For all the other vet related folks out there, what’s the weirdest/funniest/most astonishing case you’ve witnessed/heard of?
A few of my favorites:
The folks who brought us Christmas presents even though we weren’t able to save their dog from renal failure last summer. They just really like us.
The dog who ate a whole bunch of snacks out of the Christmas stockings, most notably two cans of almonds, which he opened the pop-tops on himself.
The folks who refused medical care for their hunting dog who had been shook by a bear 4 hours earlier because they “had dogs who were tore up worse before.” They drove past 6 other perfectly good emergency clinics on their way to us, then refused service.
The folks who openly admitted in a full waiting room that their dog had eaten their stash of marijuana.
The local computer tech moguels who bought lunch for the entire department when we managed to save their pet.
I don’t find that particularly odd. It’s not exactly like stomach contents of the dog nor public statement of that fact would be admissible in court, besides they were probably worried for the dog, no? Although if that’s not why they were there and they just mentioned it as a public anecdote, then
You’re right on all counts. But most people don’t realize that vets are doctors, too, and stuff you tell them is protected by law. Usually, we have to torture owners before they confess that maybe, while at the friend of a friend’s house, the dog could have potentially gotten into perhaps one half of one bud of Mary Jane. It was refreshing to have someone unabashedly get to brass tacks.
I didn’t even know there was a veterinary privilige, but even then, I don’t understand why people are so hung up about it (although I’m within distance of the Santa Cruz reality distortion field, so my view would be skewed). Your dog eating drugs is not a crime, last time I checked, and even if you are paranoid, how can a terse “My dog might’ve licked some cocaine, at most half a gram, but I don’t know where, why, whose, or how cough” get you into any sort of trouble? I mean, I guess if ASPCA gets involved they might decide you’re not fit to have pets, but that seems rather unlikely. It’s not like a comment like that is going to have the police department breaking down your door or posting a unit outside of your house. If cops were simply interested in knowing who has drugs at home they could just walk the neighborhoods asking nosey old ladies and soccer moms to finger all the druggies they know of.
Now of course if a dog comes in with obvious injuries from meth manufacture accident, I’m sure the police would be very very interested in that, and I would understand why an owner would be reluctant to mention anything (not like the vet isn’t going to figure out that something isn’t right). Are there really places in the US where the police are interested in catching every single drug user in the privacy of their home? Including prescription medication abuse that’d be like half the population, no?
looks around
stops derailing thread
I don’t have any stories, but just feel like sharing that my dog loves vets, stereotypes be damned, and often doesn’t want to leave the nice room. She feels so important up on that table with everybody paying attention to her
I’ve always wondered this. Because, to be honest, my cat once ate a dime bag. He then puked most of it up and went to sleep. I noticed no ill effects other than a slight mellowness, same as he is when coming down off the nip. If he’d acted at all strange or too sleepy, I’d have taken him right to the vet, but he’d chewed through the bag and eaten the weed while I was at work, and didn’t seem to be suffering. He was extra-cuddly that night, but I thought it was just because I was bogarting the Doritos.
They’re a lot of them. If you need help, let me know.
Not a vet story, but close:
I worked for at an animal shelter for a year. Once we had Code Enforcement (aka animal control) bring in a Chihuahua. The dog had tags, so the owner was called. This guys shows up and is told that there is a $60 “dog at large” fine. The owner has a fit about the fine and storms out.
The next morning, the dog was gone! I was off the day that the pooch was brought in, but that morning I was pissed that the back window was open. (We had a rock python taken during a drug bust. The window lowered the temp. I was the “weird animal person.”) Our supervisor put 2 and 2 together and called the cops. We still had the dog’s tags, so the police got the guy’s vital info. They go to his house, and there was the chihuahua!
Instead of a $60 fine and taking his pet home. This guy got arrested for breaking and entering and lost custody of the dog!
I will forever be grateful to my vet for their treatment of Presley in his last days. They clearly cared, and they helped guide us to the right choice, even though it was difficult.
Pot can make them pretty wiggy, it may not kill them but it really depends on how much they eat and if there was anything else in the pot. I’ve seen a couple dogs that we thought either got pot with pcp or cocaine. The dogs were totally off the walls insane, I think they would have attacked people if they hadn’t been brought in for treatment.
I’m too tired to think of any weird, funny or astonishing cases right now. I’ll have to get back to you on that.
When I was in vet school, we kept a book of funny questions/odd requests down in the trauma/emergency clinic. Some of it was very funny.
One was a person who called because her cat had licked a statue of the pope. After some questioning it was found that the cat had not ingested anything. The statue was hard plastic with nothing on it. The student asked the caller why she believed the cat might be in distress.
“Because it was THE POPE,” came the reply.
The student suggested that she call her priest.
I once talked to someone who asked how she could tell if her turtle was dead or just sleeping. When I suggested she poke it’s leg to see if it moved, she replied, “Ewww, I’m not going to touch it, it might be dead.” We decided that she’d take it outside and watch it - if it moved off its spot it was alive. If it didn’t move for a day it was probably dead.
I also once cared for a kitten that was brought into emergency because she got trapped in a washing machine and was not discovered until the clothes were taken out to be put in the dryer. The kitten was shaken up but otherwise not harmed. She did have the softest, silkiest coat I have ever felt, however.
So if my dog gets out of his responsibly secure fence and I’m lucky enough that somebody finds it and calls me, somebody’s gonna charge me? I’d be pissed too.
I can’t speak to the ordinances of the area where this dog was found, but in my jurisdiction, if it is “running at large” for any reason, you’re in violation. You don’t get credit for the effort you did put forth to secure the animal. The fee is for the impoundment of the animal.
Who do you think should pay the Code Enforcement officer’s paycheck, the vehicle maintenance and the cost of gas to drive your loose dog to the shelter, not to mention the food the dog eats while there and the vet check up it received?
I am not a vet, but I visit them frequently. I had take my dog to the vet school for blood work and an ear infection. The vet had to give my dog anesthesia for the ear cleaning, and had aparently used a fire hose to clean out the dog’s ears. When I came to pick up Maggie, they brought her out stoned out of her gourd, and with a soaking wet head. I knelt down and called her and asked “Do you still love me?” She started walking towards me, then walked past me into the wall. The whole waiting room burst into laughter.
I dunno, my taxes? I mean, I’m very responsible with my dog and he hasn’t gotten out in years, and of course he’s never had to be picked up by the dogcatchers. (Although my cat did sneak out of the house on my heels on Christmas Eve and halfway up a tree. Luckily he was just high enough that I could still get him down, but I figured if I had to call somebody I’d be paying a fee.)
A vet friend of mine told this story, between gales of laughter.
She was the exotics specialist (read it’s not a cat or a dog) and got a call about a chinchilla that was stuck to a stuffed penguin. That penguin was it’s favorite toy, and the chinchilla would snuggle up and sleep with it. Well, as the penguin got older, it started to lose some of it’s stitching until there was a small hole in one of it’s seams. The chinchilla was apparently in an amourous mood one day and the cuddling got a little hot and heavy. The chinchilla got his penis stuck in the stuffed penguin’s seam, until the chinchilla’s owners noticed his distress and brought him in. My friend was able to free the chinchilla, sadly at the penguin’s expense. The chinchilla’s owners were sent home with a bill, a tires chinchilla, and a bottle of lotion that needed to be spread on the chinchilla’s chafed penis for a few days.
