Friday. I was the first to arrive at the hospital today. Yesterday had been uncharacteristically busy with sick animals so I was trying my darnedest to get in early enough to check in with the previous day’s casualties before 9 AM. This way anyone needing immediate attention could be factored into the morning’s already-hectic schedule.

I made my first few calls without incident, everyone on the...

Sunday. Last night I received a phone call from a frantic client who wasted the first full minute of the call apologizing profusely for calling me at home (I’m listed). She finally blurted out the sordid details of her dog’s recent attack—on her houseguest.

Poor Juny. She’s dog aggressive and fear aggressive and just plain freaked-out whenever life does not follow its usual course. Her owner...

August 1st, 2006

Tuesday. Another day off (supposedly) with a morning full of doctorly duties. Some updates for you:

• It looks like my little stiff-legged kitty will have to have his leg amputated. His stiffness is not easily resolvable without severe, continuous pain. I have no stomach for the daily sessions and his parents have no funds for the continuous intensive care he needs. Even...

July 30th, 2006

Sunday. Yesterday I saw one of the strangest cases I’d seen in weeks—if not months. It would have been a sad one, too, were its conclusion not likely to result in a healthy pet within a week.

A six-week-old pup, a Jack Russell (AKA Parsons) terrier was rescued from a farm in Miami’s hinterlands. He was found with no food or water, scrounging on the ground for whatever food...

July 29th, 2006

Saturday. My first client takes one look at me and says (and I paraphrase): Dr. Khuly, you’re the only vet I know who goes to work in heels, wears a punk rock hairdo and paints her toenails blue.

This (I say, pointing headwards) is not punk rock. Punk intends to repel and offend, I contend. My hairstyle was designed to please (myself, mostly, I’ll admit).

But this begs the...

July 28th, 2006

Friday. After a long night with two dogs in my bed (Miss Brown has quickly assumed her role in my household) I’m here at work on my day off to make a zillion phone calls and deal with one of veterinary medicines occasional headaches: a surgical complication.

Earlier this week (Monday) I spayed a six-month-old Rottweiler pup. Since she’s an anxious dog I made the decision to...

July 27th, 2006

Thursday. I have a new puppy. Her name is Miss Brown and my longtime readers (all twelve of you) know all about her.

For those of you who are new to Dolittler, I’ll briefly recount her story: A four-month-old collie mix (Miami Dingo Dog, as I like to think of her) is spotted at a grade-school playground after an accident with a fence.

The pup has a badly broken back leg. She was...

July 25th, 2006

Tuesday. What improvement! The kitten’s leg is beginning to yield to our ministrations. After a particularly aggressive physical therapy session I could feel some muscle give way (rip, actually) from the healing bone it was attached to.

Now that he’s up after the anesthesia we administered for this procedure, the kitten is sore and unhappy. A pain-relieving patch has to be...

July 24th, 2006

Monday. The kitten’s leg is not improving in spite of lots of physical therapy. His owners want me to keep trying but…

The surgeon came over today to check out his leg. He is not optimistic, to say the least. If the physical therapy has not yielded measurable changes each day he’s been here his chances are nearly nil of ever bending that leg again without…surgery, of course.

He’s...

July 23rd, 2006

Sunday. Here I am Sunday morning trying hard to bend a kitten’s really stiff limb back into shape. And it’s not complying. The limb, that is. I’ve given the kitten a whopping dose of pain relievers. At this point he could care less how aggressively I manipulate his limb—he’s practically asleep.

The problem: Baby kitten is found with a severe femoral fracture last month. I repair...