Pygmy Sunfish (was BPD tank)

[Jennifer V]

I just saw on the other thread that you lost him. I'm so sorry to hear that! Peas are so easy to get attached to. HUGE hugs to you! 

[Odd Duck]

On 2/9/2022 at 12:25 PM, Patrick_G said:

I’m sorry you’re sick, but it’s good that your O2 levels are normal now and I hope you have more than one tank in your quarantine room. How does it affect your staff? Are you the only vet at your  practice? 
 

5 tanks in here, all beautifully planted.  No fish since I’ve been planning to consolidate all my small tanks into a fish room.  I have BPD’s 6 G Buce tank, the empty Betta tank (6 G volcano), the 14 G that’s waiting for hummingbird tetras, the 2 gallon that has given me fits trying get balanced (I hope to get a few bloody mary shrimp in here at some point), and the 20 long that had my pea puffer shoal that got moved into the 29 G in the Offish.  This is what I call “The Low Row” since the tallest tank is the 14 G at 15” high.  Once I get my fish room done, all my small tanks will be in there on racks.  We will have to see how everything settles out as far as maintenance before I consider getting another tank in here.

Theoretically, I could fit a nice sized tank in here since the Low Row have been on file cabinets.  At least a couple of the file cabinets will (temporarily) go into the fish room/Offish.  That leaves some room.

Old pic of the low row.

I work for (don’t own) a moderately busy, 24 hour emergency clinic with enough doctors that my shifts have been covered.  So no change for most of the staff, just some schedule shuffling among doctors.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Odd Duck
Posting weird, had to clean it up.

[Torrey]

On 2/9/2022 at 11:07 AM, Odd Duck said:

One of the reasons I don’t often name fish, but he almost gave himself the name.  He was such a stinker!  And yet I mourn him, stuck in this room, still freaking positive for COVID, staring at his empty tank.  I’m so stir crazy, ready to go back to work, ready to work on fish tanks, but my hubby is high risk, I have high risk coworkers, and I am NOT going to spread this to them if I can prevent it.  At least my oxygen saturation levels are back to normal now.  I was running just a touch low even a couple days ago.  I didn’t check yesterday.

I'm so glad your O2 sats are normalizing! NM now has it's own omicron variant, and it has apparently increased the false negatives, so we can't even rely on the tests... 🙄 Also found out that the hospital I had my surgery at in Nov was cited for employees not wearing masks properly, so pretty sure that's where my surgeon and his 2 nurses picked up covid. Also explains my mystery rash...

I wish everyone was as responsible as you are being @Odd Duck. Dealing with covid *and* fish loss is devastating, especially when you feel isolated. You have been an awesome fin parent of a few more... uniquely behaved fish.

If you want someone to talk to, shout out. I know how the cabin fever can get. Sending you good healing vibes!!!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I'm sorry to see this too. It's been a hard loss week for a lot of us. 😞 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

We’re all in this together. Glad about the O2 says and hopefully the fish keeping won’t be far behind. 

[Odd Duck]

On 2/9/2022 at 11:05 PM, Torrey said:

I'm so glad your O2 sats are normalizing! NM now has it's own omicron variant, and it has apparently increased the false negatives, so we can't even rely on the tests... 🙄 Also found out that the hospital I had my surgery at in Nov was cited for employees not wearing masks properly, so pretty sure that's where my surgeon and his 2 nurses picked up covid. Also explains my mystery rash...

I wish everyone was as responsible as you are being @Odd Duck. Dealing with covid *and* fish loss is devastating, especially when you feel isolated. You have been an awesome fin parent of a few more... uniquely behaved fish.

If you want someone to talk to, shout out. I know how the cabin fever can get. Sending you good healing vibes!!!

Yes, if everyone had been responsible from the beginning we might not have to worry about dealing with COVID for the rest of our lives, which is where we’re at now.

I’m doing fairly OK, considering I’m confined to the bedroom/bathroom still.  I’ll test again on Saturday.

On 2/9/2022 at 11:10 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I'm sorry to see this too. It's been a hard loss week for a lot of us. 😞 

I think it was less for me overall than for you, but what made the losses hit harder for me was because they were so close together.

There’s a special bond that develops when you’ve worked really hard to save an animal and then even more heart wrenching when they pass from something else that you couldn’t do anything about.  I remember my first IV catheters that were miracle placements, littermate kittens that were just about 1.5 lbs each.  I still don’t know how I got both in, especially as a fairly new grad, since even to this day, I would feel like a champion if I got one in a kitten that size.  Saved both kittens after several days of intensive care.  Then learned about 3 months later that the owner let them both get hit and killed by cars.  I was absolutely gutted!  There’s something really special about saving that high risk patient and pulling them back from the brink, like you did with your little guy.

On 2/10/2022 at 1:08 AM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said:

We’re all in this together. Glad about the O2 says and hopefully the fish keeping won’t be far behind. 

The fish keeping is running OK for now.  I feed daily, wearing gloves, so as to not contaminate all my foods and containers.  I can’t spend the time watching everybody, so it’s a quick check for anybody dead and that’s about it.  🤷🏻‍♀️ As soon as I test negative, I’m going to start catching up fishy chores even if I still will minimize contact with my hubby for another few days.  I’ve only been topping tanks with RODI (at least I’m lucky enough to have it to use) as needed, but I now have tanks overdue for water changes.  Nothing is earth-shattering, but I don’t like being so overdue.

Plus my 100G project is still on hold.  I was planning to do my moss slurry paint job on my branches the week I got sick.  But I did figure out how to keep the moss moist.  I’ve got my floating fogger running in a bowl inside the tank and the wood is staying nice and damp with occasional spraying.  Once I finally can, I will do my moss slurry and get it started growing (hopefully growing).  Then 3-4 weeks and I can add substrate and my other plants and water, then 3-8 more weeks and fish!  Once moss slurry is painted on, I can focus back on the fish room, erecting the new rack, moving 10 G and 5 G tanks, then move the “old” rack, then the Low Row tanks, and maybe they’ll still have hummingbird tetras by the time I’m ready to order them.  🤷🏻‍♀️ 

[Torrey]

@Odd Duck I hard relate. While I am grateful that I didn't get my 4' set up before surgery, as I would have lost everything I set up... it's still a bit frustrating to know that a lot of the cases we are all dealing with could have been prevented and our tanks didn't have to suffer.

Spouse thinks our dogs got covid too, but we haven't been able to find a vet willing to add new patients, and our old vet is no longer an option 🤷‍♂️

We all do the best we can, and support one another as we are able. 

[Odd Duck]

On 2/10/2022 at 5:53 PM, Torrey said:

@Odd Duck I hard relate. While I am grateful that I didn't get my 4' set up before surgery, as I would have lost everything I set up... it's still a bit frustrating to know that a lot of the cases we are all dealing with could have been prevented and our tanks didn't have to suffer.

Spouse thinks our dogs got covid too, but we haven't been able to find a vet willing to add new patients, and our old vet is no longer an option 🤷‍♂️

We all do the best we can, and support one another as we are able. 

It appears to be very unlikely for dogs to develop any symptoms from COVID.  There’s only one case documented so far where a dog got very mild respiratory symptoms that may possibly be related to COVID.  It isn’t even definitive.  They absolutely can have it on their fur, but don’t appear to get symptomatic.

Cats, on the other hand, are known to sometimes get mild respiratory symptoms from COVID, and it may potentially be deadly for ferrets.  Any vet can send samples to IDEXX, one of the leading vet labs.  They have been testing and compiling data in many species, both with, and without, symptoms.

[Torrey]

On 2/10/2022 at 5:03 PM, Odd Duck said:

It appears to be very unlikely for dogs to develop any symptoms from COVID.  There’s only one case documented so far where a dog got very mild respiratory symptoms that may possibly be related to COVID.  It isn’t even definitive.  They absolutely can have it on their fur, but don’t appear to get symptomatic.

Cats, on the other hand, are known to sometimes get mild respiratory symptoms from COVID, and it may potentially be deadly for ferrets.  Any vet can send samples to IDEXX, one of the leading vet labs.  They have been testing and compiling data in many species, both with, and without, symptoms.

That would require any of the affordable vets seeing patients. 

Our old emergency vet has switched to preventive care only and no after hours, and the low cost clinic for people on disability is not seeing anyone unless they have been seen in the past 6 months (so established patients who did the responsible thing and stayed home now have to wait until they take new patients again, new being a loosely defined word right now). Our mobile vet was one of the first casualties of the pandemic. 

I'm wondering if anyone has been looking at the pets of folks who got the GI version of covid?

Because while the respiratory cases have gotten the most coverage, that's not been the predominant presenting symptoms here. I suspect that it will be another decade before we have a full understanding of how an airborne disease that uses ACE II receptors to gain access to cells, seems to focus on vagus, olfactory and taste nerves, with lungs and small blood vessels being secondary symptoms. 

[Odd Duck]

On 2/12/2022 at 12:27 AM, Torrey said:

That would require any of the affordable vets seeing patients. 

Our old emergency vet has switched to preventive care only and no after hours, and the low cost clinic for people on disability is not seeing anyone unless they have been seen in the past 6 months (so established patients who did the responsible thing and stayed home now have to wait until they take new patients again, new being a loosely defined word right now). Our mobile vet was one of the first casualties of the pandemic. 

I'm wondering if anyone has been looking at the pets of folks who got the GI version of covid?

Because while the respiratory cases have gotten the most coverage, that's not been the predominant presenting symptoms here. I suspect that it will be another decade before we have a full understanding of how an airborne disease that uses ACE II receptors to gain access to cells, seems to focus on vagus, olfactory and taste nerves, with lungs and small blood vessels being secondary symptoms. 

It’s definitely a bit of a strange critter, this COVID.

The rest of this is not aimed at anyone, just an in general FYI and soapbox rant from me.

COVID has been very hard on the vet community.  Many vets or staff members retired, many clinics closed, and there seems to have been about the same death rate in vets and staff as the general populace, maybe a bit more since the vets that stayed open mostly stayed open right through the thick of it since most states deemed us essential personnel.  Many vets and staff members moved to jobs with less public contact.  So vet clinics are busier than ever and have more staff shortages than ever before.

Plus lots of people got COVID puppies who are now poorly socialized to non-family members and to non-family dogs (or other dogs in general).  So these dogs are more difficult to handle and therefore take more time.  Lots of people have been out of work so they don’t have as much disposable income and when people can’t afford vet care they get angry at the vet/staff for being so expensive.

Remember that bit about being short staffed?  Well, vets are forced to pay more in wages and offer better benefits in order to keep existing employees.  Prices go up in order to stay open, people yell at staff, staff gets fed up and quits the profession, things get worse on being short staffed, etc, etc.  It all becomes a vicious cycle.  There’s so much mean-ness in the world these days.  I am fiercely protective of my staff, even more so now with so many people that seem to have lost all sense of good manners.  It’s truly shocking how many people yell at the staff for the clinic’s prices - the staff doesn’t set the prices and has no control over them.  Don’t yell at the staff about prices.  They’re just trying to help your pet.  Some people are downright cruel.  It’s very sad.

If your local clinics are seeing anything like this, I feel their pain.  I’m pretty sure this is a nationwide and international thing if the vet forums are anything to go by.  Most clinics are absolutely buried under work with vets working 50-80 hours a week depending on how much they can tolerate.  Most vets have to stay late to complete charts or have days worth of,charts waiting for them to complete.  My short shifts are scheduled as 10 hours but I rarely work less than 12.  My long shifts are 14 hours and sometimes I end up going over, but I usually get out close to on time from my overnights (the 14 hour shifts).  I worked a 17 hour day shift the other day that was scheduled as 10.

So I understand that people are concerned about finding low cost vet care.  I get it.  But there is a point where you get what you pay for.  Some lower cost clinics are cutting corners you might not be comfortable with cutting if you knew what means they were using to reduce costs.

Rant over.

[Torrey]

On 2/12/2022 at 7:09 PM, Odd Duck said:

It’s definitely a bit of a strange critter, this COVID.

The rest of this is not aimed at anyone, just an in general FYI and soapbox rant from me.

COVID has been very hard on the vet community.  Many vets or staff members retired, many clinics closed, and there seems to have been about the same death rate in vets and staff as the general populace, maybe a bit more since the vets that stayed open mostly stayed open right through the thick of it since most states deemed us essential personnel.  Many vets and staff members moved to jobs with less public contact.  So vet clinics are busier than ever and have more staff shortages than ever before.

Plus lots of people got COVID puppies who are now poorly socialized to non-family members and to non-family dogs (or other dogs in general).  So these dogs are more difficult to handle and therefore take more time.  Lots of people have been out of work so they don’t have as much disposable income and when people can’t afford vet care they get angry at the vet/staff for being so expensive.

Remember that bit about being short staffed?  Well, vets are forced to pay more in wages and offer better benefits in order to keep existing employees.  Prices go up in order to stay open, people yell at staff, staff gets fed up and quits the profession, things get worse on being short staffed, etc, etc.  It all becomes a vicious cycle.  There’s so much mean-ness in the world these days.  I am fiercely protective of my staff, even more so now with so many people that seem to have lost all sense of good manners.  It’s truly shocking how many people yell at the staff for the clinic’s prices - the staff doesn’t set the prices and has no control over them.  Don’t yell at the staff about prices.  They’re just trying to help your pet.  Some people are downright cruel.  It’s very sad.

If your local clinics are seeing anything like this, I feel their pain.  I’m pretty sure this is a nationwide and international thing if the vet forums are anything to go by.  Most clinics are absolutely buried under work with vets working 50-80 hours a week depending on how much they can tolerate.  Most vets have to stay late to complete charts or have days worth of,charts waiting for them to complete.  My short shifts are scheduled as 10 hours but I rarely work less than 12.  My long shifts are 14 hours and sometimes I end up going over, but I usually get out close to on time from my overnights (the 14 hour shifts).  I worked a 17 hour day shift the other day that was scheduled as 10.

So I understand that people are concerned about finding low cost vet care.  I get it.  But there is a point where you get what you pay for.  Some lower cost clinics are cutting corners you might not be comfortable with cutting if you knew what means they were using to reduce costs.

Rant over.

You summed up every reason I fight for a universal income, and I hear you. 

I think of how many people like me, with disabilities, no longer may be able to take care of their service dog...

I also work with Indigenous people, who have been telling me for 3 decades now, how things are not sustainable. 

Now, I know people are scared of change, I mean my entire working life and volunteer life has been about healing that fear. @Odd Duck every sector has lost a lot of the workforce. 

Honestly, that's a huge reason why I support the Co-op as I do: I have contracts with businesses to teach them how to identify and interrupt trauma responses, and they are simply not willing to pay their staff a living wage, much less offer paid mental health days.

You and Cory are a rarity: people who genuinely care.

I spend too much of my time trying to explain that before covid methods weren't sustainable, or else we would not have had a problem staying home until the virus eliminated itself. 

Your rant is valid, and I am going to go one step further:

We have an opportunity right now, that our grandparents didn't have in 1918. We can take the guidelines here in the forum, and apply them to all aspects of our lives, and like ripples in our fish tanks, those changes can eventually make things better. 

If we are willing to embrace values like being kind, reducing our footprint, evaluating information critically, and work to lift up the people around us. 

Right now, we are seeing the best in a lot of people the media refuses to cover: teens protecting forests and waterways. Grandmothers sitting in government buildings insisting that the grandchildren and greatgrandchildren inherit a planet with clean water and air.

The only thing standing in between where we are right now, and a better future, is making choices out of fear.

Which made Cory's last livestream so remarkable.

The reminder that we do have the option to work together, support each other via businesses and supporting each other in the forum.

And if we carry these truths: that keeping an aquarium doesn't have to hurt the environment... that people deserve to have health insurance that covers mental health, dental health, hearing and vision, as well as medical/physical health... that everyone is worthy of healthy food and a safe place to live, and a safe school to learn in...

If we look at Cory's business model and replicate it wherever we go, then we leave the world a better place than the one we were born into. 

 

<steps off soap box, and hands warm tea and cookies to Odd Duck>

[Odd Duck]

 

On 2/12/2022 at 9:40 PM, Torrey said:

steps off soap box, and hands warm tea and cookies to Odd Duck

ORD, but love this whole idea of a more universal, or at the least, a more appropriate minimum wage and appropriate healthcare for everyone.  There needs to be some extra reward for higher stress positions and for those that seek extra schooling and training vs those that only want to do a job that requires minimal training and skills.  But EVERYBODY that is willing to put in a good day’s work (no matter the skill level) deserves to make a living wage.  And EVERYBODY deserves to have decent healthcare.  I don’t remember where the quote originated, but I’ve heard it said that the measure of a civilization is in how they take care of those who can’t care for themselves.  We, as a society (USA, I can’t speak of other countries since I have no experience elsewhere), are doing a terrible job of taking care of those with mental illness in particular.

It especially breaks my heart to hear of homeless veterans.  They’ve offered up their lives and their sanity to keep their country safe and we often do so little for them.  It find it shameful and embarrassing for the country that we can’t do better for the homeless in general.

@Torrey Thanks for the cookies!

[drewzero1]

On 2/12/2022 at 8:09 PM, Odd Duck said:

 

 

On 2/12/2022 at 8:09 PM, Odd Duck said:

It’s definitely a bit of a strange critter, this COVID.

The rest of this is not aimed at anyone, just an in general FYI and soapbox rant from me.

COVID has been very hard on the vet community.  Many vets or staff members retired, many clinics closed, and there seems to have been about the same death rate in vets and staff as the general populace, maybe a bit more since the vets that stayed open mostly stayed open right through the thick of it since most states deemed us essential personnel.  Many vets and staff members moved to jobs with less public contact.  So vet clinics are busier than ever and have more staff shortages than ever before.

Plus lots of people got COVID puppies who are now poorly socialized to non-family members and to non-family dogs (or other dogs in general).  So these dogs are more difficult to handle and therefore take more time.  Lots of people have been out of work so they don’t have as much disposable income and when people can’t afford vet care they get angry at the vet/staff for being so expensive.

Remember that bit about being short staffed?  Well, vets are forced to pay more in wages and offer better benefits in order to keep existing employees.  Prices go up in order to stay open, people yell at staff, staff gets fed up and quits the profession, things get worse on being short staffed, etc, etc.  It all becomes a vicious cycle.  There’s so much mean-ness in the world these days.  I am fiercely protective of my staff, even more so now with so many people that seem to have lost all sense of good manners.  It’s truly shocking how many people yell at the staff for the clinic’s prices - the staff doesn’t set the prices and has no control over them.  Don’t yell at the staff about prices.  They’re just trying to help your pet.  Some people are downright cruel.  It’s very sad.

If your local clinics are seeing anything like this, I feel their pain.  I’m pretty sure this is a nationwide and international thing if the vet forums are anything to go by.  Most clinics are absolutely buried under work with vets working 50-80 hours a week depending on how much they can tolerate.  Most vets have to stay late to complete charts or have days worth of,charts waiting for them to complete.  My short shifts are scheduled as 10 hours but I rarely work less than 12.  My long shifts are 14 hours and sometimes I end up going over, but I usually get out close to on time from my overnights (the 14 hour shifts).  I worked a 17 hour day shift the other day that was scheduled as 10.

So I understand that people are concerned about finding low cost vet care.  I get it.  But there is a point where you get what you pay for.  Some lower cost clinics are cutting corners you might not be comfortable with cutting if you knew what means they were using to reduce costs.

Rant over. 

 

This brought back a lot for me. Several years ago I spent a summer working at a veterinary software company and provided tech support for practices across the US and Canada. Talking to the vet techs and vets I started to get a sense of the struggle involved in keeping a practice running, the nasty clients, the piles of paperwork (and on top of that, the computer wasn't working). I always got in trouble for staying on the line too long, but I just couldn't tell a desperate vet to wait for an eventual call back on a software issue that they needed fixed to keep doing their work.

I don't miss that job, but I do miss some of the people who called in. I wonder how my callers are doing now, and I hope they're okay. Bless you Odd Duck, may your printers keep printing and your IDEXX integrations stay integrated.

Edited February 14, 2022 by drewzero1
accidental double quote

[Odd Duck]

On 2/13/2022 at 1:30 PM, drewzero1 said:

 

 

This brought back a lot for me. Several years ago I spent a summer working at a veterinary software company and provided tech support for practices across the US and Canada. Talking to the vet techs and vets I started to get a sense of the struggle involved in keeping a practice running, the nasty clients, the piles of paperwork (and on top of that, the computer wasn't working). I always got in trouble for staying on the line too long, but I just couldn't tell a desperate vet to wait for an eventual call back on a software issue that they needed fixed to keep doing their work.

I don't miss that job, but I do miss some of the people who called in. I wonder how my callers are doing now, and I hope they're okay. Bless you Odd Duck, may your printers keep printing and your IDEXX integrations stay integrated.

Funny you should mention IDEXX integrations. We’re beta testing for them integrating into our ER software.  Fairly new program but by far the easiest I’ve ever had to learn and my first clinic was in DOS.

[drewzero1]

On 2/13/2022 at 2:04 PM, Odd Duck said:

Funny you should mention IDEXX integrations. We’re beta testing for them integrating into our ER software.  Fairly new program but by far the easiest I’ve ever had to learn and my first clinic was in DOS.

Ha, I debated whether to include that in case you didn't deal with them. I dreaded those calls because the IDEXX rep would be at the clinic expecting to get helped right away, and I'd have to try to schedule a senior tech to give them a call back. The worst part was that it looked like mostly simple IP address stuff I could probably do in my sleep, but they didn't train me on that part of the software.

We had a couple of older techs still supporting the DOS stuff but they were planning to pull the plug around the time I left.

[Odd Duck]

On 2/13/2022 at 7:30 PM, drewzero1 said:

Ha, I debated whether to include that in case you didn't deal with them. I dreaded those calls because the IDEXX rep would be at the clinic expecting to get helped right away, and I'd have to try to schedule a senior tech to give them a call back. The worst part was that it looked like mostly simple IP address stuff I could probably do in my sleep, but they didn't train me on that part of the software.

We had a couple of older techs still supporting the DOS stuff but they were planning to pull the plug around the time I left.

Some of the IDEXX tech support staff were unable to do things that should have been very simple.  I’m no techie, but I’ve been using vet software for decades, now, and have a pretty good feel for things that should be quick and things that might take a while.  I can definitely tell when my request gets bumped up and it takes the next level person about 10 seconds to sort it out.  🙄  We may actually have spoken at some point.  😃  I seem to have a knack for finding snafu’s from the user end.  😆 I’ve also contacted them and have it take DAYS or even weeks to sort some things out.  You know when it takes a full on update to sort an issue that it was a bit more complicated to correct.  😂 

[Torrey]

" I seem to have a knack for finding snafu’s from the user end.  😆 I’ve also contacted them and have it take DAYS or even weeks to sort some things out.  You know when it takes a full on update to sort an issue that it was a bit more complicated to correct.  😂"

@Odd Duck I worked at the NC Shakespeare Festival when I was in college, and was *excellent* at finding SNAFU, as well as FUBAR and the rest of the bugs. More importantly, my autism meant I could explain the 6 to 12 steps before I locked up/froze/crashed the ticketing system (back in the olden days, when the concept of using a computer instead of physically printed tickets people purchased only in person was brand new, and Ticketmaster didn't exist yet).

Which meant I started earning beta test bonuses....

Which meant the guy who designed the system came to the office to physicaphysically oversee an update.... and then I had to explain why his picture was on the wall (from the brochure for the software) with darts😅

Luckily, he had an awesome sense of humor and agreed that the software was only as smart or as functional as the person who wrote the program, and like everyone he sometimes had off days.

He also appreciated that I never carried through with installing the new driver, and told me *he* was glad I had a sense of humor, because I never yelled at him.

Jokes really are a necessity, to release steam. As long as they are never used to cause harm, or belittle. Thanks to both of you for giving me some memories to chuckle😅

[Odd Duck]

On 2/14/2022 at 1:42 PM, Torrey said:

and then I had to explain why his picture was on the wall (from the brochure for the software) with darts😅

This!  So much this!  🤣 🤣 🤣 

[Torrey]

On 2/14/2022 at 12:46 PM, Odd Duck said:

This!  So much this!  🤣 🤣 🤣 

ORD 🤣🤣🤣

Mission accomplished!

[drewzero1]

On 2/14/2022 at 1:46 PM, Odd Duck said:

This!  So much this!  🤣 🤣 🤣 

You can have my picture if you want it, but you gotta provide your own darts! 😂

[Torrey]

On 2/18/2022 at 1:14 PM, drewzero1 said:

You can have my picture if you want it, but you gotta provide your own darts! 😂

You win!!!

If only everyone could maintain this type of humor when hiccups happen. 😅

[Guppysnail]

On 2/12/2022 at 9:09 PM, Odd Duck said:

There’s so much mean-ness in the world these days.

This is so sadly true across the board in all walks of business. My local pizza shop hung a sign I was so shocked I sent a picture of it to my husband. People have forgotten how to treat others with dignity and mutual respect lately. 

 

On 2/12/2022 at 10:40 PM, Torrey said:

If we are willing to embrace values like being kind,

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Torrey]

On 2/18/2022 at 8:31 PM, Guppysnail said:

This is so sadly true across the board in all walks of business. My local pizza shop hung a sign I was so shocked I sent a picture of it to my husband. People have forgotten how to treat others with dignity and mutual respect lately. 

 

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I have really been struggling with the last line of this sign, because the reality is so much more harsh and it's the elephant no one wants to talk about. 

Our LFS owner told me that he couldn't even get any applications, why didn't anyone want to work? He hadn't been following the numbers for our hospitals and just hadn't had the opportunity to think about what those numbers translated to....

Cory has truly astounded, I have a friend who lives less than a mile from the Co-op. Unfortunately, she's not a nerm. [TBH, she doesn't even keep fish😳] I've heard first hand how she respects the way Cory takes care of his employees.

We could all benefit from having more Corys.

 

[Odd Duck]

On 2/18/2022 at 9:31 PM, Guppysnail said:

People have forgotten how to treat others with dignity and mutual respect lately. 

I had a lady get angry and nasty with me on my Wednesday overnight this week because we took so long calling her back about her dog.  She was told her dog wasn’t critical and she tried to twist it around that she was told her dog wasn’t important.  She was also told that we had 2 critical patients that had to be treated before her dog, but her dog had been checked and was stable.  The criticals were a very badly injured dog (jumped out of the back of their truck then run over by the owner - please don’t let your dog ride unrestrained in the bed of your truck).  The other was a seizing dog that presented near comatose.  Both ended up euthanized.  Not critical is good!

I had to explain multiple times to the owner that “not critical” at the emergency clinic means your dog isn’t actively dying.  Your dog being stable means you get your phone call after critical patients are treated.  She still wasn’t happy, but I think mostly because she didn’t have enough money to treat anyway.  That’s almost always what owners get mad about, whether they want to admit it or not.  I get it.  Lots of people got laid off with COVID and may not be back to work.  Lots of people still aren’t making a decent living wage.  Emergency care is expensive.  I get it!

But don’t yell at me or my staff and lie about being told your dog “isn’t important” because my staff would NEVER say or feel that way.  “Isn’t critical” is fantastic for your dog when you’re at the emergency clinic.  Waiting for a call from the doc is actually a good thing because you get the call a lot quicker if your dog is critical.  Waiting can be good, sometimes.  It’s nearly always a better outcome for your pet.

Just a little rant.  I mostly had a good shift with only that 1 cranky pants.  Most owners are very nice and very appreciative of the care we give.

[Guppysnail]

On 2/19/2022 at 12:54 AM, Odd Duck said:

I had a lady get angry and nasty with me on my Wednesday overnight this week because we took so long calling her back about her dog.  She was told her dog wasn’t critical and she tried to twist it around that she was told her dog wasn’t important.  She was also told that we had 2 critical patients that had to be treated before her dog, but her dog had been checked and was stable.  The criticals were a very badly injured dog (jumped out of the back of their truck then run over by the owner - please don’t let your dog ride unrestrained in the bed of your truck).  The other was a seizing dog that presented near comatose.  Both ended up euthanized.  Not critical is good!

I had to explain multiple times to the owner that “not critical” at the emergency clinic means your dog isn’t actively dying.  Your dog being stable means you get your phone call after critical patients are treated.  She still wasn’t happy, but I think mostly because she didn’t have enough money to treat anyway.  That’s almost always what owners get mad about, whether they want to admit it or not.  I get it.  Lots of people got laid off with COVID and may not be back to work.  Lots of people still aren’t making a decent living wage.  Emergency care is expensive.  I get it!

But don’t yell at me or my staff and lie about being told your dog “isn’t important” because my staff would NEVER say or feel that way.  “Isn’t critical” is fantastic for your dog when you’re at the emergency clinic.  Waiting for a call from the doc is actually a good thing because you get the call a lot quicker if your dog is critical.  Waiting can be good, sometimes.  It’s nearly always a better outcome for your pet.

Just a little rant.  I mostly had a good shift with only that 1 cranky pants.  Most owners are very nice and very appreciative of the care we give.

I’m sorry on others behalf for their poor behavior 😔. I have witnessed others at my vets office getting loud/rude. I think you are correct about the money. People have be programmed these days that if the complain they get free/discounted things. I used to see it all the time prior to retirement. I wish more folks remembered the golden rule. 
Treat others as you would want them to treat you

Thank you from me and my pets for being an unsung hero who goes the extra mile to be sure emergency care is available during the night for our non human family members 🤗