Fun pics

Here is a picture of a sleepy Icy I took yesterday. Isn't she sweet. Too bad she drug her tail through a bunch of melted wax from a candle warmer and now it's all clumpy.
Here are some updated picture of Spring-my adorable but enormous rabbit. I haven't weighed her lately but I'll let you know when I do.

Fireplace Dog

Here are some cute pictures of Zodiac sleeping by the fire. He's pretty much always been a sucker for a comfortable place to nap and snuggle. Right now he is curled up in a chair in the computer room while I type. These pictures are slightly altered through one of our photo programs-they were a little grainy since they were taken at night but look pretty good now.


I am happy to be off work today but it's a little cold. There was a good frost last night and ice in the horse's water tank. I will have to plug in the tank heater if it's going to stay cold.




We heard on the news that the cheapest gas is somewhere in Iowa or Kansas at $2.28 a gallon but that's not true as we have seen it as low as $1.96 around here-wow! What a bargain.

Relax

Today is great. I didn't have anything to do today. I slept all morning. Got up to eat and then napped on the couch. I did take the dogs out for playtime and practiced agility with Legend but that's about it. I do have a little laundry and a few other small chores to do but otherwise, just nothing.

Yesterday we actually managed to clear our brush pile out. The pile started a few years ago as a spot by the barn where we left branches and debris until it could be hauled out to the pasture for burning. Except nothing made it to the pasture. Christmas trees, pieces of wood, moldy hay, tree trimmings, etc all made its way into the pile. Then weeds and brush grew up in it making it quite unsightly. Jerry hauled the bigger stuff out to the pasture and I burned the small stuff where it was, along with anything that had hardware in it because I can't take that stuff out where the horses are. It looks a lot better now but the spot will need some manicuring in the spring to make it blend with the rest of the yard. We were going to burn the other pile tonight but it's pretty windy here so we may not.

We have season passes to the three theme parks here-Silver Dollar City, Celebration City, and White Water but Jerry heard that Celebration City's last day was yesterday (it's the newest one and has never done very well) and so we went one last time before it closed for good. We liked going there because it's not usually very busy and they had some fun rides, but it's not a place that you could really spend a whole day. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it now.

Difficult

People are difficult. Sometimes just because they want to be. I had a client today who complained about the following things. However, she waited to start complaining until after I explained everything and then left the room and she seemed ok. Then I had to go back later and listen to her go on and on about how awful we were and how she doubted everything we did and said.

1. We did not run a urinalysis on her cat's urine until today, even though she dropped it off yesterday, was a new client not in our system, did not pay for it at the time and it was not going to affect the outcome of the appointment

2. I did not review the "records" she had brought in soon enough for her liking (they weren't records, just a list of services provided and I didn't know she brought them with her anyway) even though it also did not change the outcome of the exam.

3. She was sceptical that the treatment plan prescribed would work for her cat because she had not read about it on the internet (and she's a good researcher).

4. Did not think we gave her medication that would help her cat's discomfort despite my assurance that this was an adequate and standard treatment and then declined to take additional meds when offered.

5. Did not want to come to a discharge appointment to review the x-rays we are taking next week of the cat (which is fine-it's just that most people like to see what they paid for, even if it's normal). She seemed to find it unbelievable that people would actually want to do that.

In addition to this she was totally unconcered about the 3 year old cat's heart murmur and didn't see the point in any diagnostics because the cat is not showing any signs of a problem. I didn't see the point in having any additional discussion with her despite my concern for the cat.

I hope the cat does very well, so I do not have to deal with her much more. Also because the cat probably has enough problems living with this woman, she doesn't need to be sick as well.

On a good note, Legend's eye is looking better a little at a time and a nice client brought me a thank you card and a cookie cake today :)

This goes with the other post from today-oops. I have not got this phone blogging thing quite down yet


-- Post From My iPhone

Legend's eye

I looked down at Legend last night and noticed her eye was really red and goopy
(that's the technical term). I didn't find any corneal ulcers or foreign objects so I guess she just has a raging case of conjunctivitis (pink eye). She's not squinty or scratching at it though so that's good. I got her some ointment from work today and she is taking it very well. Don't you love the picture?

-- Post From My iPhone

There's a reason

I'm not against holistic or natural medicine but there's a reason for many of the traditional standards of care in veterinary medicine. We recently had a very natural and holistic minded new client at our clinic who presented with a new mixed breed puppy with no known vaccination history. She consented to the Rabies vaccination because of the local laws but declined the routine puppy DHPP-C vaccination because she declared she would keep her puppy healthy with natural foods (which I'm thinking was not dog food or a balanced homemade diet). We explained the dangers of parvo etc. but you can't force someone to vaccinate their puppy-it's her dog after all. She also declined dewormer despite the fact that the stool sample was positive for roundworms and we explained the dangers not only to her puppy but to her four young children. She appreciated our input but was confident her natural dewormer she used at home would be fine (she also used in on her kids). Two weeks later she returned for her second puppy visit and rabies vaccine (since she was too young at the first visit) and the other doctor at our practice again explained about parvo vaccines and deworming (still positive for roundworms) and again she declined the vaccine and the dewormer.

A few weeks later the same puppy presented with some, but not all of the symptoms of Parvo. She had eaten several green tomatoes a few days ago and I encouraged her to have the parvo test run because I wanted to hospitalize the dog right away if it was parvo. If it was just gastritis she should respond pretty well to symptomatic treatment. The owner declined the test as she had read on the internet and was pretty sure the dog did not have Parvo and she could not afford to hospitalize her. She then declined some of the medications I had prescribed as she had a home remedy to try. The next day the puppy was worse and she came back for the meds but still declined to hospitalize the dog which we were more and more sure had parvo as she deteriorated rapidly. The puppy died at home shortly after that with the owner feeling like she had "done everything she could do."

Clearly not all vaccines need to be given to all pets every year, immunity for many diseases is long lasting and many pets are not at risk for certain things. But there was a reason for these vaccines to be created in the first place. Many of the diseases they protect against are deadly and there are many animals at risk at some time in their life for those disease. Thousands of puppies died from parvo-that's why the vaccine was created. Many puppies continue to do so today if they are not protected. The virus is everywhere in the environment and is hard to eradicate. Not vaccinating your puppy is risky and foolish and can lead to expensive vet bills, suffering of the puppy, and possible heartache. I don't vaccinate my 14 year old dog for parvo or my house cat for leukemia or my horses for rabies. The risk is not there. But parvo will kill puppies, they are at risk, there is a reason for the vaccines. Sometimes it seems that the vaccine has worked too well and people have forgotten what parvo is like because it's not as common and they don't see it. They take this to mean that the vaccine is not needed anymore and will do more harm than good in their puppy. But ask anyone whose puppy contracted the disease and I think they will disagree. And roundworms and hookworms can have devastating effects if transmitted to children. It's unbelievable to me that parents will knowingly not deworm their dog or puppy or fail to keep them on a monthly preventative. Even if they don't care about the dog shouldn't they want to protect their kids from diseases that can cause blindness, skin diseases and more? So just remember-there's a reason your veterinarian recommends things, and it's not to make money, and it's not because that's what they were taught it school, or it's the law, or there's a new product on the market. It's just because it's good for your pet.

New Tags

My dogs have not worn ID tags for years. We would move and need new ones, or I'd get tired of taking them off for agility or we would get tired of the jingling or I couldn't really find ones I liked. Then I saw these on the Pampered Paw website...

Naturally, they all had to have one and they arrived yesterday. They have names and phone numbers engraved on the back. The black/white one is Zodiac's, purple is Legend, and green is Oreo. I would have posted pictures of them wearing them but then they are harder to see up close, especially with long haired dogs. They also come in a few more colors if anyone wants one for their own dog.

And we're back

And we're tired!

Agility results: Legend was wound up this weekend. I guess that's all I can say. She had a lot of fun and was pretty entertaining but only managed to get one novice fast leg (3rd place) and nothing in any of her excellent runs. Although she had a lot of nice parts of courses and great weave poles almost every run. And she didn't seem to have any stress. I messed her up on our last run though. Zodiac finished his NAP-officially-with a first place. We also have an unusual agility brag. Cheri's dog, Renny, was giving her mom all kinds of trouble sitting and staying at the start line and leaving the ring to look for squeaky chicken toys so she let me try running her in open jumpers. And we had a really nice run and a Q. So apparently we can't get our own dogs to pay attention and are thinking we should just switch dogs at trials! That did finish Renny's OAJ though so we all sort of ended on a good note.

Rally results: Legend got a 98 her first time in Excellent and placed 4th but was beat by Zodiac and his 99 which placed him third. Zodiac also got his second RAE leg by then getting 2nd in Advanced with another 99.

Obedience results: It was really ugly but Legend actually qualified in Novice to get her first CD leg. I actually didn't think she was qualifying going into the stays but by some small miracle we managed to score enough to get a leg. Here are some ribbons from this week.
We also had a good time (maybe too good) at the Rescue benefit on Friday night. We definitely sat at the lucky table as everyone won something and several of us won many things in the raffle. Plus our booth made a lot of money for MOKAN!

I don't have any pics from the show photographer yet but here are some pics of Cheri's pom, Jeff, in the hotel room making himself very comfortable. Isn't he cute?

Springfield Rally Trial results: Yep, we arrived back in town last night and showed at the local trial this morning! Legend was somewhat unfocused in the ring (imagine that-it's only her 5th day of showing in a row!) but did earn her second RE leg. Zodiac scored a 94 in Excellent and placed 4th and a 98 in Advanced and placed 3rd. That makes his 3rd RAE leg.
Finally, this is in no way a reflection of our political views or party affiliations, we just thought it would be funny and so Jerry created this cool sign. Enjoy...

And we're off

Don' these guys look ready for a week of competition at the specialty?


-- Post From My iPhone

Wedding

We attended a wedding for a coworker this weekend. Everything was really pretty but the wedding was so short-like 10-15 minutes. It seems like so much preparation for such a short ceremony. You would thing people would try to make it last a little longer. The last two weddings we have been two were like lightning. Here are some pictures from the reception.

The happy couple-Sarah and Jake

Me and Jerry

Becky and Leslie

Kristen and Casey

Not enough

It has been mentioned to me (despite the fact that I am not home much) that I am not blogging much. So here I am waiting for a meeting after work, blogging from my phone.

I do have an update on Legend's teeth. The extraction is healing well but she has already broken the cap off the other tooth. So she will need a root canal or to have the tooth pulled later.

There are only 4 days until we leave for the specialty. I am excited but I think I need to do a lot of practicing over the weekend!

It has been hectic week at work and I am very glad to be off tomorrow.

- Post From My iPhone

Three Things

1. Legend's teeth-my boss, who is really into dentistry, took a look at Legend's mouth yesterday and thought he might be able to root canal the teeth so we delayed the procedure until today. Once under anesthesia and after looking at the x-rays we found that one tooth had to be extracted as it was broken into several pieces so I went ahead and pulled that one myself. The other was broke just far enough to miss the pulp canal and so he sealed it and put a cap on it instead of doing a root canal. She's still a little sleepy but doing fine.

2. I was recently quoted in an article in the Springfield Newsleader. Click here to read it if you want. I was kind of disappointed at the tiny paragraph I was in since I was on the phone with the reporter for quite some time but what can you do-it's their story.

3. Gas is $2.79 here :)

Birthday

Today we slept in, went to church, did a few errands and then to the Ozark Craft fair. It was a nice day but the only thing I really liked cost $275 which was obviously more than the $20 I won last night. So we split a buffalo burger, a fried snickers bar (which was not as good as the frozen cheesecake on a stick that I had wanted) and then went home. I ate yesterday's leftovers and fell asleep on the couch. Then I took the dogs out to play in the yard and Legend promptly smashed her teeth into the concrete step diving for her football. She, of course, didn't miss a beat but I checked her mouth and she had badly broken one incisor tooth and chipped another. At least the bad one will have to be pulled tomorrow, maybe both of them. Thanks Legend, thanks.

Gambling

I wanted to go to the casino for my birthday (which is tomorrow) so we headed over to Oklahoma where the casinos are and spent an evening playing slots. We each started with $40 and I ended up with $100 and Jerry ended up with nothing. So if you do the math that's $20 in winnings. Not awesome but could be a lot worse. Maybe I can spend my $20 at the Ozark craft fair tomorrow.

-- Post From My iPhone

Nothing

We're not doing anything tonight. We're resting. Sadly, we have to work tomorrow but then we get to do fun stuff the rest of the weekend.

As we prepare for the Border Collie Specialty in a few weeks Legend seems to be doing great in agility lately. She was really good in class on Wednesday and I was able to rear cross the weave poles (there were 6). Tonight at home she did all 12 poles while being handled from each side, instead of popping out at pole 10 or 11.

There was a possum in our barn again tonight. Not sure it it's the same one we had last year or not. This one looks lighter in color.

Here is a picture of Legend I took tonight-slightly altered and improved through the use of computer software. This time I used the soften portrait option. I thought it looked nice. I didn't quite get Zodiac's feet cropped out though.

My Side of the Table

When a client enters a veterinary clinic exam room (at least ours) there is an obvious "client side" and an obvious "doctor side" of the exam table. Sometimes clients stand on my side of the table. That's ok, I'm not married to that side of the table, it just makes it hard to reach for supplies and equipment if I have to reach around the client every time. Most people will eventually move when they realize things are not going smoothly. This is, however, only the beginning of some of the unusual behaviors people exhibit in a veterinary clinic examining room. People somehow find it acceptable or helpful to do all of the following...

1. Allow the animal to repeatedly climb back up their shoulder or into their arms during the exam forcing me to repeatedly drag the animal back to the center of the table, climb over the table and up the client's shoulder after the animal, or disrupt the technician from typing so they can hold the animal even though the owner is right there and clearly hasn't caught on to the fact that I have now retrieved the animal 5 times. I don't know what people are like when they take their child to the pediatrician but I doubt they expect that they won't have to let go of the child and put it on the table at some point.

2. At the opposite end of the spectrum are those who try too hard to restrain their own animal (whether is needs it or not) and assist with the exam by holding the animal in unusual and completely unhelpful positions. Prying open your dog's mouth, lifting up its ears, and throwing it down on it side so I can see the rash on the abdomen are all unnecessary.

3. Sit in a chair and watch while we try to catch their loose/freaky/growling pet or sitting in a chair while we try to hang on to a very wiggly pet.

4. Expect that we will crawl under the chair to retrieve and or examine their pet (when was the last time your doctor crawled under a table to examine you?)

5. Want their aggressive dog that bit the last vet to be examined unmuzzled (even after it tried to eat a person in the lobby)

6. Want their large dog that they won't/can't hold still examined on the floor instead of the table.

7. Announce after you have looked closely at the dog's teeth-"he didn't bite today!"

8. Let the 80 dog they just helped lift on the table jump off in the 30 seconds it takes the tech to go get the doctor-like they didn't know we would want it back up there?

9. Allow their child to place food or pacifiers dropped on the floor back in their mouth (we mop a lot but still-gross).

I'm sure the list goes on.