Hot Hot Hot

I'm on duty this weekend, from Friday at 8am to Monday at 8am. It's supposed to be quiet now, but surprise surprise this doesn't always seem to apply for me...!


Yesterday started easy - 5 phonecalls during phonehours (8-10am), resulting in 3 cats coming in to the clinic, starting at 1pm. One of them even called and cancelled - the cat found a way to escape the house. I got some paperwork done, and left the office at 4 - heading to Liv to pick up the container with sperm (bulls) in liquid nitrogen. While there, I got another phonecall, and had to head back to the clinic, this time a puppy with a sore ear. It turned out to have a hole in it's thympanic membrane - no wonder it hurt! I got to be at home for 2 hours, then back to the clinic at 8. This woman called, her dog had hurt his foot in their yard, and wasn't able to stand on it, and it was starting to get really swollen. OK -sounds pretty acute, so I went to see the dog. It turned out to be pure bullshit - no limp, no swollenness, no pain - only a tiny red mark under it's right paw, between the toes. It might have stepped on a grasstub or something, perhaps some sticking insect. I was pretty pissed, the whole trip down to the clinic was a huge waste of time. In the meantime, I got a few other calls, and had to jump in the car to treat 3 sheep with mastitis - in 2 opposite directions of the district. I started driving at 9pm, and was home around 1am. Busy? No, not at all!!!


Today's luckily been better. First call came after 10, and I went down to the clinic at 12 - to look at the cat that ran away yesterday. It had a nasty wound on it's hindleg, V-shaped, 5-6 cm long and deep. I had to do a lot of cleaning and also take away the upper layer of started-to-heal tissue. Did it bleed? Yep! The wound was pretty deep down into the muscles, and with one severed tendon - too small and narrow to stitch back. But after about 20 stitches, it didn't look half-bad. I'd expected worse when I first saw it. I was happy, owner was happy - so now, hopefully it will heal nicely too :)

I had to take a detour to Borgund on my way home, to deliver a sheeps head to a vet in Mattilsynet. I was supposed to go see a sick sheep after stitching the cat together, but when I was almost there, the farmer called to say the sheep was dead. Not only dead, but already stiff, so she probably died right after he called me the first time. It had a bit of neurological symptoms (stretching it's head back and behind), so Mattilsynet (Food Safety "Department") need to test the brainstem. Since I had to go to Borgund, I decided I might as well do something useful and take the dogs for a walk. I went up Vindhellavegen (old road between Lærdal and Borgund, built sometime in the 1790's), which is pretty steep - in places 1:5 (=20%) steepness!

When I got home, I had to check the temperature, and it's 25 degrees in the shade! The hottest day so far this year! I think 20 degrees was the last "record". Enough talk, it's time to get out and pick some dogpoop in the garden, then I'll sit outside a while - I think I have some ice cream in the freezer :)