Then The Tears Came

Yesterday was most likely, the most depressing day I’ve ever had working here at the hospital. A couple of my coworkers agree. We were bombarded with sadness. Once it started, the gloom and grief engulfed us and for me, didn’t let go, even after a night of sleep.

  We started our day with hearing an older lady, wailing in despair because her cat had just passed away. The sound was gut wrenching, heartbreaking and a sound I won’t be able to get out of my head for quite a while. Soon after, one of our coworkers came in as an emergency with her own pet that had collapsed and wasn’t doing well. The diagnosis was bad and the difficult decision was made. Seeing the anguish and despair on a friend’s face, as they say their goodbyes to their family member and best friend, is a sight that I don’t care to see again. But unfortunately I know I will. Our 4 legged friends never live long enough, but then again, none of us 2 leggeds do either.

  Once we began to get our emotions in check, another coworker received the bad news that her dad wasn’t doing well and was being transferred to a hospital that could take better care of him. Our roller coaster ride of emotions weren’t done with us yet. We were short-staffed from the start and as the day went on, there were less and less of us. And for those of us that were still here, we were already emotionally drained and were now becoming physically drained as well. But business is business and we must go on as usual, right? Well, yesterday’s business sucked.

  As much as I tried to stay strong through it all, I think the final straw came after one of the following appointments. A father and his teenage son, needed our help to stop the suffering that their old and ailing dog was going through. Euthanasia is one of the hardest yet kindest decisions you can make for a loved one. No matter how many times I check one of these appointments in, it never gets easier. What made this one worse, for me, was watching this teenage boy walk out, behind his dad, with tears rolling down his face and a look of complete misery and despair in his eyes. His world had just crumbled because the dog he grew up with was being left behind, never to be seen again but in memories.

  I stayed strong and kept it all in until bedtime, when the lights were turned off and I laid down to sleep. That’s when everything came flooding back. The sounds and the sights of sadness. Then the tears came.

We All Need More Positivity In Our Lives

 I never knew my job as Social Media Director could be so depressing at times. With this position, I am always looking for something to share with our clients. Whether it be cute, funny, educational or even sad, I’m always looking. I can be sitting at my desk crying over a rescue story and then 2 minutes later, laughing my butt off over a video of kittens!! Here lately, there’s been more sad than good. This just makes me want to find something fun or cute, more than ever. Today, I’ve seen a lot of posts regarding Cecil the lion being shot and killed. I’ve also seen a lot of posts informing people of all the other animals that are being abused and that it’s BEEN going on, yet no one takes notice. I see how human lives are being destroyed by other humans and how the media downplays some and hypes up others. I see so many animals looking for their forever homes and too many kids are missing, handicapped or sick from some sort of cancer. The sadness is almost overwhelming at times and it can certainly put you in a foul mood, if you allow it. Me, I won’t allow it. When I begin to feel like the negativity of the world is weighing on my shoulders too much, I go play with kittens. Puppies too if there’s any available, but there’s almost always kittens here and that’s where I go. It’s not a permanent fix to the world’s problems, just a temporary fix for my own sanity.

  If we don’t have kittens or puppies available, I’ll wander through our hospital and look for some positivity. For instance, I love seeing an animal that’s been here for days, sick in our hospital, fully recuperated and jumping on their family and pulling their owners out the door! Or, the family that is picking up their newly adopted kitten and the pure joy on the kids’ face as they’re holding their new best friend. Even better is listening to a doctor tell an owner that a biopsy came back negative and that they still get to enjoy their fur baby for years to come! And the clients that make sure we know how much they appreciate all that we do, we can’t get enough of that positivity! We frequently receive thank you cards from our clients and surprisingly enough, they are often after we have euthanized a pet of theirs. They thank us for the healthy, happy years that we took care of their pet and they thank us for how we helped them through the death also. Those are the biggest compliments; when we receive praise while doing the worst part of this job. The above mentioned compliments are often followed by tears of both happiness and sorrow; we, as animal lovers, understand why they thanked us.

 So, basically, what I’m saying is this...Yes, there’s tons of sad and depressing news in the world but there’s also a lot of happiness to be found. You just have to look for it sometimes. Mr. Rogers taught me that!

 

  ”When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” ― Fred Rogers

I’m lucky enough to work with many “helpers” and I wouldn’t want any other job than this one! Finding more positivity in my life is easy. I hope I can help you find some too!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

  Trying to think of another subject to write a blog about is no fun. Yes, there are plenty of educational topics I could discuss, but I’ve seen the statistics; I don’t get even a ¼ of the likes and follows if it’s educational, but let me share a sad story or some cute pics, then I have a good following! I’ve asked the doctors to clue me in on maybe a pup with a broken leg, so I could follow the course of action we take to make it better and possibly educate while we do. You know, 2 birds, one stone…well, so far, no broken puppies have come our way! Yay for the puppies, boo for me…but I’m OK with that. REALLY, I’m OK with it J I would much rather see happy, healthy animals than sad and hurting ones. So, that takes me back to my original question…what do I write about?

  Well, the whole point in my blog was to tell you what goes on behind the scenes at an animal hospital, so I guess I’ll start there. Behind the scenes is sometimes insanely busy and other times quite calming and peaceful. And it can go from one to the other in a mere two seconds and then back again! It can be mid afternoon, two doctors are on the schedule, each have 2 patients back in the exam reasons and all is calm. We can then have 2 people walk in, one after the other, looking to get some dog food and flea preventatives and the other client is here to pick up medicine that they called in earlier. At the same time they’re walking in, the phone starts ringing and 2 of the clients that were in exam rooms have just finished up and are now waiting to check out. We just went from no one needing help to five people needing assistance and the phone rings again…that now makes six. Just as quickly, here’s your food and flea preventative, Gahanna Animal Hospital, can you please hold, you’re meds are already paid for, have a great day, Fido’s ear should be feeling better in no time now that you have the medicine for it, thanks for holding, how may I help you…and now we’re back down to 3…2… and here we go again! Two more are coming out of the exam rooms, 1 more is put back for an appointment, the phone doesn’t ever seem to stop ringing (as I remind myself it’s job security so I’m happy it’s ringing!) and half of the front desk staff just disappeared!! Where did they go you ask..? They went to go ask a doctor if the medicine that we just put their pet on has any side effects, but first, they have to wait for the doctor to finish up in the exam room with the client they are seeing now. Or, they went to fax a copy of the pet’s history to another facility that is specializing in that pet’s care. Or maybe they’re checking on a cat that has been boarding with us for a week while the owner is out of state for a death in the family and the cat wasn’t doing well itself and the owner is scared that the pet will die before they get back. Or, an emergency came in and now a staff member from the front desk is getting information from the owner to help the doctor know what they’re about to deal with. And all of this can happen within two minutes! And that’s just the front part of the hospital, we haven’t even started with what’s going on in the treatment room!

  So, the next time you come in and you say “Wow, it’s quiet in here”, just know, that either you just missed the storm or one is about to hit, so beware!

Heat Advisory

  Finally, warm weather is here! This winter seemed to last forever and cabin fever was caught by many this year, but we made it. Now that we have nice weather, it’s time to get in your car and go places. Besides trying to decide on where to go, you also must decide on whether or not to take your pet with you. Well, let me help you make that decision wisely.

  If you choose to ignore the recommendations of this flow chart and decide to take your pet with you, please be aware that the above warning about having your car windows busted out, was just that, a warning. There are many of people that won’t hesitate to do whatever is necessary to save a pet that looks like it is possibly suffering. Laws are quickly being passed that would consider leaving your pet in a hot car as animal abuse and fines and jail time can be administered.

Thank you Pet Butler for helping us to understand how quickly those temperatures can rise.

And just in case, here’s how to help if your pet does become overheated…but we hope you never need it.

Preventing Parvo Positive Pups

  

  This time of the year, we tend to see an increase of parvo positive dogs. What is parvo you ask? Well, the first thing I have to say about parvo is it’s preventable and you should do everything in your power to do just that, prevent it! How do you prevent it and why is it so important to do so? You prevent it by following a strict protocol of vaccinating and making sure that while your puppy is going through its series of boosters that your pup only socializes with pups that are following the same strict protocol. The vaccine is extremely important because parvo is a viral disease that has no known cure and can be fatal. Let me repeat that. Parvo is a viral disease that has NO known cure and can be FATAL.  To make it even worse is how contagious it is.

  When a dog has parvo, heavy concentrations of the virus are found in the stool. Even up to two months after your pet has recovered from parvo, it is still shedding the virus and is contagious. The virus can live in the ground soil for up to a year and anyone or anything, walking through the infected area is now carrying the virus on their feet, everywhere they go. So what, it’s on their feet, what harm is that? Then let me ask you this…how often does your dog lick its feet? Mine are doing it at least once an hour and that’s all it would take. When treating parvo positive canines in our hospital, they are put into isolation and a strict protocol is followed to ensure nowhere else in the hospital is contaminated. Usually there is one person designated to “parvo land” and they end up looking like someone from CDC with a full wardrobe made of disposable scrubs, including booties. Before they are allowed to leave “parvo land”, any soiled laundry is placed in a special bin that gets washed twice; the second washing using bleach to destroy the virus; the scrubs are removed, and a decontamination spray is applied to the bottom of shoes. You can never be too careful, when trying to prevent the spread of this deadly virus.

  Some of the symptoms that you’ll see in a parvo positive dog will vary depending upon how far along the disease has progressed. There are also two different forms of parvo. The less common form is the cardiac form where the virus attacks the heart muscles. This one is extremely dangerous on the younger pups that are still growing and don’t yet have the strongest of heart muscles. The intestinal form of parvo is what is seen most often, causing extreme diarrhea, often with blood in it, vomiting, (decreasing the amount of nutrients absorbed through the body), uncomfortable and painful abdomen, lack of appetite and lethargy.  Imagine the worst intestinal flu you could ever have and how it made you feel. Now imagine a dog feeling this way. As humans, we know that we MUST still continue to get fluids into our body or we’ll end up in the hospital, dehydrated and hooked up to fluids. Dogs on the other hand, just won’t drink or eat when feeling so sick, leading to dehydration and organs that begin shutting down. The earlier the prognosis (which is determined through blood work), the better chance of surviving the disease.

  Treating dogs that are positive for parvo consists of IV fluids for the dehydration, medicines to help stop the nausea and diarrhea and sometimes antibiotics to help fight off any other bacterial infections while the immune system is working hard to overcome the virus. Treatment usually lasts an average of 3-7 days and they usually get worse before they get better. If caught early enough, before severe dehydration sets in, there is a 75% survival rate. Seeing these dogs suffer through this one time, is enough to make sure you’ll never let it happen again to any dog you own. And don’t be fooled, your dog that recovered from parvo, still needs a parvo vaccine. Recovering from parvo will give your dog a longer immunity from parvo but it’s not a guarantee, therefore vaccinating is still highly recommended.

  Furthermore, some breeds are more vulnerable than others (Rottweilers, Dobermans, Pit Bulls, Black Labs, German Shepherds, English Springer Spaniels and Alaskan sled dogs) and the younger the pup is, the less vaccines they've received, resulting in a lower immune system and increased chance of getting infected with parvo.

  If you have a dog that is showing symptoms, suspicious of parvo, it is extremely important that you follow a few preventatives that helps us lessen the spread of the virus.

•  Call your veterinarian immediately to schedule an appointment
• If possible, call your vet once you arrive in their parking lot, so they can assist you with opening doors and getting you straight to where you need to be
• Do not walk your pet; if your pet is positive, you are contaminating more areas and possibly spreading the virus to others
• Bring as few people and belongings with you as possible
• Stay with your pet in the exam room
• Remember that you are possibly carrying the virus on your own shoes and contaminating anywhere you walk

  Just like so many other things in life, prevention is the key. Vaccinate your pets and keep them out of “parvo land”! Our Gahanimal crew wouldn't be happier if they never had to step foot in there again!

Counting Down Till Spring

  Winter in Ohio sucks for the obvious reasons and some, not so obvious. Last week, our highest temperature barely made it to 20°F and this week looks to be about the same. We also got about 6 inches of snow last week but the way Ohioans drove in it, you would have thought it was 6 feet of snow!  I, myself, love the snow and I’m one of the crazy people that enjoy driving in it. I just wish 95% of the other people on the roads would stay home or at least stay out of my way!  What normally took me 15 minutes to drive, took me over an hour to do. The ride home wasn't much better either and when I finally did make it home, I had to shovel. GrrrrBrrrrr…UGH! Nothing like working up a sweat and then having it immediately freeze on you. And let’s not get started on a nose that can’t decide to drip or freeze!

  But I really shouldn't complain. Not when I have a good running van with a great heater in it, plenty of clean, dry clothes, insulated boots, gloves and a hat to keep me warm. And when I’m not wearing layers of clothes, I can sit in my 68°F house, with my 2 legged and 4 legged kids surrounding me, staying warm and healthy. Not everyone is as lucky and blessed as I am. 

  Ohio winters aren't as harsh as some other states are but, harsh is harsh, no matter where you are. Especially if you’re homeless, old, sick or all the above. Even more so if you’re a defenseless animal that is old, sick and/or homeless.

  I've heard many of my elders talk about how hard winter is on their body and their mind. Same goes for the animals. Whether it’s winter or summer, we often get requests for an appointment because the pet seems painful, that it’s having a hard time getting up and down, and that the quality of life has declined. During the summer months, this can come and go but during the winter months, the quality of life seems to decline more drastically and the pet has a harder time of bouncing back. Maybe it’s our dreary imagination during these cold, grey months but several of my coworkers and I agree, we seem to lose more of our older clients to euthanasia in the winter than in the summer. Just within the past week alone, we've euthanized more senior pets than we would during a whole summer month. Like winter isn't cold enough, losing our best friend during this time of the year, makes winter feel even colder.

  Due to the bitter cold this time of the year, social media is filled with horror stories about rescuing pets that have been left out in the freezing cold.  Stories about pets not having shelter available, water dishes being frozen solid, pets literally frozen to the ground and with such extreme cases of frostbite that they needed to have a limb amputated. We don’t see a lot of the extreme cases but we have certainly seen enough frostbitten ears to make us want to pull the owners ear for more than just a good talking to!

  Luckily though, Ohio winters really aren’t that bad. We didn’t get hit with several FEET of snow like some of the North Eastern states received. And even though we have beaten numerous records for low temps, that just goes to prove that it’s not normally this cold! Plus, two more things; 1) We have less than 30 days till the first day of spring and 2) If you don’t like the weather right now, just wait a moment, we’re in Ohio and it’ll change!

P.S.

I’m sorry for those that might have been saddened by this post. I had stated in my first blog posting that most of the time I would have positive postings but I would keep “Behind the Scenes at an Animal Hospital” realistic. Unfortunately, with this line of work, reality is sometimes sad. But on a brighter note, my next blog will most likely be about all the kittens and puppies that spring brings us!

Let Me Count the Ways

 I never knew when I started this job, (8 years ago on 02-27-15!) that there would be so many learning opportunities. Every day, we get numerous possibilities to have hands on learning. There’s also endless seminars, webinars and meetings to attend. Just last week, I attended a two day seminar for better business writing. The week before that, I attended a webinar that was about setting up promotional campaigns and sending them out through e mails. Later this month, the majority of my coworkers will further their knowledge with the biggest learning opportunity of all, by attending the Ohio Veterinary Medical Association’s (O.V.M.A.) conferences.

 O.V.M.A. runs February 19–22, 2015 and is held downtown at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. And let me tell you, this conference is huge and covers a very wide spectrum of topics regarding the veterinary field. Topics range from animal behavior, holistic medicine and working in an animal shelter to zoonotic diseases, social networking and stress management in the workplace. Some classes are for anyone in the animal industry and some are geared strictly for certain fields, e.g., radiology, anesthesia or dermatology.

 The speakers for these classes come in a wide variety as well. Of course there are plenty of veterinarians, but there is also an architect (in case you’re looking at building a new hospital), a couple of management consultants, college professors, a web designer and a business attorney that represents veterinarians.

 Then there’s the long list of sponsors. Some of the big ones you might know are:

Elanco- maker of Comfortis and Trifexis

Merial- maker of Frontline Plus and Heartgard

Hill’s- maker of Science Diet Prescription pet foods

ASPCA- American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

The 150+ sponsors get to strut their stuff in the 98,000 square foot Exhibit Hall. They get to show off new products, the services they offer, the latest technology and new scrubs if you need them!

 As I stated earlier, the opportunities to learn are never ending with this job and those opportunities comes in all types of ways with O.V.M.A. conferences being the largest of them all. After the conference is done and gone, Gahanna Animal Hospital will have a two hour staff meeting, to share with one another what we learned, liked, disliked, agreed and disagreed with. I always look forward to this staff meeting more than any other; the learning never stops.

Monday Madness

Today is Monday and Mondays are really busy here. Especially first thing in the morning, and again around 4 pm. First thing I do, before the hospital even opens, is check and respond to all the emails. On a typical Monday, I’ll have about 30 emails I need to respond to. Some with extreme emergency and others I will come back to after the morning rush. After emails have been prioritized, it’s ready, set, go time.

Mondays are Dr. Rich’s surgery days, so between 8 – 9 am, we’re checking in all of her surgery patients. Today’s surgery schedule consists of a couple patients that need lumps removed, a spay, a neuter and an anal sacculectomy. Anal Sacculectomy?!! What is that you ask. It is the removal of the anal glands. . . Anal glands or anal sacs, are two small glands, located just inside your pet’s anus. There is one on each side, with a little tube connecting it to the rectum. Every time stool is passed, a little bit of secretions from these glands are expelled. Sometimes, the normal secretions become thicker than normal and are unable to be expressed, which can then lead to them becoming impacted and possibly rupture. Some pets that continuously have these issues, become candidates for the removal of the anal sacs. What else does the anal glands do other than secrete some really foul smelling substance? Nothing. It’s just like humans and their appendix. No need for it and if it’s causing problems, get rid of it and worry no more.

Mondays are also busy due to the pets that have been boarding with us over the weekend or longer, usually go home on Mondays. Most people are rushing in before they have to go to work and retrieving their furkids because if their pet is picked up before 12 noon, you’re not charged for another day. Or it’s the opposite. The owner is trying to check their pet in for boarding so they can run! Being as close to the airport as we are, sometimes dropping off their pet for boarding is the last thing done on their list. Unfortunately, we have a checklist of things to go over, before they can run back out the door.  

Along with surgeries being checked in, boarders checking in and out, we also have grooming  and daycare clients coming in.  Usually, with the grooming clients, we just need to check and make sure the pet is current on all of it’s vaccines and we have a current phone number. We then hand them off to our groomer, Melissa, and she gets all the details on how the client is wanting their pet groomed and what time the client would like for their pet to be ready for pick up. For the daycare doggies, most of them are regulars and we know who they are and why they are here. Checking them in is the easiest part of the morning and is normally done within a minute.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the appointments that are starting to be seen! Time to get that wiggly puppy to stand still to get a weight for him. And what gift have you brought in the bag?! A nice, fresh sample of poo. Thanks. Just what I always wanted.

At 8:30 am, the phones get turned on. Our Monday morning phone calls keep us running if we weren't already. We have patients that have ran out of meds and need refills. We have pets that started showing symptoms as soon as we closed on Saturday and now need in ASAP. We have owners that have been meaning to call for weeks to get Fido’s vaccines up to date and calling us was the first thing on their list of “To Do’s”. And of course, the owners that unfortunately had to hospitalize their furkid, want to know how their baby did through the night. For us in this business, that can either be the highlight or lowest part of your day, depending upon how the patient is doing. I love being able to tell an owner that their pet has made great improvements and the doc said they can go home. Great way to start your day and week!

Come 9:00 am, our surgery patients, daycare dogs and grooming clients are checked in, and our first few appointments have been seen. Within our first hour of business, we can easily have had at least 25 pets come through our doors and answered just as many phone calls, if not more. From this point of the day on, it’s mostly getting patients checked in and out for appointments and taking care of the clients that are picking up med refills or food for their pet. When 4:00 pm comes around, the phones start getting busy again and clients start coming back to pick their pets up from grooming, daycare and the surgeries that are able to go home the same day as their surgery.

I normally leave by 4:00 pm so I've only heard stories about how the evenings go. Usually they are filled with emergencies, doctors running behind (as doctors commonly do) and preparations for the next day. There is never a dull moment here and every day is something new. Whether it be a new client to our hospital, an old client with a new pet, and old pet with a new lump or learning a new way to treat a symptom, we’re always learning someone or something new. Monday or not, this place is busy, busy, busy and if you happen to come in and we don’t look busy, just like Ohio weather, give it a minute, it’ll change.   

My Newest Adventure

  Here goes a new adventure for me...blogging. Once again, being the Social Media Director for Gahanna Animal Hospital is causing me to step outside of my comfort zone and try something new. So here goes. 

  I'll start off with giving you some background on myself. My name is Michelle and before working here at the hospital, I helped manage a large dog grooming salon for 12 years. After becoming pregnant with twins and being put on bed rest at 25 weeks, the grooming shop was sold to someone else and underwent some changes that caused me to look elsewhere for another job. Four months after having healthy twins, I was hired at Gahanna Animal Hospital in February, 2007 and was very grateful to have been given 40 hours and scheduled the perfect hours for being a single mom to 4 amazing kids! I was hired at the front desk as a Client Care Representative. With the hours I was scheduled, I was trained under the watchful eyes of Amy and Kim. These two ladies are recognized by many of our regular clients as staples to the business and I was lucky enough to work side by side with them! I learned a lot from these ladies and with this business, the learning never stops.

  After being here for a few years, Lisa, the Hospital Administrator, asked if I would be interested in getting a Facebook page for the hospital up and running. Sure, why not, I thought. How hard could it be to post cute pics and videos about puppies and kittens? I already had my own personal page and was active enough on it to know the basics of it. So on March 23, 2011, I started the hospital's Facebook page. Lisa was smart enough to hire a professional media spokesperson to show me some of the ropes, but a lot of what I was about to learn was mostly through trial and error. And still is.

First thing I did wrong was not setting up our Facebook page as a business. There for a while, the hospital actually had 2 different pages, and I was constantly trying to get everyone to look at both. Boy was that exhausting! Then came the day that I was courageous enough to combine the two and the seconds that passed while I waited to see if it actually worked seemed like an eternity. But as I began to see that it was actually all coming together and nothing was lost...I couldn't have been more proud of myself!  This girl, to this day, still considers herself computer illiterate so to accomplish such a feat when I knew how disastrous it could have been was a big deal to me. I've always been one to play it safe, and that day I was completely out of my comfort zone. But I did it!

  That's not all I did either. I've went to several seminars for Social Media Marketing and learned all the different platforms of social media and where an animal hospital should be placing themselves. I also got our Twitter page, a Pinterest page, Linked In and most recently, an Instagram account started. The Twitter thing though, I've just never gotten into too well, so I asked if I could pass it along to one of my co-workers that is considered a hash tag queen. Tiffany is now in charge of that and I wish her well with her tweeting. I've also learned that Linked In isn't really worth my time when it comes to trying to promote our hospital. Maybe if I was looking for another job or someone was looking for a job here but I'm not going anywhere and right now, we're not hiring. The Pinterest page and Instagram are easy and fun to work on so I'll continue to put my time and effort into them as well as Facebook and now...this blog

  Just like everything else I've attempted, I'm going to give this my best effort. I hope that others will enjoy what I will be sharing from behind the scenes here at our hospital. I'll try to keep things on the positive side because that's how I prefer to live my life, but working in an animal hospital has its moments of smacking you in the face with reality, and at times I'll share that too. One thing I can guarantee my readers, there is always going to be some cute pics of puppies and kittens on my blog! So stay tuned, and wish me luck!