Pick Your Perfect Pet

The next couple weeks I am going to focus on what per would be perfect for you. Each week we will talk about a different type of pet but first some helpful tips. 

Ebola and your pets! What you need to know!

Although I had other plans for this week I decided to put them on the back burner and tackle a subject that recently has been causing panic in the news... Ebola! I pulled this article from the American Humane Association

American Humane Association and the world’s top veterinary experts are asking pet owners across the country to exercise caution but not to panic following reports of illness in animals such as Bentley, the King Charles Spaniel belonging to the Dallas nurse hospitalized with Ebola.

"It is important to be vigilant if you live in an area close to an Ebola case, but not to overreact,” said Dr. Kwane Stewart, Chief Veterinary Officer for American Humane Association. “While some animals in Africa were shown to harbor antibodies after eating infected corpses or other animals, we do not have this situation in the United States and there is little evidence at this point to indicate transmission from animals to people.”

Fear of illness can lead to the deaths of pets without substantiated cause. In Spain, authorities recently ordered the euthanization and burning of a dog owned by a medical professional who fell ill after treating Ebola patients in Africa.

The chance that dogs might spread Ebola is very small in the U.S. or other places where dogs aren't near corpses or eating infected animals, American Veterinary Medical Association spokesperson Sharon Granskog told CBS.

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports on its website, “At this time, there have been no reports of dogs or cats becoming sick with Ebola or of being able to spread Ebola to people or animals.”

 “As with any threat to ourselves or our animals, it is important to know what to do and what not to do,” said Dr. Stewart.  “At this point there have been no reports of dogs or cats becoming sick with Ebola even though they may develop antibodies from exposure to the disease. A greater understanding of the effects of Ebola on dogs and cats is needed to help prevent panic and their needless destruction.”

If you suspect that you dog may have contracted Ebola contact your veternarian immedietly!

Things That No One Tells You About Being a Vet Tech

 “Your job is so cool!  I wish I could play with puppies and kittens all day!  You must just love it!”

Secretly, I roll my eyes.  This is the typical response you receive from animal lovers after announcing what your profession is.  It is usually followed up by “I could never do that though!  I couldn’t stand to see them put to sleep!”  Again, I roll my eyes.

Realistically, the general public is very sheltered from what the true life of a veterinary technician entails.  People envision us dramatically saving lives, snuggling puppies and kittens all day, and getting to wear really comfy scrubs.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and wouldn’t do anything else.  But there is far more to it than playing with puppies and kittens.

I have been a full time technician for a year and a half now and I felt that it was time to share what it’s really like being a tech in honor of national veterinary technician week (October 12-18, 2014). So, if you are considering going into the field as a technician, listen up, because this is stuff they won’t teach you in school.  And if you are just a curious pet owner, read on as well.  I guarantee you will have a new found respect for your pet’s nurses.

If you are a vet tech you will:

1.     Become covered in every disgusting bodily fluid you can imagine and several that you didn’t imagine.

·       Being a vet tech is dirty.  You get covered in every type of bodily fluid that exists.  You know how people take their dog to the vet and the dog pees on the technician, and the owner apologizes over and over for their dog’s overactive bladder?  I am here to tell you that if urine is the only thing we get on us in a day, it’s a good day. Blood, urine, vomit, saliva, anal glands, and diarrhea are the bodily fluids that most technicians navigate through on a daily basis.  They are common place.  However, on extra special days, technicians get to experience bloody diarrhea, afterbirth, chest fluids, pus, rotting flesh, squishy eye ball juice, maggots, stomach acid and content, bile, and any amount of fluid pulled from abdomens, chests, and lungs. Maggots are another disgusting part of being a technician.  It never fails; ever summer people leave their elderly dogs outside without supervision.  It takes the smallest wound or amount of diarrhea to attract flies, which lay eggs, and then hatch out into maggots that eat little perfect circular holes in the dogs flesh.  And it is up to the strong vet techs to shave down and hose off the poor sedated dogs to allow the vet to assess the damage and determine if we can save the pet.  Maggots fly through the air, down shirts, crawl on the floor, and end up in the strangest places.

2.    Become very good at wrestling. 

·       Our patients are not always well behaved.  Every dog that walks through the door has not heard of obedience school and every cat is not as sweet as Garfield.  You become an expert at manipulating your body and the tools you have to handle fractious animals.  Sometimes these animals weigh more than you and sometimes they want to eat your face.  Sometimes they rip the muzzle off their face or the e-collar pops off at the most inopportune time.  Sometimes cats wiggle free and get loose in the clinic and the technicians find themselves crawling under shelving units and equipment to bring back said scared cat.

3.     Become an expert at bagging dead bodies.

·       Death is a big part of being a vet tech.  You learn very quickly that you cannot fix everything.  Sometimes the owners don’t have enough money, sometimes the owners just don’t want to do anything, and sometimes, you really just can’t do anything more.  Things die, all the time, and it is the technicians job to retrieve the bodies, bag them up, and take them to the cooler room (aka: freezer). When I first became a vet tech, dead bodies scared me.  I didn’t want to touch them too hard, I didn’t want to get their dead juices on me, and I could always swear I still saw them breathing.  Since starting my job, I have bagged lots of dead animals.  And it’s no longer scary.  I can easily bag things that are bigger than I am in record time. You don’t only become efficient at bagging patients respectfully, but tight and leak proof.  Because bodies leak!  And you are the one cleaning out the freezer.  And you learn its way easier to bag before rigor sets in.

4.    Wear battle scars.

·       Being a technician is, in some ways, dangerous.  Your patients have teeth and claws.  My hands and arms are riddled with cat scratch marks and abrasions.  I also have the beautiful scar on my face, just above my lip from a dog bite I received on one of my first days working at a vet.  Your arms will be no different.  People will think you used to be a cutter.  You will spend a lot of time saying “I’m a vet tech.” when you catch people looking at your arms. You are also exposed to a wide variety of sharps, hazardous drugs, and radiation.

5.    Become the angel of death.

·       As I said before, death is a big part of the job.  As a technician, you will more than likely perform euthanasias.  I’m lucky enough at my clinic that the doctors do them, but many other places it’s left to the technicians.Believe it or not, euthanasia will not be your least favorite thing to see.  In fact, there are many times I find myself wishing the owners would euthanize a patient rather than watch the patient suffer horribly and writhe in pain.  Owners are often selfish, through no one’s fault.  They love their pet and do not want to let them go.  They admit them to a hospital and put their faith in the staff that they will cure their 14 year old dog’s cancer or reverse the loss of 90% kidney failure in their cat.  But, medicine only goes so far.  We don’t work miracles. As a technician, you get to be present to see the suffering of patients that you know in your heart will not go home.  And there are times I find myself hoping that something has died on my day off.  Because I know in my heart that death is a kinder option than the pain they feel.

6.    Learn to swear like a sailor.

·       In the immortal words of one of my coworkers “You don’t feel very much like a lady when you’re covered in dog doo.”  And you don’t.  Technicians swear.  Like sailors.  It’s our second language, maybe only second to sarcasm.  It’s what keeps us sane and helps us from wanting to kill the patient that just chewed his fluid line for the fifth time. You are a product of what you are around.  I don’t swear very much but find in those difficult situations as a tech sometimes it’s the only words that come to mind.  

7.    Make assumptions based on breed.

·       You will learn breed tendencies and will start making assumptions based on breeds.  Maybe it’s not always right and sometimes you end up being pleasantly surprised, but it helps to keep you safe. For example, German Shepherds, terriers, chows, akitas, and chihuahuas are more than likely going to try to bite you.  Pit bulls, labs, and golden retrievers will let you poke away all day and not even notice.  Beagles and huskies are dramatic and yell for even the tiniest needle.  And bull dogs are rarely neutered.  Because for some reason, people think they are tough and need to retain their manliness (which gets you another eye roll). You will also begin guessing what is wrong with different breeds before diagnostics are even made and seeing if you are right.  Golden retrievers, boxers, and shepherds are candidates for cancer.  Bull dogs and pugs can't breathe.  Labs are constantly eating things they shouldn’t. And dachshunds need back surgery.  You will start choosing what breed of dogs you want based of the cases you see.

8.    Become, to a point, jaded.

·       You see sick things every day.  In fact, you see very few puppies and kittens (Unless your vet has a contract with a puppy store like mine does.) and instead see many geriatric and super sick animals. You become jaded, to a point. It never becomes easier and you never stop feeling pain for the pets and the owners, but you learn that to be able to do your job to the best of your ability, you have to shut off your emotions.  You have to be strong.  You have to think clearly.  You can’t cry because an animal is in pain, instead you need a drug dose.  You can’t go into shock when something dies; you need to be able to do CPR.  You come to expect that bad things are going to happen. You know what it looks like moments before something codes and you can prepare to try and reverse it.  You know what an animal looks like moments before it begins a seizure.  You see the bad daily. I'll admit, I've cried at work before.  Everyone does.  But it can't be your go to response.  You have to be able to function.

9.   Learn that scrubs show a lot of butt crack

·       Scrubs are comfortable but not very flattering.  They give you no shape, your pants slip down, and pretty much everyone’s butt crack shows when you bend over.  And you bend over a lot.  So you become very cozy with your coworkers cracks.  But that’s just part of the experience.

10.    Be overworked and underpaid.

·       Vet techs are some of the most overworked and underappreciated workers in the country.  The average salary for a veterinary technician is only $31000 a year, according www.indeed.com/salary/Veterinary-Technician. And that is at the higher end of most techs’ salaries. Many technicians start jobs at under $10 an hour.  The job is hard physical work, hard mental work, and hard emotionally.  Technicians work long hours, often receive little thanks, and really do not make all that much money. Technician’s fill multiple roles while at work as well.  They are nurses for animals, yes, but also play the role of anesthesiologist, dental hygienist, grief counselor, janitors, and secretaries just to name a few.

11.     Work with humans!

·       A lot of people think that becoming a technician means you get to avoid working with people and spend your day with the animals.  The truth is though, you still work with humans. And you work with them at their worst.  People who are stressed, People who are angry, People who are grieving, People who are worried. It’s your job to de-escalate stress, calm the nerves, and help defuse the anger.  All while remaining calm and avoiding offending the owner, even if they are completely nasty to you. I've had owners call me every couple of hours while I’m trying to do treatments.  I've had owners tell me how I should be doing my job.  I've had owners absolutely livid because when they visited earlier, their pet was eating from a plastic bowl instead of a metal bowl.  I've had owners tell me to please carry their pet around as much as possible and I've had owners tell me not to love on their pet too much.  And it all has to be handled very, very carefully.
  

12.     Love your job anyways.

·       With all the challenges that being a vet tech provides, it is an incredibly rewarding job.  There is no better feeling in the world than reuniting a pet with its owner.  The way the pet reacts when they see their owner and the smile on the owners face always gives me butterflies.  It never gets old.  Some people say they get paid in puppy kisses and kitty purrs.  I've found that that doesn’t get me very far at the bank, but it does make a bad day a little better.  I love making my patients comfy beds, getting a cat that won’t eat all day to take some chicken, and making my patients more comfortable.  When I have a quiet, sleepy, well fed ward, I know I’m doing a good job.

There you have it.  I hope you have a new found appreciation for your pet’s technicians and what they do.

Is homemade better?

Dogs and Pumpkin: 5 things you should know

CANNED PUMPKIN FOR DOG DIGESTION
Whether your dog has got the splatters or is bound up, pumpkin is the answer to her digestive woes. Canned pumpkin is very high in fiber, which can help bulk up your dog’s loose stools or soften her hard ones. And since dogs tend to love the taste of pumpkin anyway, it should be easy to get your pooch to take this “medicine.”

PUMPKIN FOR ALL-AROUND NUTRITION
Fiber isn’t all that pumpkin has to offer. Pumpkin flesh and seeds are loaded with nutrients like vitamins A, C and E, alpha and beta carotene, lutein, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc. Altogether, the nutritional benefits of pumpkin mean healthier skin, healthier eyes, a healthier coat and a healthier immune system for your dog. That’s not too shabby for a treat that your dog probably will think is a delicious indulgence anyway.

PUMPKIN FOR DOG WEIGHT LOSS
Even if your dog isn’t in digestive distress, pumpkin makes a fine addition to his meals, adding bulk and fiber without a lot of extra calories. Many dogs love the taste of pumpkin, so yours may gobble it down not only willingly, but eagerly. You can feed him the same amount of food while replacing some kibble with pumpkin instead, thereby filling his belly and reducing caloric intake, a good strategy if your dog needs to lose a few pounds.

PUMPKIN SEEDS FOR DOG URINARY HEALTH
There is some evidence to suggest that pumpkin seeds are beneficial for urinary-tract health. The oil of pumpkin seeds are rich in antioxidants and fatty acids, which may be good for urinary health, among additional nutritional benefits. Pumpkin seeds are also rich in many of the vitamins and minerals described earlier, so even if the connection to urinary health is hooey, pumpkin seeds are still a doggy superfood.

PUMPKIN IN HOMEMADE DOG TREATS
The national pastime of the month of October is shoving delicious pumpkin into every baked good under the sun, so for dog owners who prefer to make their own dog treats at home instead of buying the processed, commercial stuff; adding pumpkin to dog biscuits should be a no-brainer, especially at this time of year. Here’s an example recipe from Allrecipes.com:

PEANUT BUTTER AND PUMPKIN DOG TREATS
Makes 25 treats
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Whisk together the flour, eggs, pumpkin, peanut butter, salt and cinnamon in a bowl. Add water as needed to help make the dough workable, but the dough should be dry and stiff. Roll the dough into a 1/2-inch-thick roll. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces.
Bake in preheated oven until hard, about 40 minutes

Pet First Aid Tips

Here are some great tips for emergency situations. One thing to always remember though is if you come across any of these situations you need to call your vet immediately after getting the situation under control.