Simon is the good cat. (We like Johnny too, but he is better behaved at home than he is in public.)
Simon is the cat who goes to the nursing home. He's the cat who donates blood. He's the cat who doesn't mind his harness and isn't too whiny in the car.
So I volunteered him to "help" at open house this weekend. The student chapter of the American Association of Feline Practitioners (AAFP), aka "The Cat Club," had a booth at which they wanted to have some live, well-behaved cats that kids could pet and also listen to their hearts with a stethoscope.
Like going to the nursing home, I wasn't entirely sure how Simon would do, but I offered to bring him anyway under the assumption that they could keep him out if he wasn't stressed and was being friendly, and just put him in his carrier somewhere out of the way if he got tired or crabby.
Well, reportedly he was an awesome little guy! The volunteers said he was a good cat, friendly and sociable for the full two hours of his "shift."
At the end of the two hours, they put him in a cage in the ward where he usually hangs out on blood donation days.
Before my last tour yesterday, I had a couple minutes for a break so I went to check and see how he was doing back there. I think I have to not do that sort of thing, because he had been fine until I checked on him, he was happy to see me, but then I got reports that he became crabby after that. I think he gets sad if I go see him and he thinks he gets to go home, but then he really has to stay longer.
Poor guy... but he is such a trooper!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Poop? Doesn't anyone want this poop?
Over spring break, I brought Johnny into Community Practice at the VTH for his check-up and vaccines. (He was sort of a brat about it.)
I had them run some bloodwork just to be safe (all came back normal) and they wanted to do a fecal sample as well.
Johnny is an uncooperative pooper, in that he won't let you get a sample from him, and I could leave him at the hospital all day and he still wouldn't pee or poop away from home unless it had been like 24 hours or longer.
So I brought home a little sample container to get a fresh sample from him to drop off before class someday.
It took almost a month before he cooperated enough with his poop timing such that I could actually get a fresh sample. But, at long last, he timed one just right for me to bring it in yesterday when I went to open house.
The student that saw him at Community Practice in March and gave me the sample cup also gave me a lab form (filled out) and told me to just drop both of them off at the front desk.
So yesterday morning, I dutifully walked up to the front desk with the form and Johnny's poop (in the cup, in a Ziploc bag), and asked them if they could take it.
I was met with looks of mild horror.
(I think they were pretty confused because I was wearing my blue student coat, so they may have thought I was a junior or senior and should know what I was doing. Not so!)
Two of the reception ladies sort of muttured back and forth for a minute, then one of them said to me, "OH! Is it for Community Practice?"
"Yes!" I replied, relieved and assuming I would soon no longer be standing at the desk like an idiot holding some poop.
"Well," they said, "maybe you should just take it back to Community Practice then."
"Okay...." I said.
"Because otherwise all we'll do is page them and they'll have to come get it," the receptionist finished.
"Okay, thanks," I answered, and headed back toward Community Practice (which happens to be about as far from the front desk as you can get, and seems 10 times farther when the halls are clogged with inquisitive second-graders).
I finally battled my way to Community Practice, only to find it completely unoccupied save for one doctor I didn't recognize who was sitting in the back room drinking some coffee.
"I have a poop sample," I began. "I tried to bring it to the front desk but they asked me to drop it off with you."
The poor doctor also looked rather repulsed.
"Um..." he stalled, "maybe you should take it out to the diagnostic lab?"
"Even though it's for Community Practice?" I inquired.
"Yes," he decided.
"Okay, thanks," I answered, and ventured back into the halls, again dragging myself and the poop sample through hordes of little kids.
On my way into the diagnostic lab, I passed some people leaving who looked like they worked there and/or knew what I should do.
"Excuse me," I started, "I'm a sophomore and I don't really know how this works, but I need to drop off a poop sample for my cat. Do you know where I can leave it?"
"Try the window up there on the left," one of them replied before they scurried away from me and the poop.
"Okay, thanks," I answered, and headed deeper into the lab.
I stepped cautiously up to the unoccupied window to which I had been directed, and soon somebody appeared and offered a cautious, "Can I help you?"
"Sorry to bother you," I said, "but I'm trying to figure out where I drop off this fecal sample. Do I leave it with you?"
"Oh, no," she replied. "Take it to that other window over there."
"Okay, thanks," I answered, and headed back the way I came in.
Finally, at long last, I had found the correct window! But would they take the poop sample?
"Hi," I started, trying to keep the beleaguered tone to a minimum. "I'm a sophomore vet student, and I brought my own cat into Community Practice a few weeks ago for his shots, and they wanted to do a fecal test, so they sent me home with this form and a sample cup, and I have a fresh sample, and all I need is a fecal float, and the student that saw my cat told me just to drop it off at the front desk, but the front desk told me to bring it to Community Practice, and Community Practice told me to bring it to the diagnostic lab, so here I am, and I hope I'm in the right place!"
"Okay," she said suspiciously. "I guess I can take that for you. You said you're a sophomore?"
Exhausted, I nodded.
"That's so weird," she said. "I've never had somebody do it that way before. That's not at all the way they are supposed to do this sort of thing. The student didn't even write their name on the form. Why don't YOU write your name as the student on this patient's case?"
Already late for my tour guide shift, I did as asked, hoping she would just take the poop so I could leave.
"All right, I can run that for you," she finally said.
"Okay, thanks!" I answered, and headed on my way.
I had them run some bloodwork just to be safe (all came back normal) and they wanted to do a fecal sample as well.
Johnny is an uncooperative pooper, in that he won't let you get a sample from him, and I could leave him at the hospital all day and he still wouldn't pee or poop away from home unless it had been like 24 hours or longer.
So I brought home a little sample container to get a fresh sample from him to drop off before class someday.
It took almost a month before he cooperated enough with his poop timing such that I could actually get a fresh sample. But, at long last, he timed one just right for me to bring it in yesterday when I went to open house.
The student that saw him at Community Practice in March and gave me the sample cup also gave me a lab form (filled out) and told me to just drop both of them off at the front desk.
So yesterday morning, I dutifully walked up to the front desk with the form and Johnny's poop (in the cup, in a Ziploc bag), and asked them if they could take it.
I was met with looks of mild horror.
(I think they were pretty confused because I was wearing my blue student coat, so they may have thought I was a junior or senior and should know what I was doing. Not so!)
Two of the reception ladies sort of muttured back and forth for a minute, then one of them said to me, "OH! Is it for Community Practice?"
"Yes!" I replied, relieved and assuming I would soon no longer be standing at the desk like an idiot holding some poop.
"Well," they said, "maybe you should just take it back to Community Practice then."
"Okay...." I said.
"Because otherwise all we'll do is page them and they'll have to come get it," the receptionist finished.
"Okay, thanks," I answered, and headed back toward Community Practice (which happens to be about as far from the front desk as you can get, and seems 10 times farther when the halls are clogged with inquisitive second-graders).
I finally battled my way to Community Practice, only to find it completely unoccupied save for one doctor I didn't recognize who was sitting in the back room drinking some coffee.
"I have a poop sample," I began. "I tried to bring it to the front desk but they asked me to drop it off with you."
The poor doctor also looked rather repulsed.
"Um..." he stalled, "maybe you should take it out to the diagnostic lab?"
"Even though it's for Community Practice?" I inquired.
"Yes," he decided.
"Okay, thanks," I answered, and ventured back into the halls, again dragging myself and the poop sample through hordes of little kids.
On my way into the diagnostic lab, I passed some people leaving who looked like they worked there and/or knew what I should do.
"Excuse me," I started, "I'm a sophomore and I don't really know how this works, but I need to drop off a poop sample for my cat. Do you know where I can leave it?"
"Try the window up there on the left," one of them replied before they scurried away from me and the poop.
"Okay, thanks," I answered, and headed deeper into the lab.
I stepped cautiously up to the unoccupied window to which I had been directed, and soon somebody appeared and offered a cautious, "Can I help you?"
"Sorry to bother you," I said, "but I'm trying to figure out where I drop off this fecal sample. Do I leave it with you?"
"Oh, no," she replied. "Take it to that other window over there."
"Okay, thanks," I answered, and headed back the way I came in.
Finally, at long last, I had found the correct window! But would they take the poop sample?
"Hi," I started, trying to keep the beleaguered tone to a minimum. "I'm a sophomore vet student, and I brought my own cat into Community Practice a few weeks ago for his shots, and they wanted to do a fecal test, so they sent me home with this form and a sample cup, and I have a fresh sample, and all I need is a fecal float, and the student that saw my cat told me just to drop it off at the front desk, but the front desk told me to bring it to Community Practice, and Community Practice told me to bring it to the diagnostic lab, so here I am, and I hope I'm in the right place!"
"Okay," she said suspiciously. "I guess I can take that for you. You said you're a sophomore?"
Exhausted, I nodded.
"That's so weird," she said. "I've never had somebody do it that way before. That's not at all the way they are supposed to do this sort of thing. The student didn't even write their name on the form. Why don't YOU write your name as the student on this patient's case?"
Already late for my tour guide shift, I did as asked, hoping she would just take the poop so I could leave.
"All right, I can run that for you," she finally said.
"Okay, thanks!" I answered, and headed on my way.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
The infamous two-bodied, one-headed cat
I love this picture of Johnny & Simon. Sometimes it seems like they only have one brain between the both of them!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Monkeys: Business as usual
Okay, so people have been nagging me about wanting to know what the monkeys have been up to lately. Be prepared for a lot of info! :-)
Johnny & Simon have been good little troopers with handling lots of changes in their environment and routine.
1. They spent 5 days alone over Thanksgiving with a daily check-in by one of my classmates.
2. Three days after we got back, we picked up foster cat Daisy, who stayed till mid-December.
3. Two days after Daisy was adopted (great home, by the way), we had a visit from mother/father/brother-in-law.
4. Two days after the in-laws left, J&S got to spend another 5 days alone with a pet-sitter once a day while we were in Minnesota.
5. After we got back from MN, they had to put up with me hanging around the house constantly for 2 more weeks until my spring semester started.
6. Finally, a period of relative calm! That is, until...
7. Lucy arrived for a visit in late February.
8. Two weeks of peace, and then....
9. Dad arrived for a visit this past week!
The cats act a little put-out when their routine is disrupted - especially when somebody else is staying in the house. With all of our human guests, as well as foster cat Daisy, J&S have been kicked out of "their" bedroom (the guest bedroom) where they like to lounge on the bed in the sun, sleep at night, and hide in the box springs. They are thus relegated to snoozing on the couch downstairs. (Yep, it's a pretty rough life.)
Simon went to the VTH in early January for a rabies vaccine. He was such a good boy - he is quiet in the car, doesn't protest the carrier, cooperates for his exam, and even tolerated me stopping for gas, groceries, and to return a DVD on our way home. I felt it was nice to give him a bit of a respite and remind him that it isn't EVERY time that he goes in his carrier in the car that he has to stay at the VTH for the entire day and get needles poked in him and be knocked out and feel loopy for the whole afternoon.
In late February, Simon got to make his "therapy cat" debut at a Fort Collins nursing home. I honestly had no idea how he would do - I thought he would be ok but was entirely prepared for the possibility that he would totally flip out.
In the end, he tolerated it. I don't know that he really enjoyed being there, but we had no hissing, scratching, growling, biting, etc., he came out of his carrier willingly, didn't try to get off his harness/leash, and didn't try to run away after the first couple minutes. There was only 1 other cat there and no dogs, so that wasn't an issue. I held him in my arms for the residents to pet, and when he got antsy, I let him walk around on his own on his leash. I'll probably bring him back again when they do their next visit, and hopefully he'll be even better on the second visit.
Yesterday, I brought Johnny to the VTH for his annual exam and vaccines. He got to have both a rabies and an FVRCP, and he got dewormed and had a chemistry panel and CBC and got sent home with a sterile sample container to bring back a fecal sample -- all courtesy of a new "pet wellness plan" the VTH is offering, which is normally $99/year ($59 with my vet student discount) and included the exam/vaccines/deworming/fecal and I still get my 40% discount on the bloodwork which I was going to do anyway. Plus if I bring him in any time in the next 12 months, he gets additional discounts on his exams and more bloodwork/fecals if he needs them.
It's been a year and a half since I brought Johnny to the VTH (a year since I brought him to a local Windsor clinic for shots), and I guess I have just been bringing Simon so many times that I forgot what a wuss Johnny is.
First of all, Johnny doesn't like riding in the car. (Actually, to clarify, he doesn't like riding in the car on the way to the vet.) He meowed pretty much constantly for the entire 35 minute drive (or at least I assume he did - I turned up the radio so I wouldn't have to listen to him).
We got to the VTH a little early for his appointment, and community practice was running late, so we sat in the lobby for about 20 minutes before they called us. (I am used to this, fortunately, so knew to bring a book.) But poor Johnny was just totally freaked out, and was shivering (nervous shivers) so hard that he was shaking his carrier on the bench next to me. Poor little dude!
He was mildly reluctant to exit his carrier once we got into an exam room, and didn't want me to hold him -- he preferred to pace around the room and check things out. He was a little squirmy for his exam, but nothing too terrible. Amazingly, he even tolerated a rectal temperature (for the most part)!
After the senior student got his history and did his physical, she took him back to the community practice rounds room to consult with the clinician, get his blood, and vaccinate him. She told me it would be "about 20 minutes," to which I thought, "Ha!" and said, "Okay, I'll be in the lobby."
Forty-five minutes later, Johnny was back, and not looking much happier. As predicted, his blood draw was pretty much a repeat performance of his last bloodwork 18 months ago -- no aggression but lots of squirming and knocking the needle out of his vein at the last minute, multiple veins used, and a nice hematoma on his leg from wriggling around. He really doesn't like to be restrained. At least this time I knew to warn them in advance to watch out for his anal glands.
Poor Johnny finally figured out how to get under the towel in his carrier and buried his face there for the remainder of our visit and checking out.
He was remarkably happier on the car ride home - perked up, not a peep out of him, and gave his shaved neck as thorough a bath as he could physically manage before settling in for a nap. Simon also saw to it that Johnny received a thorough bath once he got home.
So everybody is vaccinated, as healthy as they usually are, and back to a normal routine for awhile. Simon doesn't go in to donate blood until late April. Lord willing, Johnny doesn't have to go in again till next spring. We aren't expecting more houseguests for two or possibly one more month.
That means they can get back into their usual routine of kicking litter all over the place, pulling dish towels up the stairs every night, shredding toilet paper when they're bored during the day, and generally being annoying, albeit charming and loveable, little cats.
Johnny & Simon have been good little troopers with handling lots of changes in their environment and routine.
1. They spent 5 days alone over Thanksgiving with a daily check-in by one of my classmates.
2. Three days after we got back, we picked up foster cat Daisy, who stayed till mid-December.
3. Two days after Daisy was adopted (great home, by the way), we had a visit from mother/father/brother-in-law.
4. Two days after the in-laws left, J&S got to spend another 5 days alone with a pet-sitter once a day while we were in Minnesota.
5. After we got back from MN, they had to put up with me hanging around the house constantly for 2 more weeks until my spring semester started.
6. Finally, a period of relative calm! That is, until...
7. Lucy arrived for a visit in late February.
8. Two weeks of peace, and then....
9. Dad arrived for a visit this past week!
The cats act a little put-out when their routine is disrupted - especially when somebody else is staying in the house. With all of our human guests, as well as foster cat Daisy, J&S have been kicked out of "their" bedroom (the guest bedroom) where they like to lounge on the bed in the sun, sleep at night, and hide in the box springs. They are thus relegated to snoozing on the couch downstairs. (Yep, it's a pretty rough life.)
Simon went to the VTH in early January for a rabies vaccine. He was such a good boy - he is quiet in the car, doesn't protest the carrier, cooperates for his exam, and even tolerated me stopping for gas, groceries, and to return a DVD on our way home. I felt it was nice to give him a bit of a respite and remind him that it isn't EVERY time that he goes in his carrier in the car that he has to stay at the VTH for the entire day and get needles poked in him and be knocked out and feel loopy for the whole afternoon.
In late February, Simon got to make his "therapy cat" debut at a Fort Collins nursing home. I honestly had no idea how he would do - I thought he would be ok but was entirely prepared for the possibility that he would totally flip out.
In the end, he tolerated it. I don't know that he really enjoyed being there, but we had no hissing, scratching, growling, biting, etc., he came out of his carrier willingly, didn't try to get off his harness/leash, and didn't try to run away after the first couple minutes. There was only 1 other cat there and no dogs, so that wasn't an issue. I held him in my arms for the residents to pet, and when he got antsy, I let him walk around on his own on his leash. I'll probably bring him back again when they do their next visit, and hopefully he'll be even better on the second visit.
Yesterday, I brought Johnny to the VTH for his annual exam and vaccines. He got to have both a rabies and an FVRCP, and he got dewormed and had a chemistry panel and CBC and got sent home with a sterile sample container to bring back a fecal sample -- all courtesy of a new "pet wellness plan" the VTH is offering, which is normally $99/year ($59 with my vet student discount) and included the exam/vaccines/deworming/fecal and I still get my 40% discount on the bloodwork which I was going to do anyway. Plus if I bring him in any time in the next 12 months, he gets additional discounts on his exams and more bloodwork/fecals if he needs them.
It's been a year and a half since I brought Johnny to the VTH (a year since I brought him to a local Windsor clinic for shots), and I guess I have just been bringing Simon so many times that I forgot what a wuss Johnny is.
First of all, Johnny doesn't like riding in the car. (Actually, to clarify, he doesn't like riding in the car on the way to the vet.) He meowed pretty much constantly for the entire 35 minute drive (or at least I assume he did - I turned up the radio so I wouldn't have to listen to him).
We got to the VTH a little early for his appointment, and community practice was running late, so we sat in the lobby for about 20 minutes before they called us. (I am used to this, fortunately, so knew to bring a book.) But poor Johnny was just totally freaked out, and was shivering (nervous shivers) so hard that he was shaking his carrier on the bench next to me. Poor little dude!
He was mildly reluctant to exit his carrier once we got into an exam room, and didn't want me to hold him -- he preferred to pace around the room and check things out. He was a little squirmy for his exam, but nothing too terrible. Amazingly, he even tolerated a rectal temperature (for the most part)!
After the senior student got his history and did his physical, she took him back to the community practice rounds room to consult with the clinician, get his blood, and vaccinate him. She told me it would be "about 20 minutes," to which I thought, "Ha!" and said, "Okay, I'll be in the lobby."
Forty-five minutes later, Johnny was back, and not looking much happier. As predicted, his blood draw was pretty much a repeat performance of his last bloodwork 18 months ago -- no aggression but lots of squirming and knocking the needle out of his vein at the last minute, multiple veins used, and a nice hematoma on his leg from wriggling around. He really doesn't like to be restrained. At least this time I knew to warn them in advance to watch out for his anal glands.
Poor Johnny finally figured out how to get under the towel in his carrier and buried his face there for the remainder of our visit and checking out.
He was remarkably happier on the car ride home - perked up, not a peep out of him, and gave his shaved neck as thorough a bath as he could physically manage before settling in for a nap. Simon also saw to it that Johnny received a thorough bath once he got home.
So everybody is vaccinated, as healthy as they usually are, and back to a normal routine for awhile. Simon doesn't go in to donate blood until late April. Lord willing, Johnny doesn't have to go in again till next spring. We aren't expecting more houseguests for two or possibly one more month.
That means they can get back into their usual routine of kicking litter all over the place, pulling dish towels up the stairs every night, shredding toilet paper when they're bored during the day, and generally being annoying, albeit charming and loveable, little cats.
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