Thurs Oct 24

Up early to start at 7. I let the outside animals just be until lunchtime. Willie in his crate with a chew. My surgeries were already in yesterday. A black puggle which is a designer breed that is a cross between a beagle and a pug. They can be pretty darn cute but almost always are extremely vocal - from the beagle side of the family. Also a beautiful cat with unusual coloring. She was colored like a black and white (Holstein cow coloring) but instead of black she had a deep rich chocolate color. You hardly ever see brown color in cats except in the seal point Siamese and Himalayan breeds. And on those , the chocolate color is just on the 'points' which means the 4 legs, tail, muzzle and ears. Don't ask me why there are no brown cats!

Let's not forget the cat from last night. He was awake and in the same mood as last night before we made chime sleep. Every time I walked by his cage, he ran to the door, hissing and reaching through the bars trying to nab me. If you lingered in front of his door, he would start yowling and screaming. I sure wondered how on earth Dennis was going to get that cat out to sedate it. And I did not want to help this time!

We started with Layla, the 'nice' cat. Well, she was nice until Dennis tried to give her the injection. I actually had to give the injection while Dennis held into the fighting cat. He still got scratched (which he blamed me for) but we got her. She just had to have her front claws taken out. I haven't helped with a declaw in a long time. We got done and bandaged her front legs up to the elbow (that's how Dennis likes to do it).

Then came time for Diesel, the puggle, who had to be neutered. He had hair loss on all 4 feet so I was worried about mange. This is actually and microscopic mite that causes mange. To look for the mites, you scrape the skin with the scalpel blade, put in oil on a slide and looked at under the microscope. I did two spots but couldn't find any mites. Dennis did two places also but couldn't find any either. It might be a contact dermatitis, maybe an allergy to grass or something.

The the fun started. As I was waiting for my dog to wake up enough to pull the tube from his throat, I heard a horrible noise coming from a cage in the treatment area. Megan was standing with me and I ran into the treatment area to check on my cat who was waking up violently. At that exact time, my dog raises up his head so Megan runs to him...he starts screaming after I get the tube out. I mean screaming. So I carry him quickly to the kennel because we have a client in an exam room. Meanwhile the cat is thrashing all over the metal kennel, banging her head repeatedly. Sometimes cats wake up that way when they've been declawed. Their subconscious realizes they can't move their feet and they turn into total panic until they wake up more. I must say she was about the worse I've seen in a very long time. But my dog , who had stopped screaming, was trying to bang his head on the concrete floor and walls so I had to sit with him in his kennel to prevent him from damaging himself. Sometimes dogs wake up that way, swinging their head madly back and forth until they wake up more. But why both of my surgeries woke up that way at exactly the same time....wow!

Time for naughty cat then. Dennis used our rabies pole to snag him. It has a cable, which can't be bitten through and a loop with a pole so you don't have to be close to a dangerous animal to restrain him. This worked well, except the cat fought like crazy. So he actually got bloody, but better than us getting bloody! He ripped all his hind feet claws trying to get the cable off. But we were able to sedate him then. I got to hold the pole this time while Dennis gave the shot. We found out the cat had not been plugged, or blocked. But he did have a urinary tract infection. Since we figured the cat would not allow his owner to give him twice daily doses of antibiotic, we gave an antibiotic injection and it will last for two weeks. Then I laid the sleeping cat in one of our plastic crates for the owner to take him home in. I figured we'd never get him out of the kennel otherwise. The owner appreciated it!

Did kennels again tonight. Thought 3 dogs were supposed to leave today which would have left me with just one. But she never showed so I had to walk three of the dogs and clean some. But I left plenty for Tony to do tomorrow.

Since Teddi is snoring away next to me, that must mean it's time for bed. I get to sit through 4 hours of software training tomorrow...goodie.

Posted with Blogsy

Wed. Oct 23

Another day without Pam or Mike. Oh, and Jacky! Had to open up the chicken and geese doors as well as put the border collies in the pony barn while I'm at work. At least I had a little light, but tomorrow it will be totally dark when I have to go.

Then to do kennels. Only three dogs so I was almost done by 8 although I had to walk two of them because they wouldn't potty on the concrete. Then started the day for appointments. For some reason everyone had diarrhea and vomiting today. Lovely. And I was wearing a light colored scrub top. Again, lovely. We don't need to go into details here, now do we?

The morning went quickly. Holly needed someone to meet Waseca clinic in New arichland to exchange 'stuff' so she asked me since I was going home for lunch to let my dogs out. Met Karla at the One Stop with my box of important bills, vaccines, pet ashes. And in return I got a car load of blue bags which are filled with deceased pets. Waseca puts them in a freezer until they can get them to us. Then Tom takes them to his farm where he has the crematorium. Clients can get their own pets ashes back or Tom spreads the ashes on his pastures.

A celebrity was one of our appointments. Hope is a pit bull owned by Dan Dorman, a state representative. He has boarded the dog with us a few times...very nice dog. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago the family went to Chicago to visit their son. The dog got loose, lost and the Dormans had to come back home to Albert Lea. The dog was missing for 9 days, during which time the local news showed footage of a dog running loose on the expressway in Chicago. The police shut down the expressway for an hour while they tried to catch the dog, which they couldn't. It turns out the dog was Hope! Eventually she made friends with a dog owner, one thing led to another and the son came and picked up the dog. The Dormans drove out yesterday to pick up the dog. All the local news stations had cameras there for the reunion! Today Mary Jo brought Hope in to be checked over. She looks pretty good for having been on the run for 9 days!

Back to work. An afternoon filed with more appointments. Three times we had to take x rays. One was to make sure the dog hadn't eaten a foreign object because of vomiting and diarrhea. The second I didn't get to help with since I was in with a different doctor but they were looking for batteries. Yep. The dog ate the TV remote control and Jen was worried he had AAA batteries inside which would have been toxic. Fortunately they couldn't find any. Next was a cat that had been hit by a car driven by the neighbor kid. Big black cat named 'Panther'. He was lucky, in a way. His pelvis was broken, but right down the middle so the cat could actually move some. Also his back was broken, but past the pelvis so his legs should be ok. His tail however is 'dead' and there is hope at least some feeling will come back. Otherwise we will probably have to amputate the tail at some point. Jen also had to dig out a broken canine tooth. Poor fellow! Nice cat too. He had to be in pain but didn't hiss or anything.

Totally opposite from our final appointment. Client called in thinking her cat was constipated. Holly told her it sounded like the cat was 'plugged' this is a too common problem with neutered male cats. The urethra is too narrowand the cat ends up not being able to urinate. Often there are crystals in the urine that form that prevent urine for coming out. So the cat makes frequent visits to the litterbox, straining to go and not being able to. This is extremely serious and a cat can die within a couple of days if this is not fixed.

Well, this cat came with attitude plus. At one point I had the cat by the scruff on the table but he got hissy and turned to fight me. So of course I let go! Then we tried to get the owner to pick the cat up, and the cat attacked the owner. Next Jen had me get a slip leash which I tried to drop over his head, but he was under the bench and I couldn't lasso that well. To move him, I had to hold him by the leash, feet off the ground....which will strangle him if you don't put him down quickly! Eventually Jen scared him out and I dropped the leash over his head. We tried wrapping him in a blanket but he would have none of that. Next came the cat box. This is a special hard plastic box open at the top. The cat goes in the top and a hard plastic lid goes down on top of him and squishes him down. There's holes on the side so you can keep the lid down on cat where he can't move at all. Then you give him an injection of sedative because he can't get turned around to attack you. This is easier if I had a picture of it....when the cat is sleeping, you can safely take him out of the box.

This is what we did with our lovely cat. We sent the owner home since it was 5. Jen could not feel any urine in the bladder. If he was truly blocked, the bladder should be full. Sooooo after all that mess, the cat may not even be blocked! Jen had me give 200cc fluids sub Q, or subcutaneous (under the skin) and an injection of Baytril, an antibiotic. I left him sleeping in the cage. I hope Dennis can handle him tomorrow...Jen is taking the next two days off.

Ran to town to feed the car, then home to feed the animals. Horses needed hay tonight, close the chickens and geese up, feed the dogs....tomorrow I have to be at work at 7 so time will be tight in the morning. I think I'll leave everyone penned up until lunch. It will be cold anyway.

Posted with Blogsy