Call the Vet by Bruce Fogle

Author:Bruce Fogle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2020-09-10T18:52:09+00:00

I spent part of lunchtime at the RCVS library, fingering through the card indexes, looking for published papers on pain management in dogs. Some index drawers contained cards filed according to medical conditions. There were over a hundred references for ‘Pancreatitis’ but only four for ‘Pain’. It seemed it wasn’t a topic that was written about. I asked Miss Horder, the wonderfully named Head Librarian, for her advice, and she suggested I review the cards for ‘Orthopaedic Surgery’, as pain management might be mentioned in these scientific papers. She told me she would ask for a search at the British Library and get some reprints on inter-library loan.

Brian let me leave early that afternoon so that I could visit Keith’s surgery on Kynance Mews to see it in operation. I only have six appointments to see after lunch, and one was Honey, the vomiting Golden Retriever from the previous day. When I saw the dog’s name on the afternoon day sheet, I knew I was missing something.

‘Hello. She’s still not right,’ the owner explains.

‘Mr Singleton is here this afternoon if you’d like to see him,’ I say.

‘Yes, I know. I was offered an appointment with him, but as I’ve started with you I thought it was best to continue with you.’

‘Is she still vomiting?’ I ask.

‘No.’

‘Is she eating normally?’

‘Yes.’

‘Are her stools normal?’

‘Yes, they are.’

‘Has she passed the balloon yet?’

‘Yes, she has.’

‘And what’s not right about her?’

‘I can’t put my finger on it,’ she says, as she strokes her dog’s head, ‘but I know my dog and she’s not right. She’s not happy.’

‘What’s she doing to make you know she’s not happy?’

‘Look at her. She’s subdued,’ Honey’s owner says. ‘At home she either lies in her bed or goes under the kitchen table, where she has taken her toys. Sometimes she moans, and it sounds as if something is hurting her.’

‘Has she been spayed?’ I ask, and am told that she hasn’t.

‘When was she last in season?’ She had a season around six weeks previously, I’m told. I examine her and feel something I missed the previous day. Her nipples are enlarged and she has starting to produce milk.’

‘Aha,’ I exclaim triumphantly. ‘You’re absolutely right she’s not right, but this has nothing to do with her swallowing the balloon, and she’s going to get better without our help.’

‘What do you mean?’ the blonde asks in a questioning but innocent way.

‘She’s simply finding it rough being a woman,’ I say. ‘After each season, dogs naturally go through a hormonal pregnancy. Whether they’re pregnant or not they produce the hormone of pregnancy, progesterone. That hormone can do many things, including making her behave in a subdued way, stimulating her to mother her toys, encouraging her to find a safe den, like under your kitchen table. Honey’s in the middle of a normal false pregnancy.’

I’m concentrating on trying to ensure I’m making the right diagnosis, and it’s obvious that this attractive woman is too concerned about her dog’s well-being to see me as anything other than someone too young and inexperienced to know what he’s talking about.

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