This made me laugh and then I didn't expect the ending; therefore it saddens me. However, you all did your best with the greatest intentions. I love animals and as much as they make me laugh, tears flow easily too.
Reminds me of my daughter's hamster, Norm. He got an infection around his eye, so half his head bulged alarmingly and eventually the eye fell out. I figured he was a goner, knowing that something like that in humans would probably spread through the optic nerve to the brain! However, wishing to keep my daughter happy that we were trying to help, I gave him some Amoxil.
When he appeared to be failing, I figured an overdose of morphine would ease his departure. By my guess, he weighed about 100g. I gave him 5mg of morphine. Scaled up to the normal 70kg male human, that would be a massive overdose of about 3500mg (i.e. about 200 times the usual dose)!
The morphine did nothing. He recovered uneventfully, sans one eye.
Beautiful. comical, comfortably, tastefully, artfully expressed experiences. A gifted story to pass on which I will. Thanks for all you do. Made me smile and added to my knowledge base. You and Julie are a special blessing to our community. jlym
Love this story. Thank you! I'll be sharing it with my 15 year-old animal-loving grandson who did pet-handling courses and ran a small pet care business for a few years.
In my recent experience, vet treatment has gone the same way human medicine has. Big clinic chains, universal jab doses, universal food offerings (not species-appropriate for some), universal drug recommendations, surgery instead of treating a problem, no herbal remedies. I trust vets as much as I trust allopathic doctors, which is to say, nil.
Completely true. Suddenly in the last few years it's as hard to get a vet as it is to get a family physician. IMO there are a few factors in common: central management, dying entrepreneurship in the new generation of docs/vets, increased percentage of females in the workforce, both males and females working fewer hours and having shorter careers, salaried positions leading to laziness and inefficiency as compared to fee-for-service/piecework of the past, and more. I have a post partly written on the reasons whey there is a "shortage" of doctors when there is in fact no actual shortage.
Great story, sad ending. Somehow reminds me of a fancy new technology for a vaccine that the expert specialists just knew was safe and effective because they were after all, expert specialists. Too many of us ostriches had our heads metaphorically buried in the sand and now many are literally buried.
Great article. You might not know this about me, but I used to practice veterinary medicine... for five years in total, both large animal medicine and small. The joke is that I trained twice to do the same job (now I do peds emerg medicine). I tell my residents that all my best stories are from my vet days... and it's not even close :)
Yes - I do remember reading that somewhere or maybe you said it on the podcast. That is too funny.
Julie's mom was a hairdresser, with her shop in the basement of their house. Julie grew up sitting on the knees of customers while they got permed or blow-dried. I always joke that she (a psychiatrist) has the exact same job as her mother, only she doesn't touch the client's hair.
This made me laugh and then I didn't expect the ending; therefore it saddens me. However, you all did your best with the greatest intentions. I love animals and as much as they make me laugh, tears flow easily too.
Reminds me of my daughter's hamster, Norm. He got an infection around his eye, so half his head bulged alarmingly and eventually the eye fell out. I figured he was a goner, knowing that something like that in humans would probably spread through the optic nerve to the brain! However, wishing to keep my daughter happy that we were trying to help, I gave him some Amoxil.
When he appeared to be failing, I figured an overdose of morphine would ease his departure. By my guess, he weighed about 100g. I gave him 5mg of morphine. Scaled up to the normal 70kg male human, that would be a massive overdose of about 3500mg (i.e. about 200 times the usual dose)!
The morphine did nothing. He recovered uneventfully, sans one eye.
Holy crap. That's amazing! You should have given him an eye patch and a peg leg. Pirate hamster!
You're absolutely right, a light hearted read this morning was just what I needed. Laughter really is the best medicine.
Beautiful. comical, comfortably, tastefully, artfully expressed experiences. A gifted story to pass on which I will. Thanks for all you do. Made me smile and added to my knowledge base. You and Julie are a special blessing to our community. jlym
Love this story. Thank you! I'll be sharing it with my 15 year-old animal-loving grandson who did pet-handling courses and ran a small pet care business for a few years.
This was very touching. Thank you for sharing it. Different species, different needs, and deep effects on sharing the experiences also. Good article.🙏
In my recent experience, vet treatment has gone the same way human medicine has. Big clinic chains, universal jab doses, universal food offerings (not species-appropriate for some), universal drug recommendations, surgery instead of treating a problem, no herbal remedies. I trust vets as much as I trust allopathic doctors, which is to say, nil.
My pet died because of it.
Completely true. Suddenly in the last few years it's as hard to get a vet as it is to get a family physician. IMO there are a few factors in common: central management, dying entrepreneurship in the new generation of docs/vets, increased percentage of females in the workforce, both males and females working fewer hours and having shorter careers, salaried positions leading to laziness and inefficiency as compared to fee-for-service/piecework of the past, and more. I have a post partly written on the reasons whey there is a "shortage" of doctors when there is in fact no actual shortage.
I also agree. It's just big business these days.
Totally agree.
Great story, sad ending. Somehow reminds me of a fancy new technology for a vaccine that the expert specialists just knew was safe and effective because they were after all, expert specialists. Too many of us ostriches had our heads metaphorically buried in the sand and now many are literally buried.
Great article. You might not know this about me, but I used to practice veterinary medicine... for five years in total, both large animal medicine and small. The joke is that I trained twice to do the same job (now I do peds emerg medicine). I tell my residents that all my best stories are from my vet days... and it's not even close :)
Yes - I do remember reading that somewhere or maybe you said it on the podcast. That is too funny.
Julie's mom was a hairdresser, with her shop in the basement of their house. Julie grew up sitting on the knees of customers while they got permed or blow-dried. I always joke that she (a psychiatrist) has the exact same job as her mother, only she doesn't touch the client's hair.