The best thing about being a vet...

...is when all the crazy hubbub has died down: the surgeries are done, the consults have finished for now, the diagnostics completed, the treatment plan initiated, the clinic is still, and the hospitalised animals are resting quietly in their cages.

This is when yours truly joyfully sneaks into the kennel room and seizes the opportunity to shower TLC* on a patient/patients.

This doesn't happen often enough, but I love it when it does.

 

This was an afterhours case, a ferret which I managed for suspected recurrence of inflammatory bowel disease. I had brought it home and we were both keeping warm in the cold winter!

Yesterday was such a day. There was a tiny Chihuahua with a big name (think a Greek demigod with buns of steel) and big fluffy ears, which was hospitalised for protracted vomitting. A cute Siberian Husky pup which I spayed. An extra cute Pointer which was unfortunately pretty skeletal and wobbly on its legs - however it was very sweet and gave lots of sneaky kisses when I was rubbing its tummy. A mastiff x wolfhound with beautiful odd eyes - one blue one brown - in for a recheck regarding its blood clotting problem. And a very cute cat with beautiful markings and saucer-wide eyes, in for a urinary issue.

As a side note on the disparity of animal sizes that a vet can deal with in the course of a day, think 80kg Neopolitan mastiffs vs 1kg Chihuahuas (and that's just for small animal vets...consider mixed practice vets and zoo vets). Also, try putting an intravenous catheter into a tiny 1.4kg Chihuahua's arm. "Ouch!" it said, when I made my first catheterisation attempt. Just as the needle pricked the skin, it duely pulled back its arm (which was finer than the thigh bone of a chicken). I tried a second time and a similar situation ensued. I finally succeeded on the third go and by then the Chihuahua was looking somewhat upset, but it got cuddles to make up for it.

Of course, during a routine consult, I normally have my way with the animals anyway, being effusive with praise on how good they are behaving, or how cute they are, or how I genuinely just want to kiss and hug and squeeze them to death (metaphorically speaking of course).

The clients love it and so do I.

A case of acute kidney failure which I thought I might have won the battle against, pipping the odds. Unfortunately, I was soon proven wrong. Such a sweet boy, too.



*TLC: tender loving care: written about in clinical journals to be part of a complete treatment plan