Journal #2

What better time to write a journal than while watching Lord of the Rings and managing fantasy football teams? Veterinary medicine has developed some new products that have significantly changed their lives, and I am excited to talk about it. We also have some changes at home involving all of our animals.

First, we have two new kittens! We tried adopting eight from a hoarding case and were successful with 6 of them. However, Ed and Jephf are here to stay, bringing our total to 5 cats. We have officially started a farm: T&A Family Farms LLC! My wife is raising Silkies, Ameraucanas, Rainbow eggers, Polish, and frizzled Cochin chickens, and English Lop rabbits. Soon, we will add Flemish Giants, goats, and our Livestock Guardian Dog, which will be born on Christmas day, to the crew. I am also getting involved in beekeeping and will be able to provide it as a veterinary service soon.

In veterinary medicine, everything comes in waves. Last month, we had several emergency pyometra surgeries in cats and dogs and one death caused by a pyometra. The surgeries are costly and potentially fatal. Please spay your pets before their first heat cycle.

Almost every veterinarian I have talked to has been excited about the new arthritis medication. Librella from Zoetis (again, not sponsored) is a once-a-month injection that helps with osteoarthritis in dogs, similar to Solencia for cats. We have been giving the Librella injections to our boxer/husky mix, who is acting like a puppy again. This medication has dramatically improved the quality of life for many pets, and if you are dealing with arthritis in your dog or cat, talk to your vet about one of these new products.

We hope everyone has a fantastic holiday. Please give all of your animals a boop from us. I also hope everyone is still enjoying the blogs, and I hope to make some updates to make the website more interactive. I just have to figure out how first.

Journal #1

When starting my blog, my goal was to inform readers about various topics in veterinary medicine with an emotional connection rather than just numbers and statistics. After a year, I’ve recognized how difficult it is to come up with a topic each month while connecting on a personal level. So, I will start trying to make more frequent but slightly less medicine-related journals because life outside of veterinary medicine is also chaotic. So Journal #1.

First, by popular demand (primarily by my wife) and an update on Stevie, our blind kitten. We have been “fostering” Stevie for a year now, and she has fit into the household perfectly. Around every corner, there is a chance of being pounced on…but wildly inaccurately. But the thought that she came close to attacking a leg is enough for her, and she runs off to plot her next assassination attempt. She has killed more mice than our other two cats, lazy freeloaders. 

Second, my wife and I are starting a new adventure by starting our farm, and T&A Family Farms will be coming soon. That means my wife has gone crazy with chicken egg hatching, and on top of our 19 chickens, we now have a metric ton of chicks. I’m excited to start raising quail and ducks, a couple of beehives, and get back into maple syrup making. 

Third, as mentioned in the Cost of veterinary medicine blog, I tore my ACL and will have surgery in June. In the meantime, I will be fly fishing and building chicken coops!

Last, I look forward to attending a conference to learn (ironically) CCL repair in dogs called the MRIT procedure. I’ll also learn about patellar luxation, limb amputation, and epidural blocks. 

Feel free to comment about how you feel about journal entries vs. topic-based blog posts or case blog posts!