interesting and smelly

Today was... interesting. It was a mixture of pretty busy and pretty slow. Here are the main things:

More Toes: Another poor declawed kitty--- this time on all feet. He was really really fat and huge. But, he was really nice. Some nurse who wasn't really thinking put this awful sticky padding on his sore toes when she was bandaging... you are only supposed to put nice soft cast padding with the other stuff on top! NOT a sticky bandage! Sadly, even I would have known better. But, oh well. When we had to take it off, poor guy, it was really pulling on his sore feet. He did really well, though. The sticky pads smelled badly like pee or poop, which we didn't figure out until the end, after blaming the poor cat for the horrible smell! He must be excited for a new day, hoping it'll be better. I know I would!

Seroma (caution: gross) I learned something new today. I went up front to get a rottweiler puppy (really sweet, by the way) who was here for a stitches recheck, probably from a spay. We brought her back, and and the nurse was ready to tell the doctor it looked fine, then looked again. She had a huge mass-like bubble on her abdomen, near the stitches. It wasn't red or inflamed, just huge and bubble-like. They knew immediately that it was a seroma--- that it would be filled with blood and other great stuff. This was knew to me... I usually only see abcesses. I'll explain the difference in the next story. So we had to keep the doggy, and we made her sleepy. Then, I carried her (which I am proud of, by the way, because I am a weakling, and she was supposedly 55 lbs) to the table, and I was holding her while the doctor cut her mass (which was maybe 3-4" in diameter) in two places, and it squirted out. I'm not kidding... if she would have squeezed it harder, it would have gushed onto me. Lovely picture, huh? Anyways, so a whole bunch of blood ran out, and then she ran a stretchy tube (a drain... similar to a balloon animal balloon) through it, sutured it to the skin, and left it there for the wound to drain and get air. Gave the dog a shot of antibiotics and pain meds and she was good to go! Wow...

Really Smelly (caution: an even grosser story perhaps) Right after the seroma, a kitty with an abcess on her cheek came. Abcesses are grosser than seromas to me because they are filled with blood and pus, which is infected and smells really really bad. They are like huge acne zits. So I wanted to tap the kitty's head, because it distracts them from the ouch of the cut, because they sometimes don't even get an anesthetic, because the abcess already has a lot of pressure and hurts, and the relief when it all oozes out is great. So I was tapping, and it was OOZING out of the cheek. Poor cat! Some got in her mouth and she was making faces. I would have been making faces too! I'm sure she felt better after that though. The owners were sympathetic and a little bit sickened I think. :)

"Hmm" owners: Some people are odd. I think I have the best job sometimes because I don't have to deal with people unless I take pets back or out front. I took a dog out to go home now, and she was a friendly dog. Sweet girl, adult the size of a young labrador. When I delivered her to the people, they were waiting with the dog's harness. Puppy became so excited, and she was jumping up and down on her owners, and wagging her tail ferociously. I always wait and hold the dog so that the owners can put on the collars. As I was holding her, the lady took the dog close to her and said soothingly, "shh, baby, it's all right, it'll be OK, don't be afraid." Her dog was wagging her tail and wiggling with joy.... why would she possibly be afraid? I just don't understand people. This couple never replied to anything I said, either. Why was I there? I was invisible. Oh, well... everyone else appreciates me, and I love what I do.