I am soooooo grateful you all are helping out on the 12 Days of Petmas thing. One, it's super fun. Two, it distracts me from all the other garbage going on in my life. And thirdly, I have a stunningly awful case of laryngitis so I can slack off a little bit here even though laryngitis has nothing to do with my ability to type. The laryngitis is mostly caused by a cold, but I'm pretty sure stress and yelling exacerbated it. As I've mentioned before, I'm my daughter's kindergarten art docent. ... Read more »
Archives for 2009
French Hens
On the third day of Petmas my puppy gave to me: 3 kitties snacking, 2 dog hat doves and a Sophie in a stocking! Thank you Darci and crew! We were very fortunate to get a bonus pic for today! Happy Friday everyone! I hope you all are singing this song out loud like I am. :) ... Read more »
Turtle Doves
On the second day of Petmas, my puppy gave to me- And a wreath on the head of Bro-dee! Thank you Rwan, Enzo, and Learned! ... Read more »
More holiday picture fun (and a good cause to boot)
My very first experience with "super premium" dog food was about two months after I graduated vet school. My sweet coonhound Nuke had just been diagnosed with metastasized splenic hemangiosarcoma- or in English, "There's nothing we can do." Always a thin dog, he had begun to show the signs of cancer cachexia and was getting bonier by the day. In a haze, I went into the local boutique pet food store and tried to find a good food to tempt him with in his last few weeks. That is how I ended up ... Read more »
Partridge
On the first day of Petmas, my puppy gave to me: ... Read more »
Stupid Christmas.
Three euthanasias on Monday. That's more than I did in the entire previous month. All were the right thing to do, pets with terrible disease, but I don't think I will ever get used to the morbid regularity with which the Christmas Death Spiral ruins my holiday cheer. Bah! Humbug! On a happier note, we are having the work holiday party on Saturday and I am pretty sure I am going to win the Ugly Ornament contest. I can't show you what I got yet since some of my co-workers read this blog, but ... Read more »
Oh Disney, we were on such a high…
Up was one of the best films I have seen in a long, long time. It might be my favorite Pixar movie to date and one of my favorite films ever. It solidified in my mind the Disney franchise as a solid deliverer of syrupy movie goodness. And since we know they recognize good when they see it, it makes the bad even more of a travesty. As anyone who has been around me for any length of time can attest, I love the holidays. I love the decorations, the cheesy displays, and the specials. Oh, how I ... Read more »
12 blog fans posting
OK, so to solidify this 12 Days of Petmas thing- these are the people who have volunteered. Please let me know by e-mail or here in the comments if you can't get a picture up in time and I will get an alternative. I'm not picky- this doesn't have to be professional, you can use your phone camera, we don't care. Just have fun. This is really entertaining to me too since I have no idea what's going to be submitted; it's like a little present every day. :) I'm going to start these on December ... Read more »
Bleeeeaaaaahhh!
I've managed to avoid certain unsavory sorts of procedures for my entire career, but sometimes a vet's gotta do what a vet's gotta do. This week, I had to remove an eyeball. I know I'm not alone in saying that, even though my job consists of expressing anal glands and cleaning out infected pustular abscesses, even the most hardened, non-gross-outable of us are sometimes squeamish about eyes. It took me 10 years to work up the nerve to get Lasik. I had to leave during "Fire in the Sky" during ... Read more »
Anyone up for something fun?
There is absolutely nothing in it for you except tidings of comfort and joy. And lots of squeeage. I was thinking about doing the Twelve Days of Christmas leading up to the holiday, because as anyone who knows me will confirm I really just adore the holiday season. But a series of twelve with just Brody wouldn't be near as much fun as incorporating anyone else who was game! You would get one of the twelve days as an assignment, to interpret photographically in whatever manner you see fit. ... Read more »
Good to know
Those ornaments we were hanging on the lobby Christmas tree were glass. I really did think they were plastic. I am so very grateful to Brody for smashing one on the ground and sampling its shardy goodness on behalf of dogs everywhere, so we knew in advance before unleashing them on the general public. Way to take one for the team there Brode. I'm even more grateful to the tech who heard the ornament shatter and tackled him, sticking her hand down his throat to sweep out any offending bits ... Read more »
It’s done.
Brody is a eunuch. I had intended to wait it out until a year, but there were several reasons to do it now. One of the main ones being, I have a doggie daycare very close to work but they have to be neutered in order to go- and he NEEDS the stimulation! Plus the kids were asking too many questions about what he was doing with his dog bed the other night. I had intended to ask my boss to do the neuter, because I couldn't imagine the idea of something going awry and me being too distraught ... Read more »
You’re a bad one, Mr. Brode
You're a stinker, Mr. Brode. You really have some gall! You won't stop jumping on me And chasing kitty down the hall Mr. Broooooooo-ode I was going to wait until you were a year but I think I have no choice To go ahead and remove your balls! You're a rotter, Mr. Brode. You're the king of eating junk! Your belly's full of earplugs and your ears are full of gunk Mr. Broo-ode! The three words that best describe you are as follows and I quote: STINK, STANK, STUNK!!* *In a fit of pique ... Read more »
The 2009 Holiday Gift guide is here!
It took me the better part of two weeks to sort through everything, look though all the suggestions, and run a few items by Brody, but I finally came up with what I think is a fun selection of my favorite cat and dog items for 2009! (The Flash gallery is a new addition here, so be sure to click the little "i" in the corner in order to see the accompanying text.) [flagallery gid=2 name="Gallery"] There were so many great items out there that I couldn't fit them all into the gallery, so I'm ... Read more »
Preparing for the blow
As I'm assembling items for the holiday gift guide, it occurred to me that I am going to have to get a Christmas stocking for Brody. I always have stockings for my pets- and with 4 pets plus 4 people, we pretty much took up the entire mantel. On the heels of yesterday's post, it kind of sucker punched me yet again to think of what is going to happen when I open the box with all my pet stockings and stocking holders. Of the 4, I will have to pull three out. Three that I have lovingly hung and ... Read more »
Grace
I am, quite obviously, thankful I have Brody in my life. He is a joy and a delight and he makes me laugh every day, even when I'm cleaning up a mess or saying "Down Brody, Down Brody, DOWN Brody" x 1,000,000. I adore him. That being said, it's hard to say unequivocally that I can't imagine life without him- because the only reason I have Brody to love and spoil is because I lost the best dog I've ever known. It's very easy to imagine life without him, where lymphoma did not weasel its way ... Read more »
We’re ready- are you?
Brody heard me talking about "Thanksgiving GI upsets" in one breath and "early starts" in another, so he decided to go ahead a day early and greet me with a wee bit of explosive diarrhea of indeterminate origin this morning. And this without a single bite of turkey skin or cheese. Keep the bird up high, y'all. And have a great day! ... Read more »
Prepare for battle
In Valhalla, Kevin slumbers, fingers twitching intermittently to steal a tiny soul but as a whole, laying quiescent. The shortening days and the chill in the air tickles his nose, ending his long hibernation. He awakens. And he is hungry, the rotten jerk. I used to love the holidays, until I became a vet. I still love the holidays, but I hate working during them. Work is the opposite of merry and gay. Work is destruction and sadness, year after year and I can't explain why, bizarre in its ... Read more »