Work Journal May 19, 2013

5/18/2013:  "Stability check -its an emergency!".  As we looked at each other with a "this must be bad" look a man in spandex ran in carrying a dog.  We had gotten oxygen hooked up at that point, so I ran for a mask as the  Dr asked him "can you briefly tell me what happened?" while my fellow techs grabbed the emergency drugs and intubation supplies. The man responded "I left him in the car while I went for a hike, I guess it was too hot".  He was then led from the room by a CSR while the Dr started CPR with me giving breaths via the anesthetic machine's breathing bag.  Finally a thermometer beeped and gave us the news -he was too hot to register, over 115*F.  Within minutes he was dark purple, CPR was not working, so the Dr called us off of him.  The doctor notifed the owner and asked if he wanted to visit with the dog, he refused, paid for cremation, and left.    UPDATE:  We got news that this man was arrested for charges related to this event.  Something to note about this case is that it was in the low 70's in Oakland that day.  It doesn't take super hot weather for temperatures in a car to rise high enough to kill.  ...and what a horrible way to die!

5/19/2013:  "Stability check on a stray dog who can't walk".  A fellow tech went to get the dog and brought it back.  It was a middle aged female bull terrier -her feet were swollen to twice their normal size and the skin was badly infected (visible puss between the toes) -you could smell her from across the room!  The nails on several toes had grown in full circles and embedded themselves in her paw pads.   The skin on her inner thighs was crusted with purulent material and raw.  Once cleaned we could see that much of the skin had cracked and opened up exposing the red dermis below.  She had puncture wounds on her shoulder, hip, and feet, she was thin and had the muscles of her head had wasted away.  She was also dehydrated.  The people who found her were asked if they wanted to take responsibility for her -a question that is often answered "no" because it hits people in the pocketbook and her condition was bad enough that the hit was likely to be pretty substancial.  But, the people said yes, so an IVC was placed and fluids were started, we soaked her feet in dilute chlorhex solution, trimmed the nails, and cleaned her feet and wounds as best we could without stressing her out too much.  At the end of the night her new owners came to pick her up and take her to her new home for the night -she'll be returning tomorrow morning for further care

5/19/2013:  "Stability check on a cat, it's an emergency!".  We really didn't want to hear those words ever again much less again the very next day.  I ran to go get it and it turned out to be a cat in a cardboard box.  It was open a little and I could see a large (1cm) puncture above the right eye that looked old and the cat was covered in dirt and pine needles.  (It seriously looked like it just clawed its way out of the Pet Cemetary.)  I asked if the people know what happened and they said she "must have been beat up pretty bad" and added that it was a neighborhood cat.  Awesome.  So, I brought it in back where the other techs had set up oxygen and the crash kit and I opened the box.  All I could see was the entire box and the cat moving as if I was seeing a TV station that wasn't coming in clearly.  The cat wasn't moving, everything in the box was.  Once my brain made sense of what I was seeing I realized there were ants everywhere.  Next, I realized they were crawling out of the wound I had seen earlier.  She turned out to have over 10 pucture wounds all over her face and neck that were necrotic and infested with ants and maggots.  She also had a deep necrotic wound on her foot.  We got word that the people who brought her in approved charges into the thousands of dollars, but the doctor convinced them that euthanisia was the most humane option.

5/19/2013:  There were so many stability checks today that only 1 tech and 0 doctors got lunch.  VCA provided pizza around 1pm.  I finally got a slice around 5pm.   A full day, but I prefer that to standing around doing nothing.  I also got to participate in another large surgery today for more practice (an exploratory that also ended in euthanasia).

Work Journal May 4, 2013

Friday: May 3, 2013
I was asked to help out in surgery today and the first surgery up was Joe Taylor's hind limb amputation.  You might remember that he's the cat that had an open wound on it's tarsus and had a dislocated hip as well.  Last week his surgery was delayed due to a nonregenerative anemia.  This week his surgery was scheduled even though his anemia had not fully resolved.  Oh, and he is also FIV+.  For these reasons I was pretty nervous about monitoring him under anesthesia.  It turned out that his surgery went very smoothly -his anesthesia was super smooth thanks to the doctors very skilled use at nerve blocks (both an epidural and a sciatic nerve block).  The next surgery was just a healthy 3 year old Pomeranian's neuter.  But, the poor thing just wouldn't stay under anesthesia.  It was horrible and proved that you can't predict how an animal will react under anesthesia!

Saturday: May 4, 2013
"Stability Check on a dog who has been vomiting and not eating for four and a half days and now cannot walk".  Turned out to be an 8 month old pitbull who was severely dehydrated, weak, and tachycardic. I asked the owner if he was vaccinated and she said yes, he came with all his shots when she got him.  I asked how old he was when she got him and she said 9 weeks.  She got all her puppy shots through us for her previous dog, so it is clear she was mislead by whoever sold her this pitbull puppy.  It turned out to be Parvo positive.  The dog was surrendered and we euthanized it.

"Stability Check on a kitten who's having trouble breathing".  I ran out to the lobby and a giant man handed me a kitten the size of a mouse while pleading "you've got to save her, I'll do anything, pay anything".  Seriously, maybe 7 days old.  I didn't stop to ask any questions.  The kitten was limp in my hands, cold but pink, the corneas slightly opague.  On the way to the treatment area I didn't notice any breathing and I could not feel a heartbeat despite feeling his tiny ribs easily because he was so emaciated.  We got him on oxygen right away and I started heating up a warmie while a fellow tech attempted to warm the kitten in his hands while the doctor checked for a heartbeat with a tiny pediatric stethoscope.  There was a heartbeat, but it was slow.  He was breathing, but slow.  Another doctor ran to talk with the man about the situation to see how far he was willing to go to save the kitten.  Like many cases we see due to our location, the man still insisted he wanted everything done, but admitted he had no money to pay us.  After much back and forth while the kitten started going agonal.  He finally agreed to surrender the kitten and we humanely euthanized the poor thing.