1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:13,080 Hello friends, welcome to Rough Life. 2 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:18,840 What a week we have had and we still have two more weeks until our next transport. 3 00:00:18,840 --> 00:00:25,640 Yesterday we took Sweet Moody, as in Mad Eye Moody from Harry Potter, to the vet to have 4 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,560 her eye removed. 5 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:32,600 Before she is the end littermate from the June 2nd transport, the one that I didn't 6 00:00:32,600 --> 00:00:39,880 want to pull and then was told by Dr. Burton not to pull, but still ended up pulling. 7 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:43,680 This poor baby has been through the wringer with her eye. 8 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:47,920 We were hopeful it was just an infection and some drops, cream, and antibiotic would clear 9 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:52,740 it up, but it has slowly gotten worse and worse these last three weeks. 10 00:00:52,740 --> 00:00:58,080 It swelled up to the size of a golf ball and it was extremely painful for Moody. 11 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:03,200 She was so terrified all the time that something was going to touch it and she would scream 12 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,600 in pain if anything even softly brushed up against it. 13 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:08,720 It was awful. 14 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,920 We actually cancelled her last follow up appointment because I sent a picture of the eye to our 15 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:17,680 vet on Monday and he agreed we didn't even need to try anything else. 16 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:22,000 We just needed to go ahead and schedule her for surgery instead. 17 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:27,920 And while one of the vets was doing surgery on Moody, another vet was removing a botfly 18 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:30,760 from one of our kittens in the next room. 19 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:34,120 We sure do keep them in business. 20 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:39,200 For those of you who are fortunate enough not to know what a botfly removal is, allow 21 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:41,680 me to ruin your lunch. 22 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:46,880 If you are not into learning about worms burrowing into the skin, feel free to fast forward about 23 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:53,880 60 seconds, but for all you science skunks like me, I will tell you all the juicy details. 24 00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:57,040 Animals typically get them when they're walking in taller grasses. 25 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:03,320 A botfly, which is basically just a horsefly, will lay their eggs in a blade of grass. 26 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:08,960 So when something brushes past them like a bunny, a squirrel, or in this case a tiny kitten, 27 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:13,560 the eggs will stick to the coat and they will either be ingested when the animal is licking 28 00:02:13,560 --> 00:02:18,840 themselves and then they'll migrate from the gut to the skin after hatching, or they'll 29 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:24,000 just hatch on the hair and they're going to burrow directly into the skin. 30 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:29,340 Once the worm is under the skin, it eats their flesh to survive, and as it grows bigger 31 00:02:29,340 --> 00:02:34,960 and bigger and eats more and more, it creates a hole all the way through to the outside. 32 00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:40,240 If left untreated, the worm will eventually just grow up and leave through that hole, 33 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,840 but you can also remove the worm as soon as you notice it happening, which is what we 34 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:45,200 had done. 35 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:49,600 So the vet will just go in and make the hole a tiny bit bigger and literally just like 36 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:54,840 the game operation, stick their tweezers in there and pull out a worm. 37 00:02:54,840 --> 00:02:58,200 Other than the small hole, there's really no damage done to the animal. 38 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:03,760 It's more or less like having a mosquito bite that you've scratched until it bleeds. 39 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,120 Except instead of blood coming out, it's a worm. 40 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:11,880 But the hole is about that size and about that level of annoyance. 41 00:03:11,880 --> 00:03:16,360 Okay, skippers, it's safe to come back now. 42 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:21,760 So in honor of these two medical cases today, I wanted to tell you about one of my all-time 43 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:27,440 favorite medical cases I've ever had, and weirdly enough, she was one of my very first 44 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:29,960 medical cases too. 45 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:36,000 So all the way back in 2017, I got a call from one of my former bosses. 46 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:42,320 In fact, my first real job was making snow cones at our local snow cone hut. 47 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,040 Grape snow cone on the bottom, a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle, and grape 48 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:50,960 snow cone on top will forever take me back to my college summer breaks. 49 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:55,880 Anyways, she called me and told me a dog had wandered up to her daughter's house and had 50 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:58,800 puppies and wondered if I would come and get them. 51 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,880 The dog had given birth in her dog's dog house, which meant her dog didn't have a place to 52 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:04,880 sleep. 53 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:09,600 It was between Christmas and New Year's Eve, so it was pretty cold and pretty windy. 54 00:04:09,600 --> 00:04:11,480 I went and got them the next day. 55 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:17,120 It was a mama and seven puppies that were only a few days old, and they were absolutely 56 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:19,200 disgusting. 57 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:26,560 Mama dogs will almost always keep their babies spotless, but these were so gross and so slimy. 58 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:31,640 They were so nasty to the point I had to wear gloves when handling them, which is not normal 59 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:32,760 at all. 60 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:38,400 Anyways, I get them home and settled in my back room, and the mama is so skinny, so I 61 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:44,200 get her a big bowl of canned puppy food and immediately notice something is very wrong 62 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:45,360 with her. 63 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:50,160 She's drooling and she's just not eating right, and I'm certain something is wrong 64 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:51,560 with her teeth. 65 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:55,640 There's an abscess tooth or a stick stuck in the roof of her mouth. 66 00:04:55,640 --> 00:04:58,640 There's something going on, I just know it. 67 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:04,880 So I open her mouth and I'm looking all over, top to bottom, and nothing looks noticeably 68 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:05,880 wrong. 69 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:08,040 I called my mom while I was examining her. 70 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:13,160 This was in the dark days before I knew that I could call Dr. Burton for everything, but 71 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:18,640 I remember saying to my mom on the phone, no, no, I can see every single tooth in her 72 00:05:18,640 --> 00:05:19,640 mouth. 73 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:21,280 There is nothing wrong with them. 74 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:24,240 Like, all her teeth were so visible. 75 00:05:24,240 --> 00:05:30,040 I had no problem seeing any of them and I could tell nothing was wrong with them. 76 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:34,120 But I knew it had to be something though, so I loaded the mama up and we headed to the 77 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:35,880 vet. 78 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:41,960 It has been six years since this vet exam happened and I still remember it like it was 79 00:05:41,960 --> 00:05:48,800 yesterday, mostly because me and Dr. Clay talk about it almost every time we see each other, 80 00:05:48,800 --> 00:05:53,120 but also because it was just so shocking. 81 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,600 So mama's on the exam table and Dr. Clay agrees. 82 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,880 By the amount of drooling, there is something going on. 83 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:03,960 He opens her mouth and he looks around, touching stuff here and there. 84 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:11,120 He's looking for a good 60 seconds in there and then totally nonchalantly he goes, I know 85 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:12,120 what's wrong. 86 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:14,720 I said, you do? 87 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:16,280 He goes, yep. 88 00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:21,280 And he steps back and he calls one of the vet techs who was just starting vet school 89 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:23,800 at the time to come into the room too. 90 00:06:23,800 --> 00:06:29,160 And he said, you're about to see something you will never see in your career again. 91 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:34,720 He opened her mouth again and he said, she doesn't have a tongue. 92 00:06:34,720 --> 00:06:37,520 We were all shocked. 93 00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:40,280 Everyone in the vet office came in and looked in the dog's mouth. 94 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:42,680 No one could believe it. 95 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:47,080 He said he could tell by the little lump at the bottom of her mouth where the base of 96 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:51,880 her tongue should have been that this was just a congenital birth defect and not something 97 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:53,760 someone did to her. 98 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:57,320 It's been six years and I am still shocked. 99 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:02,960 The fact that this dog even survived infancy when she was nursing on her own mother to 100 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:08,920 then be foraging out on her own for a year and then birthing puppies. 101 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:13,760 If you've ever witnessed a dog giving birth, you know how much they use their tongue. 102 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:17,400 They have to lick the puppies clean to stimulate them to breathe. 103 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:19,320 I don't know how she did any of it. 104 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,680 I don't know how any of the puppies survived birth. 105 00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:27,040 I went home and immediately checked all the puppies to make sure they all had tongues 106 00:07:27,040 --> 00:07:29,040 and they did. 107 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:31,160 But that explained why they were so nasty. 108 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:36,640 Not only were they still covered in amniotic fluid, but anytime their mama, who I named 109 00:07:36,640 --> 00:07:41,680 Princess Poppy, ate or drank, she drooled all over them. 110 00:07:41,680 --> 00:07:45,600 And watching her eat and drink was fascinating. 111 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:50,560 She would twist and turn her head around to move the food from side to side in her mouth. 112 00:07:50,560 --> 00:07:56,000 And she needed elevated water bowls because she would basically just lay her bottom jaw 113 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,160 in the bowl and fill it up with water before lifting up and swallowing. 114 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:01,760 It was amazing. 115 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,760 This girl is the definition of survival of the fittest. 116 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:07,720 She was also a great hunter too. 117 00:08:07,720 --> 00:08:13,080 I would let her out to go potty and she would disappear for long stretches of time. 118 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:17,320 I finally followed her one day because she was making me nervous, leaving so much. 119 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:21,280 Turned out there was a dead deer in the woods behind my house and she was going back there 120 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:23,000 to snack on it. 121 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:28,920 Now I don't know if she killed the deer or if she just happened upon it, but I will say 122 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:34,400 I have never seen a dead deer near my house before or after Poppy. 123 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:40,560 Poppy was almost one that I kept and didn't even send to Virginia. 124 00:08:40,560 --> 00:08:43,560 Not because I loved her so much, which I did. 125 00:08:43,560 --> 00:08:48,000 And not because I didn't think she would do well in Virginia, which I knew she would, 126 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:52,240 but because I was so afraid someone would adopt her for the novelty of it. 127 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:54,520 Just to say, want to see something cool? 128 00:08:54,520 --> 00:08:58,720 My dog has no tongue, but keep her locked in a crate the rest of the time because she 129 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:00,000 was so gross. 130 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:03,800 And listen, I loved this dog deeply. 131 00:09:03,800 --> 00:09:06,600 Because she was straight up nasty. 132 00:09:06,600 --> 00:09:12,680 I knew it was going to be a huge chore every single day for whoever adopted her. 133 00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:15,880 And I just didn't think anyone would be willing to take that on. 134 00:09:15,880 --> 00:09:21,920 Again, this was back in the dark days before I knew how wonderful Virginia people are. 135 00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:26,880 I obviously ended up sending her and Poppy was adopted by a family better than I even 136 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:28,400 prayed for. 137 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:32,440 The patience and understanding they have is unbelievable. 138 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:36,040 They have figured out what works best, and they only feed her certain times a day in 139 00:09:36,040 --> 00:09:38,680 a certain room to help contain the mess. 140 00:09:38,680 --> 00:09:41,960 Because they agree, they think she's nasty too. 141 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:44,160 But they know she's worth the mess. 142 00:09:44,160 --> 00:09:48,420 She's worth the extra hassle and the clean up and the always having towels nearby to 143 00:09:48,420 --> 00:09:50,000 wipe her face. 144 00:09:50,000 --> 00:09:54,640 Because she's absolutely one of the most extraordinary dogs I've ever seen. 145 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:58,480 Her spirit and her will to live is unmatched. 146 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:03,800 For a solid year after that vet visit, any animal I brought in, Dr. Clay would jokingly 147 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:09,160 check to see if they had a tongue, regardless of the reason they were brought in. 148 00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:13,400 There's a phrase in veterinary school, maybe actually human doctor school too, I don't 149 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:14,400 know. 150 00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:19,760 But it goes, when you hear hoof beats, think horses not zebras. 151 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,160 Because the diagnosis is usually the most likely one. 152 00:10:23,160 --> 00:10:29,280 But their motto when they see me at this vet clinic is, expect the unexpected. 153 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:35,560 Because it is almost always zebra hoof beats that I bring in, or the exception to the rule. 154 00:10:35,560 --> 00:10:38,800 I just like to keep them on their toes. 155 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:53,600 It's a rough life, but someone's got to do it.