Today was another crazy day in general small animal practice. See above graphic for complete listing of what that entails!
The morning started off with a 2 yr old cat in respiratory distress. Her chest x-ray initially had me thinking she had cancer but I was so happy to see her white blood cell count significantly elevated, indicating it was most likely pneumonia. Serious but better than the big "C." Still, she's not out of the woods and it will be a few days before we know how she'll respond to therapy.
Then I had to explain to an owner that their dog was not going to recover from kidney failure secondary to Lyme disease (what we term "Lyme nephritis.") This was hard because the dog was a young adult. Unfortunately, she had never been vaccinated for Lyme. This is why we (and I, personally) urge vaccination - we see far too much in this area to NOT do it.
Sadly, the owners will have to make that difficult decision in the next days to weeks.
This afternoon, I honestly think almost every appointment I saw was either: skin issues or vomiting/diarrhea. These ARE two of the most common reasons people bring pets in (esp dogs). There are so many things that can cause dermatologic or gastrointestinal issues. Some of these patients just needed medication, others more of an extensive work-up. Unfortunately for one, it does appear that she has a mass in her abdomen compressing (and possibly involving) her stomach.
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