The Vet Life - General Discussion

[Rlb8031]

On ‎2‎/‎9‎/‎2020 at 2:12 AM, possibilities said:

Some zoos have breeding programs as a way to stabilize and increase endangered populations. I hope that's what they're doing with the birds. I wasn't sure if maybe the species that the vets weren't familiar with might be in that category.

I assumed it was this, or as is the case with WCS as was shown on The Zoo, there are breeding programs which keep some animals in zoos but actually also release into natural habitats to allow populations to be supported with healthy adolescent populations.

[CrazyInAlabama]

There are also wildlife rehabbers, in Texas.    They are private facilities, and take in animals that are injured, and release as many back into the wild as they can.   Animals or birds that can't be released back to the wild because of injuries, or are exotic species confiscated from private owners, are kept for educational purposes too.  

Edited February 10, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[movingtargetgal]

On 2/8/2020 at 11:04 PM, Bastet said:

The stupid shit the guys do to compete always comes off as fun rather than pathetic; I really enjoy their relationship, so the opening segment was amusing.

If you think these vets do stupid shit, try watching impractical jokers.  I think both shows work is because both sets of men have genuine long term friendships.  They bust on each other but they love each other. 

[pasdetrois]

Quote

influenced by my knowledge of Adequan - a drug to treat arthritis - where a canine version was developed after the equine version proved so effective in horses

My last Lab was treated with Adequan injections (arthritis) because I was afraid of Rimadyl's side effects. My vet told me that glucosamine/chondroitin pills were a waste of my money. That shocked me, because so many people buy it for themselves and their pets.

Many retrievers will eat anything. My friend's Lab climbed up a dining room table to get at cookies but instead ate a box of Christmas ornaments, which resulted in a harrowing ER visit. One cannot leave ANYTHING within reach. Hope Scout's family tries harder.

[CrazyInAlabama]

Tonight, they had a fluffy little dog that was having issues, and Dr. Lavigne had to break the news to the owner that the female dog, also seemed to have a penis (not exactly the usual place either).   Then in surgery to spay the poor dog, it is discovered that the dog actually has male and female organs to remove.    This is the second time in his career that Dr. Lavigne ran into an actual hermaphrodite.      

Hammy the pig is back again, with another house call.    That was a huge pig the last time, but now the poor indoor pig has gained even more.   One of these visits, Hammy is going to recognize Dr Blue when he pulls up, and go after him.  

I did get a kick out of Dr. Blue moving 'closer' to the clinic, and it turns out his commute went from 48 minutes, to 45 minutes, and a savings of 6 minutes a day.     I hope they love the new house.   

Edited February 16, 2020 by CrazyInAlabama

[Bastet]

Twixy was an interesting case, with the pseudo-hermaphroditism.  I like that such a story was shown without sensationalizing the condition or being overly joking about it.  The owners just rolled with it - because who frakkin' cares, but some people would unfortunately be weirded out - and Dr. Lavigne appreciated getting to follow a case nowhere near as typical was what he usually sees.

Zeus's shaking was hard to watch, poor little scaredy guy.  I'm glad he just needed time to recover from soft tissue injury.  And his brown "eyebrows" are adorable - I love that about chihuahuas' coloring.

Prince's hyperactivity exhausted me just watching; I can't imagine having a pet like that.  Dr. Lavigne joking about feeling pressure, because Dr. Blue's dental health depending on how he handles Prince's ACL surgery was funny.

Hamilton's skin condition pictures are always shocking.  I love all the work everyone (owners and vet) put in, rather than just ditching or euthanizing him when this cute little piglet turned into an oversized special needs child.  And it's funny that his nickname is Hammy.  But they need to deal with his weight!  Those jowls and belly are excessive.

My one gripe with this show is cats are underrepresented in the stories producers choose to show (of course, it's possible they're underrepresented among Cy-Fair's patients, and statistics indeed show Americans as a whole spend more - on everything, including vet care - on dogs than cats, but I lean towards blaming the producers on this one).  I don't want to go so many episodes where the only cats I see are those in the cage shots that transition scenes!

[LittleIggy]

I cringed when the woman said her bearded dragon meant the world to her and her daughter was standing right next to her. Sorry, kid, you come after the lizard.😆

I wonder where the female vets from last season are. Do they work at the second clinic.

[Bastet]

Finally - another episode with a cat story.  Kyerra the cat wrangler took care of business.  I love the dog people good samaritans who found Nola leashing her to capture her - that's what they know, so that's what they did.  And I love that it's the husband who was the most adamant about wanting to keep her (I'm highly irritated by "ew, cats" guys).  Nola, by her behavior, clearly had a home at one point, so I'm glad she found another one.

Halo's mom following her intuition to get a second opinion was a good call; getting those stones removed before they cause obstruction and the resulting pain and illness is a happy ending.

Captain Hook wandered into the right yard.  I'm not sure if you're supposed to call the Sheriff's Department rather than Animal Control in Houston or if the homeowners called the wrong agency but got a response anyway, but the turtle wound up not only sans hook but with a home.  So, yay.

I don't know anything about kinkajous to evaluate how I feel about people owning them (I'm generally opposed to exotic pets because most people don't know how to properly care for them, if it's even okay for them to be in captivity to begin with), but I was taken by how long Honey's tail was and how friendly she was.

Poor Addie; at her age I was happy there was no evidence of metastasis, but still figured her time was limited.  Dr. Blue did a great job of presenting the news to the owner.

"Maybe your throwing is the problem" from one of the kids during Team Ross practice was funny.

 

[Rlb8031]

Liked this last episode, and I think the show has hit its stride finally with balancing out how much (little) to show the families, while still providing some backstory and rounding out of who the vets are as people. It was great seeing something that felt organic (guys getting together with their sons for flag football), vs. the more manufactured events like the vow renewal.

Nola's story was great, and it was good seeing that just a week of healing got her to a place where her wounds looked so much better. 

[Bastet]

Yay, another cat story.  But, boo (by which I mean go fuck yourselves) to Princess's owners.  Holy shit, ten years old and not spayed?!  Mammary tumors and/or pyo are far more a when than an if under those circumstances.  Fix your pets; this is Pet 101!  Princess deserved better; this cancer was preventable, when so many aren't.  It's not particularly aggressive, so I hope little ms cranky has another good year at least.

From Princess to Dutchess.  That mass was massive, as Dr. Blue said.  At least it was just a lipoma.   

Milo the epileptic dog must have scared his owner by suddenly having that many seizures in a 24-hour period; even with her being used to the condition, that's a dramatic uptick in seizure activity.  And they're just scary to watch, regardless.  It's frustrating when a chronic condition is no longer adequately controlled by existing medication, especially when he's already on two.  I hope the addition of phenobarbital keeps doing the trick. (I couldn't see which vet tech it was, but seeing one of them half in the cage petting him was sweet.) 

Pinecone playing Chicken Poop Bingo cracked me up.

As did: "I'm a handsome man.  My grandma told me that, and she wouldn't lie to me."  It's nice seeing a man bringing the kid to his work when daycare falls through.

[LittleIggy]

Yeah, I was infuriated that Princess hadn’t been spayed years ago. 😡BTW, I thought her owner looked like a human Grumpy Cat (with apologies to the late GC).

Last week on Heartland Docs, Dr. Erin peeled a huge lipoma out of a dog so it was cool seeing Dr. Blue use the same technique.

Pinecone the chicken was gorgeous! 
Seizures are scary. My cat Aemon Targaryen is on phenobarbital.

[possibilities]

Milo was a gorgeous dog. I hope he's seizure-free now.

I wanted to check on the other dog at his house, who was lying in the alcove. I wondered if she was holding herself apart because she's in pain, and since the vets were there anyway, I wished they'd at least look her over.

I felt sad for Princess. She must have been in so much pain with pyometra, and cancer is always tough. She was lovey with her people, though, so it seems clear they love each other.

I was glad that (at least from what they showed us), they didn't put childcare on the support staff, but instead the doctors took on the responsibility.

That lipoma was huge!!!

 

[Bastet]

12 hours ago, possibilities said:

I was glad that (at least from what they showed us), they didn't put childcare on the support staff, but instead the doctors took on the responsibility.

Yeah, in the montage of people playing with her until Mama Ross could come get her (and I love that her having errands to run meant Dad had to take care of his kid for a while, not that Grandma had to rearrange her day or Mom had to miss work) it looked like genuine and brief interaction.  It gives me hope anyone with my "get that thing away from me" reaction to kids would have been allowed to just get on with the job without repercussion for not wanting to babysit the boss's kid.

[LittleIggy]

13 hours ago, possibilities said:

Milo was a gorgeous dog. I hope he's seizure-free now.

I wanted to check on the other dog at his house, who was lying in the alcove. I wondered if she was holding herself apart because she's in pain, and since the vets were there anyway, I wished they'd at least look her over.

 

The family said that dog was 16 or 17 years old! She was just chilling there from what I could tell.

[Bastet]

I remembered Ali with the failing liver and kidneys due to lepto.  I was so frustrated with his owner for not vaccinating him for that; she was devastated by his condition and determined not to put him down, but she could have avoided it all by getting him a vaccine that is considered one of those necessary in her area.

I also remembered Shredder the tegu, because that was similarly frustrating; his dad clearly loves him and was willing to do whatever it took to treat him, but if he'd researched how to properly care for him to begin with, it wouldn't have been necessary - it was an improper habitat that caused the problem.

I vividly remembered Jamie Bell, both for how much couch material they pulled out of her intestines, and for how it pleased me that a guy like her owner - old white male Texan, dressed like a rural old white male Texan to boot - chose, among all his options in the greater Houston area, the practice run by three black guys.

And Ginger as the second of the crazy-big splenic masses that turned out to be benign rather than the typical hemangiosarcoma; I still can't get over that statistic in one practice over the course of a year or two.

And, of course, B.D. - Mama Ross coming in as an emergency, Dr. Ross asking the camera crew to give him a minute, and him later talking to his kids about B.D.'s impending death.  It was all very touching.  The docs talking about how their little kids look at them, as parents and especially as parents who are vets, like "Well, fix it!" was a poignant look back on that story.

I didn’t remember Benji, the chicken attacked by a coyote.  That’s a small animal to survive a coyote attack!  She wouldn’t have if not for her owner instinctively charging in to protect her.  “How many times have you had to pluck a patient?” was funny.

A cow farm where everyone is vegan was also new to me.

As was putting GPS trackers on goats and finding one in active, troubled labor.  What a difficult situation, with them not at all prepared and Dr. Ross recovering from his hip injury.  I appreciate that they, if they'd known and had equipment, would have performed an emergency c-section rather than just pulling.  They were so sad when the kid was stillborn, and I cried just like the owner did when the mama started cleaning up her dead baby.  At least she survived due to their intervention.

And I hadn't seen their number one, Shugie with the stalled labor.  I can't with people who breed dogs (or, even worse, cats), given the millions of adoptable pets euthanized in shelters each year simply because there are that many more of them than there are homes.  So I was glad for the dogs, and for Dr. Ross's joyous surprise that the techs successfully revived that one pup, but not having kind thoughts for the owner who chooses - twice now - to risk her dog's health and contribute to the overpopulation crisis for profit. 

I'm glad the episode ended on a montage, not on that story.  Being a look-back, I guess this was the season finale?  Boo; I love the Saturday nights that I have Pit Bulls and Parolees and The Vet Life on tap.

[meep.meep]

I didn't see the whole episode but it sounds like they included castrating the bulls on the vegan ranch which is my favorite episode of the show.

[LittleIggy]

I caught the tale end of a COVID 19 show on AP, and saw the docs talking about how they are handling cases now. Nice to see them! Best wishes to Drs. Blue, Lavigne, and Ross and their staff and families.

[possibilities]

What was the show called? I might try to look for it.

[LittleIggy]

3 hours ago, possibilities said:

What was the show called? I might try to look for it.

It was a 30 minute show on after “Saved by the Barn” (BTW, I started a forum for SBTB). I don’t know the what AP called it. It’s probs on their website.

[Rammchick]

16 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

It was a 30 minute show on after “Saved by the Barn” (BTW, I started a forum for SBTB). I don’t know the what AP called it. It’s probs on their website.

It was originally shown as part of their The Zoo series, since it involved tigers and a lion from the Bronx Zoo.  But this iteration included pets as well.  It was called something like COVID-19 and Animals.

[suomi]

What a pleasure today, channel surfing and coming across Dr Blue's smiling face. PLUS a marathon!

I wish "all" the shows on AP were shown in regular rotation instead of the few-and-far-between marathons. Is it something contractual, the way they do things? Because it doesn't satisfy "this" viewer. It seems like they regularly cram three days of Tanked or the Alaska shows down my throat while not showing me these guys or Dr Jeff for weeks at a time. Gah!