Ugh.
I finally have my day off. This after a long four days on call. Of course, I ended up working some this morning too.
Friday, went well enough. I was off in the morning and then I worked that afternoon. I euthanized my first two appointments and then ran around crazily for the rest of the day. That night before even leaving the building, I fielded a call regarding a dog with vomiting. Then I went home where I received the call that the remaining three dogs in a litter from which I had euthanized a parvo positive pup, were coming down with vomiting and diarrhea. Brought into me were three very happy puppies. One of which chewed through her IV line not once but three times while we were there. With an e-collar too. Nearing 11pm, I had the three pups squared away and I went home. Of course, in the middle of this, a non-client (I think we see his pets, not his horses) called looking for advice.
Saturday, I worked but had to stop in and take care of the parvo pups first. I very effectively cleaned kennels and did treatments in just under an hour. Then I went to work where I realized all of the stuff that I was to bring to the clinic was at my house in my fridge and my work phone was there too. I called and called home but Joe never answered meaning that when I managed to stop by after vaccinating a horse, he got the wrath of an angry Leslie. He was very apoligetic.
After work, I met up with April and we took care of the parvo dogs again. They were in an assortment of good spirits. Throughout the day, I fielded an assortment of phone calls for kittens with diarrhea, dogs that ate huge doses of prednisone, dogs that needed prescriptions refilled at Wal-Mart, etc.[EDIT] I also got a call from one of the ladies that runs the rescue that the pups were from. Apparently, the house they came from had 17 other puppies in it and now they were starting to vomit and have diarrhea. She wanted to know if I could make a housecall. I didn't think so but I verified with my boss. It was too far away for me not to be available for other clients and large animal clients too. I did end up running into the clinic and selling a bottle of odansetron for the vomiting. Hopefully, that helped! [END EDIT] On my way to check on the parvo dogs at 9pm, I got another emergency call for a dog with hives. I treated it quickly and was back to Carlisle in about an hour. Once there, I noted that one of the parvo pups had started looking a little poorly so gave him some extra treatments and told Joe when I got back that he'd have to help me.
Sunday, Joe and I treated the parvo dogs and during which I got a call for an emergency coggins test-a copy needed to be made. I went down to Newville and probably after a long hour, finally found the test and made a copy. Then back to treat the puppies. At this treatment, I discovered that what I thought had been a slow drip had managed to empty nearly a whole bag into a pup. He didn't appear worse for wear though he looked pretty bad anyway. I continued to field calls about animals with GI upset recommending bland diets and time. I sent a non-client to the emergency clinic.
Monday, I had to work for a few hours for emergencies at 7am so I went and treated the pups at 6am! We were still struggling with getting two of them better at this point. Those two had bounced around between good and bad for a while and now were distinctively bad. Then at work, I put down two animals before going home. On the way home, a woman called with a sick dog but they were in Ocean City and wanted some advice. I had considered relinquishing my pup duties over to a tech for the afternoon (at this point, I was mentally and physically exhausted) but I didn't want to deprive any of their day off either. I'm just that nice. That afternoon just before going in to take care of the pups, I got the pleasure of trying to examine a really mean dog. He was a jerk. He got meds and sent home. If you're well enough to attempt to bite me, then you are well enough to go home. Two more times of treating the parvo dogs and my day was almost over.
This morning, I got up, took the truck back to Newville, came back to Carlisle for one last treatment of the pups before washing my hands of them. As I pulled in, I got a phone call. It was the lady from Ocean City. They had came home early because the dog was still very sick. I told her that I would see her this morning if she was okay seeing me in my shorts. She was especially since she didn't want to wait till the afternoon. We had some hard discussions about her little sick dog and tried treating her. I hope little Annie makes it. Then we treated the puppies. Two of them were doing horribly and I made the phone call that decisions had to be made. Before leaving, they were and the two puppies were sent to dog heaven. I was there till 11. On my day off.
It was a hard and long weekend. Unfortunately, I didn't see that many emergencies so I didn't end up making that much of a bonus. I guess I will make a decent one from the pups but still...
Oh, and I had a dream where I was in vet school again (all that tech work treating those puppies I guess) and I was on call. I got a call from Tim Ferrell's (from Ludo) about her sick dog. There was something about snowing too.
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