Tuesdays with Tony
Holy busy week Bat Cat!! This has been one really busy week around here. Not only did the Docs stay super busy but also I had to make sure everything was ready to go for our annual See Tony event the humans call Open House. I have included some pictures for those of you who didn’t make it. Just know that I know who you are and I am judging you for not stopping by to see me.
Let’s start with cases.
We had a few older horses that needed some teeth removed. Unlike cats, horse’s teeth continue to erupt as they age. This means when they get older they have a really short tooth with no root holding it in. This week the Docs saw three horses for routine dentistry that had loose teeth. Luckily these teeth are very easy to extract and it doesn’t seem to bother the horses much. They still get a local Novocain block, and some pain medication but usually once the teeth are out they feel much better.
The horse we cut all that nasty Pythium stuff off of is doing pretty darn well. I got to do a brief cat scan on her when she came by for a checkup. The Docs are using some really cool silver impregnated socks on her legs to help cover the wounds while letting them air out but not exposing them to flies. So far they are feeling pretty good about the socks. Personally I think the horse looks rather silly wearing them and I would never tolerate that as a cool cat.
On Friday while I was trying my best to supervise See Tony 2015, I mean Open House; the Docs were in my way all afternoon working on putting this funny camera thing they called an endoscope up the nose of a horse to see inside a thing they called the guttural pouches. I asked why horses have this crazy pouch in the back of their throat and the answer was no one really knows but they think it works to cool blood on its way to the brain during high speed exercise. That explains why cats don’t work that way: no high speed exercise here thank you very much. Turns out guttural pouches like to get infected and it can be hard to fix. The endoscope let them get a sample directly from the pouch and test it for different bacteria and fungus so they could treat exactly what the problem was. Then Dr. Lacher was busy working on lameness. This horse had a tear in the check ligament. I asked what she was checking the ligament for and she said no it’s called the Check Ligament. I knew that all along; I was just messing with her. It’s what a cat does. Dr. Lacher told me this injury is usually one of the easier ones to manage in horses. A bit of rest and some rehabilitation and off they go. Unfortunately, this horse has re-injured his check ligament. Good news is this ligament isn’t 100% necessary so a little bit of surgery, a little bit of rest, and a little bit of rehab and he should be fine.
Finally, on to the most important day of the week: See Tony Saturday. I kept the humans here late in to the night on Friday and got them here early in the day on Saturday so that all would be perfect for my day. I was so happy to see you all and I trust you learned lots from my minions, I mean humans. I also have to give a big shout out to Bross Hogg’s Lunch Wagon for some seriously good food!
