The Traveling Vet Mom

Trigger warning: animal euthanasia "I will just take her home and let nature take it's course..." This is a phrase that as a veterinarian I loathe. I understand the sentiment behind it. I understand the desire to not have to make that call to put down your beloved companion. However, it can be quite cruel to let an animal sit at home and suffer through their illness until they die. We do so much in our companion animals lives to prevent them from becoming ill and living much longer than they would in nature. Because of this they are getting diseases that are different than they would if not sharing our homes with us. So if we are going to provide them with a life long enough that they are susceptible to geriatric diseases such as kidney disease, heart failure, and cancer then we should be kind enough to help end their suffering when no more can be done.  I know this is a controversial topic in human medicine but I am not a human doctor so I am not going there today.  I am...

Earlier this week I traveled alone with my kids on a plane for three and half hours, then had to drive an hour and half to get to our final destination. This was a dual purpose trip-I have to work and they get to spend time with their grandma while I work. During this trip there was a melt down from the 5 year old from spilling all of her Sprite on herself in the airplane. A melt down from the 10 year old over which cup holder in the rental car to put his water bottle. And an explosion from me (mommy) over all the bickering and petty arguing. WE were a hot mess! I called D to vent and he helped me realize what our problem was. Why were we at our worst? HALT-BS is almost always to blame. HUNGRY ANGRY LONELY TIRED BORED STRESSED HALT-BS. Halt as in stop that crappy behavior and fix yourself (or your kiddos)! We learned this term within the last year. Now it is one of D and I's favorite terms when we are frustrated with someone's behavior. I like it because when I say it, it remin...

 Last night I lost a patient.  A kitty cat that myself, 2 other veterinarians, 15 technicians/assistants, and a very dedicated owner have been trying to keep alive and bring back from the edge of a terrible disease for 72 hours. Then he went into cardiac arrest at 2am,  despite our best efforts including 10 minutes of full CPR we could not bring him back. Every time this happens I have to fight myself out of shame and my heartbreaks a little for both the patient and the humans involved. Shame for not being a good enough doctor, shame for not doing something different, shame for not knowing what could have changed the outcome of the case. I practice shame resilience in many aspects of my life, so I can usually pull myself out of it, but it is hard. And my heart is still a little broken-what heals that is the gratitude I feel from owners and pets when I can relieve suffering.  What makes last night a bit different than the countless other shifts in which I have lost pa...

"This must be the hardest part of your job..." I heard this phrase mumbled tonight, and almost weekly as I am performing what is in fact one of the hardest things I do as a veterinarian, euthanasia. My answer every time: it is.  This is such a heart wrenching topic. As veterinarians we are honored with the ability to end suffering when healing and treating are not an option. It is very hard to perform euthanasia's day after day, sometimes hour after hour depending on the shift. But it is a gift I am giving people and their animals.  This is not the only stressful situation I face on a daily basis. We see horrific traumas come through the door such as hit by car cases, animals in respiratory distress, bite wounds that are so atrocious I have actually found myself crying and gagging at the same time, uncontrollable seizures, the list goes on and on. So does the stress that builds with the pressure of these cases; also add on financial constraints/limitations, emotional pet ...

Preteen age has become increasingly a difficult parenting season for us, as new friendships, dramas, concerns for being like others, peer pressure and so much more has popped up that was not there a year ago! HELP! I know we cannot shelter our kids indefinitely from online life but we need to make sure they are safe as they are learning to live in a technologically advancing world.  So this post is being prompted by two events in my life in the last month. First being that a couple weeks ago news broke that a veterinary specialist I have personally known was arrested for child pornography charges. I am not going to share the articles here because they are disturbing and because I do not want to add more negativity to the topic. I will say this is person I was never close with but did spend some time with him in my past professional life and I would never have suspected this. I was shocked, disgusted, appalled, and shamed that I knew this man and had no idea what he was capable of. ...

When I started vet school I was not particular to any type of alcohol at all. Then I befriended a German who opened my taste buds to dark smoky delicious beers and it blew my mind! Turns out I love beer! Especially microbrews.  One of my favorite things about travel is trying new breweries. I am particular to local breweries with quirky tap rooms and good tripels or stouts on nitro.  I have a collection of growlers that is a bit excessive and required my sweet hubby D to build them their own special display hangers! Every new place I go, I try find a good brewery. I have been to so many throughout my travels but these are the ones that really stick out.  I have by far been to more in Alaska than anywhere else but am only posting my favorites. Bleeding Heart Brewery in Palmer, Alaska: this place started on a farm then outgrew their small barn digs and had to move into town and have a cool warehouse with a neat shop attached. The beet IPA is phenomenal! Midnight Sun Brewery...

 As an ER veterinarian I make dogs vomit about every other shift for eating something they shouldn't have. I try to make cats vomit about once every couple weeks but that is not always successful thanks to cats not following the vomiting rules!  I have made dogs vomit lots of things and I have also surgically removed lots of items from dogs GI tracts. So what is all the stuff that animals eat that they shouldn't? This is the top list of things I have seen and the list just keeps growing: Socks (personally I counted 32 baby socks in my yard after all the winter snow melted one year from my 3 dogs poop!) Underwear (sometimes it doesn't belong to the people that live in the house 🙀) Xylitol containing gum, candy, supplements (xylitol is highly toxic to dogs) Grapes and raisins (big no no for dogs) Ibuprofen, Excedrin, Tylenol, Aleve Corn Cobs Rocks, rocks and more rocks String, rope, floss, shoelaces, hair ties (these are favorites of cats and they cause a linear foreign body...

I hear and see the phrase "veterinarian recommended" and it makes my skin crawl a bit because many times they are not products I as a veterinarian would want my pets or patients using!  What do I recommend daily to clients or use for own my pets?  Here are just a few of my favorite treats, toys, grooming tools, training tools, and other products for all your different companion animal needs: Pill Pockets: These are hands down, my favorite dog treat and pill hiding secret for dogs. You can smash them into a lick matt or the floor while doing something annoying like a nail trim. Or you can hide a big gross pill in them by molding them around the pill. They come in several flavors that most dogs and some cats cannot resist. Churu cat lickable treats: Majority of cats cannot resist these liquid treats in a tube. Great for distraction while giving injections, trimming nails, hiding medications, or just a special treat for your little furry baby. Bully sticks: They might be a bit g...

Even before I started my traveling job, D and I found our schedules to be unrealistically complicated. All parents no matter what they do find themselves managing a complicated schedule, this complication quadruples when you have a medically fragile child. We have doctors appointments regularly, various therapies, school obligations, work schedules, child care schedules, and so much more I cannot remember them all here. Our solution, Google Calendar! It is a life saver! (BTW I do not get paid by Google or any of these companies--I just use them to keep me sane!) We have 4 google calendars for our marriage and family. Various other people have access to certain calendars depending on who they are in our lives. This feature is amazing and allows us to silently communicate all the different things going on in our lives to the people who need to know it! You can decide if people can make changes to the calendar or just view it. You an change these permissions anytime. You do need to do thi...

Welcome! Nice to "meet" you all! I am an Alaskan Native-Tsimshean and Athabascan (more on that another time) that broke the mold of my fisherman based family to go get a doctorate and become a veterinarian. And in my opinion, I now have one of the coolest jobs in the industry, a traveling veterinarian! I am a small animal veterinarian with over a decade of experience. I travel all over the United States providing relief work for both emergency and general practice veterinarian hospitals. This blog is NOT intended to give medical veterinary advice of any kind. I will include informative veterinary related stories that I encounter but do not plan on providing any sort of actual medical advice for your pets. Although I do love all your fur babies! Sometimes I work during the day sometimes I work overnight. I see healthy patients and dying patients.  I work in tropical climates and frigid northern states.  I often feel like I am the character in a veterinary Dr. Suess book... Wil...