Outcomes for patients are unexpected - this can be good or bad. The diagnosis can be unexpected. This is especially often true for the pet owner. What walks in the door - be it client or pet - can be unexpected for us, the veterinary team.
I guess that's what makes no two days alike. It's what makes it fun and interesting and stressful.
Today I had a few things that were "unexpected."
Bad:
One was an older sheltie that had been on phenobarbital to control her seizures. She was also on an NSAID for severe spinal spondylosis. I saw her about a month ago and she had been doing ok. She had complete blood work which was excellent!
She came in this morning, laterally recumbent and minimally responsive. She was also icteric (yellow dog = NOT a good prognosis). My recommendation was - given her condition no amount of money would've saved her - to euthanize her. The big picture is what matters and the center of that canvas should be the dog's quality of life and/or her likelihood of having any if we follow through on diagnostics and treatment. Other factors, of course, come into play - the age/breed of the pet (which can point toward what it possibly could be, the lifespan for that type of dog/cat, etc), the level of owner commitment for care of the pet, previous history and other known medical problems and finances.
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Good:
There was a kitten that was rescued and adopted out last weekend. This past Monday the poor little thing came in in a severely neurologically impaired state. There was no history of trauma or intoxication. He looked pretty bad off to be honest. We had to treat him symptomatically. It appears, after running some tests, he had an infection. I still don't know what caused it. All I know is that our treatment is working and he is 90% better. I never count cats out because they are amazing healers. He went back to his very grateful new owner today!
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| The owner had this cute little helmet..he's a snowboarder and felt his little still wobbly kitten could use it! |
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Funny:
A client brought a young, UNspayed female cat in for a vaccine and check up. We discussed with them the importance of getting her spayed soon before any health issues arose. They wanted to know the cost. No problem. Then the wife said to me, "But if you spay her, won't she lose her meow?" No, I am NOT kidding. She thought she would become silent if we spayed her. *looking at my cats now* - if ONLY!!
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