What a crappy day. Today, Monday, I suffered the disproportionately inflated consequences of a teeny-tiny, involuntary infraction committed over the weekend.

This past Saturday, I saw a baby kitty that had the misfortune of being hit by a car (presumably) followed by the tremendous good luck of being adopted by a loving, generous family.

This kitten received a splint. As often occurs...

Yesterday in Miami a man was acquitted of animal cruelty charges stemming from an intoxicated incident involving a shotgun and his cat, Mama Kitty.

Based on my 2 minute read over toast and tea this morning, I’ve concluded there’s a lot wrong with either the verdict or the reporting. Knowing juries and reporters in this town, the problem likely lies with both.

This sad figure of a man, a...

June 26th, 2006

Monday. All week long I’ve been taking care of this sad-looking kitty-cat with severe diarrhea and a demonstrated willingness to maim and kill, if possible, should anyone try to open his cage.

Now, it seems, he’s switching strategies: Instead of a full-frontal attack he waits until you enter his cage and medicate him. He’ll attack once you’ve fed him and finally decide he’s...

Did you know that diseases of the teeth and gums are the most commonly diagnosed conditions in pets? Even young pets are not immune, as 80% of dogs and 70% of cats show signs of oral disease before age 3.

So what do you look for? Bad breath, for one, but don’t overlook changes in your pets eating habits or chewing patterns. Pets who look cute when they eat with their head turned to one side...

June 24th, 2006

Saturday. A day of boredom in the extreme (routine well-pet visits) interspersed with heavy-duty end-of-life issues (euthanasia). In other words: a typical Saturday.

I hate typical Saturdays. It makes sense that Saturdays are days when working people plan routine care for their pets. And so it also stands to reason that this is a good day to organize a family trip to the vet to...

June 20th, 2006

Tuesday. Another stressful day, albeit a half-day. It was my intention to be off for the entire day but the particular circumstances surrounding my caseload made this an impossibility.

I currently have far too many cases in the hospital for any R & R. In fact, I spent the weekend shuttling back and forth from home to work to check on everybody, clean their messes, change out...

June is more than halfway over so I thought it appropriate to inform you that this month is Adopt-a-Cat Month. Don’t you feel newly enlightened? And just in case you live near me (Miami area) I happen to have two left over from Mama cat’s litter. Come and get `em while they’re still little and totally rambunctious.

Monday. Among the most stressful days this year, I’m afraid.

Try to work in a fast-paced environment (phones ringing, dogs barking, cats that look like they want to rip your heart out with their teeth, clients complaining about prices or demanding to be seen by the doctor immediately) without losing your mind every once in awhile. It’s enough to bring on a Calgon moment every 15 minutes or so....

Did you know that US dogs and cats generate nearly ten million tons of solid waste every year? San Francisco claims that 4% of its total waste is pet poop (how they know this is anyone’s guess).

Did you ever think that animal feces would be newsworthy? Welcome to my world.

But wait—there’s more to this story: San Francisco is actually planning to use this information. The city has installed...

June 16th, 2006

Friday. Miss Brown’s leg has been pronounced intact by her orthopedist. Dr. Wosar found that her [previously injured and surgically repaired] leg was indeed very painful due to a new trauma of unknown origin. Thankfully, the site of surgical repair appears to be perfectly unharmed.

Because Miss Brown still seems nauseous and gastrically unhappy, I will keep her in the hospital a...

June 15th, 2006

Thursday. Horror of horrors: Miss Brown is back. Although she’s been renamed Rose, we just can’t get used to it (not that Miss Brown is such a fabulous name for her, either).

If you’ll recall, Miss Brown was the beautiful stray puppy whose leg was repaired by the illustrious doctors at Miami Veterinary Specialists—at almost no charge! She had been abandoned with us at the end of...

June 14th 2006

Wednesday. And yes, it’s diarrhea day. It’s usually right around the middle of the week when the weekend splurge of dumpster-diving and parental indulgence starts to catch up with our furred family members.

I mean, how can you resist this face? I can’t. Sophie Sue gets spoiled beyond belief so that diarrhea is a weekly (usually one-time) occurrence. I can’t help myself

Food is...

June 13th 2006

Tuesday. Kitty went home this morning. She still needs some work after her brush with death but she’s past the worst of it.

After convalescence of a week or so at home we can start to deal with the dental issues (she lost some teeth in her battle with the dogs). We need to take some dental X-rays to make sure the roots aren’t still present. If so, they’ll be removed so they won’t...

June 12th 2006

Monday. Have you ever had one of those Monday mornings when you get to work and the most stressful thing that is going to happen to you all month long is sitting on your desk like a big doo-doo explosive?

Today was such a one. One of my unsuspecting clients had just experienced the wrath of the local ER, or, as I like to put it, the desire of the local ER vet to take her kids to...

June 10th 2006

Saturday. Today I saw the tiniest little kitten with a nasty fracture of his femur. This little four-week-old has had a rough couple of days. It looks like a car hit him, splitting his lip and fracturing his leg. How he survived amazes me.

His family has named him Lucky. They found him when he wandered into their yard yesterday. Who could resist his tiny cries? Feeeeeed me....

June 9th 2006

Friday. Day off. I`m spending the day between the dentist and a short road trip to Ft. Lauderdale to celebrate the completion of this blog’s redesign. My designers, the illustrious, industrious, and supremely tolerant individuals at ichameleon group (headed by my dear—and extremely yummy—friend, Mr. Freddie Laker) will receive my famous litterbox cake.

In case you have never heard...

June 8th 2006

Thursday. A slow day in the land of sick pets. It’s a good thing (nobody getting sick, that is), but as my cleaning lady wisely reminds me, sin perros viejos y enfermos no hay cheque de la semana. Literal translation: Without old and sick dogs there can be no weekly check. How true. And, of course, that applies to her check too—I guess that’s what she meant.

At least I have a...

Tuesday. My day off. And yet already I’ve spend two hours at the hospital working on my creatures and getting frustrated with pseudo-clients.

One phone call in particular led me to a particularly poor state of mind. The offending individual on the other end of the line couldn’t even boast the designation of client. She was, nonetheless, an annoying stakeholder in a case I happened to see...

June 7th 2006

Wednesday. Kitty is still on the decline. I`m about 90% sure we’re losing her. Her bite wounds, despite failing to penetrate the skin, are taking their final toll. The tissue beneath the skin, where extensive bruising took place, is beginning to die. This is typical 4 to 5 days post-trauma in cats attacked by dogs.

Although her owner was informed—day one—of this possible outcome,...

Sunday. Kitty looks much brighter today. She’s pulled through the shock of her attack. But we’ll have to see how she progresses. I expect it’ll get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

If dog-attack cases survive the first 24 hours, unfortunately they’re still only halfway there. The toughest part, in many cases, is yet to come.

I’ll explain: When an animal’s tissues are injured in a fight...

Saturday. One of my clients just had a very bad day. And it’s only 9AM.

When they woke up this morning, this client’s dogs decided they no longer liked the household kitty cat. Poor kitty. She spent a little time in each of three large sets of jaws (the smallest of these dogs

weighs about 75 pounds).

Mostly, these kitties die—quickly. They seem to have what is known in animal behavior circles as...

Thursday. It appears we’re settling into another pattern here at Sunset Animal Clinic: It’s 4 PM and time for the afternoon abscess series. Each day at 4 another cat bite abscess case comes in the door. Today was only day number two so it’s hard to call it a pattern but I’m pretty sure we’ll see another one

I sometimes wonder whether people think we veterinary professionals are acting rudely...