hhhmmm

I suppose lately I've had a run of fairly 'normal' clients & patients... This is strange for me. Even my recent relief shift at the ER Clinic was relatively uneventful.

Today, though, I did meet an interesting patient. A dog named Toby with a painful left front leg. He had a little swelling at the area of the carpus (wrist) - the rest of his physical exam was normal. And he was a sweetie. Kinda nervous, liked hiding under the chair his owner was sitting on, but definitely a sweetie. And he captured a piece of my heart. Why? Because he looks & acts exactly like my own dog. Same type of Heinz-57 mutt. Same big brown eyes. Same nervous & excited tail wag. And same "I'm so excited to be going HOME" hopping-walk as he left the clinic. Its a good thing that I have a full house with three big dogs already... and that Toby has a good home. A great home, actually - with a family that loves him very much. Toby is one lucky dog - and his leg should heal up just fine. Sometimes, its nice to have "normal" patients and clients.

Iguana Inspector

I heard the funniest story today from a coworker... Let me set the scene:

Another doctor in our practice had just finished examining a sick iguana. The doctor stepped out of the room, and his assistant was getting ready to take Mr. Modest up front to check out. Mr. Modest unzips his jacket and tucks the iguana inside... Our assistant thinks this is a little odd, but hey, it was a cool day, the iguana needed to stay warm, and we see a lot of people who don't use a carrier for their cat, rabbit, etc. (Here comes the strange part.) Just as she's getting ready to walk out of the room, she realizes that Mr. Modest is unzipping his pants, tucking the iguana's tail into his pants, doing a little tail-situating-shimmy, and then proceding to zip up his pants back up with the tail still inside them. At this point she's thinking "aaarrrgghhh, brain bleach! WHERE is the brain bleach?!?"

Our assistant clears her head, and then decides to find the doc who'd just examined the iguana. She tells him the above story and waits for the inevitable look of "eeew - I just touched that iguana, and he probably carried it into the clinic the same way." LOL - after hearing the story today, several of us decided that the doc's new nickname should be "the iguana inspector."

short, but unbelievable

*sigh* I wasn't even sure what to title this one... I was in a room with a client, taking care of all the normal stuff associated with a vaccine visit - is Dexter on heartworm preventative? - has he had any coughing, sneezing, vomiting, diarrhea? - has he ever had problems with vaccines in the past? etc.... Well, part of the routine is taking vitals - temp, pulse, respiration... and yes, we have to take animals' temperature rectally. So, while I'm taking the temp (with an assistant holding the dog) Mrs. Uneducated says "Oh dear, will that make him gay?" Excuse me?? "I know you need to know if he's running a fever, but I'm just not sure what I'm going to do with a gay dog after you take his temp that way." Oh my... We tried to explain that no, it wouldn't make Dexter gay - but I'm not convinced that she believed us. *shaking head*