ALMOST!

Friday was the most exciting day ever in the history of my working there!

Many Babies. When I arrived, and was working, there came a TON of small animals. Most of them were from the pet store, and many of them had upper respiratory infections (URI-contagious). There were 2 siamese-looking, 7-week-old kittens (so cute... I got to help give them their meds and make them a little house in isolation). They had URIs, so off to Iso they go! There were two puppies that came at once: a cute mix puppy with a URI-- he snuggled next to me and just kind of sat there... it was so sad but so cute! He was yipping later when we put him in iso too. The other puppy was there for something I've never heard of... not sure if it's a disease or treatment, but I think it was latin. It was such strange wording that I don't even remember it. Another puppy was there and had to be force-fed, because he was sick and didn't have strength to eat. So sad.. But they will be OK. Puppies and kittens are resilient.

SQ Fattie Later, it got very busy. A few hours before I had to leave. Which was good for me, because they gave me many chores to do for them! I got to first sit with a fat basset hound, who was on the verge of pancreatitis, so he had to get an entire bag of fluids (electrolytes) pumped into him subcutaneously (under the skin). That doesn't hurt, but it feels strange, and makes an odd-looking bubble under the skin, so he was confused about it. He was also a big baby, so he was squirming and whimpering about nothing really. I had to hold him still so that the needle wouldn't pop out from under the skin, so I had to hold him under the belly and around the head. After a while of sitting like this, dogs tend to realize that you are holding on tightly, and they will sort of "melt" into your arms so you hold them... and then as soon as you relax your hold on them, they jump up and try to run away. My arms were very sore afterwards... but it was quite an adventure.

Foot Soak. Another chore I was given was to sit with a dog while his foot was sitting and soaking in an antiseptic solution. He had a big popped blister. Of course, I wasn't the one doing the sitting... HE was so stressed that he just sighed and sat... almost into the bowl! I was lucky that his foot wasn't so big that it didn't fit into the bowl. He was a golden retriever, so he had a nice golden snowshoe foot. That was nice, though... I got to sit for fifteen minutes. Then we had to bandage it up snugly, so that infection wouldn't enter the wound. Another nurse and I had to roll him onto his side, and, poor dog, he didn't know what we wanted, so he was so frightened that he peed and emptied his anal glands all over the place-- thankfully not too much on us! Then he lay still nicely while the nurse wrapped his foot up.

THE BEST PART.... This was truly the best part! They were asking me and the other kennel aide how late we were staying, and when we asked why, they said that they needed to do an emergency exploratory surgery on a puppy who ate a foreign object, and they needed help, because they didn't know how long it would take, and if customers would come in. So, I offered to stay late, and I ended up staying until about 10:30ish. It was cool, because they told me that I might be needed to hold guts! I was so excited, and trying not to show it, because we didn't know how dangerous it would be for the puppy. So when they actually started doing it, the doctor doing the surgery was looking for what could possibly be in there, and she found some string when she cut into the intestines. They offered me to put on a mask and cap, and go right up to the surgery and watch. It is super-sterile, so I didn't do anything. But as I was watching, they had to check the mouth to see how the breathing tube was in, and when they saw the underside of the tongue, the doctor yelped, "WAIT!" There was the end of the string, somehow wrapped around the tongue from the bottom, and somehow leading into the esophagus! It was so well hidden that we didn't see it before. It went nearly the entire length of the digestive system... from the mouth clear through to the intestines. This was a breakthrough, finding the string. They said that the puppy probably would not have made it otherwise, because the string was beginning to press on her intestines and would have began cutting them soon. That would be bad, because intestines are swarming with bacteria that could be very bad in a different place. They began needing a gut-holder about 15 minutes before I had to leave, so I declined, because they found another nurse to do it, but they showed me and her at the same time how to properly scrub up for surgery like this. Here it is:

1. Get the sterile gown ready, and the other supplies.
2. Wash your hands very very well, as for a surgery.
3. Let 'em air dry.
4. Pick up your gown, careful to only touch the inside of it.
5. Slide your arms inside it (like a backwards sweatshirt). Let someone else tie the back.
6. CAREFULLY put the sterile gloves on and over part of the sleeves, touching ONLY the inside with your hands. DO NOT touch anything with your hands or the gloves to anything.
7. You should have had your mask on already, and cap. If not, ask for help.
8. DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING BUT GUTS!

So, now I know how, and it sure looked tricky! The gut-holding looked stressful. If you did it wrong, intestinal leakage and half-digested food may squirt out everywhere. I'm glad I got to watch though, and nearly get the opportunity! Wow!