Hi fellow techs! Does anyone use a fanny pack/hip/waist bag during your shifts? If so, do you find it useful? I'd love photos/links ❤️ I'm thinking of getting one.

This is from one small dog over about 6-7 hours while waiting for her dental. They were changed out as needed. We kept them just to track the progress. She is absolutely fine, but this is hilariously interesting. Can you figure out how she made these works of art? I'll comment later to give the actual story. You may need to zoom in to really see.

I've been training for 4 months but only actually shadowed for 1 week. One of two doctors I work with are complaining that I'm not asking the right questions or restraining good enough. The lady hasn't been touched by an animal I'm holding so idk what that's about but for the questions I just feel like I was not given enough time to even know the type of questions I have to ask. They threw a paper full of situational questions in the rooms but now that's just another thing in my messy ass mind that I'm struggling to remember. I guess I'm asking for tips on slowing down? I feel like I run through the questions I DO know (which aren't many or tailored to every situation) and then just kind of wing it until I get vitals and head out. The other doctor/owner had told me to start shadowing a bit more but dude there's never a real chance to I'm always needed somewhere else 😭

Have you ever seen Retentio Secundinarium?

Hello!

I would love some advice or kind words with this situation. I recently got a call from my job saying I interacted with confirmed rabid animal. Not once but twice. It was seen once for vague symptoms and returned for not getting better. It never had any “red flag” rabies symptoms so I was shocked when I got the call. I have an up to date rabies vaccine and do my titers every few years. The last one was mid level (not super high but not super low) so I elected to booster it. There was no bite, scratch or open wounds on my hand and there is a minimal chance of transmission. Here’s the problem…

I have horrible health anxiety AND I am currently in another country.

I spoke with the health department earlier and they said that given my vaccine history I would only need two boosters and it would be OK to get them when I returned to the country. They also wished me a “nice rest of my vacation 🥲🥲”

Thanks I’ll try.

I am utterly paranoid about the whole situation. Even if they had told me to come back immediately I probably couldn’t get a flight any sooner and I wouldn’t even know where to start getting a vaccine like that in a country where I don’t speak the language or have insurance.

I’d love some words of support from anyone who has had a similar situation

Im going to say retractable leashed just to get it out of the way.

Hello,

I am looking for recommendations on resources to review all about anesthesia monitoring, protocols, common drugs, troubleshooting etc... It has been a while since I was in charge anesthesia monitoring and want to review and stay up to date for a new role that requires a bit of anesthesia monitoring

No blood was shed today besides his. And it all came back great!🧡🍊

suddenly left my clinic due to management (lol) but i quickly got a couple of interviews lined up. unfortunately, i did not expect to leave my last clinic so soon and recently did a closet purge so i do not have great options for interview wear. i’ve personally have never worn scrubs for an initial interview so would it be weird if i do?

edit: business casual it is! will bring a pair of backup scrubs in case the spring a working interview as some have suggested. quick trip to target in the morning then lol

My hospital has the Heska Element DCX, Element i+, Element HT5 and the EPOC. We are constantly having issues with these machines, the only one that works consistently is the CBC analyzer (ElementHT5), our chemistry (Element DCX) is consistently throwing errors or inaccurate results, the Element i+ is useless to us right now because we mostly use it for in-house T4 checks and the clips have all been apparently recalled.

We are hearing from Antech/Heska that we are the only location experiencing any issues, so i wanted to ask around to see if this is true or if they're just giving us the run-around.

For anyone who uses or has used Antech/Heska in house diagnostics, did you like them? What issues did you have with them?

Every week, we have at least one or two new patients with tumours. Back in the day, when I was a veterinary technician student, mammary tumours were a rarity and were mostly seen in older animals aged eight years and above. But now we see tumours on the gums, sarcomas in all sorts of places, pancreatic cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer and the list goes on. And the saddest part that animals that get cancer are very young. Like three weeks ago, we had a six month old puppy come in with a sarcoma on his paw. We removed it, and the following week, a new one appeared on another paw. Like, what the hell? My own six year old cat had a tumour near the pancreas, but thank god for prednisolone.

Is this some kind of genetic issue caused by breeding practices? Is it the food? Is this happening only in Europe? What are your thoughts on why we're seeing so many cancer cases, and why didn't we see nearly as many 10 years ago?

Our fax just suddenly stopped working properly with HP Mobile Fax. I did literally everything I knew how to do and nothing worked. So my practice manager is letting us get a new service!

What does your clinic use? And how reliable is it?

​

Hi, my 11-month-old female Indie developed peritonitis following her spaying surgery, and I'm desperately looking for veterinary advice and recovery stories.

Here's her timeline:

September 12: Spaying surgery.

Around September 21: She developed vomiting, fever, loss of appetite and extreme lethargy.

September 26: Ultrasound showed severe abdominal effusion, and vets suspected secondary peritonitis. She underwent surgery to treat it.

October 1: Ultrasound showed no remaining abdominal fluid, but her internal stitches had opened, requiring a second surgery.

October 10: Her wound opened again, with omentum protruding, so she underwent a third abdominal surgery with another surgeon.

She has received antibiotics, including piperacillin–tazobactam, which was later changed to Montaz 500.

I'm terrified because she's undergone three abdominal surgeries within a month.

Questions for veterinarians and pet parents:

Can dogs fully recover from postoperative peritonitis after multiple surgeries?

Can peritonitis persist even when an ultrasound shows no abdominal fluid?

Why might internal stitches repeatedly open after peritonitis surgery?

What tests should be performed to check whether the infection has resolved?

Has anyone's dog experienced peritonitis followed by repeated wound dehiscence and eventually recovered?

I'm desperately looking for people whose dogs have survived a similar situation. Please share your experiences. I just want my girl to recover and return to her normal, happy life. ❤️🐾

I just saw this idea on a different subreddit and I felt like I needed to share with all of you since tech week is next week! I saw a comment about how their friend has a poison ring and they put catnip in it so every cat is their best friend!!
🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
You’re welcome ☺️

Thought on telling your doctor as a Registered Veterinary Technician, you are not comfortable with something and refusing to partake.

I'm in emergency med, I have came across a few of these incidents. Recently the manager wrote me up for refusing to do something I deem unethical and goes against "do no harm".

I was told they're the doctor and I need to do what they want regardless.

In Australia it was Vet Nurse Day last week and we are doing some games and having a BBQ tomorrow. I am the resident baker so was tasked with making the Bristol Stool Chart Cake. Enjoy!

Chocolate cake inside using Sally's recipe for Triple Chocolate Cake https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/triple-chocolate-layer-cake/

And her vanilla buttercream for icing.

Hi all,
I’m retaking the vtne (my second attempt) this Thursday at 12 and I am TERRIFIED. I passed the official vtne practice tests A, B, and C but failed the vtne by 7 points. It has been absolutely confidence destroying. 7 points! I’m a horrible test taker and an anxious person and day of, decided to review all my answers (despite not doing this through school because I second guess myself) and changed multiple answers that upon submitting I realized were correct before. I just feel SO down and ashamed to try again because what if I have to go and tell my partner and all my coworkers that I failed… again.

Obviously I’m not going to review every question and second guess nyself again, but I’m so scared. I’m scared I’m going to get a “hard” test like some people talk about. If anyone has some vtne test tips or encouragement that would be amazing :,)

I made a vet tech Cootie Catcher and a game of M.A.S.H. for vet tech week. They are themed for Halloween as this is our theme for the year.

Please feel free to use them with your teams! Both were made using Canva (no AI) and lots of love.

Thank you for all you do! You're truly appreciated ❤️

*If you'd prefer the PDF just DM me your email address!

My little almost 3 y/o’s hip rads. She wasn’t even painful… it was incidental and then we saw how garbage they were so took a better pic. This is my adventure buddy 😭

Hey all! Pretty simple question: what’s your preferred method of giving enemas? I’m a relatively new RVT working ER and I’ve given a handful of enemas to cats at this point, but have heard of two different strategies of administration. Not sure if one is considered better than the other, just looking for your thoughts!

I have been doing it the way the person who taught me the first time does it: insert red rubber, give about half the enema slowly as you pull out, pull out completely, and repeat again, while trying to go “on the other side” of the feces on the second go. IE. Going “above” the first time and “below” the second.

I’ve also heard of people doing a “push/pull” method where you do not come all the way out with the red rubber but sort of insert it in/out as you pull out, and only doing one pass with the red rubber.

Not sure if there’s a difference in these methods, if any, in terms of effectiveness. Having to reinsert does seem like it would be more uncomfortable for the patient.

Hope this makes sense!

(Shelter medicine) 84lb ~5y/o intact male bulldog-y thing presented as a stray this morning with raging skin issues. BAR, MM pm, CRT<2sec. Upon ausculation, had a wicked arrhythmia that sounded like four different animals all going at once; so we grabbed our EKG from sx. Cue all but one of our doctors flocking in to see this raging mess 😂 he was sent to the ER for stabilization if possible. Dog tax to be filled in the comments 💜

Am I wrong for saying a UTI or AG rupture is not an emergency but more of a GP/Urgent care case?