i got a new job!!!! finally lmao

[Red2111]

today i had an interveiw at a Vet's office, and i also started today right after the interview.

 

i'm now working as a Vet Tech/Kennel Tech; as well as a receptionist booking appointments and what not :)

 

basically, i tend to the kennels, making sure their clean and the animals have water and food.  the dogs that are being boarded, i let them out in the dog run for some excercise, as well as taking them for walks. 

 

i also check in patients, and do the pre-vet check out of the dog.  weight, temp., and basic look over.

 

 

i also get to assist in surgeries; they have a Spay booked for tomorrow; a little cat, and it will be my first time ever seeing something like that.  i'm actually looking forward to the experience i'll gain from this job :)

 

the hours aren't bad at all.  8am-5pm Mon-Fri, 8am-2pm on Sat.  and a swing shift of about 1 and 1/2 hours on Sun to take care of the animals being boarded or staying over night due to surgery.

 

the pay isn't much (above minimum wage though :D ), but they have a nice bonus and raise system.  plus its a little clinic with only one Vet on duty :) 

[Cleopatra Narisse]

WOOT!

 

I love working with Animals. I used to train dogs in basic commands. Some dogs I trained by hand signals. That was tough....

 

Congrats Red!!!

[Raeyn]

 

Congrats Red, that sounds like a lot of fun!

[Red2111]

i think that next i will try trianing if i cant handle the vet side of animals :)

 

that sounds awesome though Cleo :)  when i've always trained my own persional dogs, i tend to use a hand signal as well as a verbal command for each task :)  so i understand what you mean.

 

and it seems fun, the people there are really nice :)  it's run by an older couple. 

 

i am kinda nervous, yet excited, about the Spay tomorrow.  i've never even dicected a frog, let alone seen how they Spay an animal.  will be interesting to see it a faint or not *nods*

[Raeyn]

 

Well, probably depends how they do the spay, truth told.  I didn't realize that for female cats, they tended to go in via the side so as to cause less complications in healing; I've only ever had my males neutered before, so...

 

I'm sure it will go fine, though; it's not like you're having to see too much of the inside bits, I'm thinking.

[Cleopatra Narisse]

My cat came home the next day and man... did she just hate me. *lol*

 

She forgave me in a weeks time though.  ;)

[Red2111]

Doc uses a laser for the incesion on all his spays and nueters.  it causes less bleeding, and supposedly less pain for the animal because it cartarizes the incesion as it's made.  makes the recovery time less as well because healing as already started.

 

 

in any case, they opened her up to find that someone had already spayed her before.  the owners found her as a stray and took her in.  they thought she was in heat, because of how she was acting, not that they saw blood.  said she was meowing and moaning like a cat in heat  *shakes head*  poor kitty.

 

i didn't get to see it though.  the receptionist pulled rank on me and wanted to see her first spay instead  *shrugs*  no biggie, there will be other operations and other spays and neuters to peak in on lol

[Mystica]

that's fantastic Red!! congratulations hon. I always go 'sigh' when I see those documentaries of people working with animals and think what a great job they have, though I'm sure there's some challenges that are not to be underestimated in them too. I'm sure you'll have lots of annecdotes in no time, so make sure to share!!  :D

[Quisalas Selene]

Someday, once my littlest one is a bit older, I'll be going back to college and working on becoming a Vet.  The job you have is almost exactly the job I hope I can find to work at while I'm in school, especially after I get my AA and get to start all my fun animal specialty courses. 

 

Sorry you missed the not-quite-a-spay.  There will be more procedures, though.  It sounds like you have a really fantastic work environment, though.  Congrats!

[Guest nephitess]

Congrats hunni!! sounds like your have tons o' fun there. *nods* I love working with animals and wanted to be a vet at one point. *ggls*

[Red2111]

:)  dont' worry, i'm sure i'll have plenty of interesting stories lol

 

yesturday, we also had a turtle in.  the poor thing got hit with a lawn mower and got it's self busted open.  so the people brough it in and Doc put some Salve on it.  i didn't realize how thin a turtles shell actually is though. *nods*

 

 

have a sad story today though. had a puppy come in and it tested positive for heart worm, and had whipworm in it's stool also.  so i got to see what those eggs look like.  i say Puppy, but she was a little over a year old.  she tested lightly for the heart worm; but she's part of a mexican family.  the mom didn't speak english, so it was the boy (about 10 or 14) that came into the room with the puppy; so we had to break the news to him.  hopefully they'll be able to afford the treatment for her :/

[Taymist]

That's always the tough part of the job having to break bad news. Poor puppy. Glad to hear you're learning a lot and enjoying it though sweets.  :D

[Red2111]

people can be utter idiots some times lol

 

we had this Beagle come in.  sriously, the poor dog weighted 76.8 pounds!!!!  a beagle should weight between 15 and 26 pounds.

 

the dog has arthritis in it's back legs, and gets an allergy shot (steriod) every onth; which will kill it and shorten it's life.  she's only like 5 years old....

 

the wife kept scratching the dogs back, and i thought to myself.  "Yeah lady, maybe if you didn't always scratch the hot spots and re-irritate the skin, the dog wouldn't have such a bad time with scratching."

 

and also, the husband made a comment abotu the weight helping to cause the arthritis in the dogs back legs; and the wife went on about how the dog got hurt as a puppy.

 

it took every ounce of control in me not to roll my eyes.  i'm sure the dog wouldn't have such bad problems with the arthritist if the dog wasn't so over wieght.  *shakes head*

 

the dog needs Jenny Craig... seriously.  and the owners need to be slapped for getting the dog like that.  they've had her since she was 5 weeks old.  seriously, woudl you want to be THAT over weight, and if you were wouldn't you want to lose the weight.  so why make your dog suffer like that.

 

/rant

[Dwynwen]

That sounds like quite an interesting job!  I wanted to be a vet when I was younger, but decided against it because I knew I wouldn't be able to handle seeing all the sad things that happen to animals.  I love animals very much, and am overly sensitive when an animal is hurt.

[Quisalas Selene]

That's really interesting Dwynwen, because one of the things I considered being was a psychologist but I didn't know if I could handle hearing all the sad and horrifying things that have happened to people, especially children, in spite of my general affinity for helping people through their problems. :)

 

*pauses, suddenly unsure*  Um... I'm not remembering it wrong, that is what you got your doctorate in, right?

[Red2111]

yeah. thats the reason i didn't want to be a vet.  i knew i coudln't handle having to put a dog down or tell a person their puppy needed to be put to sleep.  or handle the burden of having a dog die while opperating on it.

 

the only close thing i had to a dog dieing on my table was in PetSmart.  these people brought in a 13 year old Chihahua for her first nail trim.  the dog was almost blind, and i think deaf as well; and to boot it had never been handled by anyone other than the owner because it didn't like anyone else.  it also had asthema.

 

so these bright owners (and i say that with extreme sarcasim) decide to take the dog, who doesn't like going in the car, to PetSmart to get it's first nail trim.  i get the dog on my table, and it struggles so much that it passes out on me.  it went totally limp; i thought it had died and i FLIPPED!!!!!!!  there were customers in there watchign it the whole time too, and thankfully they were like "Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong.  we saw the whole thing."

 

the owners kinda shrugged it off and said she does that all the time.  ofcoruse, it did nothing at all for my nerves!!

 

 

so anyways, i got to see a dog being glued today and what testicles look like out of the scrotum.  Doc had a Castration to do today :)  happy to tell you, i didn't faint :D

 

hopefully the next spay or castration, i'll be able to assist and see more than just that.

 

in a few weeks, there will most likely be a Heart Worm procedure done; we had a dog boarding with us and the dog tested positive for Heart Worms, and have something wrong with it's eye.  Retena Detachment or soemthing of the like.  it was permanintly dialated.  so we'll see what happens with Jake :/  the Heart Worm thing is very expensive (between $400 and $700), hopefully they will be able to cure him.  jake is only around 7 yrs old; hes a Jack Russel/Doxie mix.  Doc said he could be expected to live another 7 or 8 years so long as nothing goes wrong.  and has 6 months if the procedure isn't done and the heart worms are removed.

 

*huggles my boys*  and this is why it's important to put your pet on heart worm medication

 

 

[Dwynwen]

That's really interesting Dwynwen, because one of the things I considered being was a psychologist but I didn't know if I could handle hearing all the sad and horrifying things that have happened to people, especially children, in spite of my general affinity for helping people through their problems. :)

 

*pauses, suddenly unsure*  Um... I'm not remembering it wrong, that is what you got your doctorate in, right?

 

Yep, you're right!  That is interesting.  I think for me personally, it's even harder to see bad things happen to animals than people.  I think it might have to do mostly with their innocence and lack of the capacity or potential to do evil things themselves.  In terms of patients, I can work with people who have been hurt in a cruel way, but I don't like working with the types of people who would hurt animals, rape others, or kill others.  It's too hard for me to be empathetic towards those people.  Every psychologist has a population or populations of people with whom they don't like to work, so that's mine.

[Red2111]

you know whatt he problem with cats is...  go ahead, shake your head yes, and then no.  yes because there are many problems with cats, and no because you have no idea which one i'm referring to.

 

 

well my problem with cats, is that their so much harder to hold than dogs.  and their quicker too and their claws hurt alot more

 

throughout my career with animals, i have been bitten twice, both of which were by cats and while giving them a bath.  i still maintain the philosphy that cats are much funnier in a bath that dogs...

 

that isn't my point though.    i got scratched from here to hades and back today becaus of a cat.  it needed to get a de-worming, and the kitty had both it's front and back claws.  so i held it for a girl and she popped the pills down it's throat.

 

the back claws of this cat got me some what bad, it did gash my skin open, but the flap healed back over.  it now hurts right under my thumb.

 

you my say "Go Cat!!!"  but i say "Dude i'm just trying to help!! I'm just doing what yer mom and dad wanted me too so go claw them up!!!"

 

anyways, i just thought i would share that bit of excitement for the day, because nothing else really happened lol  and no my hand isn't infected, theres no puss or redness.  it just hurts okay lol

[Quisalas Selene]

Wow, you've only been bitten twice?  I can't even imagine how many times I've been scratched bitten by both cats and dogs (I have a scar from a Twinkie that I love to talk about).

 

Poor Red, kitty was just panicking about having a foreign object shoved down his throat.  I've gotten really good at holding cats, but it's been a long (and painful) road to get there.  And cats are awesome in the bath - I had this Siamese cat who I was bathing one day and I had a hold of her front legs and she kept trying to escape but all she ended up doing was bounce up and down in place and Jay and I were laughing so hard at how silly she looked that I nearly let her go. 

 

I love cats, they're fun. :D

[Red2111]

^ :)  i pride myself  on having quick reflexes lmao *knocks on wood*  of course, now i'm going to get bit again :P  such is life though.

 

the first bite was the worst.  i was bathing a cat, i looked away for a second, and the cat nailed my thumb.  it got really swollen and infected. i have a scar on my thumb on both sides where her fangs got me clear to the bone. the last bite was a few years ago and was only the graze of a tooth.

 

scratches on the other hand....  i've had countless of those!!  but my skin tone and skin is nice, where most of them heal withough leaving a scar. i've also foudn, through experience, not to use prooxide on cuts or bites.  the times when i have used that (ie my first bite) it has gotten infected bad.  Bedadine is much better.

 

 

 

in other news.  had a dog come in today that had a very heavy load of hookworms and whipworms in it's fecal test, and tested positive for heart worms.  that said, i looked at the calendar and my boys were due for their heart worm and front line doses, so i did that first thing i walked in the door.

 

i hope Annie's mom puts her through the treatment, she was such a nice dog :(  she's a Sheltie/Sharpie mix.  very cute!!!  about 42 pounds, with the coat and markings of a sheltie, but the height of a Sharpie and the face of one.  she even had those cow jowls that sharpies have :)  always puts me in mind of a Manatee (Cow of the Sea).  she reminded me of my Max, the Chow my parents have up norht.  so i got a bit attached to her....

[Red2111]

well today was a rather sad day.  i watched my first dog get put to sleep.  yes, i cried, though i tried my damnedest not to.  i had never seen a dog put to sleep before, never seen an animal euthinised.

 

 

i understand that it was for the best, and in reality, we were helping the dog to go on without pain.  Jack had a bad case of Heart Worms, and he was almost 12.  a retreiver/chow mix from the looks of it....  his owner only found out that Jack had heart worms last week, and even then the poor guy wasn't 100%..  i don't think Jack was even 50% at that point. 

 

Jack coudn't even walk into the office, they had to carry him in using a towel; he didn't even flinch when Doc put the needle in him.  even though i know that we were helpinging him, because he was doign nothing but suffering; it was still sad to see a dog put to sleep....

[Quisalas Selene]

*hugs Red*  That's always hard.  I've never seen a cat or dog put to sleep, but I did assist the vet when she put my horse to sleep when I was 14.  That was definitely one of the most difficult moments of my life, I cried for months over that horse.  And it happened while my parents were out of town, but I had called them after talking to the Vet and I had to agree with my mom when she made the decision to have him put down.  He'd gotten sand into his intestines and was all blocked up, it's called sand colic, and if we chose to try surgery (which was really freaking expensive) the vet still only gave him a 30% chance to live.  *soft sigh*  It's never easy.

 

I'm sorry you had to see your first euthanizing.  But don't feel like you shouldn't cry, crying is a very natural part of the coping method. *hugs again*

[Dwynwen]

*Hugs tight*  We had to put our first cat to sleep, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to go through.

[Red2111]

yeah, the other vet tech, Kathy, said that it's a normal response and even though shes been working as a vet tech for many years she still cries.  so i don't feel bad about crying. 

 

the good thing is that our vet, Doc, isn't the type that will put any happy healthy dog down.  the dog has to have a legit reason to be put down; like old age and on it's last leg and suffering or really sick with little chance of recovery.  mostly the dogs that get put down are because of heart worms, like with Jack.  and it averages out to about 1 a month; so not all that bad considering what the stats are in shelters and other vets who aren't more conservative toward euthanizing animals.

[Red2111]

cats are flippin insane!!!

 

okay, cats like to flip out for no freakin reason other than you holding them!!!  at least dogs are more predicatble.

 

*frowns at my thumb*

 

we had a kitty come in today for a nueter tomorrow.  he's 5 months old.

 

i got the cat out of his carrier to put him in a cage.  i'm holding him all nomal, (ir not by the scruff but under his arms and mid section)  and the cat starts growling and goes hay wire.

 

so i drop to the floor and proceed to use the floor to help restrain the cat, keep it from being able to swing around and take a chunk out of me and to help calm it down. 

 

my thumb nail got caught, either by it's teeth of claws and is ripped into the nail bed on the side, and i have numerous scratches on my arms.  *shakes head*

 

 

when i got home, i poured Bedadine all over my arms.  that stuff is a miricale working for infections.  alot better than peroxide anyways.  and i've soaked my thumb in bedadine and trimmed back the nail as far as my pain tolerance will allow.  i also put neosprin on the cuts and me thumb.  it's not swollen or red anymore, just hurts. 

 

so all is well.  *shakes head*  this would be why i'm a dog person lmao