Tuesday, January 30, 2007

You Don't Understand

This has to be fast because I need to shower before class. I just wanted to vent a little about how people think a pet should be put to sleep the second they find out it has a terminal illness. Guess what: life is terminal. I'm one of the growing number of people who look at pets as a member of the family, and if you found out a family member had terminal cancer but could have two or three good, happy months left you wouldn't deny them that.

I'm still coming to terms with the fact that Sabriel isn't going to be around when I have kids and live to be an old, grumpy cat. To me that makes the time we have left with her even more precious. I think if you asked most small animal vets how they felt they would voice irritation that people choose to euthanize when their pet could still have a good quality of life just because it's easier for them (money-wise, time-wise, and emotionally). My sister and probably my parents--although I haven't talked to them yet--thinks it would be better to euthanize and that I need to look at it from "an outside perspective". I don't understand. Why would it be better for me to look at this unemotionally? I don't think there's anything wrong with allowing your feelings to help you make a decision as long as it's not a selfish one. If the drug combo doesn't bring down her fever and give her a better appetite, she won't have an improved quality of life and we'll have to put her to sleep. But we have to give her the chance.

Mood: dealing

Monday, January 29, 2007

Sabriel has FIP

That's all. She'll be on prednisone until she gets sick enough that we decide to put her to sleep.

Mood: heartbroken

Friday, January 26, 2007

Sabriel the Sick Update

I'm pretty sure that at least for now A and KP are the only people who read this. It's okay, though. I like have a private journal that my best friends can read.

In the past week we've spend $550 on Sabriel. She's had a FUO (fever of unknown origin) and not much of an appetite, lethargy, etc etc. The bloodwork we redid today showed that her WBCs and specifically neutrophils have dropped a tiny amount but nothing significant. Combine that with the fever that's staying around 104 and to me that means the Baytril isn't really working. My vet, ever optimistic, is having me continue the Baytril as well as getting back on Clavamox. We're also putting her on Lactulose every 8 hours to try to get her to poop since she hasn't done a whole lot for the last four days or so. We've already been giving her fluids but we now have to give even more because the Lactulose draws water into the colon.

So, in the morning we'll give Clavamox and Lactulose. At noon we'll give Baytril. In the afternoon we give more Lactulose. In the evening we'll give Clavamox again and at least 100 mls of fluids. In late evening we'll give another dose of Lactulose. Holy crap...this is going to suck.

The worst part is we're spending all this money and time trying to help her feel better, and in a week we'll get the results of the feline panel back from Antech. It tests for FIP, toxoplasmosis and a couple other things I can't remember. The "FIP specific" test doesn't actually definitively tell you if a cat has FIP or not, so if the titer comes back positive we're going to have to have a talk about what that actually means. She said that Antech says it's specific so it must be specific, but I just found an article by a board-certified internist who talks about why it isn't. Either way, if she really has FIP we pretty much just treat symptoms as they come and keep her comfortable as long as possible. I don't know as much about toxoplasmosis, but although she has the basic symptoms (fever, lethargy, some weight loss) she hasn't exhibitied eye or neurological problems.

I hate having her not feel well. I haven't been doing a whole lot of studying for school lately because all I do is worry about her, and I have an Anatomy test next Friday. I guess there's nothing more I can do for Sabriel in the meantime so I may as well start studying. I foresee a bad grade though if we get bad news from the panel because we'll be getting it a day or two before the test. :( I'm just going to keep crossing my fingers.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

A Pros And Cons List

Positives:
-Sabriel is FeLV negative
-Her temp was under 104 last I checked
-She ate a little a/d, a couple bits of chicken, and some tuna
-We got fluids in her and she's urinating
-She's on Baytril and hopefully it will work
-She seems a little more lively today

Negatives:
-She's still constipated and really needs to poop within the next day
-She's on Baytril, which is bad for young animals and won't even work if it's not a bacterial infection
-She hasn't been interested in drinking
-If it's not a bacterial infection we're screwed
-Last I checked Bush was still president and was in fact giving the State of the Union address and pretending he likes Nancy Pelosi

I just threw that last one in to keep you on your toes. We'll know in the next few days if Sabriel's getting any better. $360 in the hole and counting but it's worth it. Keep your fingers crossed.

Mood: cautiously optimistic
Music: Bush's sonorous voice

Monday, January 22, 2007

It's not easy being green

Sabriel seemed to be feeling a little better yesterday and her temp was down to 103.5, but she was having a lot of yellow/green snot coming out of her nose--yet another symptom, and one that has nothing to do with the suspected UTI. This morning her temp was back up to 104.8 so back to the clinic she goes. At least she's had an appetite throughout. My biggest fear is that when she was tested for FIV/FELV at the shelter when she was a baby they did it wrong or it hadn't shown up yet. It would break my heart. Logically I know how unlikely this is but I still worry. I want them to figure out what's wrong with her and get it fixed. I wish I knew enough to do it.

Mood: worried

Saturday, January 20, 2007

It's true what they say about you

I just spent a few wonderful minutes reading the blog of a British woman who is only two years older than I am. British English is so much better than our watered-down lazeified version (not that I'm saying we should still be speaking British English, because that would mean the Revolution--probably would have been called insurgency in GB if it happened today--failed, and we would most likely be speaking German today anyway). That is what I'm convinced our English is, especially southern English. It's just plain lazy. "Y'all" rather than "you all" is a prime example. I'd much rather be saying bloody and blimey and calling people prats. American English needs to get with the program and become more fun to use.

Anyway, on to the point of this post. I've always heard that vet clinics in Ames are bad. Considering that's where a College of Veterinary Medicine is located it would surprise me if the local vets were bad unless good vets moved elsewhere to avoid competition. Either way I've always been pleased with the clinic we take the kittens to. It's a little pricey (a lot pricey considering when I worked in clinics I got products at cost) but nothing KP and I can't handle, and it's worth it to have a vet we like and trust until I can treat them myself. I swear, I will graduate someday.

I found out this morning that the rumor must be based not on the vets but on the staff.

Yesterday Sabriel started acting screwy, lying by herself and suddenly growling at nothing. She was even doing this when sitting in my lap, and abdominal palpation revealed nothing because a) I've only begun learning what to look for and b) she tensed up so much I could barely feel anything through her muscle wall. But she started licking her vulva a lot so I had KP hold her under the bathroom light and I looked and sure enough there was a goodly amount of yellow discharge there. I haven't learned enough about anything to know what was going on with her except to know that it wasn't good and I didn't think she had a urinary tract infection. But again, what do I know, I've just started out.

The clinic opened at 8 this morning so I called and explained the situation. Whatever receptionist or assistant or tech I was speaking with said sorry but they were booked and would I like an appointment on Monday. I said no, and I'd be happy to just drop her off so they can look at her between clients since I think she probably just needs antibiotics. Then this woman said I could always go to Iowa State (yeah, their teaching hospital hours are M-F; I don't want to know what I'd be paying in emergency fees just to get an infection looked at) so I said I know because I'm a student there but you guys are my clinic. Finally she just got my name and phone number and said she'd talk to the vets when they came in.

I waited until 9:30 and hadn't gotten a call back so I phoned again. I was told they'd had a couple emergencies come in but I could bring Sabriel in and drop her off and they'd look at her later. Now, I've been in that situation myself and I know how crappy it is, so I felt rather contrite and meekly said I'd be on my way. I dropped her off as soon as I got off the phone, and it is now noon and I haven't gotten a call about her. I don't know what type of emergency they had so I don't want to jump down anyone's throat, but they close at one on Saturdays. I definitely don't want to pay for boarding until Monday just because they didn't have time to look at her.

I don't know how this is going to end; most likely, it will be expensively. I do know that when I work as a vet in a clinic, I will make sure the staff doesn't try to turn away clients that feel like they have an urgent need just because the appointment book is full.


//edit: We picked her up when the clinic closed at one and they sent us home with Clavamox (I did at least call that one) and said they couldn't get a urine sample and want to try again on Monday. The second we walked in the door she climbed into her litter box and evacuated what they had been trying to collect for three hours. Cats...you either love their style or hate it. The surprise was that she had a temperature over 104 (normal is around 100-102) so didn't I feel like an ass for not having taken her temp at home. We have tickets to go to the Turtle Island String Quartet tonight and they're front row and I really want to go, but now I feel like we should stay home and keep an eye on Sabriel. We'll see. If we don't go it's not a huge loss monetarily because student tickets are cheap and we got a 15% discount on top of that. I'll probably console myself by buying a CD though.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Oh you gotta have faith!

This article is an SI link off of CNN's front page:

Vet accused of injecting horses with vodka pre-race

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- A veterinarian will be in court next week to face accusations he injected horses with vodka to calm their nerves before races at Fonner Park in Grand Island.

Jay Stewart faces four misdemeanor counts of attempting to influence a race by tampering with a horse. His trial starts Wednesday in Hall County.

In a story first reported by the Omaha World-Herald, Stewart denied any wrongdoing. He didn't immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment. A person who answered the phone at his Grand Island clinic said Stewart was in surgery Friday morning.

Stewart is alleged to have administered vodka to horses in 2005 -- before the fourth race Feb. 20, the sixth race Feb. 27, the fifth race March 11 and the ninth race April 9.


Want to know what the worst part about this is??

Check out the name of the president of the Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association. Yep, same guy...

I'm so proud this happened in my home state and made national news. Little bits of information like this add up and degrade people's faith in our profession, so if these alleged events really happened I want to give a big shout-out to Dr. Stewart and say THANKS.


Mood: irritated
Music: Dr. Booth's lecture

Future Vets R Us

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to come up with a URL that at least sounded like what I wanted it to say. That's what you get when you arrive late to the party.

So. I'm a first year vet student leaning toward small animal practice, but I'm going to school in Ames, IA which means there's a fairly high percentage of large animal kids. There is a distinct difference in thoughts on the role of animals in those two groups. It especially comes out in our ethics class discussing animal welfare.



For example, veal calves. This is an incendiary issue to say the least. If you check out this pic, that poor baby with his doe eyes is in a small crate so he cannot move around, and his neck is chained to keep him in place. Allow me to flat-out state that I am completely against veal production. These animals have to be kept still to inhibit muscle development and are also kept anemic to aid in keeping the meat oh so tender. From a welfare perspective, they are not living a "natural" life, they are under mental duress, and their physical condition is also compromised. The problem is, these are generally the male calves of dairy cattle, which have to keep producing offspring to produce milk. As an avid milk-drinker, I can't advocate cutting production of these little guys--not because I would have less milk to drink, but because it would kill an industry. There are plenty of welfare issues in the dairy industry as well, but we're not getting into that. I'm not educated enough in the cattle industry to know for sure, but I don't think there are a lot of other options for these guys. So I'm against veal production but I can't offer a realistic solution that wouldn't have spreading consequences, and a good portion of the class eats veal and sees no problem at all (some of them have even raised the buggers).

The more I learn, the less I understand. And somehow we're supposed to be the people to explain animal welfare to others?

To end on a lighter note, I made my friend K laugh yesterday in Anatomy lab when we were working on our goat Snowball. I looked at him and said "If reincarnation does exist, some people deserve to come back as Anatomy goats." And it's true. If you screwed up your life as a person and came back as a goat that would be disappointment enough, but to then end up living for only a year or two before being euthanized and preserved so people can tear you apart would just suck. I'm not naming names, but you people know who you are.

Happy Friday, people.


Mood: confused
Music: Superhero - Stephen Lynch