Tuesday Nov 19

Yesterday was an exciting day. Well, morning really. At 8:00 a client drove up to drop off her dog. In getting out of the car, she suffered a seizure and fell onto the parking lot, cutting her head and blacking out. We all hurried to help, putting blankets under her head and over her, calling 911. The ambulance came. In about 4 minutes which I thought was very quick. The client had regained consciousness be then and insisted that she was ok. But because she was taking a lot of medication, including a blood thinner, her head wound bld a lot. The ambulance took her away. The dog that she dropped off ended up having a pyrometra, or infected uterus. Without surgery, there was a good chance the dog wouldn't make it. But the clients decided they didn't have the money for surgery so we sent the dog home on antibiotics.

My back and arm were hurting a lot so I tried to stay quiet. Of course Megan handed me a list to send out on UPS when she left for lunch. It involved many packets of antibiotic powder that would eventually go in pig drinking water. But they aren't light so I put an empty box on a cart, filled it and got Karla to help me weigh it....61#. That's why I don't work for UPS.

Dog training class tonight. I had three puppies to start at 5:30. That went very well. There was Maddie, a golden doodle (cross between a poodle and a Golden Retriever), Rigby a humane society dog that I was going adopt but Emily took him home to be her first ever dog. He's a cross between a poodle and a blue dapple dachshund. Maybe I'll try to take a picture of him. Finally is Mike and Jackie's new dog Basil, a black and silver miniature schnauzer puppy. So cute! All are pretty well behaved. At 6:00 Lotti joined the group, the English Mastiff. She has great energy and I love her. Also a rescue but less than 2 years old. We did some heeling work as well as sitting while greeting another and working on focus with distraction. I think it went well this week, unlike last week where I was disorganized. I just hope they all felt that way too.

Today started with getting the horses all into the big barn. Jacky likes to leave them outside where I like them in at night. But at 9:00 Kerry was coming to trim their feet so there's a little bit of prep work to get everyone in place. Jacky helped me and then left for St. Cloud for two days. Kerry came on time and had another farrier with him he was training in his way of trimming. It was cold in that barn and Kerry tends to get very talkative when he's talking about what he's passionate about - horse feet! They left around 12 after trimming Piper, Rudi, Cricket , and Lady. It's hard on Kerry's back to do the ponies and minis and today it was hard on my back too. Took the afternoon off, to warm up mostly! The dogs all helped with that. I couldn't sit anywhere without Candy, Uli, Gertie and Teddi draping themselves all over my legs. Doesn't help when your legs are cramping up! Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

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Friday Nov 15

Well, I only worked for half a day today. Since I worked Saturday, I had a half day off coming to me and there really wasn't much going on. Holly was doing her training on the new software for Intravet , which takes 4 long hours. I did mine 2 weeks ago. So I had just a few boarding sheets to get ready for tomorrow and Monday.

Checked in with Tony. He was able to get the surgery husky outside. His owner was absolutely sure that we had to keep a muzzle on him all night and morning until surgery. According to her, he was extremely aggressive, although he had never bitten anyone. Well, Pam got him back to the kennels yesterday without problem, and even took the muzzle off. Tony was able to take him outside and put him back in without problem. It really makes me angry that owners can blow up behaviors and cause a whole lot more bad behaviors by their own actions. And the owners really believe it too. Their feelings transmit to the dog who reacts either aggressively or defensively because they can feel the owners emotions.

Also in the kennel was a little white American Eskimo spitz. She has stayed with us a few times but is always a caution dog. She will not eat, drink, pee or poop the whole time she stays with us. Tony walked her twice and was concerned he couldn't get her to potty until I told him it was normal for her. You definitely have to be careful around her though.

Then there's "Bette", an out of control fat lab. Her owner is just as nuts as she is and I have no patience with this dog. First thing she does is tip her water bowl over and then jumps and barks nonstop. Tony actually found her water bowl outside her kennel, a 6 foot door she had to get it over somehow.

Other dogs staying are "Silas", another husky, "Clark" the Humane society Rottweiler Pitbull mix, "Charlie" the bichon mix, and "Eyes" the lab mix with eye problems ( really ). Tomorrow will come Coco the wire haired pointer, "Gypsy" a terrier mix, and "Zoey" a west highland terrier.

Other than the kennel, I just helped customers up front and answered the phone. Tried to stay off my feet because of sciatica. Yesterday was tough because I was on my feet all day. I went home after the first two techs got back from lunch. Jacky had just taken hamburgers off the grill when I drove up. Nice weather, and we had to take advantage of it! The hamburger was wonderful!

Relaxed this afternoon. I had to feed the birds - the woodpeckers kept looking for suet. Of course starlings arrived right away, but I also saw the nuthatch and woodpeckers come. It gets dark pretty early now but I started supper and it was ready by 5:30 because it felt late! I made a Kraft recipe called Santa Fe chicken Enchilada Soup. It was soooo good. I added a few things that other reviewers had added and it made it quite spicy! Also use that wonderful Jenny O turkey tenderloins instead of chicken. Boy oh boy, so good?

Tomorrow we drive to Duluth to pick up Aren's motorcycle. Up and back in one day so it will be long. I hope my back and leg doesn't bother me too much but I love going to Duluth- and of course seeing Aren and Becky!

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Wednesday Nov 13

Appointment day today. First I start out by doing kennels. Emily had already put outside her 4 Gehring dogs. They are all Miniature Schnauzers and my two are related to them. They were all here for a teeth cleaning. Glad it wasn't my day - those mouths are a bear. And to have to do all 4 in one day...whew!

Not many dogs boarding. Charlie, a bichon mix that belongs to Tony's sister. They are on a cruise that includes a trip to Spain! Then there's Silas, a gorgeous high energy husky. His biggest problem is his owner forget to pick him up. He has stayed over a week past his pickup date! So, I will put his pickup date as next Monday although he's supposed to go home Saturday. My cute dachshund poodle mix was here too - Emily has adopted him. His new name is "Rigby". Noisy little boy though. And last was "Clark" . I named him Monday, a new Humane Society dog picked up outside of Clark's Grove and dropped off with us. He's a Rottweiler Pitbull mix that has a huge wide head. He's a pretty nice dog. Unneutered of course. We will be watching for signs of aggression. Sometimes it takes a few days to show up. He really likes me and tries to play with me.

Another surgery dog for Emily was a little dachshund. It's her name though that will have you giggling. Her name is..."Foot and a Half"! I guess that's how long she was when they brought her home. I really wonder what they call her though.

Mike's daughters dog " Lucy" , a Golden Retriever puppy, survived her second surgery. She was spayed last Wednesday and was being boarded with us. Got really sick Sunday, on death's door. On Monday, Mike discovered a stick stuck against the roof of her mouth , between her teeth. It had gotten infected and, in 2 or 3 days, almost killed the dog! The infection went systemic and today was the first day she started looking better.

"Reno" came in yesterday after eating rat poison. He collapsed at home this morning and they brought him back in. Also the empty bucket of rat poison " Tom Cat ". I guess it's the worst poison because it affects the Central Nervous System. It also swells the brain. Jen dosed him with charcoal but it doesn't look good.

Kind of a messy day in appointments. One chihuahua mix that had been a rescue dog, absolutely panicked when we trimmed his nails. "Racer" got so upset, he loosened bowels and bladder and anal glands all over. He was muzzled too as he kept trying to bite us. Unknown to these dogs though, we don't often let go, no matter what. I could have used a better clean up though.

And then Megan gave me a mammary tumor they had taken off Foot and a Half. I cut it open to do a tissue smear and it was full of liquid. It splattered all over me....of course.

A Lunch and Learn with Merial rep got me a Pour House Club Sandwich - yum! And the rep had just gotten back from Tanzania and had her pictures along on her iPad. Soooo that's what I looked at throughout the meeting. Now I know where I want to go next!

Lots of surgeries came in for tomorrow. 3 black cat brothers to be neutered, 1 Pitbull to be spayed, 1 Pitbull to have a lump removed and to be spayed, and Jill's lab "Harvey" for a teeth clean. I will be a tired puppy tomorrow!

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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.

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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.

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Thursday

Another long day. It started out with a surgery dog that had died overnight. Never a good start. Plus the owner was an older lady who had lost her husband last month, her ex husband dropped dead in her driveway two weeks ago, and now her dog died...puts a different perspective on your own problems.

Busy surgery day. First was a black lab with mammary tumors. That turned out to be a pretty bloody surgery but I think "Ebby" will be ok. She's a brood bitch for field trial dogs (show). The owner brought another black lab for OFA radiographs (x rays). This has to be sent in to a special lab that reads it and your dog can be "certified" as having good or excellent hips and elbows. The good dog breeders do this to try to eliminate hip displasia and other genetic problems in their breed. Any dog that has "fair" or "poor" readings,a should e fixed and never bred. The bad dog breeders never spend the money on this test and can really ruin the health of a popular breed.

The second surgery was a straight forward chocolate lab neuter name of "Chevy". He's been in quite a bit of trouble due to chewing things. The last straw was eating the seat off the owners snowmobile. People should know that labs in particular are prone to chewing to the point of destroying property for up to 3 years before outgrowing it!

Then came my big surgery for the day - an ACL on a Golden Retriever. The owners came for an appointment yesterday all the way from St. Cloud! Unknown to us, he planned on leaving the dog for surgery at the same time. Well, we did squeeze him in since he had driven all that way but it seems strange that people don't realize they can't just drop in and expect you to have time for a 4 hour surgery! The surgery went well but Mike, who's my only vet who does this surgery, had farm calls all morning so we didn't start until noonish.

That kind of put a kabash on lunch but Karla was nice enough to offer to run to the nearby "GopherStop" which is a convenience store. She brought back a personal pepperoni pizza and pop and I literally ate half the pizza in the surgery room while waiting for the neuter dog to wake up enough to pull the endotrachael tube out. At the same time I was setting up for the ACL surgery which has a lot of special instruments to lay out.

Still had one last surgery , a pregnant cat to spay. Often it's hard to find a time to fix a cat when it's not either in heat , or pregnant. This was a nice little calico named " Sadie". She was alarm cat, but one of the lucky ones since her owners decided to spay her so she could put some weight on. There were four fetus, so now there's four less cats to add to the overpopulation.

Finally got done with surgeries about 2, owners come to pick up around 3. So it became a mad dash to get charges in the computer and meds ready. Also to catch the doctor that has done the surgery to ask about charges, and meds. That is usually the hardest part!

Cleaning was started but not totally finished. The surgery room is all ready for tomorrow's one surgery but I didn't get all the instruments washed or sterilized. I spent 11 hours at work today with no break so I figured Indeserved to go home at 6! Besides, the poor puppies at home had their legs crossed and needed a break to!

I'm going to try to take it a little easier tomorrow. We'll see how that goes!

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Tired

Busy Thursday, as usual. Holly's on vacation so one more person short and we are already short on Thursdays. I did the kennels since there were only four dogs. But then I had a c section on a bulldog. It's a long surgery plus we had the owners in the room, which always complicates things. But we had four live puppies in the end so that was good. My spay/dental/shave dog (a poodle dachshund mix !) Mike and Pam started and , of course, saved the shaving for me. Got done with that at 12 and Jen and I went out for Mexican food to cool off, or down, since I was a little peeved at Mike and Pam.

Came back only to have Mike say we were doing a foreign body surgery on a cattle dog who had lost 15 pounds. The owners had waited too long, but we got a piece of rubber out of the intestine. The dog had had problems for a while because his intestines were all in a ball, wrapped up tight with tissue and such. Tricky surgery and the dog may not do well. We'll see.

Pit bull puppy in the barn , he's positive for parvovirus virus which is highly contagious and deadly. He's actually ready to go home but the owner came to pick him up and had to leave him. The bill was almost $400 and she had $5 in her purse with no credit cards (she doesn't believe in them) and no checking account. Oh, she should get paid in 5-10 days so she can pay then...do you really think she would come back? So we keep the dog until she brings at least 1/3 of the total bill. 'Serious' , that's the dog's name, is feeling better and is extremely noisy!

Then came cleaning. No cleaning lady anymore, it's all us. So I had to do all my instruments, sterilize, clean the surgery room, the lab, vacuum, and mop floors. I left for home at 7....and tomorrow I open up at 7. Glad every day isn't this busy!

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