Monday Blues

Starting out at 7 am. There's never a long enough weekend! I started out like I always start Mondays - doing the kennels. Mondays are the day most dogs are picked up so i need to get them out quickly so they can be ready to leave in case the owners come early before work. When I walked in to let the dogs out, I noticed Riley, a 2 yr old black lab, had shredded her rubber mat. Little bite size pieces all over the kennel. Well, hopefully she didn't get hungry and eat some! The 5 dogs this morning are all big and noisy. Of course only one pottied in the outside run so I had to walk the other 4. Again, no leash manners at all.
Megan needed help getting blood from one of her dental patients. We often run blood work before a dog is put under in order to check for underlying health issues. We usually get the blood ourselves - either from a front leg or from the vein in the neck - so we can run the blood chemistry before the doctor wants to anesthetize the dog. This time Megan decided to hold while I drew the blood. I was lucky, found the vein right away and took 3 cc. It's good for your self confidence to be successful occasionally!
The day was kind of crazy for everyone. Only two doctors since Dennis had classmates' funerals to go to and Jen had her day off. Emily went to the doctor and then home with an ear infection and tonsillitis. I was float today to that's what I did. Sent off some packets of Amoxicillin to a pig producer. We send out a lot of antibiotics to pig producers. and they usually need it ASAP so you hope the clinic has it in stock. UPS comes at 1 so you always plan to get things boxed up by then.
We had a lunch and learn with a rep from Virbac. I ordered Subway for the gang - salads for the ones who are dieting. The subject 'du jour' was dentals and how to make more money from the clients. February is dental month so we usually are doing 3 dentals a day during this month. Most people never think to look in their dogs (and cats) mouths. Often it isn't until the breath is so bad the owner can't stand it. Dogs get gingivitis and periodontal disease just like people but its hard to get them to brush their teeth! Also a lot of the commonly bought dog foods actually have a lot of sugar in them as well as other 'junk' that destroys teeth. I actually love cleaning teeth. Usually it's very visual and you can see the difference the cleaning makes. It is not Megan's favorite thing though.

After Cleaning

Ok, enough of teeth. After the lunch, appointments started up. I wasn't needed so did some answering of phones. Then a German Shepherd came in that had a splint on. He had been hit by a car in early December. The splint had been on for 9 weeks and was starting to smell bad. usually that means the splint has gotten wet and the skin is starting to go bad. Mike took off the splint after x-raying the leg. However the smell was SOOO bad that I took the splint right outside. While Mike and Pam cleaned up Bronson's leg, I decided to take the splint apart. All the padding, duct tape, white tape had to be taken off the wire frame. And all that was wet and stinky. Mainly I wanted it cleaned up and thrown in the dumpster before trash pickup on Tuesday morning.

ok, not a German Shepherd. But the splint is similar

With enough candles and sprays, we finally cleared the air in the clinic. The dog's leg was bandaged and will go home tomorrow. Another day put to rest. Only two dogs put to sleep today. :(

Jacky went to Illinois today so I got to take care of the animals when I got home. Sweetie that he is, Jacky cleaned the barns before he left so all I had to do was bring the animals in and feed them. Snooze time on the sofa and sleeping in in the morning...(do you hear that dogs?)