Posted in Work on Jun 15th, 2013
We’ve talked mostly about dogs so what should cats eat? I follow the same guidelines with cats. They should eat a food that is mainly meat with limited grains. It should have human quality, real food ingredients. For years it was recommended that cats should eat mainly dry food to help their teeth. Now more [...]
Posted in Work on Jun 14th, 2013
Sometimes when we start the “what does he eat” discussion people reply with a defensive and panicky “Just dog food! No people food!” I’m not opposed to dogs eating people food as long as it is healthy food. Potato chips aren’t great for anyone. Need proof? (In my defense this was taken in the last [...]
Posted in Work on Jun 13th, 2013
Part 1 – You are what you eat My parents used to have a butcher shop across the street. My Golden Retriever would go over there for snacks. He was big enough that he could get into the trash bins. He was a kind soul, like Goldens are, and was often spotted with a group [...]
Posted in Work on Jun 12th, 2013
Both human and veterinary medical schools are horrible about teaching nutrition. I took an elective class in nutrition and learned nothing. It was mainly about calculating feed rations for livestock. There was nothing practical about feeding pets. For years I didn’t do much with nutrition except occasionally switching animals to prescription diets for specific health [...]
Posted in Work on Apr 30th, 2013
If I don’t recommend vaccinating for everything possible in dogs, what do I think you should vaccinate for? Here’s a look at the common vaccines. Distemper combination This goes by lots of names – DAPP, DHLPP, 5-way, etc. D = Distemper – Distemper causes respiratory and neurologic signs in dogs of all ages. It is [...]
More thoughts after reading Pukka’s Promise. The author recommends limited vaccinations. Vaccines are something that I spend a lot of time thinking about. First, some background. For the first 14 years I was in practice I was mainly a relief vet. That means I went into a lot of practices when vets need time off. [...]
I think I’ve finally figured out what has been bothering me so much about the book Pukka’s Promise. The author researched a lot of issues around the health and training of dogs to try to find what is the healthiest for dogs. When I was reading it my brain kept yelling, “Yes, but…” The veterinarians [...]
Posted in Work on Mar 28th, 2013
Yesterday was a day of aggressive dogs. My staff is good with handling most of them but these guys were special. One even got sent away before I saw it because he was lunging at the assistants and the owners were too scared to muzzle him. One came in his own muzzle. He was a [...]
Posted in Signs and Wonders, Work on Mar 21st, 2013
Glad they took the time to differentiate.
Posted in Work on Dec 16th, 2012
I was leaving work on Friday when I saw a cat that hangs out sometimes in the parking lot stroll into 4 lanes of traffic. He strolled. He didn’t dash out into traffic. From my vantage point I couldn’t see him in the road but the cars never slowed so I thought maybe he made [...]
Every so often I have a dream that there is a snake in my bed. I have a snake phobia. I’m actually starting to think that it is a phobia of things that look like snakes. I see them a lot more often than I see snakes. I’ve jumped in fright from wires, twigs, shoelaces [...]
Posted in Work on Nov 13th, 2012
I got a phone call last night from a hysterical friend. One of the technicians that we worked with at my previous job was killed in a car accident. We shared a love of Rick Riordan books. She kept me updated whenever the new ones were coming out. In fact, the last time I messaged [...]
Posted in Work on Oct 25th, 2012
Blurry because he couldn’t hold still.
I had been volunteered to man an Ask A Vet booth at a Pet Expo at a local mall. My boss signed up for him to do it but “forgot” that he was out of the country on that day. I’m suspicious. LOL So anyway there were all these flyers around that prominently featured the [...]
I’ve been taking an online Chinese food therapy course. I’m most of the way through the lectures so I decided to start making some of the foods and testing them out on my pets. First up – asparagus: I kept hearing over and over in lectures that cats love asparagus. That seems odd. But last [...]
Posted in Work on Jun 23rd, 2012
It was a big week for extracurricular activities at work. On Wednesday our clinic sponsored a minor league baseball game so dogs were allowed in the park as long as they bought a ticket. That’s Porkchop. He doesn’t hold still. For the game everyone from the clinic got to be in the owner’s suite. Freckles [...]
Posted in Work on May 21st, 2012
Two Chihuahuas were needed their vaccines today. They had previously gotten minimal vaccines. I told my assistant to assess their lifestyles to see if anything had changed in case they needed more vaccines. I said, “If they go to parks or anything they should get more but if they are the type of Chihuahuas whose [...]
Today is my last day at my old job. Officially I was supposed to work from 2 to 6. I had a massage and sewing day in the morning. At my massage I found out that Prize went to a horse show this weekend and took first place in Leadline. Yes, thousands of dollars spent [...]
Posted in Work on Mar 26th, 2012
I’m training my replacement. They finally hired one. There were months of denial that I was really going to leave. She came here today with a huge box of stuff. She even brought her own pens. Be prepared, I guess. She told me that she was happy with her weight and that if she lost [...]
Posted in Work on Mar 16th, 2012
Actual conversation today at work. Names changed to protect the confused. Background- We are way understaffed because one scheduled person’s house flooded and the other hit a deer on the way in. I stole a receptionist from our other clinic. She had her hands full with a dog in the waiting room when a growling [...]
Early 40s
USA
Veterinarian
Vegetarian
Owned by lots of pets
Quilter
Reader
