25/02/2008 by Arielle.

I wrote an article a few weeks ago (although probably months ago, considering how fast the time is flying!), about frost and cold weather causing cystitis in cats due to the ground freezing which results in them being unable to scratch and use the ground.

Our little cat Shadow has just suffered with a bout of cystitis or bladder infection. She left some bloody urine in our bathroom and has been drinking more than normal. I immediately gave her some antibiotics and changed from her regular dry food to tinned food so that she gets enough moisture in her diet.

We have just had yet another very cold snap and I still feel that it is due this that she has her cystitis, but for another reason that I have only just thought about. I put both our cats out every night. They are used to this routine and as we do not have the luxury of a catflap, they stay out all night and come in ravenously hungry each morning. There are so many puddles around that they are able to at least get some water to drink but with the cold snap we are having, every drop of water must be frozen (even the water bowl I put out for them), that it means a good 11 hours with no water which I am sure has also caused the bladder infection in little Shadow!

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21/02/2008 by Arielle.

I am full of cold and cough. My youngest daughter very kindly shared all her germs from nursery with me and inevitably (with all the good night kisses); I was going to catch it. I hate being ill - as we all do and to all Mums out there; we cannot take a day off when we just feel like crawling into bed and sleeping. There is always so much to do and little people to take to school, collect, cook for, bath etc etc.

I made my son take the dog out for her run this morning. She sits at the bottom of the stairs crying for me to appear dressed in my jogging clothes. She was equally happy when Christopher appeared to take her out.

I also have to work today and like most of us, I do not like to let people down. My husband has said that I am being selfish and will sneeze in front of all the clients and spread my germs while my son seems to think that I may sneeze on their pets and the iwner will fall ill when they are hugging their pets later at home!

The practice I work at is great and I know that they will find cover for me if I am really feeling bad but for now I am dosing up on Lemsip Max and about to go and consult. This is me feeling very sorry for myself!!

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20/02/2008 by Arielle.

I had to laugh at our Labrador Slick this morning. We went out for our usual jog first thing in the morning. There is a wonderful open area in front of our house where she can just run off lead which is just ideal for a young active dog. It means that she is able to cover at least 10 times more ground than my 2 lazy legs as she zigzags after every smell.

A lady in our estate was walking her English Bulldog. Being a lazy breed, he trailed behind her reluctantly on the lead. Slick raced off to greet the owner and completely ignored the Bulldog.

She normally races off to sniff the other dog in her area, but this time it was as if she did not even see him as a dog. Even the owner commented on it and we laughed together as I called Slick away. How many  pet sitters and dog walkers have experienced this I wonder?

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16/02/2008 by Arielle.

I had one case today that stood out from the others. A mother came in with her little 5 year old daughter, their pet cat Molly and rat called Erica. Molly needed her 6 monthly program injection and the little girl watched me with great interest as I listened to her cat’s heart and then gave it the injection. Her mother mentioned that it was the first time she had been to a vet.

She then showed me their 3 year old pet rat that just sat miserably over its food bowl. She had stopped eating, was terribly thin and had grown lifeless over the last week. She was so dehydrated and I sadly had to make a diagnosis of a possible kidney or womb infection. The young mother had previously nursed a seizuring rat and she felt it would be kinder (which I wholeheartedly supported) if she was put to sleep.

She turned to her daughter and explained that I was going to take Erica away and give her an injection to make her die. The little girl burst into tears of genuine grief and looked at me with a mixture of hatred and confusion. I tried to explain to her that Erica would die if we left her or tried to treat her and she would suffer, but she was crying too much.

Erica passed away very quietly with a bit of gas and an injection in the hospital. One of the nurses was hand-feeding a 3 week Chihuahua puppy called Finnigan. I quickly borrowed him and rushed out with Finnigan wrapped in a pink towel to show him to the little girl who had touched my heart. I hope that she will grow up to understand that vets are not terrible people!

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09/02/2008 by Arielle.

Buttons did not come in this morning. Both he and his sister Shadow (our sweet little rescue cats) always come rushing in first thing in the morning for their food. It had been a windy night and I despaired and immediately imagined the worst - had a branch fallen on him or had he been blown off a roof?

I called and called and looked all over when I went out with Slick our dog for her jog. It was my husband who spotted Buttons as he climbed into his car parke next to mine. I had returned late last night from work and had unpacked my Tesco bags from the car, leaving it open as I did so.

Buttons had obviously climbed in and ended up locked in the car overnight. I felt complete relief that he was fine but horror that our faithful old family car now smells like a litter tray!

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04/02/2008 by Arielle.

I was sure that my first consultation that faced me on the computer was a wind-up. I work with a great team of receptionists and we have many good laughs together so I was sure that ‘Chinchilla permanent erection’ booked in as my first client was not real.

I went out to see Debs and tell her off but then noticed a lady walking in with a giant ‘hamster wheel’ and a chinchilla inside. Realising that it was going to be one of those days; I rushed upstairs to the practice library to look up Chinchillas in one of the exotic manuals. We do not see them often and I have certainly not seen one before with this affliction!

It turned out to be what is called ‘fur ring’. The poor little chap (a beautiful soft chinchilla) had a ring of his soft fur around his very generous bits. A simple snip of the fur and a bit of lubrication did the trick - a very satisfying result to relieve his discomfort.

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