Su (otherwise known as the woman who sampled an entire panoply of canned dog food live on the net) just sent me a link to a really cute guy named Punk Rock. He really takes the whole punk thing to a new level. Apparently Punk Rock felt he was not punk until he had piercings, so he found himself a porcupine to help him finish the look. (Sadly Dad didn't let him keep the piercings.) Punk Rock: living the dream. Rescued from the El Toro shelter in 2002. Stories like this are why I'm ... Read more »
Blogathon
Hour 19: Pet Insurance
Kim asked me what I think about pet insurance. Me? I love it. It means people who would normally be unable to afford an emergency surgery or illness are able to get their pet treatment. Most veterinary clinics don't offer payment plans. We all wish we could. The problem is not that we don't want to deal with it, but that they never work. There are too many people who renege on it and ruin it for everyone else, so the only way we can stay in business is to be paid at the time ... Read more »
Hour 18: Brody Reviews Weruva Cirque de la Mer
Brody very politely asked for the opportunity to do a product review, and so I obliged. ... Read more »
Hour 17: Dr. V trivia
Because I need to go eat something- not dog food- and take a shower, here is a quick one. 1. I was born in Massachusetts 2. Until vet school I never owned a cat 3. My favorite color is green 4. I spent a semester in college interning at the LA CountyCoroner 5. The smell of fish makes me gag 6. I wanted to be a human doctor because I thought patients dying on me would bother me less than if I were a veterinarian 7. When I was in vet school I was planning on ... Read more »
Hour 16: Shout out to the Ocelot
I guess it is the morning now, isn't it? The animals (both human and 4 legged) are up and begging for food. The only way I could get Apollo to hold still was to take his picture by the food bowl. Jungle Ocelot is not amused. I know it's not the best photo, but we're on a deadline, people. To quote the best movie ever, you rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles. First person to correctly name the actor/actress who said those lines gets a calming collar from ... Read more »
Hour 15: FIV and you
I had a request to cover the topic of FIV in cats and what someone who was considering adopting such a cat needs to know. First of all, anyone who adopts a special-needs pet has an extra special place in heaven. :) Always good to accumulate good karma. Here are the basic things you need to know (which I have summarized from the excellent article at Veterinary Partner: ) 1. FIV (or feline immunodeficiency virus) is not an automatic death sentence. The average life ... Read more »
Hour 14: Su shows me up ;)
This girl is the real deal. nasuSremIE over from Twitter is eating actual gross dog food. Not the vegetarian stuff. I also have decided to award Su's kids two of the beads for being so deliciously adorable. ... Read more »
Prize Alert!
A randomly timed post! We're wacky like that! Up for grabs is another of the yummy treat bags from Biscuits By Lambchop. Special Blogathon offer: 10% of any biscuit sale between now and midnight Sunday will be donated to my charity! I will count that as a donation for prize purposes. :D Just use the code "blogathon". To win, simply tell me what is the number 2 ingredient on the list of "Starlet" biscuits. ... Read more »
Hour 13: SuperBrode
In honor of the halfway mark, how about a Brody picture post? He revealed his superpowers to me (he has more than one! More on that later!) last week. (If you like what you see, please donate! And to those who have already, thank you so much! This is already way beyond my expectations!!!!!!) Meet Brody, mild-mannered Goldenbeast by day. Until he sees the beast-signal up in the sky! The Evil Boy Blunder has chucked a defenseless little puppy into the lake! He's in desperate ... Read more »
Hour 12: Cake or death
Dr. Janet asked me what sort of crafty stuff I like to do in my spare time. My first answer is, what spare time? And my second answer is, I find some spare time, and do stuff with my hands. I like doing stuff with my hands. My mother always thought I would be a surgeon for that reason. But as it turns out, I like doing things with my hands that don't involve a lot of bleeding and potential dying and stuff. There are two main types of docs, and if you watch Scrubs you will know exactly what ... Read more »
Hour 11: ER Dos and Don’ts, Part Deux
In Part 2 of the ER guest post, Dr. Baebler divides some of the most common emergency complaints into three categories based on degree of urgency. PART 2: DO I NEED TO GO INTO THE EMERGENCY ROOM OR NOT? Onto the meat of this post. Below are a list of signs/disease conditions and the urgency with which they should be attended: Get thee to the ER doctor ASAP (remember to call us to let us know you're on your way!): - Trouble breathing or choking - Trauma - obvious broken bones, open ... Read more »
Hour 10: The worst day ever
I think all of us can come up with a story about the worst day of our professional lives. I decided to get mine over with quickly. The worst day of my career was my very first one. It was the summer between my sophomore and junior year, and I decided to brave a rotation on the small animal internal medicine service. I had not done any rotations at the hospital at this point, and everyone else in my group was one year ahead of me in their training. While my rotation-mates ... Read more »
Hour 9: Emergency First Aid Kit
I had a request for a post detailing items one should maintain in a pet first aid kit. That's a great question. Your regular old band aids are probably not going to cut it if you have a furry bichon, right? Fortunately for me, because I haven't thought about the topic all that much, Dr. Janet has already created a thorough and excellent article on the topic of emergency first aid kits at AboutVetMed.com, and what one should maintain in them. Here's an excerpt: A pet first aid kit is the ... Read more »
Hour 8: All nighters versus school of hard knocks
I'm trying to recall the last time I pulled an all-nighter. It was the night before an anesthesia test, if I recall correctly. I was sitting on the couch with a stack of cards trying desperately to remember the effects on the respiratory system of propofol versus ket-val.I remembered it for a while, kind of. We spend a ridiculous amount of time in vet school memorizing facts, but there is nothing- and I do mean nothing- like experience to drive that point home. For ... Read more »
Hour seven: Giveaway!
Oh no! It's midnight. Good God, what was I thinking? So much more to go. In the depths of the night, I resort to haiku. I need more coffee If I am to have a shot At staying awake. I have a bag of treats from Biscuits By Lambchop for the first comment in haiku. (If you donated. :) ) About Biscuits by Lambchop: Biscuits by Lambchop hand-craft sensible treats for the sensitive dog. A healthy treat for most any dog but formulated with special dietary needs in mind. They are ... Read more »
Hour Six: The weirdest job ever
The thrill of live tv, as it were. I had this post written in its entirety, and then published an old autosave that lost the entire second half. This was supposed to be my hour 5 story. One of my requests was for me to continue the background story about going to veterinary school, which I started, did one post, and then never got around to finishing. I'm sure doing it in this context won't do the story much justice- I could write for quite some time on this one- but it will do. ... Read more »
Hour Five: By request: ER dos and don’ts
I've alluded to the fact that I worked in a veterinary ER for a year or two. I learned a few things, namely, that I'm not cut out for emergency medicine. I vaguely remember a few things: the frenetic pace, the adrenaline rush of a HBC (that's hit by car for the non-vets), the sleep deprivation. I'm much better suited for day practice. Another thing I remember are the calls. Man, you think manning the phones at a regular clinic is a challenge, try doing it in an ER. Receptionists become ... Read more »
Hour Four: The aftermath
It really wasn't that bad. Truly. I was shocked- it kind of smelled like refried beans, which is what I told myself as I ate it. FWIW the brand was Evanger's. I did a test run of a different brand of vegetarian dog food earlier this week and it was quite a bit grosser. Someone asked me during chat what I thought about vegetarian diets for pets. Obviously I'm glad they exist, because otherwise I would have had to eat something much more horrific, but I have been known to ... Read more »
