Archive for July 2008

I do some Pet Sitting

30/07/2008 by Arielle.

sheila2.jpgsheila3.jpgsheila4.jpgA friend a few houses down the road asked if I would help feed her animals while she was away for a night. They went camping in the Peak District. As the weather was so good, they stayed on a few days longer and she ended up getting more than she bargained for.

I had to feed their ferrets, African Grey, canary, stick insects, tortoise and very old deaf dog with 1 ear and no hair (when my daughter saw him she just said - What IS that?!)

I realised very quickly that the tortoise was not well and took him into work with me. He had a hard abscess on his neck which needed removing so I  sorted him out. One of her ferrets also had a burst abscess under his chin, so I separated him from the other ones and brought home some antibiotic to give him. My friend had chosen the right person to pet sit as when she returned from her holiday, her animals were all sorted!

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A Hairless patient

21/07/2008 by Arielle.

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I have only ever seen one Sphinx cat before as a patient and that was many years ago; so when Hades was my next client to see today for his vaccinations, I was intrigued.

Sphinx cats are completely lacking in hair follicles except for a small bit of fur on their nose (well Hades had some on his nose). The owners were obviously enamoured with him and he appeared to have a lovely gentle nature but I could not help feeling quietly quite repulsed by the cat before me.

He looked like a reptile with pink wrinkled skin and a thin tail. I felt as though I was giving an injection to a human as usually we inject through a clump of soft fur into the skin. Hades had to have sunblock on every time he went out - yes, not my choice of a pet, but each to his own!

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Dangers of my job

18/07/2008 by Arielle.

I had a really bouncy Labrador to vaccinate last week. Her owners did not hold her still and I managed to put the needle through her skin and then stab myself straight in the thumb which resulted in blood dripping on her golden fur!

It was very painful and my thumb swelled up but I did not think anything of it. Suddenly this week, my knee swelled up. It was red and hot and sore so I reluctantly went to the doctor and was put straight onto antibiotics (the ones we use) and she said that it could have been caused by the infection in my finger.

I do feel slightly fluey as well, so yes, my job carries its rewards and its risks!

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I really need to lose some weight

15/07/2008 by Arielle.

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Amber is a gorgeous massive 70kg brown Newfoundland. She has epilepsy and her enormously patient owner has been in to see me a number of times. We could not keep her seizures under control so I referred her to the Animal Health Trust neurology unit.

She is on a cocktail of medication. The treatment for epilepsy in dogs is the same as that in humans and the side effects of the drugs are the same. They tend to make the animal put on weight. Poor Amber is now so large from all her dosing that she struggles to pull herself up on her backlegs.

We heaved her large fluffy body onto the scales today and the owners and I were thrilled for her when the scales read 70kgs - she had lost 3 kgs!

I however had a quiet fleeting thought which I did not share with the owner. Amber looks so huge with all her thick coat and I weigh more than she does!! I really need to get my head around sticking to a diet before our summer holidays - wish me luck!

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My daughter has an eye infection

11/07/2008 by Arielle.

It was much easier for the Doctor to look at my daughter’s one swollen eye and make her diagnosis, than it is for me when a dog or cat is brought in with a large swollen lid. They tend to wriggle and possibly even bite or scratch!

When the Doctor told me to use the eyedrops and if there was no improvement, then I was to return within a day or 2 for oral antibiotics as eye infections can be very serious; I just smiled to myself.

These words echoed what I would have said to a client about their pet with a sore eye and even the Choramphenicol eyedrops were exactly the same as the ones I would prescribe.

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A Spotty new Pet sitting Website

08/07/2008 by Arielle.

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I have just completed a website for Stephanie - a petsitter in Berkshire. She sent me the flyers that she uses and I was very excited to get going on her site as they were all spotty and colourful!

I wish her every success. See her site at http://www.spotted-wellies.co.uk/

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When the vet becomes a patient

03/07/2008 by Arielle.

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How guilty I felt last night when I got in from treating animals all day at 8pm and my husband asked if I had remembered an antibiotic injection for our own cat Buttons. I had forgotten and felt so bad for him. He had been involved in his first cat fight and not all cat bites need treatment, but this one did as his leg had swelled with the infection.

I was due to go back to work for another few days and the practice I work at is 45 minutes from where we live so I had no choice but to go to a local practice.

What a humbling experience it is. I think every professional should become a patient. I felt the same frustration getting Buttons into his carrier, then listened to him cry mournfully the whole way there. I felt very anxious waiting in the waiting room and struggled to hold Buttons for the young vet as he tried to shave and examine his sore leg.

I then had to feel the same stress of paying for his treatment (which I have obviously never had to worry about before either). So all in all, Buttons’ cat fight was a good lesson for me being on the other side of the table and luckily he is now on the mend.

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Some Wordly Advice

02/07/2008 by Arielle.

This has nothing to do with pet sitting or with animals but a friend (who was my old biology teacher many years ago and now lives in Australia) sent it to me. Thought I’d share it with you all.

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Hot Chocolate

A group of graduates, well established in their careers, were talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. During their visit, the conversation turned to complaints about stress in their work and lives. Offering his guests hot chocolate, the professor went into the kitchen and returned with a large pot of hot chocolate and an assortment of cups - porcelain, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the hot chocolate.

When they all had a cup of hot chocolate in hand, the professor said: “Notice that all the nice looking, expensive cups were taken, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. The cup that you’re drinking from adds nothing to the quality of the hot chocolate. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was hot chocolate, not the cup; but you consciously went for the best cups… And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

Now consider this: Life is the hot chocolate; your job, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life. The cup you have does not define, nor change the quality of life you have.

Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the hot chocolate God has provided us. God makes the hot chocolate, man chooses the cups. The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything that they have.

Live simply.
Love generously.
Care deeply.
Speak kindly.
And enjoy your hot chocolate!!

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