Chaos

As much as I hate working Saturdays they are usually pretty quiet-mostly vaccines mixed in with the occasional skin problem or sick pet. Today started out like that-fast forward to mid-morning and things started to get a little crazier. It all began with a recheck from the local emergency clinic. The dog had been seen last night for possible back pain, the owners gave no meds overnight and today the dog-although running around the exam room not acting painful-was now vomiting. So maybe it was stomach pain. And then the dog suddenly cried when the ower picked her up to let us give an anti-vomiting injection to her. When we returned with the dog we noted that she was dragging her hind legs. Awesome. So she had been having GI upset and back pain and apparently herniated a disk when they reached to pick her up. At least it happened in the clinic so we could advise them on what to do (I'm not sure they would have known how serious it was if it had happened at home). After a lengthy conversation about the options they elected to take her to a neurologist for possible surgery so we sent them on their way to the referral hospital. Meanwhile my next two appointments appeared. The first was a blood draw done by techs and the second decided they only had enough money for a dose of Frontline and not an exam. Great-fast forward to the dog who had apparently had something caustic sprayed, spilled, or thrown on his face-a few days ago. Today his corneas are like melting off his eyes. After the "your dog might go blind or lose his eye entirely" conversation we got a bunch of meds together and planned to see him back on monday. Throw in a few more vaccinations and then in comes the unruly akita mix who is early for her appt and a cat without a carrier for her appointment and they are now in the lobby together. Big dog wants to play with cat who does not want to play at all and both are escorted off to exam rooms. Cat is freaked out by now and scratches mom in several places as she tries to remove cat from her head. We get the cat finished and mom bandaged and then head on to vaccinate the big dog whose owner announced she has not eaten in 3 days. Scratch the vaccines and get some meds for her upset stomach but only after the obligate conversation about how much the last visit to the vet cost. Finally it's on to the coughing dog belonging to the parent of a client who was mad at me the last time she came in because the medication I gave her sick (and inbred) kitten didn't work-never mind that she declined all diagnostics for financial reasons, announced on arrival that would rather put the cat to sleep than spend a lot of money, and agreed to just give the medication a try while realizing we were just guessing at a diagnosis. It's amazing the change of heart they have when you are able to get them in at the last minute on a Saturday. Just when we thought we were done I worked in a good client at the last minute for a vomiting kitten to determine if it needed to go to the emergency clinic or not. We did send it on over for x-rays to see if it ate a string or something but hopefully all it needs is some meds and will be fine.

Finally got home and was able to take the puppies out in the daylight-they loved playing in the yard with the big dogs and also chasing leaves, eating dirt, and exploring.