Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Day in the Life of a Dog-Doc: My list of patients.

With all of the rough weather, today was a little slow.
A good day to find the humor hidden in all of this soggy, groggy, mess.

Today my day included working on three very special doggies...

Trixie


(this is not actually a picture of trixie- just a representation)

Dixie

(this is not actually a picture of dixie- just a representation)
and Pixie.

(this is not actually a picture of pixie- just a representation)

I like anything that rhymes so it made me a little bit happy!

Next funny thing about Trixie, Dixie and Pixie...
one of these furry friends was a boy doggie! 

Can you guess which?

If so you will recieve a prize!

...the prize is that you will have the satisfaction of being correct!!! 
Yay for you! (if you are in fact correct...)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

the Incident

Our little Caleb hit another milestone today...

not walking
or pulling up to stand
or even another tooth (we have 5 now by the way!!!)...

He recieved his first "INCIDENT REPORT" from daycare today.

That's right...his teacher sent a note home with him from school!

























The Offense:
Crawling around like a houligan...

What Happened: "Crawling on the slide and went down face first.  hit his head on the ground!"
Action Taken...rushed to the ER for an emergency laparotomy...
not really...
Action Taken:  "TLC"
...my baby loves TLC!


This is the slide:


This is the child as we picked him up at daycare:
feeling much better playing with his best buddy! (he's the one in the white onesie!)

finally realized we were there to get him!


I think we are gonna have a handful with this one.





Also,
Tomorrow is my day off!
I'm thinking about getting my hair trimmed and getting ready for my Momma to come visit me!!! 
YAYAY!
To celebrate this and because it has been so stinkin' hot I think I'll also try making this !



One sad note...I'm going to miss this weekend's trip to Mississippi to meet sweet baby Chandler Graham...
he is the Hubb's sister's new addition and from the pictures I've seen, he is precious!
He has had a tough time but finally got to leave the hospital yesterday at eleven days old!
Hubbs is going to see him first hand but I guess I'll have to wait a little longer...he better take some pictures of that sweet lil baby!

Monday, June 20, 2011

to Hubbs- Happy(?) 1st Father's Day

Dear Hubbs,

I realize your first Father's Day weekend was not a hit...

The day before...you stayed home with said screaming baby while I was at work.
And you woke up with me to quiet him just before midnight Saturday...
and just after midnight on Sunday...

So I wanted to wish you a happy "Day after Father's Day"...
because your first one didn't turn out so hot...

or rather it was too hot...
like when you set up a 6:30 am tee time on Sunday to avoid the sweltering heat...
but you didn't really avoid it at all...

and then you rushed home to take us out on the ski boat...
to do a little knee boarding...
or tubing with your little boy...
or to finally teach me how to water ski...
but ten minutes after we got the boat in the water...
we were putting it back on the trailer and heading home...
with a screaming baby...
who wouldn't stop.

And then you begged your mean, sleepy wife for a back massage and you got only a ten minute neck massage...
ok two minutes...but I did scratch your back  too...

Ok so your Day after Father's Day isn't turning out too well either...
due to the sore neck and back...
and the last minute visit to the pediatrician today...
and what will probably turn out to be another near midnight showing of screaming ear-infection baby.

But we do love you!
Lots!





Here is a bit of a recap of your first 8 months as a Daddy to our little Caleb:

You were SO excited to finally meet me!

and hold me...

and introduce me to your friends and family...

and to take me out and show me off (after my first doctor's visit)...

and begin family traditions like the pumpkin patch...

and the Christmas tree farm...

You really liked the Christmas gift I got you...

and I really liked the ones you got me!

You taught me how to defend myself against no count penguins...

and how to play in the snow!

I've learned how to dress nice for church...

and how to bundle up for cold weather.

Pretty soon I'll have to learn how to snow ski too!

You wouldn't dare pinch me on St Patty's Day.

Proud Dada!

I'm not so great at driving the boat yet...

but I'll be your little skipper any day!

I sure love boating with Dada!

and swinging!

You're teaching me how to walk too!

and how to swim!

You're pretty funny...

and I love teaching you how to play with toys!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Doc says: " "Fix" your dogs and cats!"

Normal Rockwell
There are three very important...the most important...topics I discuss with clients concerning caring for their dogs and cats.
1) spaying and neutering or as we like to say down here in these parts "get 'em fixed"
2) vaccinations
3) heartworm preventative
and oh yeah:
4) listen to the doctor instead of GoogleUniversity.com

so we'll say FOUR most very important topics.

There appear to be a few common <and some uncommon> misconceptions about spaying and neutering cats and dogs.



First, we'll address terminology.

When you spay a dog or cat you remove some of her reproductive organs, her ovaries and uterus, thus preventing her ability to ovulate and become pregnant.
...you cannot spay a boy dog.  or cat.
When you castrate* a dog or cat you remove two of his reproductive organs, the testicles, thus preventing his ability to impregnate his girlfriend.
...you cannot castrate* a girl dog or cat.

<I previously said "neuter" instead of "castrate" but the Hubbs (Dr. #1- he thinks anyway!) suggested (strongly) that I correct this...apparantly SOME people consider spaying a female to be neutering... but I will tell you, that is not how I, myself, roll>




Second,
when you prevent pregnancy you prevent unwanted/ homeless puppies and kittens...
you also prevent potential problems for momma dog or cat such as
dystocia- which is the inability for her to successfully give birth to her babies which will lead to one of three things: surgery, euthanasia, or a long, painful death of the momma.
With all of these death of the puppies/kittens is either possible or guaranteed.

but wait!  there's more!
spaying a female prevents much more than pregnancy.
It prevents pyometra- infection in the uterus which will be fatal unless treated with...you guessed it...surgery.
it can prevent malignant mammary tumors...aka bad breast cancer
it will prevent cancer and other disorders of the ovaries and uterus.



sounds like a pretty sweet deal to me





Third,
when you get rid of a dogs testicles you prevent not only your dumb neighbor dog from getting pregnant and creating more dumb neighbor dogs (or worse...cats)...
but you can also prevent your dog from displaying those oh so annoying and dreaded MALE behaviors...
like...peeing on things...

peeing on your car tires
roaming the hood for bitches (totally used in the definition for female dogs way-hehe)
peeing on your newly planted begonias
roaming the hood and fighting other boy dogs who are also out looking for love in all the wrong places
peeing on your rosemary plant that you would have liked to use for cooking dinner

the tendency to be more likely to growl, snap and be a total jerk

also, peeing on your suitcase which is in the driveway <yes that so happened to me> and having to stop at every tree, shrub, tall patch of grass and even fire ant hill to sniff for ten minutes only to leave about 3 drops of pee at each stop

there are soooo many other things that can be peed on...


ps...this all applies to unwanted behaviors in male cats also:





Fourth,
With cats we also worry about FIV...HIV in cats basically...
having his or her naughty parts in full working order drastically increases a cats chances of getting it...and eventually dying from it. 

not happy times
Plus, if you spay your cat, she won't sit outside and meow all night long to the boys...so she can make six more of these:

who will in turn make 36 more...then 216 more...then...oh ok too much math...

Those are pretty much the most common discussions about spaying and neutering.



Here are some other <sometimes amusing> discussions:

-No, your cat is not in pain or dying...she is rolling around and hollering all weird because she is in heat...and horny...but yes I agree it is a little weird.


-Yes, your very very small Pomeranian "Sissy" can most definitely get pregnant by your Labrador "Champ"...no matter how well endowed he may be, love will find a way.


-Yes, your very very small and vertically challenged daschund "Shorty" can most certainly impregnate your bull mastiff "Lucy"...don't ask me how this happens because I have no idea but these guys are determined and I'm pretty sure it would be hilarious and go viral on You Tube



-No, it will not make him/her fat...but the cheeseburger you feed him/her will definitely pack on the pounds



-No, it will not make him/her lazy...but sitting at home eating cheeseburgers will.



-No, I am not concerned about it inhibiting the growth of her long bones (?)  after all, we are not going to the WNBA, correct?





ah...a day in the life!