After all the excitement of the last couple of weeks with the CBBC filming, it’s been back to the rather less dramatic world of routine vet work in the surgery. It some ways I miss the TV work when I head back to my day job, as dealing with dog vaccinations and poorly cats can seem a little dull compared to filming work – but as soon as I’m back into the swing of things in the surgery I appreciate that whilst routine veterinary work may not be quite as glamorous as working in TV, it brings just as much satisfaction and enjoyment, just in a slightly different way.
This week, for example, I dealt with a couple of cases where I really felt as though I’d made a significant difference to both my patients and their owners. One was a dog called Charlie who’d been limping for several weeks on his front left paw. He’d been seen at another surgery but his owners weren’t happy and had brought him to me for a second opinion. It’s not often that there’s a simple answer in cases like this, but in this instance the previous vet had missed a fairly obvious problem – Charlie had a thorn imbedded deep in between his toes. Under a short sedation I was able to remove the thorn, and Charlie was back on all four feet almost immediately which was very satisfying.
The second case which really reaffirmed my enjoyment of my work in the surgery involved a cat called Missy, and her problem was had started several months previously when she’d first started licking and biting at her stomach. At the time I’d suspected an allergy was to blame, and I’d started her on a special prescription food and some medical therapy to try and control her symptoms. Now, 8 weeks later, Missy was almost a different cat, with none of the raw patches on her skin that had been so obvious at her earlier visits. It was great to see her looking so well – and it gave me great satisfaction to see that I’d made such a positive difference to her life, and that of her owner who’d been sick herself with worry about Missy’s condition and was now much happier.
After getting stuck back into work in the surgery I decided that it was time that I tended to the needs of two particularly special patients before the week was out. My pets Jack and Lilly are generally well and healthy, but as with all pets it’s important that they get a thorough check over every now and then to make sure they really are as healthy as they look. So at the end of the week I took them both into the surgery for a once over and to have their routine vaccinations and worming treatments.
Thankfully both Jack and Lilly got a clean bill of health and they were very relieved to be back home from the surgery and happy to get back to their own routines – Jack scouring the carpet for dropped food and Lilly hounding the wildlife in the garden! And I’m back in my own routine now, happy to be making a difference to pets and owners for a while – although I’m sure it won’t be long before the excitement of the TV world draws me back in again!
