abigail414's diaryland diary
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Cheating Death
My mom and her sisters think that all I do is kill things. At least that is their joke amongst themselves (my aunt wanted to know if I couldn't save something once in awhile, and then they laughed - must be swedish humor). Well, I�m happy to report that this was a non-euthanasia week. Not only did I not personally kill anything, but I talked three owners out of putting their dogs down.
One was an itchy old miniature poodle that the owner had inherited from his sister. It had almost no hair, was senile, blind, and the skin condition looked miserable. Yes it had a lousy quality of life, but the owner was willing to treat it for a month and then decide � so far it is reportedly doing better. (Weird side note - the owner's bulbous nose had skin on it just like the dog's crusty yeasty skin.)
Then there was an ancient cocker spaniel, whose owner was sobbing hysterically because his cat was peeing all over the house so he had to put the dog down. Why? He locks his cat outside to cope with her peeing, which locks the dog inside so now he is peeing. I got him to bring the cat into the clinic, she was 16 years old with non-functioning kidneys, so the owner opted to put her down instead.
Lastly, there was a woman with a lot of problems and a 10 y/o Pekingese mix that looked up hopefully at me, wagged his tail a lot, and laid on his back on my lap during the exam. Not a good euthanasia prospect, but the owner/foster mother reported that he had been in terrible pain lately. I did a physical exam, we talked about symptoms, which digressed into her talking about how she was unable to care for the dog. Luckily, one of our staff fell for him when he walked in the door (he really was that cute), so after having his anal glands and teeth tended, he now has a happy new family.
Vet school certainly didn't teach me how to deal with these kinds of emotionally draining cases - another good reason why I couldn't have done this job in my 20's. Hope my aunts are glad to know that there are three less dead dogs (yes, one more dead cat) this week than there could have been.
2:42 p.m. - 2006-02-19
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