22/05/2009 by Arielle.

Jack is a long-legged Jack Russell that had come from a rescue home 2 years ago. The owner was a very tanned elderly man with no hair on the top of his head, just long grey hair all around the edges. He was retired and had taken on Jack as a companion in his retirement. Nobody wanted him as he was so nervous and had a tendency to bite. I had to be very careful when giving him his health check and vaccination. The owner told me he would give a warning growl - I just heard it through the stethoscope.

He handed me the vaccination certificate which contained many signatures of foreign vets. I asked if he travelled and he explained that he loves fishing and spends most of the year in France fishing for carp. He bought a camper van to sleep in and Jack spent his days with him. I felt a bit nosey asking about his life, but found it so interesting. What a happy life they both seemed to lead!

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07/05/2009 by Arielle.

A client came in for his cat to be vaccinated. He told me a lovely quote from an old vet many years ago. The owner wanted to know how best to feed his cat and asked the vet ‘What is the best food for a cat?’. The elderly vet replied - a mouse!

My cat Shadow agrees with this as she munches on her nightly prize in our utility room!

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30/04/2009 by Arielle.

I thought I’d share  this story with you that I found to show how a vet’s day is never boring!

Vets were stunned when X-rays revealed the source of a dog’s stomach illness - a Homer Simpson figure.

The plastic toy was inside a chocolate egg eaten by 10-year-old Dixie.

The Dalmatian-collie needed emergency surgery to remove Homer from her intestine.

Dixie’s owner, Victoria Keir, 42, from Aberdeen, said she took the dog to the city’s PDSA PetAid hospital after she stopped eating and became unwell.

PDSA veterinary surgeon Alison Hamel said: “Dixie was very ill when she was brought in. She had lost a lot of weight and was extremely dehydrated.

“We needed to discover quickly what was wrong to provide the right treatment in time.

“The X-rays confirmed there was a foreign body but it was a big surprise to discover a plastic egg shell with Homer Simpson inside.

“We see many objects that have been swallowed but this has to be one of the most unusual.

“Dixie came through surgery without any complications but if it had been left any longer, it could have proved fatal.”

The dog was kept in for two days following her operation and prescribed a special diet for a fortnight to help her gain weight and aid her recovery.

Ms Keir said: “I can see the funny side now but at the time it was extremely traumatic and I’m very grateful to the PDSA for saving her life.”

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19/03/2009 by Arielle.

Charlie Houston is a 5month old sweet young cat who had found her current owners by being found at the husband’s factory. They acted very responsibly with their new cat and brought her in for her first vaccinations and identichipping. She came in today for her 2nd set of vaccinations. I am not sure why I did it as I do not often do it as routine but I decided to check her identichip with our scanner once I had vaccinated her.

It had miraculously disappeared. I tried another scanner thinking that the first was faulty and ran it all over sweet patient Charlie - even down her legs but nothing! The only think I could think of was that it was a dud chip which can occur very rarely. Never having been faced with this problem before, I set about identichipping her again. When it came to the payment section, I told the owners that as I had never dealt with a case like this before, I was not sure if they had to pay again.

Once they had gone, I sent a message to our administrator upstairs. I hope she enjoyed my inital heading it read ‘Charlie Houston - we have a problem!’

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05/03/2009 by Arielle.

Annabel was a young small cat who had recently been admitted in the hospital for tests as she was vomitting her food everyday. All the results were negative and today Annabel was in for her vaccinations. I asked the owner whether the vomitting  problem had been sorted out and she answered that yes, after all the extensive tests; the owner had worked out the problem!

She had changed Annabel’s food from Whiskas to Felix and all the vomitting stopped. The owner worked closely with the cat’s protection league and had many cats of her own. She went on to tell me something I had never heard and wondered if it could be true.

She had been told by a vet many years ago to not feed any of the rescue cats Whiskas as they added an ingredient that they would never make owners aware of - caffeine to the food. This obviously made the food addictive to our cats which meant that they would only eat this brand of food - I wonder how true this is and if it is, how deceiving!!

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21/02/2009 by Arielle.

Humphrey was a lovely ginger cat whose owner brought him in as he just wasn’t himself. He lay purring on my table and I quickly discovered his problem. Humphrey had a huge bladder and must have been in an enormous amount of discomfort. Cats do sometimes purr when they are in pain as well as when they are happy (although the owner says he purrs all the time!)

Humphrey very sadly had to be put to sleep. His bladder was so full that once in the hospital and fully sedated; we gently attempted to pass a catheter to unblock his bladder and it burst. The owner was in shock and as Humphrey was 14 years old, she decided not to operate. Whatever had caused his blocked bladder had been very severe and very likely there was a tumour involved. What a sad day.

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14/02/2009 by Arielle.

We had so many kindly donated boxes of Roses, Quality Street and Heroes from loyal clients over Christmas; that I just associated the reception area at work with chocolate for a few weeks. Everytime I went to fetch some tablets over the festive season, I would peel open a tin and replenish my sugar levels!

Since January, we have all been on diet and the practice has been cleared of anything fattening. That is why, I grew very excited this morning after a busy few hours consulting when I heard a client walk in and say that she had brought in chocolate. My excitement quickly changed to disappointment when I realised that she had brought in her little Netherland Dwarf rabbit Chocolate for his 6 weekly teeth trim!

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05/02/2009 by Arielle.

I have written about Amber Rose before. She is a huge gorgeous chocolate Newfoundland who suffers from epilepsy. She is on 3 different forms of medication to control her seizures. The side effects of the medication are quite cruelly - weight gain!

Amber is therefore constantly on diet as her enormous weight causes her backlegs to buckle. I know just how she feels feeling constantly hungry when on diet; but today her owners brought her in as she found a whole bar of soap in its cardboard box and she chewed it up with delight and ate it.

She appeared calm and happy and the smell of clean soap in the consulting room made such a good change from the usual nasty smells we extract from clients’ pets! I have not had a case like this before and disappeared upstairs to look up the dangers of soap ingestion in the poisons book.

I was warned not to make her vomit as the soap could bubble and froth and she would then breath it in - a bigger danger. The treatment was simple - feed her milk to neutralise the soap. The owner was relieved and I imagine once she was home, Amber would have been thrilled with that treatment!

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29/01/2009 by Arielle.

I was told by my partners at work this week that they were cutting my hours right back and they could only afford to have me consult on  Saturdays. As a part-time locum at the practice, I was the obvious person to cut back on and the dear old senior vet who has had his days cut down to 3 a week.

I felt really sad about it and couldn’t but take it personally at first, feeling as though I was not good enough for them to keep me during the week. They assured me that it is purely a financial decision, but I feel so much for people who have recently been made redundant. What a blow to ones’ confidence and obviously financially, what a life changing stress.

It sent a ripple of panic through the practice as each staff member I spoke to looked concerned and I could almost read the worry on their faces. Sadly, every aspect of businesses are being affected - even vets and sadly it has to be me this time!

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15/01/2009 by Arielle.

We have a lovely new kind receptionist at the branch practice and it was my turn to work there today. The veterinary nurse on duty was ill so our new receptionist had to stand in for her. Her heart dropped when she saw that an 18 year old cat called Moffatt was booked in for euthanasia.

Moffatt was very dehydrated and her organs had failed with old age. She was ready to be quietly put to sleep and her owners were obviously devastated.

I felt so bad that I had to call our new receptionist in to help me hold Moffatt and bring up the vein in her front leg. I noticed the tears well up in her eyes and let her quickly leave the room as soon as Moffatt was quiet. I really felt for her.

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