Forked Tongues and Buffets

I am up suffering indigestion. One of the drug companies held a CPD meeting at our place and had a pre talk buffet, most of the food was uneaten. Bliss for those of us on late shift we get the left overs. Trouble was l did my usual and overate and am now waiting for the antacids to kick in, so thought l may as well do something constructive and write.

Heart cat went home today with enough pills to keep him rattling.

The Siamese is out of the incubator it was needed for other patients. As his red blood cell count is rising, his temper is shortening.
He has won the battle of the litter tray, knew he would. We just keep piling the washing up. He and l have got on fine all day. True l have not needed to inject him that helped, and early evening we had a lovely chat and cuddle.
Tonight on change over l was explaining this to the night nurse while my fingers were resting through the kennel door on his bed.
Next thing l have 2 holes in my hand and am swapping glares at the cat who is looking arrogantly at me and the night nurse who is creased up laughing.

We had an op tonight on a cat that somehow bit his tongue and had a lovely fork in it. He had not eaten since yesterday so it needed a fix. A quick GA some suture material and surgical glue and the vet had made it almost as good as new. It is a bit crinkled and a piece had to be trimmed but hey, beggars can not be choosers and at least his good looks are not affected. By the time l left tonight his stomach was enjoying the return of food as sloppy AD (mushy convalescent food) slid down it.

The RTA dog is doing well. She had her femur repaired yesterday, the one side of her pelvis done today. The other side of the pelvis the vet will see how she does, it may be possible to get it settled with strict cage rest and no 3rd op.

The diabetic dog is still not settling on her glucose, it is swinging all over and things do not look good. She has other health problems that complicate it but the vets may win yet and get her home. Poor lass it is understandable why she is fed up of us with having to get so many drops of blood. It is yet another needle hole and to do that we have to muzzle her and she hates muzzles.

We have 2 sad strays in, neither are microchipped. We all had our usual snarl about "wish that people would microchip their pets and make sure that they have lodged the details. And if any of their phone numbers or addresses change they notify the chip company".
There is one thing worse than an animal that doesn't have a microchip, one that does and the details are out of date and we can not reunite the family.

One stray is an old dog, blind, senile and confused. He circles the walk-in kennel banging into walls and occasionally ramming the door when the rattle tells him it is not solid like the walls. We tried him in a small kennel but he became even more stressed in that.
He has eaten but not drunk just tripped over the water bowl and squelched through it. So he will be fed food mixed with water, to get round the drinking problem.
Trying to calm him doesn't work, we may as well not exist, and if we try and restrain him he gets snappy and even more distressed. Tonight we sedated him to settle him down and allow him some sleep.

The other stray is a lovely cat who has been in an RTA. She has a severely fractured pelvis, a fractured hock and deglove injury. She has eaten a bit and is heavily dosed with pain killers and antibiotics.

Both are in as short stay, end of days. If they are not claimed within a few days they will be put down on humane grounds.
With stray patients such as these it is veterinary discretion some are put to sleep immediately on humane grounds, others will stay a few days like these two but unless owners come forward they will be put down on humane grounds.
If they are not to badly injured and are young enough to rehome then they are "repaired" generally through the inhouse stray fund and either CPL or one of the rescue groups take them on.

Even if owners came forward they would probably be put down by the owners. The cat due to severity of the injuries and cost of repair. The dog because there is lots of puppies out there and it is senile. Yes it is a harsh judgement on my part but it is the reality of the situation.