July 19th, 2006

Wednesday. Today I saw Lola, a friend’s very sick little Dachshund mix. She spends a lot of her time in the Florida Keys chasing lizards and living la vida doga. She’s a happy dog.

But on Thursday night, she came down with a serious fever. She was hot, very hot, and quiet, very quiet. Since the keys suffers from a severe dearth of all-night vet hospitals, my friend took her to a...

July 18th 2006

Tuesday. An argument almost broke out in the waiting room today. One of my crazy (but lovable) clients walked in with Heidi, a well-fed Dachshund well into her graying years.

Heidi is not really fat, just a bit paunchy. She could use a few pounds off her frame, but mom is well aware of the trade-offs and manages her weight more responsibly than most, I must admit. Heidi would be...

July 17th, 2006

Monday. Tachina is a ten-year-old Boston terrier with enough energy to power a small city—so says her mother, and she should know. I have never met a dog that evokes the Tazmanian Devil quite like she does.

Tachina's owners have to bring her in a crate so she doesn’t run circles around everyone in the waiting room.

I feel like a tree in a hurricane as she jumps all over me...

July 15th, 2006

Saturday. Today I had to tell a client his fifteen-year-old mixed breed dog, Rex, has malignant melanoma, a deadly cancer (of the skin and lymph nodes, in this case, though it can affect multiple organs throughout the body).

You`d might think this is going to be another depressing post but it’s not. This client, one half of a dog-devoted couple, took the news with emotion, but...

July 14th, 2006 (Bastille Day: repent Zidane!)

Last night I was informed that my blog is too negative. Now, this comes from a well-respected source so I’m not about to dismiss it out of hand. He contends that my delivery is vent-oriented. (Like central air? What exactly do you mean?).

Apparently, and I don’t disagree, I’m too self-effacing and don’t write enough about how fabulous my job is and...

July 13th, 2006

Thursday. Walked in the door this morning drenched from this week’s unrelenting, paroxysmal cloudbursts. That was after spending two hours waking, feeding, dressing and taxiing my 8-year-old to the dreaded basketball summer camp (not his thing—don’t ask, it’s a long story). In the hospital’s waiting room, guess what I found? Six clients looking mighty worried about how long...

July 11th, 2006

Tuesday. Had one of those days you have when everything goes well until the last client. Ruins your whole outlook for the night ahead.

Today’s mood destroyer walked in with a black cloud over her head. And when she opened her mouth it was like a black hole, opening wide to suck you in with her hyper-vacuous b---s---.

In the waiting room: I don’t need to fill out all that...

Monday. Olive is a very small, two year old Boston terrier with a very big problem. Her lymph nodes are enlarged and firm—not a good symptom. Lymph nodes are multiple structures dispersed all over the body that serve as a sort of clearinghouse for white blood cells.

Lymph nodes will usually get bigger when the body is actively trying to deal with an infection. They will also swell under some...

July 9th, 2006

Sunday. A beautiful day of swimming and resting. It took me all day today to get over yesterday. Yesterday was a crappy Saturday.  Like most, there was at least one euthanasia to perform. And this one was extra-special.

The circumstances were grave: Oscar would have done his Sesame Street namesake proud. This dog was poorly cared for. His skin was suffering from a severe lack of...

July 1st, 2006

Saturday. I always work on Saturdays. All my friends go biking, running, or boating on Saturdays. I wake up by seven, hit the Starbucks, buy breakfast for the crew, and work solidly until at least noon.

Most vets seem to work on Saturdays. Keep this in mind if you’re in the market for a career change. Veterinary work is retail work. You may spend eight to twelve hours a day...