This is a place to post (as many times during the week as you’d like) anything that made you feel good! Weather that be a cute puppy that licked your nose or a happy client story or something that doesn’t feel like it needs to be it’s own post. It can be anything you’d like, and this is a place for you to see other people’s love for our profession!

Please don’t stop posting under the “positive” post flair if you want to share more! This is mostly for morale and help people to remember why we love doing what we do.

We are allowing external links (for this thread only) for images and videos, preferably no links to personal social media pages. Please remember to not post any personal information or to post a pet without permission. These posts will be deleted.

A new thread will be posted weekly, and the old one will be archived. Have fun! 💕

Hello animal savers,

Christmas is coming up and my wife has recently gotten back into the field and I’m looking for gifts or do-dads that you would have loved to have. Im sorry if this isn’t allowed here I just don’t know where else to ask. Im a trade guy so my ugga dugga brain has no clue what to look for. So, whats some stuff when you started you wish you had or stuff later on that have helped make your quality of life in the field better? Thanks in advance!

Patient is a ~9 year old MN DSH (FIV+, IIRC).

Presented for bandage change and to establish care following a degloving of unknown origin. Owners claim that the other cat in the household and the patient didn't rough house prior to the incident.

Patient went through a local ER. IIRC, blood work showed elevated liver enzymes (Poss. Cushing's?), and quite possibly a large liver was palpated on physical exam and appeared on x-ray.

The owners were advised to pursue an AUS, but presented with the option of humane euthanasia given the patient's clinical signs. I don't have all the chart details in front of me, so I'm going off memory.

Anyway...the patient has been coming to us for close to a month going on two for frequent bandage changes and the site doesn't appear to improve. It starts to show mild improvement, but the bandage slips and we're back at square one. The cat also has a history of poor stool quality, but is negative for intestinal parasites.

Patients skin was described as crepe like (One doctor, internally, stated that the patient should be referred to a specialist when they first saw the wound. I was informed the practice owner wasn't keen on the statement and preferred to be the one to manage the case thereafter.) , which made me think Cushing's, but given everything else, I wonder whether it's warranted to send a C/S and possibly a tissue sample. Just thinking out loud here. But I also recall that they're FIV+, so there's that.

I suppose my concern is that they didn't pursue the recommendation for an ultrasound when they heard the price, but all the money they've spent on bandage changes with rechecks (Just above $200 a pop per visit.) is well over the fee for the ultrasound and may have provided more closure as to what is really going on.

Any thoughts?

Does your practice try to find rescues, resources etc for clients with pets that are young and need a work up or surgery but can’t afford it? I work at a practice that refuses to allow any talk of rescues, surrenders, even staff paying for diagnostics for young pets and would rather just euthanize.

Welp. I was scheduled to take the VTNE at 2 PM today at home via live remote proctoring. They send you a reminder email a few days before that says to make sure to take the system compatibility check before your exam time. Did that and it said success and I was good to go. Log in to the computer at 2 today, click "Launch exam" and it then says to download the testing systems secure browser. Okay. I do that and then go to open it and it pops up and says I need an admin login in order to do so! There was never any mention of needing an admin login (work computer), but I had one so I type it in and still nothing. I tried a few more times and no luck. By now it is about 2:07 and I am literally in tears. I started looking for a technical support number and all I could find initially were just things that said to send a chat to your proctor. Well, I can't do that if I can't even get it launched. I finally found the number for PSI (the testing center) and called. After sitting on hold for a minute, I finally got ahold of someone who said that they opened a ticket, but would need to transfer me to client services. Did that and that person also said they couldn't do anything if my computer wouldn't open and gave me a second ticket number and said since it was now 15 minutes past my exam start time, I would have to contact AAVSB to reschedule, but they are not open on the weekends. 😭 They said that since I have documentation via the ticket numbers that I was trying they expect I will be able to reschedule, but then I went and looked through the candidate handbook and it says if you can't get the exam to launch due to use of an unsupported device, you will not be able to reschedule and will forfeit your exam fee. Has anyone ever had something like this happen??? I have been a wreck all night and while I called and left a message and sent an email to AAVSB, there isn't anything I can do at this point until tomorrow. I feel like I want to puke. I've been studying so much and now feel like I blew it all because of something I couldn't have predicted. I understand if you just ignored the compatibility check, etc., but I literally did all of that and still had a problem. Someone please tell me it is going to be fine and I can reschedule ASAP? 😭😭😭

Every clinic I’ve worked at has used osurnia off label to treat chronic ear infections in cats or in cats that are fractious and unable to be medicated due to their non-compliance. I’ve never once seen a side effect but have certainly heard that there is a risk of neuro toxicity. Well, my cat is said fractious cat and it was suggested that we trial osurnia to try and resolve this infection and naturally… he now has signs of toxicity 🤦🏻‍♀️ Horners syndrome + anioscoria with no head tilt or ataxia and is still perfectly himself. The advice so far has been to monitor and wait it out. Anyone else seen this in practice? Alternative treatment protocol ideas for otitis in fractious cats?

For context, a lady surrendered 4 kittens (~3mo) to our shelter after having them TNR'd at a local clinic that started doing these surgeries in April of this year. They spayed/neutered, ear-tipped, and gave a rabies vaccine, and that's it. And this girl, who is actually very social, got the worst ear top I have ever seen. They also are all presenting with signs of Calici since they never got fvrcp.

I saw a job that I'm really interested in. However, my current work place is already experiencing short staffing. I have no problems with my current work place, but I would eventually like to specialize in something and the job I'm interested would allow me to. I'm just really conflicted. My current job has done so much for me. Any advice?

Hey all,

I am not in vet med anymore, even when I was, it was school straight to shelter med lol (now I work in the behavior department and with closely with vet staff)

My cat is getting a dental cleaning tomorrow, several extractions as far as I know as he’s an older cat and his pre surgical exam showed 2-3 questionable teeth.

My cat is long-haired, I’m proud of his long mane and would love to keep it long, but I’m nervous of how wet he will get during his dental lol I have seen funny videos online of text trying to clean up post dental pets, and they look pretty gnarly, would it be insane to ask the vet to cover his body with a towel to prevent him from getting wet and drying matted? 😂

What about colopexy technique to prevent rectal prolapse and possibility of recurrence?

How do you dry patients post cleaning of a site prior to bandaging?

I do a mix of patting with gauze, cotton and then finish with a hair dryer.

Is there a better way?!

I know that cornstarch can also be combed through hair which kind of acts like dry shampoo but have never done that under a bandage.

I recently passed the VTNE and on my way to getting my license. I thought that was it, but then I find out I have to take a licensure exam. I have no idea how to prepare or what type of questions will even be on said exam. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi all! I am very new to the field (currently just shadowing + working as an animal care tech!), and had prolonged exposure to a kitten with Panleuk today. I have adult cats at home and don't want to bring anything home to them.

I'm specifically looking for how to clean my phone. Bleach and Rescue seem like the only options my internet searches are coming up with, but I don't own Rescue & I can't use bleach on my phone.

So, looking to hear what others usually do about this situation!

Thanks so much!

I’d like to get something for the techs and staff at my dogs’ vet office as a sort of end of year/holiday thank-you.

I’ve done fancy cupcakes, pizza, See’s candies, etc. for nursing staff in the past. What would a vet staff appreciate? What types of things should I avoid? I’m thinking since there are quite a few people (~20) I could grab a couple trays of lumpia and noodles or some kind of hot lunch.

this post is an add on from my previous one over a month ago i am still stuck in this shitty work situation. there is good news to this though. GOOD NEWS: the nice doctor is opening up a new hospital in a different city, and I have been asked to join the team. when exactly? i don’t know. plans to open up the hospital is in february. I am registered so i think id get priority but we have a team/old staff of over 20 people that have all been invited. the manager(used to be our old manager at the current hospital i work at) is gathering together information and keeping us updated on the hospital but as made it clear not everybody can join quite yet. BAD NEWS: the nice doctor that is opening up this hospital, is leaving in January. everybody has pretty much left at the point and i’m stuck between staying and leaving. If I leave, i have no job set up. i’ve been trying to find other hospitals for short term around my area to work , but nothing pays well and it’s mostly full time and/or weekends. (beggers can’t be choosers i guess? but im over working weekends, especially since there are NON emergency hospitals) IF i decide to stay until this “new hospital opens” and there could be a chance that i dont get in in the first round of people, i am stuck at this terrible, hostile environment of a hospital. which means i get more work, more bullying of other staff, and more burn out. so my question is: do i stay until the new hospital is open despite all the negative things happening, or do I leave, find somewhere else (maybe not even at a vet hospital) for this short amount of time , and ASSUME I get the first group of the new hospital in february. I really cannot take being there anymore. weekly people are leaving and we are having zero turn around of staff.

BUCKLE UP THIS IS A LONG ONE!

So to put it simply. This new person ruffled quite a lot of feathers when they were hired on-they were set up to train with people but then would wander off on their own and grab rooms by themselves. Meaning they were not properly trained, if you tried to get them to follow you they would still somehow find a way to wander off and do something on their own. It got to the point where no one wanted to train them. THEN they would get upset when nobody was training them-BUT they weren't allowing people to train them.

Then we hired on some newer people and THIS person started trying to train them. When they weren't even properly trained themselves. I remember they had been with us for about a month and they were going to take radiographs and they walked into radiology and didn't know how ANY of it worked. I tried to help them but they got flustered and annoyed with me.

Then this person started showing that they have a short fuse. We are supposed to try and claim certain rooms when the day starts so we are responsible for that room-but everyone knows that shit doesn't always go as planned and when the shift change happens those assignments usually go out the window. Well one of our co-workers had taken this person's room and was with a client. WHEN this new person walked in huffed and puffed, and snapped IN FRONT OF THE CLIENT at this coworker, then shut the door and walked away. Because this co-worker "stole" their room.

Not to mention this person pushed to learn venipuncture as soon as they were hired on-even got thrown into helping out in surgery ASAP too. ALL things that typically are skillsets you get to learn as you can trust from everyone on our staff. As surgery is a well oiled machine and venipuncture can go wrong easily-so you need to prove yourself. But because this person has experience they were allowed to jump in pretty quickly and learn these things.

They got kicked off of surgery because so many things were getting messed up in surgery as soon as they were being trained. They got upset as well when they were spoken to about some of these mess-ups. Not understanding why they were the one spoken to about it....it was because they were the only new person on surgery. Everyone else in surgery has been in surgery for a year or more and yes, it takes time to adjust and get good at it. But the mistakes that were being made were ones that could injure someone.

THEN we have specific rules for venipuncture, two-pokes and you're out. Five pokes TOTAL, so if you are a newer person and you poke twice and don't get it. The idea is that you SHOULD NOT be grabbing another new person to draw, and this rule applies ESPECIALLY if the patient is fractious or VERY SICK. A RVT or a senior assistant who has been doing venipuncture for a long time is the person you should be grabbing (even a DVM because usually they nail the veins in these situations).

Now we had a day that was CRAZY busy. We had only one RVT on the floor. A small dog had been poked 4 times already with no success from one assistant and one newer RVT. This person was told that we have specific rules about who can poke at this point. The RVT we had was VERY busy that day. So this person was like I'm going to poke, this co-worker who explained that we should wait for someone more experienced then got SHOUTED at by this co-worker for trying to advocate for the patient and EXPLAIN our hospitals rules. But because this person got the blood, they apologized to the person they snapped at. When that person tried AGAIN explaining that it doesn't matter, it should've been someone more senior this person came back with, "Well it's good I got it then!".

Then later on this person was talking to the RVT we had on the floor, and I overheard them saying. I don't care about the hospital rules, if I can help you out I'm going to help you out...I just....I almost lost it hearing it. I don't think the RVT knew how everything had gone down and this felt like this person was just buttering them up and trying to absolve themselves of any responsibility if things had gone wrong.

This person wants to be an RVT, and the other day mentioned they had an interest in nutrition. So I started kind of briefly talking about grain-free not being recommended for dogs due to studies surrounding a correlation between DCM and grain-free diets. They got offended when I said this, because their dog and cat are on a grain-free diet. Turns out they have allergies, and I was just saying, if they have an allergy that is different but generally it's not recommended for dogs.

She gave me attitude and an RVT about this discussion, and didn't seem convinced so I brought this up to management because it made me nervous that they might be giving misinformation out to clients. We have many vet tech students, myself included and we are all on scholarship with the hospital. This person will eavesdrop on our conversations about schooling and make condescending comments about how they will make sure not to take so long-like we all have been doing....

Almost all of us have had familial losses or pet losses while in online schooling and both those tend to throw you off schedule a bit. Not to mention some of us have learning disabilities so the comment was just insensitive and rude tbh.

This person will apologize, say thank you in big loving texts one our teams chat and it just comes across as two-faced when they snap at everyone, overstep, are generally ignorant, and then they suck up to our lead technician and management. It's getting exhausting working with them and I find myself being cold with them and I don't like that I'm acting like that-considering I like to get along with htose I work with but this person is really rubbing me the wrong way.

Before anyone mentions talking to management, everyone who has had a run-in with this person has spoken with management about it. It's just starting to feel like we all have to walk on egg-shells around this person UNLESS you are an RVT or a DVM because then this person sucks up to you. I don't get what their problem is considering that we are both vet assistants and our job is pretty important. AGH! Thank you to anyone who read this all the way through-I appreciate it.

Today i was taking temperature from a dog but it had a lot of diarrhoea and a messy bum so i accidentally was poking the vagina instead of the butthole but i couldn't go in so i was trying to wriggle it in gently, not stabbing it. And the senior nurse holding the dog said in shock what are you doing????? why are you being so rough????? The dog was not screaming or in pain. and told me off for not knowing where i was poking. I undertsand if she wants to critizise me and to teach me to apply in other situations when poking veins for bloods but she said it in a tone that i was abusing the dog or stabbing the thermometer probe in when i couldn't even get in in the first Afterwards i was taking temperature of a cat with another nurse and she came over and told him what happened and said "she raped the dog" "she's a rapist" This was the button for me and i went to the toliet to cry.

I hit a point yesterday where it's inevitable at this point.

My colleague constantly calls out, and is late. The burden falls on me for opening shift tasks. When I brought up the issue with my practice manager and office manager, I was told that we don't have an absentee policy. We're a small hospital and we try to keep people happy is what I was told. That told me everything I needed to know about PTO, sick days etc.

Granted, people are entitled to be sick, but when you're constantly calling out, you're late, or MIA, you're putting more work on your colleagues, regardless of role.

How do I politely say that this isn't going to work out?

I'm already opting out of our Christmas party. I just need a break from small clinic life.

I personally can't stand wearing scrubs.

I know, I know. I picked the wrong field!

But it has more to do with my current role, than scrubs proper (Well... that's another discussion for another day.).

Anyway, when I worked in a shelter setting, larger specialty hospital, and in a human medical setting, only medical/clinical staff wore scrubs proper. It provided the appropriate distinction for clients to easily recognize non-medical/clinical staff, as distinct from medical/clinical staff proper.

Administrative workers wore business casual attire, quite possibly with a lab coat, or some variation, whereas in a shelter setting the organizations t shirt with the logo emblazoned upon it, and a name tag with your role.

I respect that others may differ on the issue, but this has been my take on the matter for some time now. It's not about people's feelings, but legitimately acknowledging the distinction in roles that each staff member plays. I won't be assisting in the treatment of your pet, nor can I offer you counsel for at home treatment care in my current role. That's okay. I would rather those responsible and qualified to do so assume that responsibility.

Do your hospitals distinguish between roles?

Few questions if anyone has the answer to one or more!

• does KOE have disinfectant properties or just anti-stink properties?
• can I mix KOE and pinesol for really stinky floors, or am I creating something toxic by doing that?
• can I use just KOE on the floors?

So, I've seen this question before, but I'm curious. At my hospital, we use Biosentry 904 for the floors and then prevail for the kennels and counters. For kennel cough, we use bleach, and then for parvo, we use bleach and prevail (not mixed).

Now I asked why we don't use Prevail (similar to Rescue) on the floors as my research seems to show it is better than bios entry, and I was told it's bad to use the same cleaner on the floors and kennels and counters as it can create resistance.
Anyway, I'm just curious what other hospitals do and if there is a 'gold standard'. I was looking into Virkon for floors, but I know it is pretty rough on the lungs.

This is an xray of my 1 year old kittens foot we took today, she showed up as a stray in January and we decided to do rads to see what her bony structures are!

My husband and I have started discussing the possibility of moving back to the UK in the future. He’s a British citizen and I am unfortunately an American. I have almost 20 years of experience, graduated an accredited school and have been licensed in 4 states.

My question is, what is the field like over there? Is there a need for techs/nurses? I would have to likely get a skilled worker visa to move over so just wanted to start researching things now on the chance we finance the decision to move back.

I’m just here looking for a discussion/advice, I’m not here for any political banter or other nonsense. Thank you 😸

Can someone explain to me in basic terms the difference between HP, Ultamino, and Skintopic and when they should be used? We just had a rep come in and I don’t even think she knew what she was talking about

25 year old female umbrella cockatoo. Decided to create a GIGANTIC egg. Exhibiting symptoms 2 weeks; went in day after exam after giving calcium and oxytocin to manually remove the egg. She is doing amazing on recovery