The Unusual

In my line of work we get a lot of unusual requests, questions and conversations. For your amusement, here are some of my favorites

1. A caller who was convinced her dog had "milk-titus, just like cows get." She was just sure it could not have been mastitis-which is in fact, a real disease-just like cows get.

2. A person who wanted us to determine if their snake was dead-over the phone.

3. Another caller who had bombed their house for fleas but had left what is now their almost lifeless tarantula in the house during this process. They wanted to know 1)was it going to die (probably) and 2)if they bring it in for euthanasia how would we do it (seriously? crush it or flush it people-I think you can handle that one at home)

4. Can we declaw a dog that digs in the yard (um, no)

5. Can we extract all of their pet's teeth because it is biting them and/or the other pets (again, no)

6. I recently had a nice young man bring in a ferret because he thought it had been acting painful. After examining a perfectly normal ferret (actually one of the healthier ferrets I have seen) and finding no evidence of pain, the young man responded with-"maybe he just bruised his ribs jumping off his futon." I see his point-ferrets have short legs and the rib cage almost touches the ground normally-it's just something I never expected to hear anyone say.

7. A client once asked during an appointment how cows felt about wearing clothing. Apparently she had seen something in a magazine that someone was making clothes for farm animals. I responded that I did not know because I had never actually asked a cow that question.

8. A new puppy owner was very concerned about whether or not their puppy was old enough to get a rabies vaccine because the little guy had been biting her (normal puppy chewing) and she did not want him to get rabies because if he did she would have to find him a new home. For a moment I contemplated explaining the flaws in her logic but in the end decided to just give the vaccine. The puppy was old enough and it made everyone happy.

I'm sure I will have more at a later date-enjoy!