Stupid Rainy Day

Today was stupid.

Every phone call I got was nothing good.

One dog has been suffering with on-going vomiting and diarrhea issues for a month now.  A month.

She calls to schedule bloodwork and I ask her how the dog is doing and she cheerfully says, "Oh he stopped vomiting."  The chart didn't say what bloodwork the doctor wanted to run, so I took her number to call her back when the doctor got back from her lunch break.

Doctor got back from her lunch break and had a few questions she wanted me to ask, including, "When did he stop vomiting."  I call the number the owner gave me, and a man answers the phone.  So I ask him when the last time his dog vomited was.  "Oh, last night."

Okay.

So we schedule the bloodwork for first thing Friday morning.

An hour later, the lady is calling back, crying, begging me to schedule her dog for the bloodwork today because "he'll die before Friday."

What?!  Seriously?

Now the story becomes that he won't stand up.  Not good.  "How long has this been going on?" I ask her.  "Um.  Maybe.. two days?"

Two days.  Your dog has been seriously unstable to the point of not being able to stand for two days and you failed to mention that when I asked how he was the first phone call?  Wtf.

Really.  Just wtf.

The only thing I could do was tell her to take the dog ASAP to emergency services and hope for the best, but I have a  feeling that when I get back to work after the holiday there will be a fax from one of the local emergency hospitals letting us know that our patient has been euthanized.

Putting much beloved and well cared for animals down is not, in my opinion, as hard as dealing with the frustration, anger and guilt of not being able to save these animals who are owned by people who just don't seem to care, or who decide to care too late.

Ten years ago today, I was at Ground Zero with my sainted Labrador, doing SAR work.  We had been planning on leaving that day to go camping in Maine, an annual fall tradition.  Our plans got delayed a bit when the pager went off.

I will never forget:

The surreal feeling of being the only car on the deserted New Jersey Turnpike.

The acerbic, toxic stench of Ground Zero.

The flags and banners draped at every overpass we drove under from Chesapeake City MD to Acadia Park, Maine.

The people across the Eastern Seaboard, at every rest stop we stopped at to let him stretch his legs, who saw his SAR vest or harness and wanted to thank us, speak to him, give him something, anything.

The Bay Dog.

Tomorrow will be better. 

PRODUCT REVIEW: Gentle Leader Martingale

I think I've mentioned Kitsune's distaste for the Gentle Leader head halter before.  "Distaste" is a mild word, actually.  He loathes it.  I've never seen a dog freak out the way Kitsune freaks out with a head collar on.  He simply refuses to reconcile with it, and if you happen to leave it in a spot where he can see it, he will try to steal it and then chew it into little bits.  It is worth mentioning at this point that Kitsune is not a destructive dog.  He never chews anything but his own toys, and even those toys that are meant to be chewed last him a long time.  He has never chewed up any of his leashes or neck collars, so the fact that he destroys Gentle Leaders is significant in illustrating just how much he detests the things.  The Gentle Leader head collar we currently own is number 3.  I kept buying them because they do work when a dog will consent to wear them, and I labored under the mistaken belief that given enough time with one, he would eventually relent.  Silly, silly human.

About a month ago while I was at work, I was taking a harness off of a dog and noticed it was a Gentle Leader brand.  Well.  News to me.  Turns out, Gentle Leader is making new "Easy Walk" harnesses with the  leash ring squarely in the middle of the chest.  Same premise as the head collar, it still thwarts the forward motion of pulling, but easier for some dogs (like Kitsune) to accept.

I immediately went to the pet store I used to work for and looked for them.  They didn't have them, but PetSmart down the street from my house did.

I dithered and couldn't make up my mind to buy one until yesterday.  Then I finally did it.  Today, having nothing better to do, I put it on Kitsune.

We had one initial Shiba Scream as he was trying to bolt down the stairs and realized he couldn't bolt anymore.

After that, he walked calmly with the harness on.  He would not, however, poop in it.  He looked like he really wanted to poop, but each time I thought for sure he was going to, he changed his mind about it.  I'm sure that will come with time.

I left it on him when we got back in the house, so he can get used to the feel of it.  Hopefully the next time we head outside, he'll do a number two.

All in all, we are much pleased with the Gentle Leader Easy Walk harness.


This never would have happened in a head collar.

Gentle Leader Easy Walk Harness:  Shiba Seal of Approval.

Clinical Cats

The kitties who live in our hospital full time.
Chloe, the blue kitty, and her two adult kids from her only litter, Casper (the tabby) and Pumpkin (torti).


Casper lounges in the back of the clinic.


Chloe and Pumpkin sit on the doctor's desk and oversee.. stuff.

I love working at a job where animals are just lounging around.