Pawcurious: With Veterinarian and Author Dr. V

Celebrating the truth that pets make people better.

Pet Doctor Barbie

Pet Doctor Barbie and the Pet Food Dude

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It's been a while since I've done a Pet Doctor Barbie post. It's past due for a new episode, yes? I think it's time for Pet Doctor Barbie to meet one of her self-appointed arch nemeses, Pet Food Dude.   Episode 8 Hi Mrs. Sandford, good to see you and Muffin. It's been a while! I'm really glad you're doing housecalls now. I want to get Muffin's bump looked at again. OK, I'll just look at my notes here- 1 cm, top of head...mm hmmm... So where we left it one year ago was that you ... Read more »

The true hero of the story: a Pet Doctor Barbie Post

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A couple times a year, I take a stroll through Toys R Us to see if there is a new Pet Vet Barbie being inflicted upon the masses. There's a cat vet one, which I bought just because she has a slide on the exam table and that alone was worth the price- I mean, what cat doesn't love going down a slide at the vet clinic?- but that's not what really got me excited. The Barbie I had to grab was the Fashionista Barbie. Those babies have moveable joints. MOVEABLE JOINTS! Now, why fashionistas need ... Read more »

CSI: Hands Off (a Pet Doctor Barbie post)

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The other day, my daughter was invited to a birthday party and told to bring a favorite doll. She brought down one of her special amputee Barbies, the arm neatly chewed off below the elbow. "Aw honey," I said, "Do you want to pick a doll that has all her limbs?" She looked at me askance. "ALL of my dollies are like this." She said this without a hint of regret or remorse. "That's just what happens when Brody shares." I guess when all you've known is a pet serial doll killer, it doesn't ... Read more »

The Trouble With Barbie 2

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Most Barbies only come out once or twice: NASCAR Barbie, Astronaut Barbie, Spongebob Barbie, etc. But there are some that, for obvious reasons, keep coming back in multiple incarnations for each new generation of starry eyed little girls. This is why I have 5 versions of Pet Vet Barbie. The old ones weren't so bad. Why each successive one has been stranger and stranger is open to postulation, but even I couldn't explain what the heck Mattel was thinking with their latest offering of Pet Vet ... Read more »

There’s one in every office

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Well, since you all have been so indulgent about the Hounds for Haiti stuff and are doing so well with filling up the page with bids, let's take a mental break for an episode of Pet Doctor Barbie. What do you say? This episode is entitled, "The Devil Went Down to Omaha." I recently had lunch with a colleague and friend of mine, who for the purposes of this post shall be referred to as Dr. Daisy. Dr. Daisy is a little ray of sunshine, sprinkling good cheer and merriment wherever she goes. ... Read more »

Spay’s Anatomy (featuring Pet Doctor Barbie and a special guest star)

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Voiceover: Diagnosing a pet is like fighting a battle in the fog. Without their ability to tell you what's wrong, you don't know your enemy. Sometimes the fog is a mere hazy gauze, easily penetrated with our exam and our instincts, and other times it sits over the field like a big hairy blindfold. Well hello there, Miss Blake! What brings you and Lulu here today? Doctor, Lulu just isn't herself. I don't know what is wrong, but something is wrong. Any changes in appetite or drinking ... Read more »

It’s summer time at the vet clinic

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If there is one thing that is ubiquitous in this field, it is dogs with itchy skin. While many vets shudder at the ever present itchy dog, I kind of like it. Lucky for me, since dermatology represents something like one third of all the cases we see. I don't think it's boring. I think it's interesting. That being said, it's not always the most complicated case on the docket. We're not talking House, here. There are one or two scripts that play out over and over like clockwork starting every ... Read more »

This is what we call the ‘turf’

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My license allows me to legally practice medicine on just about anything- except humans, of course. If you really want to make a vet's hair stand on end, ask them why they didn't become a "real doctor". Most people only ask that once, at least to me. Granted, that's a hell of a lot of species to know. Sheesh, MDs manage to eke out a living focusing on one organ system of one species- OBs, for instance, or dermatologists- and yet somehow I'm expected to be able to handle a cow dystocia as well ... Read more »

Welcome to the Big League

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Today is a very big day for Dr. Autumn. I had a Barbie floating around that looked like her, but I couldn't bear to put her in the standard Barbie vet getup, so in her honor I created a pair of slightly more appropriate scrubs. Hold on...just a couple more things here... Ah. Much better. I've had the pleasure of working with her previously, as Autumn, the awesome technician, but today is the Big Day for her: her first day as Doctor Autumn, practicing veterinarian. I know she knows the ... Read more »

Stick a muzzle on it

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There are some vets out there, my 'mentor' (I use that term loosely) included, who don't really use muzzles very often. I think for some, it's a guy thing- "I don't need no stinkin' muzzle! I am brawny and manly and I can dominate this beast!" And two seconds later they tell their technician to go hold the dog. They get bit a lot. Some clients buy into this too. When a pet is looking scared, anxious, or outright aggressive, I don't waste much time in suggesting a muzzle. Most clients are fine ... Read more »

The Trouble with Barbie

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For arguably the most popular girls' toy of all time, Barbie sure does seem like something concocted by a guy. May I present to you Exhibit A: Barbie Pet Vet. Because I can't help myself, I own several versions of Veterinarian Barbie-excuse me- Pet Doctor Barbie- starting with her 1996 incarnation in chartreuse hot pants. She's gone through some changes over the years, but this is the first one I've seen actually wearing a miniskirt. Make that, a miniskirt that was then hemmed a few ... Read more »