After they rounded me, I cleaned up a bit. Then I spent a few hours making packets for VESCONE’s first aid class.

Then I did the 2 o’clock treatments. Sammy, an 8 year old cockapoo ate chocolate and was in to be monitored for chocolate toxicity. I walked him and performed a TPR; temperature was 102.3, pulse was 155 and respiration was a pant.
Next was Latte, a DSH orange cat. He just needed a pulse and respiration check; which was pulse 180 and respirations were 40.

Shaw, a black and white Newfoundland came in to get his chest tapped. I helped bring him to ultrasound since he couldn’t walk well. He is 65 kgs and he had many structural deformities. Once we got his hind end up however, he was able to walk. After Dr. Fornari checked his lungs on the ultrasound, we brought him back. I watched and helped hold Shaw as Amy C and Dr. Fornari performed the chest tap. They used a 20 gauge needle and two extension sets with a 35 cc syringe. We got 2100 ml of fluid off of the left side and 900 ml off of the right.

Then I started the 4 o’clock treatments. I took Sammy for a walk and performed a TPR; temperature was 102.0, pulse was 140 and he was panting. I cleaned his back end which was covered in the charcoal he had defecated out. He was also due for another dose of Toxiban, but we had no more left, so he did not get it.

Then I entered this along with the other treatments into the computer.

Dude, a DSH tabby, came in for a drain removal, I helped to restrain.

There was some down time so I cleaned up a bit, did some laundry and dishes.

Then I rounded with the overnight techs and we started 8 o’clock treatments. I walked Gracie, did a TPR and gave her metronidazole, Clavamox and Tramadol PO and then gave her some food and water. After entering her treatment into the computer, I left.

After we rounded, we started the 8am treatments.

Gracie, a female golden doodle was a possible foreign body; I walked her and then performed a TPR.
Next was L.C. one of the Doctors dogs who had a TPLO from vetscision who was a pitbull. I walked her and performed a TPR and gave her 100mg of Tramadol for the pain.
Sennan was a Burmese mountain dog who was hit by a car and one of her hips was out of place. I obtained a blood pressure of 100.
Hannah, a rottweiler, was spayed a week ago and has been vomiting since. I walked her and performed a TPR, set up fluids and fed her.
Three of one of the doctors cats were boarding so I cleaned their cages and fed and gave them water. Friday needed 3.5 units of insulin SQ as well, which I gave.

Next, one of the techs from NEVOG was bringing Missy, a pomeranian, to ultrasound when she crashed. They intubated her and started CPR and got her back for a few minutes before she crashed and turned blue again. We continued CPR and I drew up epinephrine for them whenever they needed it and I also got the fluids ready. Then I cleaned up the area so nothing was in the way since I wasn’t doing anything else. She ended up dying and they had the owner come back and see her and he decided to bring her home to bury.

Then I cleaned and organized the endotracheal drawer, making sure each tube had gauze at the end to be tied. Then I cleaned out both of the tub sinks and the sink by the tubs.

Then Maxine a yellow lab who was here for an ultrasound and liver biopsy I helped bring her back from the ultrasound room and put her in her run.

Then I walked Hannah again and gave her 1.2 ml of Pepcid and 1.2 ml of Baytril, I gave both of these IV.

Then I took Sennan out with Amy B for pain assessment.

After lunch I did the laundry and some dishes.

Gracie went to surgery to see if she did have a foreign body, which she did. When she came back, she needed a central line put in. We kept her under anesthesia and Amy C placed the central line. I watched and placed the Fentanyl patch.

Then I wrapped a pack to be autoclaved.

I then obtained a blood pressure from Gracie, which was 50. We gave her a bolus of fluids from the incubator.
I then cleaned and stocked some more. After that I took Maxine for a walk and Maura performed a TPR. Then I drew blood for a PCV and total solids and I ran them. The PCV was 46% and the total solids were 7.6.

After I was rounded, I helped with the 12 o’clock treatments. First, I walked Nikki, a spayed female husky. She needed a sling to walk because she couldn’t use her back legs. She had a known abdominal mass and came in because she was down. After I walked her, I set her fluids back up.

Then, Remy was transferred to us from NEVOG. Remy is a 2 year old neutered male golden mix. He has cancer, and they realized he was also hyperkalemic so they brought Remy to us to treat before they did more for the cancer. We took his blood pressure, which was 150, placed an IV catheter and set up fluids at 120 ml/hr. Then I figured out how much Pepcid, or famotidine to give; which was 1.6ml (10mg/ml and he was to get 16mg).

Fuzzy, a 3 year old DLH spayed female was already in hospital and she was blocked. We ran a big three on her; blood pressure was 158, PCV 36% and total solids were 5.8. To place an IV catheter in her we had to muzzle her and wrap her in a towel. Then we helped Christy, one of the doctors, to unblock her.

We knocked her down with Propofol and hooked her up to some fluids. Then, we shaved from the bottom of her tail to the top of her legs about 3 inches wide and scrubbed the area with chlorihex and alcohol. Then, Christy gloved sterilely and used a urinary catheter to attempt to unblock Fuzzy. She had me use a 60 cc syringe filled with saline attached to the end of the catheter to help unblock her. Once she hit a spot that was stuck, she had me push through until she could move. Once she thought she was in the bladder, she had me pull back to see if we were in, which we were. Once she was in the bladder, she made two stay stitches and tacked the catheter in and radiographs were taken to check the placement of the catheter. It was wrapped around itself a few times, so Christy had to move it back a bit and the second time it was fine. Then it was taped to the tail and attached to a urine collection bag and we took her off the anesthesia and she went back in her cage and we checked on her every few minutes.

I then held Nikki for a saphenous blood draw.

Jake, a DLH had his chest tapped at 2pm with Internal Medicine. He came back because his lungs had filled up again and he was open mouth breathing. We tapped him again since internal medicine had left. We took 100 cc of air off the right and 70 cc of air off the left which was the same as this afternoon. We put him in an incubator to keep him warm since his temperature was down. One of the doctors that was on talked to the owners about euthanasia and they decided to put him down and they took the body home.

Then I entered Fuzzy’s blood work into the computer.

Then we rounded with the surgery patients and the overnight techs. Then I started on the 8 o’clock treatments.
First was Sunny, a 10 year old spayed female yellow lab mix who had a right front leg amputation. I walked her and performed a TPR which was temp = 100.2, pulse=100 and respirations=40.

Next I took out Beezly, a 3 year old male neutered bichon who had a left hind suture. I took him out for a walk and then performed a TPR which was temp=99.5; pulse= 130 and respirations= 80. Then I offered food and water and iced his incision.

First, the overnight technicians rounded us on all of the patients. Then we started the 8 am treatments.

First, was Licorice, a 12 year old neutered male black lab. I walked him, performed a TPR, checked his fluid rate and how much fluid he had since his last treatment, took his blood pressure; which was 105; gave him his dose of Buprenex, and also 1000mg of Ampicillin IV which I made up and gave.

Next was Tucker. Tucker was a neutered male cairn terrier. I walked him, and then gave him 7.4 ml of Ampicillin, famodatine and 0.42ml of Baytril. I figured out the amounts of these drugs, and then gave them. Then I performed a TPR and blood pressure.

Then I watched Amy B take a blood pressure on a cat who threw a clot in his back leg. We wanted to check and see if we could find a blood pressure in the bad leg, and compare it to the good leg. The good leg was 140, and we couldn’t find it in the bad leg.

Then I was shown how to do laundry and the dishes.

Greta, a DSH came back in to see if she could have some more pain medication. She is a 17 year old 1.8 kg cat, and is in every few weeks because she gets constipated and has cancer. This time her owners thought she was vomiting and had diarrhea, but upon talking to her, she had strained so much to defecate that she vomited. We checked her weight, blood pressure and did a TPR. Then, I shaved some of the mats around her back end and cleaned her up a bit.

Licorice was scheduled for an ultrasound today and I went with him. They found a 7 cm mass in the spleen area.

12 o’clock treatments were next; I walked everyone and checked their fluids.

After I ate lunch, I cleaned and stocked some of the drawers with vetwrap, tape, gauze and other blood and catheter supplies.

For the 2 o’clock treatments, I fed Vegas and flushed her catheter.

Then Simon, a DSH was in the hospital for vomiting, diarrhea and anorexia. He was scheduled for an ultrasound as well, and we found that it was most likely pancreatitis.

Tucker’s owners decided to give him a blood transfusion since he was anemic. Amy C set up the blood and we figured how much we were giving him and what rate we were giving it. Then we checked him at 15 min, 30 min, and then every 30 minutes after that. We checked his temperature, heart rate; respiratory rate and this temperament and we recorded it on a sheet next to his cage so anyone could see if something was going wrong if we were not right there.

Next, Ivy came in and had been vomiting and having diarrhea for about a week. We suspected Parvo virus, and did a parvo snap test, which came up negative. Maura placed an IV catheter, Amy B did the parvo test, and I drew 3 cc of blood from the jugular for a CBC chemistry and PCV / total solids. We also did a blood pressure, which was 100.

Before I left, I drew blood from the saphenous vein of Vegas for a PCV/total solids to see if she could go home. The PCV was 17 and the TS were 6. She was allowed to go home.

When I arrived at Vescone for my first shift, I honestly didn’t know what to expect. However, it went well, and everyone was helpful. The first thing I did was help Amy Cambell, one of the CVT’s, to anesthetize her cat so we could rewrap his femoral catheter. Leo, a DSH tuxedo, is very fractious and is in kidney failure. We had to rewrap his catheter because it had become very wet because he could not move very well and had urinated on himself. Then we decided that his bladder was still very full and we should empty it while he was under so he did not urinate on himself again. Amy used a butterfly catheter with a 35 cc syringe attached. After she hit the bladder, I pulled out about 50 cc’s of urine. Later that night, Amy decided to euthanize him since he was doing worse and clearly not getting better.

Amy then took me on a tour of the hospital and pointed out specific items they use frequently and also pointers about how they do certain tasks.

Vegas, a pitbull cross 3 year old spayed female, came in for hematuria. On triage, we noticed that she was also very yellow and had a fever. We placed a catheter and then drew blood.

Lincoln, a DSH black cat, is an Internal Medicine long term case. He came in about 5 or 6 years ago with a really high PCV, around 65 or 70 and was diagnosed with absolute polycythemia. Now, every 5 to 6 weeks, Lincoln comes in, they check his PCV and if it’s above 63 percent, they take about 100ml’s of his blood. Then they support him on fluids for a few hours, recheck his PCV and if it has dropped then they send him home. This seems to be just fine for him and his owners. Today, his PCV was 67, so we had to “bleed him” we sedated him with Propofol and then used a butterfly catheter in his jugular. I used a 20 cc syringe and pulled out 100 cc’s of blood.

While all of this was happening with Lincoln, another tech got a urine sample from Vegas, it was completely red. Also, the blood that we spun down did not separate very well. Because of this, we did an agglutination test. We took 1 cc of fresh blood from her and put 1 drop on three slides. Then we put 1 drop of saline on each drop of blood and moved the slide around to see what the blood did. All of Vegas’ blood clustered together, telling us that she was aggluting. We then took a VD and lateral view radiograph of her chest and abdomen which I helped with and I was then shown how to develop using their dark room. The doctor who was on had us give 10 mg of Dexamethasone SP, I calculated this out to be 2.5 ml and we gave it IV in her fluid line. I found out on a later day that she was diagnosed with IMHA; or Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia.

The shifts changed and we rounded with the new techs on for the night so the other techs could go home.

Buckey, a Scottie, came in for having vomiting and diarrhea for a few days. I helped take a lateral and VD view of the whole body.