draggonlaady

grrrr.

I probably ask this a lot. but what the crap is wrong with people?!?

Dog had 2 pups yesterday evening, just about 7pm. Owner thinks she has at least 2 more. So did owner call me at 9pm, when dog had not had any more pups? When I was awake? When most people would be awake, including my surgical assistant? no.

No, she calls me at 5am. Bleh.

This tale begins last wednesday... when the receptionist asks if I can answer some questions about a mastiff for a woman on the phone.

Call came in at 2pm. Woman tells me she's got a first-whelping 2 yr old mastiff who "broke her water bag" YESTERDAY at 6pm. No pups yet. Wants to know if I think she should bring the dog in or if she's "jumping the gun" on thinking there's a problem, but "in her experience" this isn't right.
Um... yeah, she's gone TWENTY FUCKING HOURS and no puppy? I don't think you're jumping the gun. If anything, I think you're three races late off the starting line. So I tell her that I think we should probably see the dog, since that's obviously not normal and the sooner we see her, the better for her and the better chance of getting live pups.

At which point, she gives me a huge sob story about how she has the flu and hasn't slept in 48 hours and lives an hour's drive away and isn't sure if she can drive safely and.... and I DON'T CARE. Hire a taxi. Call a neighbor. Down some coffee. I am NOT treating you--I'm trying to help the dog who's BEEN IN LABOR FOR 20 HOURS.

So then she wants to know if she should give the dog some oxytocin. I ask if the dog is having visible contractions. She says yes. So I explain that the only thing oxytocin will do is cause her to have contractions, so if she's already having them, then she should NOT give oxytocin--it will just make the dog more uncomfortable and will not help if she's got a pup wedged sideways or too big to come out. But she already knows that, and she tells me so. Then she decides she'll wait 15 or 20 minutes to see if anything changes.

Right. You do that.

15 minutes later, she calls back and asks for an estimate. Receptionist talks to her, and recommends coming in as soon as possible, because it's getting late in the day and it'll be much more expensive if this becomes an after-hours surgery. She decides she'll wait another 15 or 20 minutes to see if anything changes. Hasn't changed in the last 20 hours, so I don't know what the hell she thinks is gonna happen, but whatever.

20 minutes later, she calls back and says she'll come in. When she gets to the clinic, I'm working on a cat neuter, so Dr. S takes her. I only overhear part of the conversation, but he basically has to forcibly eject her from the room so that we can get the surgery going. She had the idea somehow that she was going to be joining him in the surgery, to make sure he did it right. Yeah. That's promising, isn't it?

Surgery was basically uneventful, got 3 live and 1 dead pup, and sewed mom back up. Know-it-all comes back and takes her home.

Know-it-all then calls the emergency line in the middle of the night, getting Dr. M (the only one who wasn't involved in the surgery, but his turn to be oncall). She was, as he so politely says, "fairly emotional" on the phone. Apparently there was some reddish discharge she was concerned about. During the conversation with Dr. M, she ranted about how the surgery was obviously done improperly and then she hung up on him. He must have been in a particularly special mood, 'cuz he called her back and demanded to know exactly what she wanted him to do...and told her that she can either bring the dog back in, or she can stop harrassing him. She declined to bring the dog in.

Next day, the receptionist innocently calls to ask how mom and pups are doing. Know-it-all brusquely informs her that she's "on the line with her other vet" and hangs up on her.

Which leaves me wondering why she didn't just stick with her other vet in the first place and leave us the hell alone.