More snippets from me working as a vet tech......

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Had a cat stay for most of the day while we waited for his bladder to
fill up so we could obtain a urine sample.  One time i opened the cage
to try to palpate a bladder, and to give him some reassuring scritches.
He promptly sat up and headbutted me RIGHT in the face.
Awwwwwwwwwww!!!!!

And his name?  Monte.....as in,  Montezooma

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I had another career "first" on Sunday.  I was working at the emergency
clinic and an ADORABLE bitty came in.  She was lethargic, had congested
lungs and had a fever, but was black and had tiny short ears and blue
eyes.  She was only a month old.  EEEKKKK!!!!!  She had been rescued by
a couple who found her and her siblings abandoned two weeks ago.  The
others were fine.

I was amazed, and for a brief laugh, i put the bitty in the pocket of
my scrub shirt.  I had it cupped in my hands and was trying not to
oogle over it, since it was sick, but i did have to explain what i
meant when i called it a 'bitty'

We took some x-rays, in spite of the bitty SCREAMING and the x-rays
showed she had Aspiration Pneumonia.  It tends to happen with bottle
fed animals.  They baby accidentally aspirates some of the formula and
the lungs get a little infected.

Ok, now just TRY to put an IV catheter in a one month old bitty.  We
couldn't stress her out too much because of her congested lungs, but
after a bit of struggling we finally got an IV catheter into her leg,
which took up her ENTIRE leg once it was taped into place.  We made a
nest for her in te heated oxygen box and started her on a nebulizer.  I
then started putting together a treatment sheet.  About a few minutes
later i was checking on the bitty when i noticed a tiny amount of blood
in the box and the kitten was open mouth breathing, like she was
gasping for air.  I told my supervisor and she both took out the kitten
and started patting her back, to help loosen any phlegm in her
lungs(standard treatment for most pneumonia patients).  She sent me to
get the vet and when we came back i saw bloody fluid coming out of the
kitten's mouth and nose.  Suddenly the kitten stopped breathing.
Awwwww sh.t...........

We carried her to a nearby table while i grabbed the stethescope.  Her
heart was beating fainting, but she wasn't breathing.  Meanwhile the
vet had run to grab the chart while i was contemplating how I was going
to give chest compressions with my forefinger and thumb.  She quickly
came back and said,

"The owners have elected that we do not perform CPR."

I was standing there in shock and then just stared at the suddenly
lifeless kitten in front of me.  They determined that it was a
combination of stress, the advanced condition of her pneumonia and then
the sudden hemorrhaging of her lungs did her in.....

This was a first for me, since i had never had an animal crash on me,
and of all things it was a BITTY!!!  ARGH!!!  I managed to keep my
composure, but i was heartbroken.  I cleaned her up and covered her
with a towel, while the vet called the owner.  I wanted to take a break
so i could compose myself, but i was suddenly called over to help with
another case.  So I had to blink back tears, suck it up and keep going.

Man.......

It totally sucked, and when i finally came home I hugged my kitties
tight.  The first one is always the hardest.  I rememeber helping out
with my first euth.  That was rough too.  But i got over it, like i did
this one.  Everyone else at the emergency clinic had like 10 years of
experience, so to them it was a brief tragedy and then it was on to the
next case.  *sigh*  But for me it was a horrible experience.

I'm still going to remember that bitty, fondly, for the rest of my
life.....

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The hospital cats are shut up in their cages during the night and
during the day have the run of part of the hospital.  Once of the first
things i do in the morning is let them out.

Sergio was in a silly mood one morning.  He let me scritch his face and
then i moved down his back.  Then he flipped over on his back and tried
to grab my and and bite it.  He was just playing. and i kept teasing
him by keeping my hand out of reach, finally he got up and pranced
away, but in doing so, knocked a jingle ball out of the cage which
rolled onto the floor.

Sergio SHOT out of hte cage, and started batting the jingle ball around
FURIOUSLY.  Then he suddenly stopped, turned and looked at me, and then
held his head up high and strutted out of the room.

The silly boy.  Whenever i see him, i hear that song from the 90s, and
i created lyrics just for a cat....

I'm.....too sexy for my fur...
Too sexy for my fur...
So SEXY......Le PURRRRRRRRR!!!

Sheesh!!!

He is a sweet, fluffy, beautiful cat and boy, does he KNOW it.  And
despite his shave front legs from when he had his IV catether, he still
struts around like he's KING of the hospital.  He pulled a classic cat
move on me today.  I was walking through the clinic and found him
sitting in front of the door leading to the receptionist area and he
looked up at me and meowed.  I opened the door and held it open for
him.  He took a few steps and then suddenly stopped and sat down.

"Ahem...." I said, "In or out, Sergio?"

And then after making me wait for a few seconds, he decided that he
wasn't interested and turned around and walked away.  Figures.......

Little bugger......

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We have a few rescue groups as clients and one of them brought in this
kitten named Little Sam.  Little Sam had developed a cold over the
weekend and was put on anitbiotics but hasn't gotten any better.

I was the loader (the tech that loads the appointments into the exam
rooms and takes the weight and temp of the animal and asks preliminary
questions) and this kitten didn't look so hot.  When I brought him out
of the carrier, he peed.  Meaning I was suddenly holding a kitten who
was urinating and it was falling on the exam table.  Managed to hand
off the kitten to the woman who brought him in, grab a syringe and
siphon up the urine for later analysis.  The kitten had a temp of 104
(norm is 100-102) and his ears looked a little jaundice.  ugh....

After Dr. C came back she had me put together an estimate.  The kitten
had tested negative for FELV/FIV, but the client seemed to think it was
the other dreaded disease.....FIP.

Uh-oh.   The woman approved te estimate, at least to get the kitten set
up on fluids and to do bloodwork.  But to be on the safe
side........the kitten was put in the isolation room, at least until we
knew more.

This kitten may have been sick, but BOY did he struggle.  I was busy
with other things, but could hear and occaionally see him screaming and
struggling.

But he's all set up now and we'll get the blood results tomorrow.....

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I checked in a client who had a chihuahua with a swollen face.  After
the doctor saw him and brought the dog into the treatment room, i got a
good look at the paients's file.

It was a guy who brought in the dog, but the woman's name on the file
was Delta Burke.  Took me a sec to remember who that was.  She was one
of the stars from the TV show, Designing Women.

Cool....

Later on as we were closing the clinic, me and Dr. C and a few other
coworkers discussed encounters with celebrity clients.

Earlier this week we had Oded Fehr, who was the villan in The Mummy and
The Mummy Returns

I told them of when I worked at another clinic that treated Kelsey
Grammer's dog.  And also had Brent Spiner (Data from TNG) and also
Gabrielle Anwar.

I vaguely remember who else they said were clients, but Dr. C (We have
two Dr. C's, this one is a guy in his mid 30s) had the room laughing
when he said.

"Well, if Jessica Biel walks through the door, she is MY client!!  I
don't care if it's my day off, I call dibs!!"  Me and the other
coworkers, all female, roared with laughter.

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Take care,

Kristi