Thursday

Thursday was another busy day. We saw several cats and dogs in the morning and then headed to the other dairy about 30 miles away to treat some sick cows and do pregnancy checks. Fritz, Dr. Mel's dog, came with us. The owners of this dairy happened to be inlaws to one of the receptionists/technicians at the clinic. Joann was very pleasant to work with, but she quickly informed me that her inlaws would not be that way and I was encouraged to not take any comments personally. That didn't give me warm, fuzzy feelings. Before we went to the dairy, we swung by to check on the ewe that we had seen several days ago witht the swollen udder. She had lambed the day before with no difficulty and had 3 lambs. However, she was still not doing well, so Dr. Mel and I stopped by. The cause was quickly evident as Dr. Mel did a vaginal exam and pulled a dead, decaying lamb from her uterus. She was given more antibiotics and pain medications and instructions were given to her owners for continued care. Then we headed to the dairy. The drive to Clark was beautiful, with the sun shining on the mountains to the west. It was nice to get to see some of the countryside. When we arrived, Dr. Mel turned Fritz loose to roam around while we got to work. Several dozen cows were run through the chute and Dr. Mel and I pregnancy checked each one. I was continuing to improve my palpation skills. I met the three men who ran the farm, and each one of them seemed pleasant enough to me. But I was glad I had been warned. As we waited for them to gather up the sick cows, Dr. Mel gave me a tour of the farm. They milked 250 head twice a day, farmed over 1,000 acres, and I was shocked to find out that the three guys I had met were pretty much half of the crew. I couldn't imagine getting all of that done with only 6-7 people. Amazing. The sick cows were examined and each one treated according to her ailment. One had metritis, another had mastitis. And one had a LDA, which is a left displaced abomasum, meaning that her stomach--which should normally be on the right--had swung over to the left and was large and distended, preventing food from passing through the digestive tract. A decision was made to try to treat her. We pumped her rumen full of fluids to try to push the abomasum back to its normal location. Then, using ropes, the cow was rolled from one side to the other in an attempt to relocate her stomach. And it seemed to work. Time would tell if we had fixed her problem. As we headed to the parking lot, Dr. Mel hopped into the passenger's side of the truck and proceeded to take a nap. Apparently I was driving again. On our way back to the clinic, we swung by the other dairy once again, this time to draw blood from several cows that were being sold. Seth helped us pen up the cows and ear tag them while I drew blood. And then we were off again. The day ended with a patient I had been warned about from the beginning of the day--Rodney the Persian. I had completely forgotten the conversation until I saw the owner walk into the clinic holding a yellow and very angry cat. Angry cats scare the crap out of me. I would rather deal with an upset horse any day. Sure, horses can deliver one blunt blow and kill you, but cats....well cats just shred you from one end to the other and then let you die a painful, infectious death. And Rodney had that look in his eye as he was placed on the exam table. Dr. Mel was able to pet him without incidence, but the moment we began to do anything with him, the screaming and hissing and swatting and biting began. Both Dr. Mel and the owner agreed that sedating Rodney would be the best course of action. We allowed the sedation to take effect and then blood was drawn for labwork. As we clipped an area to draw blood from, the owner asked if we would just shave the entire cat, as Rodney had mats that the owner had been unable to remove. I was delighted. There was something very satisfying about shaving down a matted cat who was unable to move and could only growl in protest. But as the sedation wore off, so did Rodney's immobility and we eventually had to stop before one of us got hurt. Rodney was left with four yellow socks and a fluffy head but was naked from his chest to the tip of his tail. The ridiculous haircut seemed to go perfectly with the angry expression on the cat's face. After he was given some fluids, Rodney was wrapped in a blanket and sent out the door. Little did I know I would be seeing Rodney again.