All this week I’ve been working through some or all of the noon hour, coming back after supper and working late. On Thursdays, we close at noon, but today’s emergencies had me going until 2:00PM. I just felt a little bit tired. Yesterday’s weather was absolutely beautiful and this morning it was much colder and […]
Author Archives: Doc
In yesterday’s post I talked about the importance of looking at the whole patient, regardless of what the client believes is the most pressing problem. Talk about karma. Today, little Matrix here was scheduled for an exam and evaluation because he had been having seizures. When a patient has had episodes that we suspect could […]
Today I got my sample copy of "Healthy Pet" magazine. We are sending this out quarterly as a newsletter for our clients, and they let us add a custom message on the the cover wraps. The first thing that I looked for was to see if my special announcements (including our BLOG) had been included […]
This was one of those days where I had it all figured out…until the doors opened. Then we began adding things, like the dog whose house-mate bit him and broke one side of his jaw. Like the cat who just hadn’t been feeling 100%, and was losing some weight. She turned out to have diabetes […]
Last night at eleven o’clock, the phone rang while I was already at the clinic seeing an emergency. Since I was waiting for a lab result, it was no problem to answer (as opposed to being in the middle of sewing up a wound, when it would be a problem to answer the phone). "…uh…" […]
Three times in the last week I have been presented with a pet who was gravely and terminally ill, and the people felt the illness had come on suddenly. I looked at the pet and saw things like being twenty percent underweight, bones "sticking out", dehydration, sunken eyes, swollen abdomen. These are things that didn’t […]
It is amazing to me how many clinical signs of disease are dismissed as "just getting older". It is certainly true that old age will bring about some degenerative changes that we cannot remedy. On the other hand, many diseases of the older pet are very treatable. I have listed common signs of disease that […]
"He’s never been sick before. I mean, he’s been slowing down, kind of grumpy-acting, but he’s just getting older." Bad arthritis slows you down, abscessed teeth make you grumpy, kidney failure makes you sick, and a weak heart keeps you from playing like you used to. If these problems are detected earlier, they can be […]
On February 9 and 10, I coached my nephew and his buddies for a performance in Semo Little Theater‘s valentine show, as posted previously. They’ve got a better video up now, so here’s the update. I’m the straight man and accompanist. "Ladies and gentlemen, no one writes a love song like the great Cole Porter. […]
This is one of those topics that someone emails you with things like "get a roll of duct-tape, a pair of welding gloves and a plumber’s helper." Normally, we have "cat-pill-giving school" for our clients while we are all in the exam room. Rather than giving them a handout, I just demonstrate with their cat. […]