This is one strip of a series I created called, "When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Vet" from 2011 - 2012. You've asked if I am going to draw the comic again, and I loved doing it, so maybe. I started the comic to process difficult things in my career, and thankfully, I have not had so much to process once I got this all into comic form!
I will post the next strip of the series every Friday. The entire series can be found at When I Grow Up I Want to be a Vet.
Um, this is a true story unfortunately.
Bill and Cara got me these beautiful plants while I was in the hospital. They are thriving in five gallon buckets!
I've been doing well since then. I visit the therapist once a month. I am on five (5!) medications to control my depression symptoms. And they do.
It is difficult sometimes for my clients to have their pets on several medications, not just because they are hard to keep track of, but also because so many medications can seem excessive. "Each one is important," I tell them. Now I get it. Each one is important. But it is all still a lot - a lot of medication and a lot to take in and understand.
I've had no more very, very dark days. Some grey days, but nothing like the heavy oppressive days I could not get out from under.
I have been able to enjoy life, but it's been tempered, even dulled. I'll take it. There is time for higher highs, probably when I can also handle the lower lows.
If one baby tomato plant and one baby pepper plant are good, ALL the plants are better!
I purposely chose gardening as my focus for this year. Luna Dog will probably die this year, and I will need something to balance the sadness. Something grounding (haha) and soothing. I chose gardening.
Luna says, "Geez! I'm not dead yet!"
I am well. I am good. I occasionally fear a tumble down the dark abyss that is overwhelming depression, but I don't dwell, I don't dread. And now I feel like I have the tools to come back if need be.
Life is good. It is good to feel more like me again.
My kalanchoe plants from Bill and Cara - doing well too!
A young couple found a man dressed in several layers of badly worn clothing wandering around Petsmart with a tiny, emaciated black puppy in his arms. He was saying to himself that he could not afford dog food.
They asked the man about his puppy. He said he needed someone to take her because he did not have any money to care for her. They asked if he would take twenty dollars for her, and he did.
They brought her to me to be examined. Other than her very thin body condition, I found no other physical problems. They did not know if they were adopting or rescuing…they just saw a puppy in need and a man in distress and swooped.
Two days later, Layla came home to live with us, and we renamed her Joy Layla Finch.
The name Joy was suggested by the daughter of Joy King, who had been our very dear friend and had recently passed away. We also named her in honor of our other dear friends’ newborn daughter whose twin sister had just passed away. Joy…what an odd thing to name our new puppy during what was such a sad season for so many friends we loved. She has more than lived up to her name.
When I first met Joy, I was so angry at the man who had almost let her starve to death. My friend Janelle said, “He did take her to where he knew she would get help.” That statement stopped me in my tracks. I feel as though I owe him an apology and a thank you, though I have never met him.
So I will write one here, and though he will almost certainly never see it, I hope it serves as a reminder to let my first reaction be one of compassion not judgment.
To the original caretaker of Joy the Puppy,
Thank you for the gift of Joy. She is warm and fed. I pray that you are too. I will keep an eye out for you and try to make sure that you are.
If you had been in a different season of life, would you have kept her? If there is room in your life for a puppy again, I will do everything I can to help make that happen.
Forgive me for being so angry initially that she was such a skinny thing. I know that when you ran out of puppy food, you shared your own food with her. I would have held on to her until the last possible moment too. I will remember that before I judge someone who is probably doing the best they can.
Be proud of your dog. She turned out great. If you hadn’t protected her from the streets of Omaha in those first bitterly cold weeks, she would not have survived. If you had not taught her love from the start, it would have taken us years. If this does not reach you directly, I will try to thank you indirectly every way I can.
Luna was rescued by the Nebraska Humane Society from a hoarding situation. She soon became very ill. She had sky-high liver values and bile acid values (a measure of liver function).
She came to the hospital where I am a veterinarian to be assessed and have an ultrasound done. When liver values are so far out of balance in a young, small breed puppy, what we suspect is a liver shunt.
A shunt was not found, and it was determined that she had a condition that could not be surgically fixed. The Nebraska Humane Society team, in an effort to spare the puppy suffering, decided to have her euthanized.
The day of the puppy’s ultrasound was my day off. I received medical updates and the final decision to have the puppy euthanized in a series of several emails, all of which came at once in the late afternoon.
I sat on the bed and bawled. My husband Russ came to check on me, and I yelled, “I take one day off, and puppies DIE!”
Suspecting this was not an accurate statement, Russ gently took my phone out of my hand and read the emails. He said, “Couldn’t we take her?” Still in complete despair mode, I said “She’s probably DEAD!” Of course she was not dead. Dr. Thomassen said she would not euthanize the puppy unless she knew it was absolutely a decision agreed upon by everyone.
So we accidentally adopted a puppy!
The other doctors thought I was crazy to adopt a broken puppy, but I think they understood. We are vets. It is what we do.
I talked with my daughters. Adopting a puppy with an unspecified liver disorder is one of the best ways that I can imagine to ensure heartbreak. I told them we were adopting a puppy we knew was sick and that her lifespan may be shorter than other dogs. There was no doubt in their minds that this puppy was meant to be a Finch.
On the way home with the puppy in my lap, I said to Russ, “She’s blond. She’s really sweet. She’s pretty spacy.” (To her credit, she was still recovering from a very severe liver issue, and has since proved much sharper.) When we got home, I said to our daughters, “Let’s name her Luna Lovegood.” They cheered, and we had our name.
Our next step was a simple liver test. AND…the blood work came back completely normal!! And now I get to ponder what in the world happened.
So my top guesses are a liver toxin from which she has recovered or leptospirosis from which she has recovered. While I know of course, that she will one day break my heart, I am so glad it is not on the second day or the second month that I have known her. She has been a challenging, exhausting, strange, wonderful, goofy amazing puppy. I am so happy she is a Finch.
Today was the day for her spay surgery.
Not that the stakes are not infinitely high in any similar situation, but Puppy had to survive. How could it be otherwise?
No pressure, but Kelly and I had to do everything right, and pray that everything out of our control would go perfectly.
No pressure Puppy, but then you have to live a healthy, happy, very long life.
Everything went perfectly.
In fact, by faith or by folly, I am writing this the night before Puppy's surgery in the hopes and knowledge that everything will be just fine.
Puppy, have we told you lately that we love you?
It was a busy Saturday morning. Kelly ran into the treatment room carrying the tiny West Highland White Terrier puppy, the puppy that her Mom had recently adopted after her first Westie had died. Puppy was having trouble staying awake.
Puppy had ingested at least ten and - later we found out - probably closer to twenty or twenty-five ibuprofen.
We administered a medication to cause Puppy to vomit, but she lost consciousness before she was able to vomit.
Stephanie asked me if I thought she would live. "No," I said, and started to cry.
I called ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center and reached Dr. Helen Myers. Thank you Dr. Myers! She advised us on medications and supportive care and recommended we get her to the nearest 24 hour care facility as soon as possible. I asked Dr. Myers if she thought Puppy would live. "This is bad," she said.
My next calls were to Russ and his Mom to ask them to begin praying.
I then called VCA Midwest Vet to let them know Puppy was coming. Thank you VCA Midwest Vet! For being and for being there for Puppy.
Puppy's gums were blue. Her temperature was dropping, and she was still unconscious. Kelly got an IV catheter placed in a matter of seconds, her Mom got her to the emergency hospital and we waited.
The first update was promising. Puppy was awake and taking oral medications.
That evening I called again. Puppy was eating! She was also being carried everywhere and properly spoiled. Her gastrointestinal system was stable, and her kidney and liver values were normal.
And then, over two days after her ordeal began, against all odds, Puppy went home.
She is home and well with no long term damage. Everything is once again as it should be.
About six months ago, there was a horrible car accident on an interstate on ramp in Omaha.
A semi truck hit a van, overturning and crushing the top of the van.
The semi truck driver was unhurt. Miraculously, the driver and passenger of the van survived with serious, but treatable, injuries.
The driver of the van is our dear client. What the news did not report was that there was one absolutely heartbreaking fatality. The driver had her only pet, a one year old sweet Westie with her, and he did not survive the accident.
She called from the hospital to let us know her pup had passed away.
We grieved for the small dog we had all loved. We sent flowers and prayed for his Mom. And later, we felt a little bit sorry for ourselves knowing we would probably not see this kind lady again.
Mom healed and came home. Her heart began to heal too. Six months after the horrible accident, she came in smiling with the tiniest of tiny Westie puppies in her hands.
Her new pup is a little girl, and she is just perfect.
Mom was ready. She missed having a wonderful little Westie around. We all miss her previous pup. We all spent this new puppy visit celebrating this precious new life.
Puppy, you are your own little being, not in any way a replacement. You do have some big paws to fill, and you are doing that extraordinarily well. Thank you for healing your Mom's heart and bringing her back to us. We sure love you so.
This is one strip of a series I created called, "When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Vet" from 2011 - 2012. You've asked if I am going to draw the comic again, and I loved doing it, so maybe. I started the comic to process difficult things in my career, and thankfully, I have not had so much to process once I got this all into comic form!
The entire series can be found at When I Grow Up I Want to be a Vet.
I had mixed feelings about doing MORE emergency work, but decided to go with the optimistic view!
Kelly and I were doing a wellness exam on a cat together.
The cat bit my right forearm. Not wanting the cat's Mom to see the nick, I put my arm under the exam table and kept talking.
"We need to go," Kelly said.
"In a minute," I said.
I looked under the table and saw a rather large pool of blood. "Oh!" I said, "Excuse us please!" Kelly threw a towel over the blood and walked me out of the room.
Kelly sat me down in a chair and went into EMT mode. She cleaned and bandaged my wound and sent me to urgent care.
The nurse at urgent care removed my bandage to reveal what I first suspected, a small nick. She patted my hand and said, "Would you like a bandaid, dear?" I was going to say no, but I saw it was a cartoon bandage so I said yes. I left a bit embarrassed, but truly, cat bites are nothing to mess around with. I was on antibiotics for quite a while, and recovered well.
It was a tiny wound that bled a lot and left an impressive scar. Cat teeth are like that. I like my scar, and am ever reminded of Kelly's kindness and expertise.
This is the saddest story to go with a scar. But I love the scar because it reminds me of Jake.
Jake the Doberman was in for lameness. As I felt up a front leg, I hit a soft part of bone and Jake nipped in surprise, getting my left pointer finger. His tooth had gone through my fingernail. We both immediately apologized, Jake for biting me and I for pushing on a painful area of his leg.
After I returned from the hospital, we confirmed bone cancer, and Jake was euthanized soon after. I loved that dog.
I have a small notch in my left pointer fingernail in memory of Jake.
My favorite scar is a long raised white line on my left thumb. It used to go halfway up my forearm, but has faded.
Angela and I were holding a huge longhaired cat for his nail trim. He got a un-pedicured foot out of our grasp and kicked. His nail went up the length of my arm in a beautiful straight line. We finished his nail trim without further event, and I have the scar to show for it. I love it.
One of my favorite scars is an Airedale canine tooth shaped scar on my left knee.
I was a high school kid shadowing Dr. Rohrig at Rohrig Animal Hospital at 80th and Dodge Streets. I am sure I was too close to whatever procedure was being done. The frightened Airedale turned and ran toward me.
I backed up, but he just barely got me with a tooth to the knee.
I was told to sit on a stool on the edge of the room with a wet paper towel on my knee. I was glad I did not have to quit watching.
I went on to work for Dr. Rohrig in college, and have since worked with him on a case or two as a veterinarian.
A client recently told me that there is a group of white cats that wanders around Dundee together. They call themselves (or at least the people in the neighborhood call them) The White Cats of Dundee.
Have you seen them?
I keep a list of 50-100 patients with ongoing issues. I check half of the cases weekly and half of the cases monthly and update my list daily.
Losing contact with pet parents through death or healing is jarring. Also jarring is losing contact through lack of follow up.
I hate real life stories with open endings like I hate chairs not pushed in, only more deeply. That is my strange quirk to deal with. It is probably why I keep The List.
But you can help.
If your pet is cared for by our team, and we call to check on him or her, please call us back. If things change for better or for worse, please let us know.
Those of you who need advice about your pets, the only thing I ask from you in return is an update on your pet. Let me know how he or she is after we talk.
Knowing how my patients are doing brings peace of mind I can find no other way.
This is one strip of a series I created called, "When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Vet" from 2011 - 2012. You've asked if I am going to draw the comic again, and I loved doing it, so maybe. I started the comic to process difficult things in my career, and thankfully, I have not had so much to process once I got this all into comic form!
The entire series can be found at When I Grow Up I Want to be a Vet.
My boss really used this line, and it really worked on me!
One of the best feelings in the world is the feeling when a newly adult dog runs across the exam room and jumps into my lap after we have not seen each other for a year.
I asked Facebook friends, "What do you love most about your pet?"
These are the answers I received. Add yours in the comments. I'm not crying, you're crying!
Happy Valentine's Day guys! All my love to you and your pets!
Nicole Everingham
Trisha Rae
Brooke Brady
Jacquie Ruddick-Yeoman
Brenda Bloomfield Tassava
Jaime Williams
Alicia Weiland
Laura Wahl
Laura Wahl
Liz Eckermann
Monica Massengale
Monica Massengale
Monica Massengale
Monica Massengale
Monica Massengale
Nancy Krohn
Erin Holly
Karen Finch
LaVonne Biga
Donna Kay
Leslie McGavin Clifton
Elizabeth Hickerson
Penny Bell
Rhea Lukehart, LVT
Jenny Sutherland, LVT
Jenny Sutherland
Amanda Nichols
Judy Provo-Klimek, DVM
Allison Dokter
Linnette Kramer
Sheila Schoessler
Nicole Dawson
Tammy Brady
Jana Rade
Kristin Robertus
Kristin Robertus
Dani Cusick, LVT
Laura LeVigne
Laura LeVigne
Jennifer Heisler
Krista Schwarting
Katrina Andrews
Lisa Sorensen Kuhns
Cindy Choi
Cindy Choi
Cindy Choi
Cindy Choi
Cindy Kinsler
Amy Burke, DVM
Shawna Soderman
Whitney McKee
Allison Parker, LVT
Remember Toski the Amazing Corgi? Well before Toski's Mom and Dad had Toski, they raised show gerbils. I am not making this up. They are the most amazing creatures you will ever see!
Do you want to see Gerbil Champion Herman on a tiny agility course? Here he is!
Here is Herman staying in shape...
Here is Herman's great-granddaughter Cassie learning to show jump...
Originally written for ENKY...
Ten Tips to Better Take Care of Your Companion Animals
These pet care tips are meant to help new and experienced pet lovers alike!
1 – Know your pet, even before you adopt.
Learn as much as possible about the species and breed you are adopting.
How much attention do they require? How large of a habitat or how much room in the home will they need? What is their expected lifespan? Is there anything else you need to know to make their life and yours as great as possible?
The more you know from the start, the more your pet will thrive.
2 – Commit to the long run.
Will you be able to keep your pet for his or her entire lifetime? If you move, will you be able to move together? If they need more care than expected, can life be rearranged to provide that? Is the entire family on board?
Adopting a pet is a lifelong commitment. Go into the relationship ready to see it through to the last day.
3 – Prepare well.
This is a fun one! Visit a pet boutique or super store – or both! Pick up toys, bedding, dishes and treats. For a dog, pick out a collar and leash.
For a cat, pick out a litter box and litter and maybe some catnip.
4 – Feed them right.
Will you feed canned food or dry food? Homemade or commercial?
This is a step in which your veterinary team can be very helpful. Ask what foods they recommend and why. Ask what resources they recommend to learn more about different diet options.
The focuses of veterinary teams when choosing which diets to recommend are health, longevity and scientific support of a food’s nutritional value. Use their knowledge and expertise to find the food that will benefit your pet the most!
5 - Know your pet’s grooming needs.
Almost all dogs and cats need to be brushed and to have their nails trimmed.
Non-shedding dogs also need regular professional grooming.
Ask your veterinary team and friends and family which groomers they recommend.
6 – Socialize your pets well.
Dogs are most impressionable roughly between the ages of six and sixteen weeks. Even older dogs can successfully be socialized.
Do all you can to teach your new dog that people are kind – mail carriers, groomers, veterinary team members, tall people, short people, people in wheelchairs, loud people, quiet people, people of different races and ethnicities.
Introduce them to cats and other dogs.
Be safe, and let them learn new things and meet others at their own pace.
The more they experience, the more they will be prepared to handle new situations throughout their lives.
Kittens and cats can be trickier, but should still be socialized. Their most impressionable time is a little younger – roughly between the ages of three and five weeks. So by the time you adopt a kitten at eight weeks or older, their most impressionable time has passed.
However, if they have been raised by their mama or in foster care, much of that socialization has been done for you.
From here, make sure they know family members are always gentle and kind. Give the new cat several days before they meet resident pets, then slowly introduce everyone.
Get to know your individual cat. There are such a large variety of cat personalities! They all need different levels of interaction. Usually within a few weeks, you will know how social they would like to be.
Most rabbits, rodents and birds should be gently handled often. Some reptiles and amphibians do not enjoy handling at all while others can be quite social. Again, know your species and breed, and get to know your pet as an individual too.
7 – Train them well.
Training is different than socializing, though they are related.
Make sure your dogs know commands such as “sit” and “stay” and “come” and that they learn good leash manners. Most importantly, this will keep them safe. This will also enhance your relationship, as a well-behaved pet is more enjoyable to be around!
Make sure you and your family and any trainers who help train your pet use only positive reinforcement techniques – only kind, reward-based training – no yelling, no physical punishment (even water sprayers) and no shock, pinch or choke collars.
Frank and Dr. Belfiore
8 – Provide your pet with excellent preventative veterinary care.
If you have pets already or have had pets in the past, you probably already have an excellent veterinary team. If you need to find a vet, ask friends and family whom they trust with their pets.
At your first visit, your veterinarian can tell you what your pet will need in the way of examinations, vaccinations, testing and treatment.
Travis, Tidus and me
9 – Be ready for non-routine veterinary care.
No matter how protective and proactive you are, accidents and sicknesses will occur. Have your veterinarian’s phone number available. Know whom to call after hours. Have a plan, including an emergency fund if possible, ready in case of an emergency.
10 – Enjoy their company.
Whether you have painstakingly researched and chosen the best pet for your family, or rescued a pet with a cute face on a whim, you have learned all you possibly can about their species, their breed, and their individual self.
You have them on a diet that will enhance their life for years to come.
You are actively socializing and training them.
You have found a dream veterinary team and excellent groomer.
Now…enjoy your pet!
Take pictures.
Give lots of treats.
Teach fun tricks like “shake” and “high-five.”
Sit and read together.
Explore your city together on a path you would not have taken alone.
Learn to relax as well as your cat.
Learn to play with abandon like your puppy.
Commit yourself to an exercise program as vigorous as that of your hamster on his wheel.
Above all, enjoy your pet and the unique relationship you share.
Recently, I lost a dear patient to cancer after an extensive work up. On top of the mourning, there was a jarring cessation of follow up.
I also recently had a sweet patient I suspected had cancer recover completely. Besides the celebration, there was a jarring cessation of follow up.
My teammates toasted the life of our cancer patient with the dog's Mom and the bar manager. They talked about Dog as a Baby Dog and Knowing When Your Heart is Ready Again. The story brought tears to my eyes. I was so proud - and happy to know Mom was hanging in there.
And then...nothing.
Kelly called the family of the recovered dog a couple of times to make sure she was still doing well. She was.
And then...nothing.
In the worst of cases and the best of cases, it is a difficult transition to make from almost daily communication and care to none at all.
I miss you both, and I miss your families I pray for new/continued happiness. I look forward to the day I see your families again.
