion of women in the military is increasing; if they ever do away with the combat exclusion, we might see it increase dramatically. On the other hand, more and more men are becoming registered nurses.

I think it may be because of dropping salaries. Once salaries start to drop or level out in a field, the proportion of women grows. RNs are getting ever higher salaries, so the number of men moving in that direction is increasing.

Those are both great questions! Sleep-deprived: ...

2012-05-17T18:05:12.423-04:00

Those are both great questions!

Sleep-deprived: I'm very interested in behavioral therapy and I could tell that this was definitely a fear response and not full aggression. But either situation can be dangerous. And I absolutely DID talk extensively about group puppy classes, socialization, and gave her one of my handouts on how to socialize. I warned her that at this age if we don't correct the problem it will get worse. And I agree that baby-talking and coddling these dogs only makes it worse. So yes, she got a polite but firm "talking to".

Karissa: Just to clarify, we don't get bit daily but it's not for lack of opportunities. I have pets every day that certainly try to bite, but most of the time we avoid the injury through a combination of skill, training, luck, and reflexes.

Most of the time if it's a minor bite or scratch we'll ignore it since it's so frequent. If it's a severe bite or if the pet isn't current on rabies vaccination we definitely report it. Since cat bites are much more likely to get infected I will insist that my staff goes to the urgent care clinic for treatment if the tooth at all breaks the skin.

Hope that answers the questions!

I work at a shelter where we are required to repor...

2012-05-17T15:09:17.323-04:00

I work at a shelter where we are required to report the most minor of tooth scratches -- It doesn't matter if someone was playing with a puppy and it just grazed your hand before grabbing onto the toy, if there is "broken skin" they report it to the county and that dog/puppy is forced to go through a mandatory 10-day quarantine period. If it was a pit bull type dog they immediately get euthanized following the quarantine period because we can't place pitties with a "bite history," even if it was a TOOTH SCRATCH.

All this said, I'm curious how the veterinary industry handles these things, since you admit to getting bit on a daily basis. Obviously you must just overlook the majority (as I do, honestly, as I refuse to make a fuss over a tooth scratch if I was initiating play). Are there ever cases where you DO report bites?

I hope you mentioned to the owner that her fear ag...

2012-05-17T14:53:48.054-04:00

I hope you mentioned to the owner that her fear aggressive little sh*t of a puppy needed training?

Sorry. Did that come out hateful? I am so sick of seeing aggressive dogs. We had a SIX pound chihuahua patient a couple of weeks ago that went after anyone who opened his cage. And I'm talking vicious lunging. This wasn't fear aggression, this was plain old aggression. And his owner coddled him and talked sweet to him. That was the first dog that I have actually WANTED to punt across the room just to see it bounce.

Then I felt bad, because really - his owners allowed and even encourage that ridiculous behavior -and with an ounce of training, he might have been a decent little dog.

Then again, maybe not.

If she had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics...

2012-05-17T13:52:47.175-04:00

If she had an allergic reaction to the antibiotics she may have died from it. However, this is very rare and nothing that anyone could have predicted ahead of time. If she had never had a reaction to medications previously your vet would have had no way of determining if the injections would be harmful, and therefore isn't the vet's "fault". Antibiotic injections are used multiple times per day by every vet and are usually not harmful in the least. I would recommend that you speak to your vet about this situation as I can't say what is going on without having been there. I'm sorry for your loss.

Thanks so much for all the advice, was just able t...

2012-05-17T12:37:55.377-04:00

Thanks so much for all the advice, was just able to get on here and read it.

I have a dog and been my companion for over 12 yea...

2012-05-17T00:41:10.918-04:00

I have a dog and been my companion for over 12 years, she have a sore on her upper leg. I knew she's in great pain because she don't have the strength to walk. I took her to a vet. in my area, he checked her out. He gave her 2 shots (he said both were anti-biotic and told me to give her plenty of water. As soon as we got back home I filled a plastic container that I could squezz in her mouth, she finished the bottle of water. Less an hour later from the vet I watched her dying. It hurts me so bad to watch her die. I strongly doubt that the shots he gave her was not to help her but to kill her. Do you think the Vet injected my dog to caused her to die? Please give me your thoughts about this.
I am so depressed now because I missed her a lot. She is the only companion I've got. She was so sweet and protective dog. I named her 'Joy' because she is the joy of my life.

Lyn GS (From Georgia)

I agree that it shouldn't be pushed on everyon...

2012-05-16T15:19:41.505-04:00

I agree that it shouldn't be pushed on everyone in high school. I had friends who had no idea what kind of career they wanted but were pushed by the teachers and guidance counselors to go to college. Many of the teachers argued that if you didn't go straight into college you'd never go back to school. Now these friends are either college dropouts or took 5-6 years to graduate because they kept drastically changing their major and all have a lot of debt. In these instances I think it's better to encourage someone to work and maybe do community college part time until they know whether or not a college degree will really give them a worthy return on investment.

I know a lot of people with college degrees who ar...

2012-05-15T01:08:39.081-04:00

I know a lot of people with college degrees who are $50,000 in debt and not working anywhere near their field. And lots who are working for minimum wage slinging burgers; so I'm pretty sure college degrees are getting to be fairly meaningless.

At the Marietta Banfield, we hear "Another On...

2012-05-10T20:57:43.105-04:00

At the Marietta Banfield, we hear "Another One Bites the Dust", every day a dog or cat dies or is euthanized on Pandora, so now when we hear it we scramble to turn it off!

Yup - never think it will be a quiet day/ shift/ni...

2012-05-10T02:46:41.932-04:00

Yup - never think it will be a quiet day/ shift/night... don't curse the vein, and say the catheter prayer as you put the final part in- "please please please please"
Definitely superstitious in New Zealand too!

Looking at the schedule for the day, noticing ther...

2012-05-09T18:37:10.376-04:00

Looking at the schedule for the day, noticing there aren't too many appointments booked, and saying anything along the lines of "oh look, a nice light day." Inevitably, all heck will break loose.

Hello, I just stumbled across your blog and really...

2012-05-09T18:16:49.776-04:00

Hello, I just stumbled across your blog and really like it. I have been reading your past posts and am enjoying it very much. I come from a small town in CA where there is 3 vet clinics (only one I will half step foot in)and all were small animals. Having large animals requires a 30 minute haul to a vet clinic that is becoming quaintly over quality or a 1.5 hour haul to a better quality clinic.

Thur my life my family has had a large variety of animals. I have ran herds of rabbits and guinea pigs exceeding 100. I have manged a heard of 15 horses and of course we have had many cats and dogs!

I spent a summer rehabbing sea lions in my home town and all our pets ( besides our breeding horses, rabbits and guinea pigs ) have been rescues.

Currently all I have right now is a phyco cat. And yes, she is truly the oddest/craziest cat I care to ever own again.

2012-05-09T18:12:37.287-04:00

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Too funny!

2012-05-08T21:59:17.455-04:00

Too funny!

so funny i must share! and it gives me all the mor...

2012-05-08T10:54:08.575-04:00

so funny i must share! and it gives me all the more motivation to apply for the health professions scholarship/army vet corps when I go to vet school lol