Dropped Pants!

I am always impressed and entertained at how intimate the relationship can become between a veterinarian and a client.  People just love us and often feel so close to us that they share things that they shouldn’t (or we wish they wouldn’t).  It can be a big responsibility and is stressful at times, but mostly it is an honor to be thought of as a trusted friend by people that pay us to help them with their pets.  

I see it as the human-animal-veterinary bond. 

Here is a story from my veterinary life as an example of this awesome phenomenon.

One of my favorite client pairs was a very sweet, happy, and proud Polish couple that brought their very fat Cocker Spaniel  “Taffy” into the office regularly.  They spoke English, but had very heavy accents that were sometimes difficult for me to follow.   In fact, I don’t know that the Mrs. understood much that was spoken to her in English, but she would always smile and nod her head vigorously in agreement with everything I said.  Mr. would explain Taffy’s symptoms in broken English with many details, most of which I got.  He would point and gesture with each word, then smile and shake his head in the affirmative if I repeated his words correctly.  Taffy was very loved as evidenced by his very obese physique.  He was always well groomed but would waddle into the exam room and wag his very stubby and plump tail, but promptly lay down because he was so fat.  He was the kind of fat that makes a dog look like a walking tabletop or ottoman.  Each time he came in I would gently suggest that they reduce his food and they would go on and on about how little he really ate.  “Doctor, he eats only a few bits of food, how can he get so heavy?”  I would ask, “Do you give him any treats or food from the table?” “Oh No!  He only gets a little toast with butter for breakfast,  a couple bites of chicken, a little of my sandwich, he likes pasta and once in awhile he likes a little ice cream and dog treats when he goes outside.”  But he really isn’t a very good eater.”

One day this poor eater arrived for an emergency visit.  It happened when Mr. was taking Taffy for his daily ride in the car.  When they returned home he jumped out of the car as he always had, except for this visit he jumped from the car seat as opposed to the floor.  When he landed on the cement driveway both of his front legs gave way, he screamed out in pain and was unable to walk.  Mr. and Mrs. rushed him right in to see me.  Taffy was in a lot of pain and you could see that the legs were already starting to swell.  I explained that we were going to need to give him some pain medicine and take some radiographs to assess the situation.  When the radiographs finished it was obvious that both of Taffy’s carpal (wrist) joints were completely dislocated.  All the ligaments were torn and Taffy would no longer walk on either front leg unless he had some major reconstructive surgery.  Which is not on my list of talents. 

 I talked to them and explained that I would get him comfortable and wrap the legs for stabilization, but they would have to visit a specialist with Taffy to get the legs repaired.  Once I explained the situation and contacted my favorite orthopedic specialist, we packed Taffy up for the transfer.  We all went out to the reception area to get paperwork together and take care of the charges.  As we were waiting there, Mrs. must have had a revelation of understanding because she called out to me “Doctor!” and as I leaned in readying myself to understand her, she dropped her pants clean to the floor and pointed to her knees.  She obviously understood what her little pet needed.  She was standing in the middle of my reception room, smiling broadly and nodding her head, with her pants at her ankles pointing to the scars on her knees where she had knee surgery.  I smiled back as I looked at her in her underwear now smiling and nodding my head so she would know that I understood, and thinking how much I really love my job.   Communication and trust at its best. 

If you are a veterinary professional, try to remember how much trust and love our clients have for us and treat yourself in the same loving way.  You are their veterinarian, the person that they trust enough to drop their pants.

Dr. Julie Cappel