Kennel Adventures

nursling: Nerd jokes, love it.

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:33:13 -0400

Nerd jokes, love it.

Everyone.

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 19:29:10 -0400

Everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. Remember that.

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Wise words to think about when taking care of patients (and working with other people in general).

...Are you guys punking me?

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 22:28:33 -0400

Tonight there were two doctors, two vet techs, and me. Doctor 1, Doctor 2, Tech 1 and Tech 2. And me.

I found a flea on a boarding cat. I have never found fleas on anything before so Im not really sure what to do.

“Hey, Tech 1, I think I found a flea on a cat, what do I do?”

“uhhhh. Go tell one of the doctors.”

“Cool.” *wanders around trying to find a doctor.* “Hey, Doctor 1, I found a cat with fleas, what should I do?”

“oh… Don’t tell me, tell tech 1.”

“I uh… I already told tech 1, she said to tell you.”

“oh… tell tech 2.”

“Okay!” *wanders around to find tech 2* “Hey, Tech 2! I found a cat with fleas, what should I do?”

“grumblegrumblestupiddoctorsgrumble I dunno. Find a doctor? grumblegrumble”

“Well… I told Tech 1, and then I told Doctor 1, and he told me to tell you…”

“gruhhhhhhhhhhhmble Find Doctor 2?”

“Okay!” *Turns corner and walks into doctor 2* “Oh, Doctor 2! I was just looking for you. There’s a cat in the cat ward that has fleas, Tech 2 told me to find you.”

“uhhhhhh okay, I’ll check it out after I finish this up.”

“Okay!”

Finally satisfied that someone is going to see this poor cat, I go about the rest of my job. Doctor 1 comes down the hallway

“Ah, Jane Doe, did you tell tech 2 about the kitty?”

“yessir.”

“ah… okay.”

Not two seconds later, Doctor 2 comes into the hallway as well, looks at doctor 1, who looks back at him.

“Jane Doe, did you tell Doctor 1 about the cat?”

“…Are… are you two pranking me?”

“Huh?”

I ended up writing the cat’s information on a note, pasted it to the door to the cat ward, and went home.

14-billion-years-later: Glow-in-the-Dark Cats may help cure...

Mon, 12 Sep 2011 21:14:28 -0400

14-billion-years-later:

Glow-in-the-Dark Cats may help cure AIDS.

Genetic engineering is one of those things that gets a bad rap despite being a rather natural occurrence in bacteria and even certain higher organisms. Also it gives us cats that glow in the dark, which is totally freaking awesome!

The cat seen above wasn’t just created for shits and giggles though. There’s a more serious reason behind this fluorescent feline: battling AIDS. Currently there’s two AIDS pandemics in the world: the human one with the better PR team and the feline version. As such scientists have created Glow-in-the-Dark cats as a way of exploring the genetic system of cats in order to better understand how to combat the genetic aspect of the AIDS/HIV virus.

In genetic modification of this type cat DNA is inserted with a set of two genes, one from rhesus monkey that conveys resilience to HIV and one from jellyfish that gives them the eerie glow. The idea behind this is that if the cat glows it’s also highly likely to have the viral resistance gene as well.

D’aww, pitbulls.

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 11:15:51 -0400

D’aww, pitbulls.

Be your own body's Sherlock: clues about your health from your nails, hair, and more.

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 20:04:03 -0400

Be your own body's Sherlock: clues about your health from your nails, hair, and more.:

cranquis:

Potentially valuable signs of disease, deficiency (or just pregnancy). :)

Things I've Learned

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 22:00:00 -0400

You can tell if a cat has a fever by touching its paws and or ears. If they feel warmer than usual, the cat probably has a fever.

‘Fever’ for kitties is generally above 103. We generally go up to 103 because their temperatures will raise due to stress.

You can use a human nail clipper to trim cats’ nails, as long as you hold the clipper sideways, otherwise you can squish the quick of the nail. (painful)

When cats eat food and then lightly brush their paws over it, as if they were burying it, they like it and they are ‘saving it for later.’ This is one of those things that they learned from mommy/in the wild because that’s how you saved food. You bury it for later.

When petting dogs, go slow, present your hand so they can sniff it, be sure to read their body language very carefully, and when you finally go to pet them, DONT LET YOUR THUMB HANG BELOW THE REST OF YOUR HAND BECAUSE THE DOG WILL BITE IT AND YOUR DAY WILL BE RUINED.

You can manually get very heavy dogs up the stairs with a little finagling. Hopefully this is not an aggressive dog. Stand behind the dog and place its front two paws on a high (but reachable) step, then slowly pick up their hind feet and put them on a step above where they were before. Lather rinse repeat. Using this method, I got a 100+ lb bernese mountain dog up a flight of stairs.

If your pet has medications and you know they are serious bizniz (like medicine for epilepsy) DON’T LEAVE THAT AT HOME, THAT SHIT IS LAME.

"We renamed ‘Neck Kitten,’ her new name is Annie.” “Aww, like ‘little..."

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 20:23:00 -0400

““We renamed ‘Neck Kitten,’ her new name is Annie.”
“Aww, like ‘little orphan?’”
“No, like Anne Boleyn. *mimics a slice going across her neck*””

- Receptionists about ‘Neck Kitten’ (see below.)

Ouchies

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 14:51:00 -0400

So I got bit yesterday. It hurts like a bitch.

I’m almost done with my shift, and an unscheduled boarder comes in with a little Boston Terrier.

Now, I have not met this dog before, but he’s calm and quiet and looking at me. I go over to admit him, and bend down to pet him.

Once again, calm, quiet, and looking at me. I’m going slow, not making any sudden movements or sounds.

And then he turned into this:

And jumped up and bit me. Jerk.

We turned away the dog, and I went and soaked my hand in antiseptic for a while. I didn’t want to go to the hospital, but everyone told me to. So I went. They basically bandaged it up and gave me a script for antibiotics.

Freaking boston terriers…. >.<

On the plus side, it looks like I joined the ‘dog bite club.’ a couple doctors and vet techs stopped by while i was soaking my hand and told me about their various bite wounds and showed me their scars. It was actually pretty cool.

Something I learned.

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 14:30:00 -0400

Overweight cat has mats on her back by her tail. Preliminary check shows no fleas or sores on her back or anywhere else the knots/mats are. Cat has no ‘siblings’ and is an indoor cat.

Treatment: Brush the cat.

Apparently, cats can get so fat that they can’t clean themselves, which leads to the cat’s fur becoming dirty and hair-logged.

When I brought the cat to the doctor’s attention, he called her ‘jabba the cat’

theartofanimation: Denki

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 13:51:51 -0400

theartofanimation:

Denki

surferdude182: Sea Turtle (by pelagic7)

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:47:28 -0400

surferdude182:

Sea Turtle (by pelagic7)

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE INANIMATE OBJECT?

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:56:55 -0400

Either my computer or lime flavored seltzer water. Or alcohol.

corgiaddict: sugarhut: I gotz the best toy in the wooorrld,...

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:45:36 -0400

corgiaddict:

sugarhut:

I gotz the best toy in the wooorrld, and you can’t haaaaave it!

tupperware. almost as good as cardboard or toilet paper in the corgi hierarchy of great toys.

Someone came in with a literal laundry basket full of these...

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:43:00 -0400

Someone came in with a literal laundry basket full of these little guys. All productivity immediately ceased.

Inhumane

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:40:00 -0400

So there’s this kitten at work, looks just like the kitten in the link except for one thing. She’s got horrendous neck wounds which circle her entire neck.

A few weeks ago, someone left a shoebox in front of the hospital with a note on the box saying ‘I found this kitten, I think she needs help.’

Yeah. She needed help.

We can’t tell if she had a rope/string around her neck, or if it was a vine, or a micro-collar, or a wire or what, but this poor kitten had something around her neck for so long that it rubbed off a lot of her fur and cut through her skin. She was covered in her own blood, and some of her wounds were infected.

She was barely 4 weeks old.

Now, she’s doing much better. Her neck is still a mess, but it’s worlds away from what she looked like before. She’s very sweet, and has quickly become the hospital favorite. She loves being around people and purrs every time someone walks by her cage. I was playing with her today and I think she started trying to nurse from my hand. Either that or she was play-nipping me. Either way? Adorable.

We all wish we could take her home, but no one can afford to shoulder her medical costs.

corgiaddict: Noodle enjoying a camping trip. Submitted by...

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:11:22 -0400

corgiaddict:

Noodle enjoying a camping trip. Submitted by Leah.

I LOVE CORGIS

"The air is full of mugg."

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:31:32 -0400

““The air is full of mugg.””

- One of the Vet Techs, during a particularly muggy night.

Thing of the day: Powerwasher

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:27:26 -0400

Dear Powerwasher, thank you for existing. When Irene hit, the basement flooded and the floor was covered in dirt, scum, and dog feces. We were not looking forward to having to spray everything with hoses and scrub the floors and all the stuff that we had to do.

Powerwasher, if it weren’t for you, we would probably still be there, scrubbing the floor. But thanks to you, a multi-day job only took about 4 hours.

Holding you in my hands filled me with a strange sense of power, and watching you blast away stains from the floor that I had agonized over for weeks filled me with a glorious sense of accomplishment.

Now, it doesn’t smell downstairs, and everything looks super pretty and great.

I love you, powerwasher. I was very sad to return to my second shift to see that the maintenance guy took you back. I was looking forward to really getting to know you. Alas, it was not meant to be. Farewell, glorious friend, I will love you forever.

The Job

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:03:56 -0400

So after receiving my Bachelor’s degree of Music Education from a bangin’ music school, I find myself nervous about joining the ‘elite world’ of teachers, especially with the education world being what it is now.

After several attempts at finding a job, I stumbled across an opening at a local Animal Hospital as a Kennel Technician.

So here I am! I’ve been working here for about two months now, and you know - it could be worse. I feed, medicate, walk, and clean up after dogs and cats, clean floors, and play with dogs for a living.

The people are over-all pretty cool. I have to watch where I step with some of them, but I’m okay with that.

Plus, the dogs and cats are SUPER cute. :-D