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[MoneyGal]

My cat is coming home! He's been in the emergency veterinary clinic for 9 days.

And to add a money angle: he got sick while he was in the emergency clinic for something totally unrelated (he picked up a virus while he was in the emergency clinic getting treated for hyperthyroidism. This was not an emergency but was done in the emergency clinic because they have the specialized staff.)

Because he got the infection while under their care, they re-admitted him to their ICU and provided 10 days of ICU care in isolation *at no additional charge to me.* (I don't even want to speculate about what the cost would have been otherwise.) He received IV hydration and nutrition via a nasalgastro tube, plus a whack of x-rays and medication including things like interferon and various antibiotics, painkillers and sedatives.

Anyways. I'm just thrilled he is coming home. I can't say enough good things about the VEC in Toronto.

[brad]

Good news, MoneyGal! I'm happy for you and your cat.

I worked for a vet in the early 1980s, doing emergency services and assisting in operations, and I have to say I'm amazed at the advances in veterinary medicine over the past 30 years. A lot of pets can be treated today for conditions that vets probably couldn't even diagnose back then.

My funniest vet story was of a man who brought in his cat to be neutered; he told us it was a female, so we wrote her down for an "O/H" (ovarian hysterectomy), opened her up but couldn't find any ovaries, looked down and discovered that this was in fact a male cat. After that it was just slit-slit, yank-yank (sorry to be graphic) and we sewed him all up. We charged the owner the higher rate for a female neutering, since it's a more complex and time-consuming operation, including the sutures.

[m3s]

yank yank?? *cringes* Glad I'm not a cat

German mail rules, it's like being in the future. It's speedrail-autobahn fast and I can pick up parcels 24/7 by an automated mailbox and no crazy fees at all from the EU countries anyways.

Just had a long weekend and went castle hunting in my avatar country. Kinda odd there's 3 long weekends in June and then nothing here until the day they took down that wall, in Oct

[brad]

yank yank?? *cringes* Glad I'm not a cat

It's how it's done with dogs too, I'm afraid. The yanking part stretches the blood vessels and prevents bleeding. The animals are under general anaesthesia and don't feel a thing. I cringed myself the first few times, but after a few hundred you get used to it ;-) Neutering was the most common operation we did in the animal hospital, closely followed by dealing with animals hit by cars. And then there were all the cows with milk fever, but I didn't have to deal with those...I just rang the vet in the middle of the night and he'd take care of it.

When I was on duty I slept with the phone by my ear, and it would go off in the middle of the night when I was sound asleep, usually someone with a dog hit by a car or a farmer whose cow had milk fever. I had to answer the phone "Champlain Valley Veterinary Services," which is a mouthful even when you're wide awake, but very challenging to say when you've just been woken from a sound sleep. I didn't always manage it.

[Toronto.gal]

M.gal: I can imagine how excited you & the entire family must be!

Brad: the story you told is kind of unbelievable. I'm with mode3sour, glad I'm not a cat either [but wouldn't mind being a bird sometimes].

3 long weekends in a single month and then nothing for 3 months, especially in the summer months, seems odd indeed.

[kcowan]

What kind of guy does not know the gender of his cat? Especially when taking it in for the yank-yank!

Congratulations MG. I am sure he will be happy too.

[Four Pillars]

My funniest vet story ...

If that was the funniest story, please don't share the unfunny ones.

[humble_pie]

Q: what kind of vet does not know the gender of the animal he's sterilizing ?

A: that must have been when brad lived in vermont. Vermonters are so laid back they're borderline flyés.

if that had been a new york city cat its owner would have sued for botched transgendering operation.

[brad]

Q: what kind of vet does not know the gender of the animal he's sterilizing ?

Actually it was in Plattsburgh, but your answer still applies

The thing is, with young cats it's not always so easy to tell, and if an owner says the cat's a female you don't ordinarily feel the need to verify, you mark it on the chart as female and get on with the operation.

We were the biggest animal hospital in the region at that time, and it was busy. We even got Santa's reindeer from the "North Pole" in the Adirondacks; they came to us every year for inoculations and a check-up; it was a little disconcerting to walk into the garage and see eight not-so-tiny reindeer standing there.

[the-royal-mail]

I got a credit line increase today and am looking for a mortgage pre-approval.

Just information, in case life should change in the future.

It's always good to be well setup in case of upcoming changes.