Day 11: Declaw Description, Paralysis, Ear Infection Description, and Sores

             Today really wasn’t a terribly busy day.  There were two more spays, a neuter, and a declaw this morning, all performed by Dr. Todd.  Tigger was the cat that got declawed; he was an orange and white tabby who was a bit feisty.  I helped get him ready for surgery by holding him while he received anesthesia, and then holding his mouth open while pulling his tongue out so Dr. Todd could insert the ventilator down Tigger’s trachea.  It wasn’t too difficult a procedure; really it was exact same thing as what Dr. Lou did for her declaw on day 8.

Tigger, the fiesty tabby who got declawed today.

We had some new patients today that had come in over the weekend: a dachshund named Bronson, who is in for having continuous diarrhea and is receiving antibiotics while being observed, Yogi, a poodle who is paralyzed and being housed while receiving fluids (the owners also hadn't given an answer yet as to whether they want to euthanize him or not), a white mouse who has mites (whom I later found out was food for the stray snake we’ve been housing since day 6), a hamster who had an ear infection (received antibiotics and a cleaning and was able to go home), and a lab mix who had some sort of sore on his paw.  Dr. Amanda looked at the his paw; it had two small, red bumps on the bottom of the paw.  Since they were small, she couldn’t tell whether the bumps were small growths or a sign of irritation on that area of the paw.  She told the owner that she was going to wrap the paw for now and later tonight, to soak her paw in a solution of chlorhexidine solution (a long-lasting antiseptic solution, which prevents the growth of disease).  She told him that if it doesn’t get better (or gets worse) over the next couple of days, then he should bring her back and they will see about performing a biopsy (she doesn’t want to perform a biopsy yet because if it’s just irritation, then a biopsy would be pointless; she wants to have a better idea of what is on the dog’s paw by waiting and trying to treat it over the next couple of days to see if the treatment has any effect).  We also had three new stray kittens that the police department had brought in yesterday, and all of the kittens had some sort of non-flea and non-dirt related eye infection.  They were being given Terramycin, a yellow crystalline antibiotic that treats various bacterial infections, three times a day (medical shorthand: TID; ‘Ter in die’, meaning three times a day). 

Bronson, the dachsund who was having continuous diarrhea.

Yogi, the paralyzed poodle.  Even so, he's a pretty happy dog.

The white mouse, who turned out to be food for the snake.

The hamster with the ear infection.

The lab mix with the two small, red bumps on the bottom of his paw.

The three kittens (they are siblings) who have the eye infections.