Nanokitten, Tail Bite, and Wheezy

Wednesday: A nanokitten, on supplemental oxygen and warmers and hourly feedings. (Dr. S saw me come in: "Want a kitten?" Me: "I heard M was taking her home." Dr. S: "Oh, M's just going to nurse her." Ahhhh, now I see what you're asking, you sly dude.) She didn't make it. Poor thing. It's pitifully tragic when you bag one for cremation and the body takes up less than half of a sandwich Ziploc.

Saturday: The nastiest bite wound I have yet seen - small, but massively infected. ( Discussion of goo )

That kitty will do fine, with the kind of care he's obviously getting. Owner has little money to spend at the vet's, which is why the antibiotics are only starting now, but anyone who will do that kind of treatment three times a day for over two weeks is going to pull that cat through.

Also Saturday: Respiratory emergency - laryngeal paralysis. Took hours to get that big dog stabilized. I need to get good at accepting my own helplessness, whether as the kennel cleaner or someday as the DVM. Yesterday I couldn't help stabilize her, but really, our doctors can't cure this either. We just hope that the next time it happens she's nearby a vet clinic again. That ailment is eventually going to kill that dog. If I had a veterinary medical degree I couldn't change that fact.

The new kitten and puppy appointments sure do help brighten a day like that. Hi, cute thing! Vaccination? Here you go. Oh, doggie kisses! What a sweetie you are.

Fridge burn?

Put a pound of ground beef in a self-defrost freezer and pretty soon it'll be brown around the edges.

Put it in the fridge and sooner or later you'll see a similar brown. I don't think my fridge crosses the freezing point, not since we lost an expensive bottle of insulin to that very thing and messed with the thermostat a tad. Is the blood simply draining out of the tissue? What's going on there?