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Speaking of pets | Animal Care | Animal Diseases | Cats are not little dogs | Creepy Crawly Parasites | Wildlife and exotics | Vet Life and It’s not just a vet life | Out and About | Howlidays
Speaking of pets
OVMA
“Where did you go on vacation last week? I tried to get in and you were out.” “Vacation? I haven’t been on vacation in about 18 months. Oh, last week I attended a conference to get my continuing education.” Actually, most conferences are a lot of work....
World Rabies Day Award!
We won!! “Did you see The Big Fix won the World Rabies Day Award?” I hadn’t seen it. I had meant to check. I knew the award was being announced on Nov 3rd or One Health Day, but I had worked, then ran to The Greenup Holiday Market before it closed at two....
Pets in Uganda
We do not know what poverty is in the United States. We went to Africa to help animals, but what I saw when well beyond the animals. I got in late at night. Ellie and Moses picked me up at the airport with my two fifty pound bags of supplies. I didn't look...
Animal Care
Circle of Life
COVID 19 has probably changed the rest of our lives. Everyone who is alive now will change in some way. While I am quick to point out the ways these changes have not been ideal (just ask my best friend), not everything that is COVID 19 related has been bad. I must...
How to Spend More at the Vet
I’m getting a late start to my article writing this Saturday afternoon because we had an emergency come in after we closed. While some of us finished up the end of the day procedures, four staff members and I stayed and worked with the emergency patient for almost two...
Pet Aggression
I know it hasn’t really been this way, but it seems like it has been the week of aggressive animals. Every day there has been a ‘special’ dog or cat. Generally, we do very well with animals that have problems at other places. We do a lot of things to not trigger...
Animal Diseases
Miracles
We first saw Rusty in mid August. The 27 pound, red male fiest mix was about nine years old and had been vomiting blood since April. He now had a bloody mucoid stool. The owners had not been ignoring the problem and various things had been tried at another vet, but...
Good Ideas, Or Not
I had a talk with a couple in the exam room. Their dog has a chronic disease and they were asking if they had caused it. My honesty made that a hard answer. Every time we do something we have a choice. We can choose to do something that is good for us or...
Rabies And The One Health Initiative
The One Health Initiative is a movement to forge co-equal, all-inclusive collaborations between all healthcare providers. Veterinarians are used to taking treatments and medications from human medicine, but our important role as human health protectors is...
Cats are not little dogs
Ember
I have a new roommate. She purrs. Actually, she has been here for almost two weeks and it is the first time that she has been in my office. The first week she spent in an oxygen cage while it was touch and go. Perhaps I should start at the beginning. I was...
Cat Fights
Saturday morning, nine A. M. There are two appointments scheduled. Both are cats. Buddy was just neutered four weeks ago, so we see him first. Besides Mow Mow’s parents are new clients and still filling out their paperwork. Buddy had gotten loose a couple of times and...
Cats Are Not Little Dogs
In veterinary medicine, we have to treat many species. There are too many variations and too many species to learn each species separately. Veterinarians are taught what the similarities or differences are so all of the knowledge can be stored to use....
Creepy Crawly Parasites
Heartworms
The recent rains will produce swarms of mosquitos. Getting the pups out of the truck, I paused and slapped my arm. A mosquito died from the single slap. As I removed them from my arm, I thought it would be a banner year for mosquito born diseases and heartworms. But...
Vaccines
I had a shingles vaccination Saturday. My shingles vaccine reaction started that afternoon. A vaccine is a weak or small part of the disease that trains the immune system. The idea is that it prepares the body to fight the disease without the disease symptoms. I do...
Vaccines
Last week, Matt drove me to Charleston to get a yellow fever vaccination. I need a booster vaccine, because this fall, I am going to northern Uganda in Africa to vaccinate and neuter village dogs, and yellow fever is one of the vaccines that I needed to...
Wildlife and exotics
Blue-Footed Boobies
Someone asked me what my goal for visiting the Galapagos was. At first, I didn’t know how to answer. The Galapagos is a bucket list trip for everyone, isn’t it? I’d known about the islands for decades, but it had never seemed possible to go before. It was so far from...
Happy, Healthy Iguanas
I can't picture what walking up on their legs looks like. Can you paint a word picture of that? Zee and I just returned from a long overdue trip. Zee had just graduated from Wooster with dual degrees in theater (behind the scenes) and history. I had not been out of...
Dolphins 2 of 2
Sometimes, I miss my former life in the Coast Guard. Although I would not admit it at the time, I loved the time at sea. Although, as a trusted young officer, I often stood the midwatch in the middle of the night, I enjoyed being on deck during the day. How...
Vet Life and It’s not just a vet life
Training
January 31st is the last day that it is legal to capture a bird for falconry in Kentucky. Mike and I had decided that it would be cool to have birds that could hunt together. Jim, my red tail hawk had recently finished her rehabilitation and had been successfully...
We Need to Talk
We need to talk. Nobody ever likes to hear an conversation that starts with that phrase, but sometimes we really do need to talk. Veterinary medicine is changing. It started several years ago. Sophia Yin was a brilliant veterinarian. She spoke at many conferences...
Long Day at the E.R.
I got caught by a stoplight so I was parking as my shift began Sunday morning. I was in the building by 8:02AM. The doctor I was relieving seemed happy to seem me. She quickly went through the cases. She had done two enterotomies (for a gunshot and a eaten towel), had...
Out and About
Found Dog
I was talking to my best friend when I pulled in the driveway and saw ears and a tail. It was dark and the front of the truck blocked the body, but I was pretty sure, but not positive, it was a medium to large dog. We are a bit off the road and away from...
GA5k
Two weeks to go! Guardian Animal Medical Center is hosting a 5K run and 1-mile dog walk on Saturday, May 18. This will be our fourth year. We decided at our roles and goals meeting at the New Year that it would be an annual thing. When the talk of...
Packing
I need to pack. I am behind schedule and starting to get a tad stressed. It would seem that my carry on bag went from Cincinnati to Michigan to Indiana to Ohio to West Virginia before arriving less than 48 hours ago. So, the nice leisurely planning and...
Howlidays
Cat’s Night Before Christmas
A Cat’s Night Before Christmas (apologies to Clement Clarke Moore) Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, wait did I hear a mouse? Among the stockings by the chimney did he dare, I mean, really? St Nicholas soon should...
The Holidays Vet Style
While the holidays are a festive time for many, they are often a busy, sad time for veterinarians. On my Facebook vet list, practice owners were discussing whether to be off the day after Thanksgiving or not. Many said that they enjoyed the days off with family and...
Holiday Grieving
I have been missing Ranger a lot lately. The staff suggested that it was because Facebook suggested a memory photo of Ranger sitting on Santa’s lap, but I think I missed him before that. The holidays are hard. There are always empty chairs around the table. Empty beds...