devil with a pillowcase on...

i worked on saturday 7:30am-4:30pm on the cat side of the clinic. just about every cat that we dealt with was a nasty bitch which made the day just that much more fun. yeah. one of the cats that we saw came in being held by it's owner. this 23 pound devil cat was being contained in a pillowcase which was closed at one end w/ a rubber band.

i suited up and put on my handy dandy suede full arm welder's gloves and went into the exam room with the doctor. the cat started thrashing wildly everytime i attempted to stabilize his head. i was unsucessful, so the owner had to carry the cat in the back treatment area so that we could shave his ass which was matted and crusted with shit.

while we were back there, the owner proceeded to show us her arm which the cat had attacked a few days earlier...it was a mess. the owner also had large scratches across her neck from where this cat had clawed her while she tried to get it into a cardboard carrier, which it then proceeded to tear apart. this is why the cat was in a pillowcase.

it took 2 technicians, and 1 assistant to restrain this beast while the doctor shaved its ass. the cat ended up biting the assistant through the pillowcase, a towel and welders gloves and peeing in the eye and mouth of the other technician. i (the second technician) and the doctor emerged from this experience unscathed!

after this appointent there were scores of nasty cats and maybe 1 or 2 nice ones.

then, while we were supposed to be on lunch hour, a cat was brought in that had been in the dryer for 5 min. the cat was panting a bit, and had bleeding front paws (it had been de-clawed 2 days before and the glue on his feet had come undone in the dryer). i got out the oxygen and attempted to mask the cat with it. he took it for a bit then started being retarded. i then had to place an IV catheter and start the cat on fluids, which was done without a hitch. yeah! he then got solu delta cortef for shock, alcohol on his back paws (to lower his body temp) and pressure bandages on his front paws. we put ice packs in his kennel with some blankets to cool him down and then he was fine. he went home several hours later and is scheduled to come back on monday for paw stitching.

in all respect, this cat's dryer experience was nothing compaired to a cat that came into the emergency clinic once...it was in the dryer for 25 min, had "cooked" skin which made catheter placement very difficult, was panting and open mouth breathing as bad as i have ever seen! this cat also survived and went home. it was amazing.

so yeah that's all i have to say for now...peace out...