Michael and I had a wonderful little vacation to California to visit his parents for Thanksgiving. We had plenty of sunshine, good food, walks on the beach, kayaking around the bay and just relaxing. I realized I was really homesick for California, especially the beautiful central coast area where we went to undergraduate school (Cal Poly) and where Michael and I met so long ago. We got home late last night (early this morning) and all the critters, from Jesse the donkey to Viggo the rooster, trumpeted their greetings. Verbal and the cats were especially excited to see us and it felt good to climb in our familiar bed after long delays at the airports all day. Now it is back to work, and it has already been a busy day.
Luna was waiting for us as we opened up at 7am. She is just 4 months old, a tiny grey kitty who had tangled with a fan belt and lost, resulting in a straight across fracture of her mid-shaft left tibia and fibula. Her owner can't afford to take her to get it surgically corrected as it really needs, but I'm really hoping the old adage "put two bones of a kitten in the same room and they will heal" will turn out to be true for little Luna. We gave her some nice pain relief meds, a little anesthesia and pulled the two ends of the bones into alignment. The problem is, those stong little thigh muscles don't want to keep the bones reduced properly without a lot of tension on the splint. The post-reduction radiographs look OK for now. We will keep our fingers crossed once she gets to feeling better and starts feeling like her old self. Trying to keep a young kitten "quiet" for 6 weeks is a bit of a joke.
Chelsea is a 19 year old cat that was in for a euthanasia consultation first thing this morning. Ugh. She had a bout of bloody urine which she had experienced before. Since she had responded to a course of antibiotics the last time, her owners and I thought it was worth trying it again. We discussed signs to watch for regarding her quality of life-wanting to distance herself from her humans, not wanting to eat or losing weight, not using her litter box....none of which she was currently experiencing. That was good. At 19, her lifespan surely is coming to a close, but maybe not this morning.
Jetta is a healthy, happy cat that came in this morning for her yearly health exam and to get caught up on her vaccinations. It is great to see pets who are so well loved and cared for, getting the health care that we know will help keep them healthy and happy for years to come. She was a bit put out by the thermometer, her weight and dental health were excellent, and she took her vaccines like a trooper. We'll see you next year, Jetta!
Bartlett is a pretty black kitty that was having trouble breathing, kind of a raspy, wheezy sound which she had experienced before and had some improvement on antiinflammatory medication. Sure enough, when I listened to her lungs, she was wheezing away, really having a tough time getting air in and out of her lungs. We decided to take some radiographs and sent them to the radiologist to interpret, suspecting feline asthma. We sent her home with a refill of the antiinflammatory medication, and I will do some research on the current treatment protocols for feline asthma, since the use of those antiinflammatories probably isn't the best thing for her long term. She also isn't the easiest patient in the world to get medication into, so maybe we can find a liquid or maybe even a transdermal preparation of a medication if she has to have one long term. Her owner would be very grateful.
Oreo was also having a tough time breathing, but for a different reason. She was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of cancer, about 6 weeks ago. Her owners managed her pain and the swelling of her lymph nodes the best they could, but the disease progressed rapidly and they felt she no longer had what they considered "quality of life." Watching her pant and struggle for each breath, I had to agree. We discussed what saying goodbye would entail, gave her all the cookies she wanted, and let her go with her head in her owner's arms. Of course her owner was devastated, but she couldn't ask her friend to continue in the agony she knew she was in just for her sake.
Kira is a pretty young husky, in today to be spayed. We have seen her as she was growing up, getting all her puppy exams and vaccines, and she is a healthy dog. We found her to be very healthy today, so did her pre-anesthetic blood work, placed her IV catheter, gave her some pain relief medication, and preformed her surgery without any problems. Sometime I'll tell you what a "spay" surgery entails. It is actually a pretty cool surgery, and really not "routine" at all for that individual dog. Kira is snoozing pretty well right now with her post operative pain relief medication on board. Better living through chemistry.
We worked well into lunch time this morning, so I'm going to run and go find something to eat. Then we will start the afternoon appointments. I bet it will be a similar mix of life and death. It is what we do.
Peace,
DrReneigh
2 comments:
Wow, what a busy morning! As I read this, what really came across for me is how you give each family as much time as they need with you - just like you always have for us. It's something you probably don't even think about, because it's second nature to you, but it's a pretty unique quality. You're the most compassionate vet we've had in 20 years of being owned by pets.
We're bringing George in on Friday (and Lucy, I don't think he'd go without her), so we'll see you then!
That is so kind of you, Amy. Being a veterinarian is at least as much about the humans (yep, good or bad) as it is about the critters who come our way. Looking forward to seeing you and the kids on Friday!
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