Saturday Morning With Dr Jacqueline

As our clients’ lives are getting busier, fewer people work traditional 9-5 hrs. Saturdays at the veterinary hospital are action packed. We’ll get to some of our regular patients

but you never know what will turn up on the day.

I start at 9am, it is already booked solid until 1:30pm. Thankfully there are no in-patients in hospital. Why am I thankful? It means that everyone was well enough to go home yesterday and be with their families. A win for the week!

Today starts happily with some dog and cat vaccinations. I enjoy these as I get to see my patients when they are healthy and not sick or injured. Our regular examination is an opportunity to keep them that way. 

It’s about 11am, a very concerned owner rushes into the hospital with their dog, Joseph, who face is becoming more and more swollen with every minute. He is are triaged and taken directly into a consult room to allow me to assess him. Facial swelling can be caused by something as simple as an insect bite or as significant as a road traffic accident. It is important to find out the cause quickly and treat appropriately. As I discuss Joseph and his history with his owner it comes to light that Joseph loves playing in the garden and down at the park, where he was walking that morning. Joseph had chased a bee into a bush and yelped. He has not been in an accident or had any other misadventures. With this information and an examination of Joseph it becomes evident that Joseph has been bitten by an insect and is having an allergic reaction. He is given treatment and sent home under strict instructions to monitor him for any further swelling 

Although this does not seem serious, a rapidly swelling face needs to be addressed quickly. A sting in the mouth /throat has the potential to block the airways and we then have a severe emergency on our hands.

A check in phone call first thing Monday, Joseph was running about the garden as if nothing had happened a few hours later. Still interested in the insect though. 

The afternoon continues with health examinations, vaccinations and some arthritis injections. 

I meet Moses a senior cat who is coming in because he has a small lump on his back. After a chat with Moses’s owner I discover Moses is a cat who likes to wander outside during the day and about a week ago came home looking like he had been in a fight. Hmmm.. I suspect an abscess. 

I drain a small amount of fluid from the lump and see that it is pus. Moses indeed has an abscess, likely from the alleged fight I suppose. The lump is relatively small and I have managed to drain most of the pus out during my diagnostics, however Moses also needs some antibiotics to get on top of the infection. He goes home feeling a little better than when he walked in. Thankfully Moses’s regular vaccinations include one against FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus or cat AIDs). This is a particularly nasty disease that attacks the immune system, very similar to HIV in people. It is readily transmitted by cat bites. Moses is fortunate to be protected and at no risk of contracting the virus. We just need to handle his sore head.

Consultations finish. I have enough time for a quick bite to eat, return some phone calls from clients review some blood tests and dispense some medications before I sign off.

Wow the day has gone so quickly and now my team and I are ready for a little downtime on the weekend. I hope your weekend is fun filled as well!!