Vet magic tricks

We’re all a little on edge these days, with all the mayhem, destruction and parvo we’ve been seeing lately. So much so that when any puppy with a peep of diarrhea comes in, my techs have taken to whisking it into the back, shouting “POSSIBLE PARVO! OUTTA MY WAY!!” as they rush by with a little furry ball into the isolation ward. I don’t blame them. It’s been a long couple of weeks.

So when I saw a little furball go whizzing by this morning, I sighed inwardly. I asked the tech to get a parvo test started while I finished up with the old dog who just had a seizure in the parking lot. By the time I finished, the test was back and thank goodness, it was negative.

I pop my head into the lobby, ask the owner a couple of questions, and let him know the good news.

The tech, who hasn’t seen the negative test yet, follows me into the iso ward. “Watch,” I tell her as I pull a mystery syringe out of my pocket. “Magic water.”

5 minutes later, the dog is up, happy and jumping and licking. “I’ve never seen water do that!” gushes the tech, who is 19 years old and thus hasn’t figured me out yet.

My older, more experienced RVT is shaking her head at me from across the room as she puts the dextrose back into the cupboard. After I talk to the client, we can explain hypoglycemia to our newbie. But for a minute, we just revel in the fact that it’s Not Parvo, and all it took to fix this obtunded puppy was a syringe full of “water”. (sugar water)