funny case

[kate_g]

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Thought we could use some more casual conversation as we're all quietly panicking about application processing.

Shadowing last week I saw a really funny case. The check-in note from the receptionist said "coughing 2 days, sneezed out a piece of grass." We go into the room and the vet says "there *has* to be a good story here." This lady calls for an urgent appointment, her cat has been hacking and coughing and sounding terrible for two days. They squeeze her in, she throws the cat in a carrier and trucks on over. The carrier is on the passenger seat. On the way, the cat hacks and coughs and sneezes, and a blade of grass suddenly pokes out of the wire carrier door. The owner says "I just about went off the road when I saw it..." She pulls gently, extracts this 5-inch-long blade of grass and a little feather (cat was known to be an accomplished hunter and usually ate her prey).

Near as the vet could figure, the cat ate some grass (possibly feeling unwell because the feather was stuck in her throat or up her nose?) and in the process of vomiting it back up one of the blades went up the posterior nares. Apparently this is not unusual, but the normal course of action here is the cat hacks and coughs, the owner brings it in, and the vet has to put the cat under to lift the palate and fish around for the offending object. This cat managed to take care of the problem herself...

We taped the blade of grass into her record as a souvenir. 🙂

 

[Iain]

I think you will find a lot of non-emergencies in veterinary medicine. None of mine were particularly funny, but more cringe worthy.

A horse who had been bought in neurologic (and was) run out of money and was taken AMA - the horse loaded up (which was a miracle, it could barely walk) and as it pulled out and went down the street one of the owners was seen holding onto the side of a rather ragity trailer, holding the horses tail hoping it assist it with standing. After looking at the records it looked like the horse had a 10 mile commute.

We had another neurologic horse that arrive, it was unable to unload and ended up down in the trailer. One of the other owner came to see what was going on, and decided to share expertise. She had concluded (with no veterinary training) that the horse had West Nile, and was quizzing the now very distressed owner of the horse who was down about the vaccinations she did, when, how many, etc.

My favorite, a lady brings a very very sick horse in - it had colic and was clearly not happy! The intern was doing the history and physical asked the owner any medication the horse had. She returned to her car and came back with an empty tube of bute, the intern asked how much she had administered - the owner had given the horse a whole tube of bute!!!!!!

 

[kate_g]

I think you will find a lot of non-emergencies in veterinary medicine.

If my cat had been gagging for two days I'd ask for an urgent appointment too, so I absolutely wasn't faulting the owner. And all us humans rushing around and fretting while the cat cured herself, well... so much the better for the cat! The point was the story was funny - how often do you see a cat sneeze a blade of grass out her nose?? 🙂

I'll make my invitation more explicit... Let's distract each other by sharing stories. Anything funny, weird, creepy, cringe-worthy a' la Iain... I'm thinking "the weirdest thing I ever saw taken out of a labrador's stomach," "best x-ray artifact," "most outrageous thing an owner said," whatever... Just leave out the names to protect the innocent (and avoid lawsuits)...

 

[irish_pompano]

I love the idea of this thread!

There is nothing like forcing a fecal from a *very* constipated venomous pit viper... we soaked the snake for days and still nothing. So myself, the vet, and another keeper literally squeezed the fecal mass out of the viper and inevitably all over ourselves in the process. All while holding the head (read: fangs) at a safe distance away. In the end, the snake recuperated while we spent the rest of the day cleaning our shirts and picking rat hairs off our clothes!

 

[are_jay]

I'll make my invitation more explicit... Let's distract each other by sharing stories. Anything funny, weird, creepy, cringe-worthy a' la Iain... I'm thinking "the weirdest thing I ever saw taken out of a labrador's stomach," "best x-ray artifact," "most outrageous thing an owner said," whatever... Just leave out the names to protect the innocent (and avoid lawsuits)...

On your previous comment Re: (non)emergencies, we were told in phys that most of what comes in will cure itself. Problem is, which "most"??

Anyway, I heard a lecture from a practicing small animal vet who promised this story was true-- some hungry large-breed puppy had eaten some woman's lacy underwear, then impacted. The clinic displayed them in a plastic baggie to the wife, who had come to pick up the dog post-surgery. Problem was, it wasn't her underwear! Oopsey!!

 

[Orthonut]

Oh yes. These are quite common, and actually one of the IM Dip's favorite "diseases" (nasal FBs are curable-neoplasia isn't really)

Still giggle worthy though.

 

[Iain]

On your previous comment Re: (non)emergencies, we were told in phys that most of what comes in will cure itself.

Shhhh. I am trying to bottle a new nutraceutical called - TIME IN A BOTTLE, just have to figure out how to liquefy time.

 

[birdvet2006]

The things that dogs eat:

- I hear from a fellow intern that she had a dog come in on emergency. Ate a kabob with meat on it - whole (skewer and all)! Owner couldn't afford surgery or endoscopy, so as a last ditch effort (vs. euthanasia) - they gave apomorphine (induced vomiting). The dog vomited up the skewer whole, with meat still on it. Wow - I would have loved to see that!

- A dog I saw the other day (for a different problem) had been seen at its RDVM (regular vet) and they found him to have "food bloat" (a stomach full of food). They induced vomiting for some reason and low and behold - out came a KITTEN! Yikes! I think I would have died if I saw that. I have heard of cat/kitten-eating dogs, but it sure would surprise me. Apparently the owner said "yeah, he eats cats all the time" !!!!

 

[RazorDoc2010]

I work at a small-animal emergency clinic in a fairly small town and it's not uncommon for us to hear/see some pretty absurd things out of animals and their owners. So here are two...

A labrador puppy was brought in for penile bleeding and upon x-ray, we saw that the dog's intestines were completely blocked. Once into surgery the doctor found what looked to be like an entire roll of paper towels and a bunch of styrofoam...looks like the dog had a feast!

And my favorite, a lady brought her dog into the emergency clinic because her dog had poop stuck in its fur. (Swear it's true)

 

[birdvet2006]

And my favorite, a lady brought her dog into the emergency clinic because her dog had poop stuck in its fur. (Swear it's true)

That reminds me of one I had recently - a dog had "poop coming from its butt". Oh really? Well, when it arrived I noticed that it was a stringy toy coming from the butt. In an unmannered young Rottweiler. Had to sedate her for some radiographs and then managed to get the toy out with gentle maniupulation (lubed glove) and traction. Yuck. That was one expensive toy removal. 🙂 Cheaper than surgery though.

 

[Iain]

Had to sedate her for some radiographs and then managed to get the toy out with gentle maniupulation (lubed glove)

Lube is like a magician!

 

[mtrl1]

Near as the vet could figure, the cat ate some grass (possibly feeling unwell because the feather was stuck in her throat or up her nose?) and in the process of vomiting it back up one of the blades went up the posterior nares. Apparently this is not unusual, but the normal course of action here is the cat hacks and coughs, the owner brings it in, and the vet has to put the cat under to lift the palate and fish around for the offending object. This cat managed to take care of the problem herself...

We taped the blade of grass into her record as a souvenir. 🙂

It was actually probably stuck under the soft palate...I've seen it often. Usually the vet I work with would give propofol and pull it out with hemostats.

 

[HopefulUGACVM]

Earlier this year I was the admitting assistant for a neurological case. The owner was freaking out becuase this dog was his "baby." While taking the history the dog was laying on the table in a glassy-eyed stupor and the owner kept saying "she just doesn't care, she won't walk, she won't do anything, and she just doesn't care, I'm worried she is dying because she is alawys with me and doesn't want to do anything right now!" I asked him no less than 3 times if the dog could have gotten into anything bc it could be some kind of toxicity. No No and No

I brought the dog back for a quick look see for the doctor on the case and she was completely baffled. The dog took would cross step her front legs, weaving all over the Tx area and had a glassy eyed look.

Well, finally after an extenesive neurologic exam, history, and a quote ($$ bc we had NO idea what was going on), I looked at the doctor and said "shall we ask if she got into any NON-prescription drugs? Like the kind you find on the coffee table??" She looked at me and said she was thinking the exact same thing... we composed ourselves (which took a few minutes!) and proceeded into the room to ask them.

Lo-and behold the owner's roomate finally admitted that he was missing a yet to be used bag of weed and the dog was completely stoned. When told we weren't going to tell the cops the guys were like "you guys are cool dude. whoa, thanks man. Sweet" (not kidding)

That case for sure provided giggles for days (especially given that we see the countys police dogs!)

 

[birdvet2006]

That case for sure provided giggles for days (especially given that we see the countys police dogs!)

I've seen at least 2 of these cases this year. 🙂

 

[Orthonut]

I've seen at least 2 of these cases this year. 🙂

Ditto.

Why do people call the Equine/Food animal service when their dog ODs on "special" brownies?

Me:um, call the small animal ED

Them: but these were special brownies...you don't understand

Me:no, you don't understand. We work on B I G animals. Not dogs that eat marijuana filled brownies...what's the dog doing?

Them:well, he's just wandering around all glassy eyed and he's real hungry like...

 

[kate_g]

It was actually probably stuck under the soft palate...I've seen it often. Usually the vet I work with would give propofol and pull it out with hemostats.

Sure... I was trying to be brief and didn't manage to say it clearly... The cat ate grass and then tried to get rid it two days ago, and a piece got stuck, which is why she'd been hacking. The beautiful thing was not that she had grass lodged in her nose/throat (as you said, common enough but usually requiring sedation and some fishing around), but the way in which the cure was effected...

I *know* I've heard that panties story before, are_jay... Not doubting that your source had the real case, but I could see it being the kind of thing that quickly blossoms into urban legend and sitcom plot fodder! (And since neither infidelity nor indiscriminate appetites in large-breed puppies is exactly uncommon, there may well be multiple "real" cases...)

Oh, and

They induced vomiting for some reason and low and behold - out came a KITTEN!

😱

Apparently the owner said "yeah, he eats cats all the time" !!!!

😱 😱 😱

 

[thelarson]

A breeder brought one of her Dobermans into the emergency clinic where I was shadowing, claiming she thought the dog had eaten a tennis ball. We asked her normal questions, including the dog's usual diet, and she said "I used to feed raw, but now I don't since she's had problems with the bones before, so she doesn't get raw feed."

So we take the dog back, do radiographs, and see lots of pieces of tennis ball in the stomach. We induced the dog to vomit, and along with the multiple pieces of tennis ball came a very suspect organic-looking chunk. Upon closer examination, we discovered it was a whole heart - not even masticated... the dog had swallowed a heart whole. We're wondering what type of heart - rabbit? Chicken?

So we call the owner back. She goes, "Oh, that..... that's a turkey heart." We innocently reminded her that she said the dog was not fed raw anymore, and she said "Oh no, I just don't feed her any parts with the bones anymore, since that's what she had problems with before." She was quite embarassed. Never lie to your vet!!!

 

[HorseyVet]

So we call the owner back. She goes, "Oh, that..... that's a turkey heart." We innocently reminded her that she said the dog was not fed raw anymore, and she said "Oh no, I just don't feed her any parts with the bones anymore, since that's what she had problems with before." She was quite embarassed. Never lie to your vet!!!

A veterinary columnist wrote a similar story about how he has this client with an VERY obese toy dog. He questioned the owner several times about how much the dog ate and did he recieve any people food on the side. The owner refused several times and indicated that he only recieved a modest amount of kibble. Finially when the vet was about to conclude the visit, the owner revealed that the dog ate like a whole tube of raw cookie dough mix every day. When the vet asked why the person hadn't offered this earlier, the client responded that "it's not food unless you cook it." I don't know how he managed to keep from laughing or crying at that one.

 

[shine_bluesky]

I have some funny stories:

When i was on work experience, one of the vets told me about a case they'd seen. A client brought in a gerbil, which had died that morning, to find out what caused it's death. The vet looked in the box... and paused. "Well, it's head isn't attached to it's body".

I can't work out whether the owner hadn't noticed the head wasn't attached, or just thought that gerbils can live without heads!


Another one, isn't really funny, but just as incredulous.
The practice i worked at, someone brought in a rat. They rang up just after surgery hours really worried about that rat, apparently it had a growth on it's leg. So it came in, the vet saw it, it was put to sleep. Then about 10 minutes later i went into the room to clean it, and the box with the rat in it was still there; so i had a look. The lower half of the rat was twice, may be three times, it's normal size. All due to a massive mass.

I really don't know how the owners didn't notice before it got so bad.

Katie

 

[HorseyVet]

The practice i worked at, someone brought in a rat. They rang up just after surgery hours really worried about that rat, apparently it had a growth on it's leg. So it came in, the vet saw it, it was put to sleep. Then about 10 minutes later i went into the room to clean it, and the box with the rat in it was still there; so i had a look. The lower half of the rat was twice, may be three times, it's normal size. All due to a massive mass.

I really don't know how the owners didn't notice before it got so bad.

Just FYI....but that's really common. Rats can grow tumors VERY quickly. Getting a golf ball sized tumor in about a week or less is very possible and often easy enough to go unoticed depending on its location.

I've had a lot of pet rats and this happened to me once. This rat was very old (over five years)...which is part of why I didn't like handling her very much anymore....like any other old people they loose a little of their balance...and a million year old rat on my shoulder didn't seem like a good idea. Anyway, (1) these are animals that are pretty good about "hiding" problems, and (2) if you've got a bunch of bedding, houses, cozies etc. it's pretty easy to miss a tumor. Her's was abdominal and really wasn't visible untill you picked her up (the bedding concealed it). I cleaned her cage once a week, so that's the max amount of time that would have past between me handling her, and yeah...it was a little smaller then a golf ball when I found it. Same story...took her to be euthanized.

Anyway....sometimes with these animals the "that wasn't there yesterday" syndrome is a reality. A lot of owner get nailed over this....unfortunately they are often the "good" owners. Most people don't take pocket pets to the vet....let alone take them (or any animal) there if the illness could potentially make them look bad. Most rats when they get to this point will need to be euthanized, so I'd much rather have the owners doing that then letting them suffer. I make a point of telling rat owners to look out for the tumors and to not freak out when the day comes (because it will in some fashion).

 

[Iain]

I have pictures and X-rays of proud flesh that was atleast 8 months old (it covered the entire cannon bone, thicker than a sweet wrap, and the bone had grown spikes) - which was said to have happened in a month!!!

I wish I could post the picture - but not sure I am allowed.

 

[HorseyVet]

I have pictures and X-rays of proud flesh that was atleast 8 months old (it covered the entire cannon bone, thicker than a sweet wrap, and the bone had grown spikes) - which was said to have happened in a month!!!

I wish I could post the picture - but not sure I am allowed.

unless SND has a policy I'm not aware of...AND of course that you informed the clients about what the picture might be used for (education), it should alright. Also...no mention of names.

I took a lot of pictures and I'd just ask if I could take them (never had anyone say no...but then most of those cases didn't have anything objectionable that could be placed on the cilents).

As long as there are no names or faces (or very identifying things on the animal, like a brand) I would think it's ok. Not that proud flesh is anything that exciting.

 

[Iain]

I just do not think it is appropriate - the hospital was very good to me, and I owe it to them to take a wide berth on anything that could potentially get them into hot water even if it was merely frivolous claims.

Just by the size of the proud flesh it is very exciting - no one at the hospital had seen it so out of control. The proud flesh wrapped around the leg, and was larger then a sweat wrap, it probably was about the size of my thigh!

 

[HorseyVet]

I just do not think it is appropriate - the hospital was very good to me, and I owe it to them to take a wide berth on anything that could potentially get them into hot water even if it was merely frivolous claims.

Just by the size of the proud flesh it is very exciting - no one at the hospital had seen it so out of control. The proud flesh wrapped around the leg, and was larger then a sweat wrap, it probably was about the size of my thigh!

In field service you see that all the time (that large of proud flesh)...If the photo was taken at a hospital then everything might be very very different.

 

[spikey]

Anyway, I heard a lecture from a practicing small animal vet who promised this story was true-- some hungry large-breed puppy had eaten some woman's lacy underwear, then impacted. The clinic displayed them in a plastic baggie to the wife, who had come to pick up the dog post-surgery. Problem was, it wasn't her underwear! Oopsey!!

got one like that, only with another man's socks. whoops!

the other day we did exploratory on this boxer who apparently liked the taste of tampons 😱