Friday, March 28, 2008

Another Crazy Day

Wow, this was a whirlwind day! Starting off with an appointment this morning down in Indy with a surgeon. After an hour's drive (one-way) and a twenty-minute wait, the nurse informs me that the doctor is still in emergency surgery and is not sure when he will be finished. Well, I know what that means, so when she asked me if I wanted to wait or come back, I immediately told her I'd come back. I wasn't thrilled at all with the wasted time, but these things happen. When I go back Monday at 8:00 a.m., I will be prepared ;>)

So I get to the clinic a little after noon and it is already hopping. We started right in with an involved tooth extraction on a geriatric diabetic cat, seeing appointments, making phone calls, lab results to be reviewed, etc. etc. I had all four of my staff members here to help, plus my technician brought three of her children with her since they were off school. It was definitely a bit chaotic at times!

I also had two parrots with feather destructive behavior (FDB). I love working with these birds and their owners, but it is very intense and exhausting. I spend an average of an hour and a half with these guys, reviewing history, examining, performing laboratory tests, educating and counseling owners. This is a very frustrating and sad problem in our companion parrots today. I am an adherent of the theory that pulling chicks from their parents at a very young age has caused a lot of mental and psychological instability in these birds. That does not make FDB any easier to understand or treat. We learn so much about avian medicine each year that I keep studying and going to continuing education meetings. Maybe soon there will be something else we can do to help these guys!

No comments: