I know, I know, it’s been quiet here. I’ve been super busy doing the life thing and working on the DrAndy site and trying, yet again, to get my next book proposal done. But in the meantime: I’m taking a roadtrip to Seattle with Brody again! I can’t wait to share those stories and pictures, but in the meantime I’d like to present a brand new flowchart.
I’m on a few veterinary Facebook groups, and the sorts of behaviors they post about still keeps my jaw dropping. Potential paramours who connect with them on dating sites for the purposes of sending them a photo of their dog’s leg (I guess it could be worse?), friends of friends of friends texting at 2 am for an emergency ear infection, high school nemeses extending the olive leaf of Facebook friendship and then, without so much as a “how have you been these last two decades?” asking for discounted heartworm meds.
And it’s weird to me, because I don’t experience it that much at all. Not in my personal life, and not even on this blog or on social media. I know part of it is very clear boundaries (you may have noticed my somewhat explicit FAQ on the topic), but part of it is just I think I have good friends and good readers on this blog that don’t take advantage of me any more than I would call up my friend’s husband for computer advice. I mean, I am happy to help my friends because we are friends and we have a relationship full of give and take, which bears little resemblance to the remote Facebook acquaintance who couldn’t be bothered to give my post about my mom’s death a sad face emoji asking me to look at a video of their dog coughing.
But it seems like that sort of thing is still out there, and many of my colleagues are less salty than me and actually answer their phones at 3 am instead of my usual “new phone who dis” response. So to help these guys out, I made a handy flowchart that you can pass along to your vet and vet tech friends who might be too shy to do it themselves. Last time I made a flowchart someone sent me an email calling me expletives because they didn’t like what I had to say, which leads me to conclude it must have been spot on 😀 We’ll see how many people hate this one.
I will always respond to an invitation to go wine tasting.
Other than that, all’s quiet on the home front! Happy summer is here! How have you guys all been??
“less salty”, lol!
When I was about 15, long before the days of texting, I rang our vet after hours for some advice. One of our dogs had a tick on his penis. I had a hard enough time saying “penis”, and I think our vet probably had a difficult time trying not to laugh at my teenaged discomfort.. However, he gave me instructions on what to try, which worked, and the tick dropped off. Our dog was checked a day or so later, during office hours, and everything was fine.
I don’t think there was an emergency vet in the area then. Where I live now, there are two emergency clinics within a short distance from me. And I have no trouble saying “penis”.