I'd like to buy an N please....

So, here at VBB central we get a lot of interesting phone calls. Today, a new kitten owner called us to follow up regarding her kitty who had been seen here by a colleague of mine last week. She told the receptionist that she'd informed Dr. VBW (that's Vet Behaving Well) that her cat was seizing all the time at home, but his response had been to tell her there was no apparent nasal discharge on exam, that perhaps there was a lot of dust around, and she shouldn't worry unless the kitten developed additional clinical signs of upper respiratory infection. She told the receptionist she found that strange but went along with it at the time, however, over the past few days the seizing has increased to the point where it is nonstop, and she wanted advice.

VBB staff: So you're saying the kitten is seizing? not sneezing?
Owner: yes. seizing. having seizures.
VBB staff: and you told this to Dr. VBW? Because it seems he thought you said "sneezing." Like, when you have a cold, or allergies.
Owner: Yes, seizing. Not sneezing. It's awful to look at. Her whole body is involved.
VBB staff: this sounds like an emergency beyond our ability to handle at this time and we'd like to refer you to the VBB Critical Care branch 4 miles down the road. They'll be able to try to stop the seizures and provide ongoing critical care afterwards.
Owner: Well that's ridiculous. She probably just has a cold, after all.
VBB staff: wait. so she's SNEEZING? With an N?
Owner: Yes, of course. And she has these sneezures.
VBB staff: OK, look, I don't know what you're trying to say. If she is having seizures or fits, go to VBBCC. Otherwise, you can bring her here and we'll see what's going on.

What the hell?

Summer hiatus

In case you haven't noticed, none of our esteemed VBB collaboraters, have posted recently. It isn't that nothing interesting has happened, but summer things do get in the way of activities like this. Anyway, I have been dealing with some of the usual mundane medical issues while doing a brief foray into day practice. Yes, I'm usually doing ER work at night. A practice begged for my help, as they were left without a DVM, & I reluctantly obliged.

After all there years, it is amazing to find people who still don't know about vaccinating dogs & cats for infectious diseases or heartworm prevention. After seeing several cases each week of canine parvo & feline URI & canine heartworm disease, I am beginning to wonder if I am caught in a time warp taking me back 30 years. Yeah, I know the day practice people see this daily too, but I've been out of the loop, so to speak.

You do have to feel sorry for people who bought a puppy from a friend* one day & have it get very sick the next day. It had parvo & was very thin on top of that ( partly due to the hookworms found on fecal exam ). The owners couldn't afford to hospitalize, so we did out patient treatment with a very guarded prognosis. Sadly, it died overnite. Obviously, these people bought a pup incubating parvo & loaded with hookworms.

Then, there was the poor pooch diagnosed with heartworms during a routine visit for vaccines & to see about getting on flea/tick & HW preventive. When the owners found out it would cost about $800 for the whole HW treatment, they decided to go home & think about it......still waiting for their decision. I suspect this pet may linger for quite a while without treatment. My next option would be to put her on preventive with all the extreme warnings about giving it to HW Positive dogs.

Dealing with people, whose pets are not usually in crisis ( the typical ER scenario ), has mostly been more pleasant & rewarding. Healthy kitties & puppies are much more fun to be around, even though I have to stick needles in them for vaccines. hah.

Finally, I've also gotten to do some routine day surgeries, like OHEs & castrations. Usually, I'm doing emergency nite surgeries, like laceration or GDVs or c-sections & such. Sometimes, a routine* OHE can be more problematic than a GDV. lol.

That's all I've got this week. Hope it wasn't too boring for those who follow this blog. Hopefully, something more exciting will happen, when I get back to ER work this weekend or my colleagues will have a good story to share here.. :)

Animal Practice

Ok, I love some comedy.  Scrubs?  Loved it!  Spaced?  Oh yeah!  But I am twitching a bit as a watch the trailers for the new NBC comedy, Animal Practice.  I mean, Tyler Labine, I have loved since Reaper (a comedy that did not get enough credit).  Justin Kirk, of Weeds fame, is both cute and funny.  However, what strikes me as really weird is that there are three doctors, all of which are MALE.  That might sound whiney, but really people, my class, as with most vet classes are 75% female!  Get some female vets in there.  I think you might find inspiration in our side bar.  (Amanda (cough) Brown)

And turtle races?  They totally happen.  And sometimes we dress up our sedated animals for the owner's amusement.  Sometimes those kitties even "hold up" the store across the street and a kind policeman plays along and arrests said kitty.  The hand cuffs didn't fit, but the look on the owner's face was totally worth it.  But it means that we always have to come up with something new and different each year.

Monkeys in surgery?  Only if they are being operated on.  And much as I love to see that the vet is using a cap and gown (better than that backwards Dr. Pol), I would like to see masks and have the emotion seen in the eyes of the actor.  Maybe they haven't had that class yet.  Maybe they need to watch more Grey's.  I dunno.  Maybe the show will be the bee's knees.  Or maybe it will get cut after 8 shows.  I will watch as I am sure many vets will.  At least with this show, I don't have to cry about a poor shocky dog attack puppy that I might have been able to say because it is a comedy.  But if you steal our stories, you're going down NBC!!!!