Life is funny sometimes. You can live your life one day and everything's fine, and then that could all change in a matter of moments.
A cat came in this morning to be neutered. No big deal, happens every day. The owner told me he vomited last night. Okay, so that happens sometimes. He vomited 4 times. Right, now this is sounding a little more serious. So we decided to run some diagnostics. Most of the bloodwork was normal, with the exception of elevated white blood cells. He tested negative for pancreatitis. He had an elevated temperature of 104.2 (normal is 99.5-102.5). We let the owner know what we found, and made some more suggestions. She approved radiographs and IV fluids. So we got the cat (his name is Moe, by the way) all hooked up to the fluid pump and set up the x-ray machine. When we took him out of the kennel to take x-rays, he vomited again. A lot. Once we got that mess cleaned up, we positioned him to take the radiographs. They showed a small ring-like object in his small intestine near his stomach, and several inches of blockage in his colon. It was looking like we would have to perform a foreign body surgery on Moe. So we put him back on the fluids while we waited for his owner to call us back with the decision of whether or not to do the surgery. He seemed to perk up a little bit in the meantime. Then we got a phone call. It was Moe's owner. She told us she wouldn't be able to afford the surgery, and wondered if there was anything else we could do for him. Unfortunately, our only option at this point was to wait and see if he would get better with some more fluids and supportive care. But it was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened. So the owner reluctantly, and in tears, came to the decision that is the hardest one for anyone to make. She decided to euthanize.
The most depressing part of this story? This lady had only had Moe for about 2 weeks. She found him abandoned in an apartment building. He was less than 2 years old.
To end on a lighter note, I got to play with a 6 week old kitten today. He was a gray tabby named Simba. There was also a 5 month old long haired dachshund puppy named Remy that came in to be spayed today. She was the happiest little puppy! Even after her spay when she was probably really sleepy and in some pain, she would sit up and wag her tail really hard every time somebody walked by.
Moral of the story: a) Don't let your pets eat anything other than pet food. EVER. b) No matter how attached you are to a pet, remember that there are many other animals out there that are waiting to steal your heart.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Battle Scars
I think that people should be aware of what really goes on inside a vet clinic. So I've decided to start a blog about it.
My cat Sprite is currently sitting on the top of the couch, watching every word I type, silently judging with her tiny cat mind. Daily I wonder what she thinks when she greets me as soon as I walk in the door, covered from head to toe in the smells of every animal and bodily fluid that I came into contact with that day. Does she feel like I'm cheating on her by playing with these other pets all day? Or does she think I'm being held captive against my will while dogs, cats, and who knows what other creatures attack me, only to send me home bleeding, tired, and hungry?
I can't tell you how many countless scratches I have gotten. I call them my battle scars, because usually I get them fighting with angry cats. Most of them are on my arms, but occasionally I will find bruises, cuts, and scrapes on my legs, face, and even my back--though it's still a mystery as to how my spine got so bruised up. At any rate, being a vet tech is a physically demanding job. It's not easy holding down a 90 pound dog that is actively resisting having its nails trimmed.
There's never a dull moment in the profession, though. Something different happens every day. A cat swallows a footlong piece of someone's knitting; a beagle gets its leg caught on a barbed wire fence; a husky eats an entire pan of brownies--including the pan. Definitely makes life interesting. But there are sad times, too; times that make this job one of the hardest. A few weeks ago we had to perform surgery on a cat to remove part of its intestines. The surgery went better than we had expected, and the cat was doing pretty well afterwards. Two days later, the cat went into respiratory distress and died. We did what we could to try to save the cat's life, but unfortunately it wasn't enough. She was only a year old. Sometimes those difficult situations hit closer to home, like when we had to euthanize an orange tabby cat. My older cat is an orange tabby, so that was hard for me. I fought to hold back tears as I watched the cat take his last breath. But life has to go on. Fortunately for me, the next appointment I saw was a 10 week old chocolate lab puppy. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the job.
Even though there are a lot of difficult and often stressful situations that come with my job, I wouldn't trade it for anything else.
And now that I've made you all depressed, here's a cute picture to make you smile.
My cat Sprite is currently sitting on the top of the couch, watching every word I type, silently judging with her tiny cat mind. Daily I wonder what she thinks when she greets me as soon as I walk in the door, covered from head to toe in the smells of every animal and bodily fluid that I came into contact with that day. Does she feel like I'm cheating on her by playing with these other pets all day? Or does she think I'm being held captive against my will while dogs, cats, and who knows what other creatures attack me, only to send me home bleeding, tired, and hungry?
I can't tell you how many countless scratches I have gotten. I call them my battle scars, because usually I get them fighting with angry cats. Most of them are on my arms, but occasionally I will find bruises, cuts, and scrapes on my legs, face, and even my back--though it's still a mystery as to how my spine got so bruised up. At any rate, being a vet tech is a physically demanding job. It's not easy holding down a 90 pound dog that is actively resisting having its nails trimmed.
There's never a dull moment in the profession, though. Something different happens every day. A cat swallows a footlong piece of someone's knitting; a beagle gets its leg caught on a barbed wire fence; a husky eats an entire pan of brownies--including the pan. Definitely makes life interesting. But there are sad times, too; times that make this job one of the hardest. A few weeks ago we had to perform surgery on a cat to remove part of its intestines. The surgery went better than we had expected, and the cat was doing pretty well afterwards. Two days later, the cat went into respiratory distress and died. We did what we could to try to save the cat's life, but unfortunately it wasn't enough. She was only a year old. Sometimes those difficult situations hit closer to home, like when we had to euthanize an orange tabby cat. My older cat is an orange tabby, so that was hard for me. I fought to hold back tears as I watched the cat take his last breath. But life has to go on. Fortunately for me, the next appointment I saw was a 10 week old chocolate lab puppy. Definitely one of my favorite parts of the job.
Even though there are a lot of difficult and often stressful situations that come with my job, I wouldn't trade it for anything else.
And now that I've made you all depressed, here's a cute picture to make you smile.
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