How does the time go…

I really never find that I have enough time to accomplish all the tasks I have set out to do at work. I have been carting around this piece of paper with all these calls, cases and paperwork that needed doing. I have only managed to cross a few items from the long list on my paper. I have been trying to finalize a behavioural report for a consultation I conducted two weeks ago and it is still pending. I obviously will have to do the last touches of the report in my own time this weekend. I also have so many interesting cases to share with you but my brain is too scattered to allow it!

I will simply mention whatever comes to my mind and forgive me if this article seems very disjointed today.

Even though this week was not overly booked with consults, we had a few emergencies and some intense hospital cases and lots of walk in (not booked) consults. I did heaps of work this week but left with a heavy heart today as I did not get to complete all my follow up phone calls and the to tasks on my infamous list.

Lesson of the day: never say never.

My first consultation today was with this tiny little adorable pooch (you will see his picture below) that was mortified to be at the vet clinic. His owner was concerned about his itching condition that has been present for a few months. However, in the past week, he had been quite itchy and would not stop chewing his back feet and tummy. The owner immediately told me that she is sure it is not fleas because her dog had been treated for fleas with advantage spot on. I collected the full history and then started examining my tiny pooch trying to ease its stress and prevent its eyes from popping out!

I found a few fleas crawling around the base of its tail and had to point them out to his owner. Poor owner felt stupid and I really didn’t want her to. We discussed the reasoning of why her Advantage treatment may have failed. We determined that she has an indoor/outdoor cat that is not treated against fleas and so poses a reccurent source of fleas.

It is crucial to be aware that in your strategy to get rid of fleas, you may need to treat the environment with a flea bomb or wash all the bedding.

All incontact animals must also be treated against fleas or it defeats the purpose! Hopefully our littel champ will be feeling less itchy after today’s treatment…His owner had to cart home a few boxes of Frontline today, one for her cat, the other for her boxer and the last one for mr. popping eyes himself!

Finally I leave you with this is a very interesting story. Last night, I did my last check on one of our critical patients at midnight. When I was getting into the clinic, I saw this man hobbling towards me with a shovel in his hand and something hanging off the shovel! In all honesty, I freaked out and thought

‘Oh my god, am I so tired that I am hallucinating now or is this man real and I am going to be killed!’

I froze in my place and was tempted to run to the car to let out my dogs for protection.

Before I could react, the man was right in front of me. He was very distressed because he and his family had witnessed this poor cat run over and killed right before them. They had not been able to track the owner and thought it was best to leave the cat in front of the vet clinic for us to identify it in the morning. I was relieved that I was spared and could live another day! I took the poor animal inside and scanned it and unfortunately she did not have a desexing tattoo or microchip to help us track down her possible owners.

Anyhow, I obviously need to recuperate this weekend and hopefully will get more done next week.

I am off to bed to have a major sleep in :-).