I need some advil for my feet.......

I arrive. clock in and start helping with the morning chores.  Turn on
the machines, turn on the oxygen, (say hello to the bitty), and start
cleaning and getting ready (and waiting for the morning coffee to brew)

So i decided to clean out the cat ward.  In a small room that connects
the treatment room to the hallway leading to the exam rooms is a room
with small cages.  We'll keep animals in there periodically, but the
bottom cages on either side are for the hospital cats.

Ok introduction to the hospital cats:

Rosie is a brown and white long haired cat.  She's a little skittish
but if you are sitting at the console where the computers are, she has
no problem with putting her paws on you leg and meowing for attention.

Rebecca is a black and white kitty and is QUITE roly poly.  Lemme just
say this:  She came out and rolled onto her back to show her immense
belly and of course i rubbed it.  Then when i stood up to leave, she
started to roll over to get up.  Uh, that is STARTED to get up.  And
after a bit of kicking and moving to finally roll over, she walked to
her bed like nothing had happened.

Mimi is a Himalayan and the best place to find her is the front desk.
There's a bed at the corner that she sleeps in for most of the day.
Quite sweet but also quite plump.  But she is quite the cuddle bug.

And then there's Sergio.  I think I might have mentioned that Sergio
would be like Nocturne's counterpart.  This is a grey long haired cat
with a MAJOR attitude.  On Friday, I was holding a dog down on his side
so 'J' could stick a catheter into his rear leg.  (The dog had really
crappy veins in both front legs) Suddenly the dog starts whining and
occasionally struggling.  I look up and Sergio is casually walking
towards us.  Finally he stops and sits, a good two feet from the dog,
as if he didn't have a care in the world.  The poor dog was whining
since Sergio was clearly taunting him.  He will walk in front of a
closed door and just WAIT for someone to come along and open it for
him.  You can pet him, if you dare, cause it will only be a matter of
seconds before he'll either swing at ya or actually grab and bite your
hand.  Like I said, a major attitude.

but i digress.....

The morning started out fine, and we slowly got up and running.

Then about 9:45 or so things started to really pick up.  A rescue
brought in a cat for lethargy and weight gain.  Hehe, I was the one
that checked them in.  This black cat, named Hitchcock was a VERY
rotund 19.6 pounds.  Dr. S ordered full bloodwork and urine to send to
the lab and full body x-rays.
Like the title, this would be about warp one, cause the owners are
waiting.

Oh and did I mention that I hadn't shot x-rays yet at this clinic?

I got a quick five minute rundown of the x-ray equipment and technique
and got started.....  I got the blood pretty easy, but then it came
time to get the urine.  I told my coworker who was restraining, "If I
manage to get urine from a cat this big, i'm going ot be VERY
impressed."  As in my earlier entry, we try to get urine by
cystocentesis.  But many things can affect the efficiency of a
cystocentesis.  Gee, like a huge FAT belly?  After two tries, I gave up
and shot the x-rays.  They actually turned out pretty decent.  The
lateral x-ray DID show that Hitchcock had a bladder, but neither me, my
coworker, OR the doctor could find it.  *sigh*  We finally gave up.

Things were quiet at 11, but at 11:30, Dr. S brings back an old
labrador and asks for in house bloodwork, in house urinalysis, and full
body x-rays.   In house bloodwork and urine means we use our lab
machines.  Normally Dr. S likes to send all his stuff out and we get
the results back the next day.  But it's saturday and if the animal is
sick, he'd rather not wait until monday.  But it does take time, and we
were one technician short....

So now i'm moving about warp two or so.  I get the blood easy.  I set
up the blood so we can spin it and use it for the lab tests, when Dr. S
comes back with a brown husky like dog.

"I need bloodwork, urine, and abdominal x-rays."  Great..............
But at least on this one we could send them to the lab.  But we still
have to get started on the inhouse labwork for the labrador and while
it's running, shoot the full body x-rays.  And we've got about two
hours to do all of this....

Increase to Warp Five.  Start the lab machines working and set up for
the x-rays.  Grab a coworker and shoot a lateral chest and abdomen
x-ray.  While that's developing, get the labrador's urine and start a
urinalysis while Dr. S looks at the x-rays to check my exposure and
technique.  Got the approval, but now have to wait for the coworker to
finish helping Dr. C.  Grab the coworker and struggle with a VERY
squirmy labrador and shoot the chest/abdomen x-rays with the dog on his
back.  Develop those x-rays and take five seconds to splash water on
your face to get rid of all the sweat.  Get the husky dog's blood and
start to set up for his x-rays.  Drop everything to help Dr. S with his
next appointment.  Start lab paperwork while Dr. S looks at the x-rays
and try to remember if you actually finished provessing the labarador's
blood in the lab machine.  Get the husky dog's urine and put it in a
tube.  By now it's 1 pm.  And Dr. C comes back with a small dog.  "This
dog needs in house blood, urine to go to the lab and full body x-rays.
Aw s****.............

Fortunately about fifiteen minutes after i got started on this one i
got to go on my lunch break.  *pantpantpant*

I don't know what was worse, having to do all of that, or looking at my
watch and realizing i had five more hours to go......

But I did find entertainment.  Take a piece of paper and tear off a
LONG strip about a quarter in long.  Wrap it around a pencil to curl
it, so it looks like a spring.  Give said 'paper spring' to a bitty,
and sit back.

Wish I had a video camera.  The bitty pounced, batted, tossed, swatted
and KILLED this poor piece of paper and then proceeded to make sure it
was DEAD DEAD DEAD.  hehehehehehe, I was laughing and gigling the whole
way.  The best part was when i picked it up and would gently touch her
back.  She would WHIRL around and i would pull the paper up and out.
She was looking for it, where'd it go?  I would then touch her back
again and she would spin around only to find there was nothing there.
muhahahaha...... Then she caught on, grabbed it and proceeded to kill
it yet again.

The afternoon went a little better.  The girl who had originally
brought in the bitey bitty came by.  She wanted to see how the kitten
was, and I took her into the back to talk to her privately.  She looked
like she was about to cry.  "I wasn't able to find a home....."  I then
remembered that I hadn't told her the good news.  When I told her that
one of my coworkers was going to try to give the bitty a home, her face
immediately lit up and she was so happy.  I took her back to the
isolation room and she spent a few minutes with the kitten in her arms.
It was kinda bittersweet, but she was still happy that the bitty had
found a home.  We continued to talk on the way out and i even gave her
the web link to the photo album of the piranha kitten.  hehehehehehe

I spent some time with the kitten before i left, just in case she
wasn't there when i came back to work on tuesday.  I shall miss her.

Kristi