I am so angry and frustrated right now that I feel as though I may blow a fuse at the moment.

We just had a very frustrating fifteen minutes on the phone. AARRUUUGGGHHH! Shortly after we got up this morning, Frank, our eleven year old neutered cat peed in an antique sterling silver dish that had been my great grandmother’s. It was sitting on the floor, where it had fallen down. We have 12 oversized litter pans which are cleaned daily morning and night. Frank has never ever sprayed or gone
ooutside of the box in his whole life — not once… not ever.

We called the clinic we have used since 1981. That’s thirty years or three entire decades!
Our instructions are to call ahead to tell them we’re on the way, then bring the animal out
when something suddenly crops up that even might be serious or if the animal seems uncomfortable
or in pain. Our vet and his wife are friends of ours and we have their home number and cells, but
this wasn’t that type of emergency.

“Good morning! ___ ___ Clinic” (unfamiliar voice)
“Hi! This is ___ Jones (fake) and I’m calling about Franklin the cat, who is 11. He peed outside
the litterbox this morning and he’s never done that before. He seems uncomforta—”

“WHAT did you say your NAME was again?”
“__ JONES. ”
“HUH?”
“___ JONES. J-O-N-E-S”
“Bones?”
“JONES! JONES! J-O-N-E-S! Like the car dealership that advertises on channel 35 all the time.”

“Speak up, lady! Quit mumbling and then MAYBE I could hear you!”
“My first name is ___!
“HUH?”

“I’m leaving now to bring Frankie out.”
“HUH?….You can’t do that! I didn’t give you permission!”

Phone rings…

“Hi! This is Jon. (the vet) What’s going on with Frankie?”
I give him a quick run down and tell him Frank and ___ are enroute.
“Good decision”

Phone rings again…

“This is ___ at the __ __ Clinic! I just wanted you to know that you and your ^&*#@$% husband
just got me yelled at and #$%^&ed out and I just wanted you %$#@ers to know that I can $%^& up
your animals’ care whenever I want!”

I just hung up.

Now that I don’t have smoke coming out of both ears and have calmed down a little bit, my question is,
do we just forget it completely, or do I assume the vet would want to know about this flake? I know they have some serious issues going on with one of their children and I suspect that’s how this wingnut
got hired to begin with. But if she was that unprofessional and rude with me, she’ll do it with others too.
My concern is that I don’t want it to negatively affect his practice.

I forgot to mention the condescending five minute lecture on the need to keep litter pans clean and the admonishment that we are no one special and deserve no special tx. Didn’t think we did.

I work three twelve hour shifts in the OR and am on call 5 days a month. I want a pet and cant decide what I should get. Suggestions?

Answers :

xtxrn : I paper trained my puppy (when she was one, 10 years ago- LOL), and she is still paper trained. She tolerated 12 hour shifts quite well, and was fine by herself. She had plenty of toys, and a lot of attention when I was home. Now that I’ve been on disability, I see how much she sleeps (even when she was 3-7 years old), and it wasn’t that different than if I’d have still been gone. They adapt, and love you no matter what.

No crate, no doggy daycare (I don’t board her- if I’m in the hospital, my Dad comes over daily to feed/water/change the pee pads).
I had a LTC office job when she was really little, so she came with me. When she was a few months old, I left her in the kitchen w/a baby gate (bigger than a crate). When she got past the teething phase, she’s had the run of the place ever since. Her biggest “crime” was taking the socks off of all of the feet of my doll collection dolls  They were piled up by the back door in a pile.

My 2nd schnauzer was a little booger as a puppy, and chewed on books (Tabasco on the edges fixed that- she was never forced to eat Tabasco, but if she got into eating the books, she learned it wasn’t a good idea). After that, she was good, but wouldn’t use the papers after I moved to another apartment. So, getting home on time was important. She could make it through a 12 hour shift ok, and did well with most 16 hour shifts. But I much prefer that the current dog will use the papers on command, and as she wants.

I got the people chux, too= those puppy pads hold about 4 drops.

 

Girlygirl69 :  I have a dog. I work the same hours as you as well. I really only do daycare when I need a break from her. She loves to play with other dogs for a few hours and I get uninterrupted peace. She is trained to go on the pad, never chews anything or destroys my apt., and I just leave a bowl of water and a little food when I go to work. I walk her when I get back from work, most days. Get a havanese, they are a very friendly breed and are low to no shedding dogs.

 

Rnwriter : We’ve had four rescued pugs over the years and loved them to pieces. They do need to be brushed/combed to keep shedding to a minimum, but other than that, ours were all easy peasy. They barked (a deep mid-sized dog woof rather than a small dog yip that would have driven me bonkers) only when they someone came to the door or for some other good reason.

After the first year, all four of ours settled down and turned into couch pillows. They loved to play, but also loved to sleep. These dogs are small but sturdy. The pug motto is, “Multum in parvo,”–a big dog in a little body.

They aren’t snappish or high strung, and they’re funny as all get out in appearance. They look kind of like teddy bears with floppy ears.

Ours used to tolerate long periods of being left alone. We did have the first two together, and that kept them content.

Hope this helps expand your search.

 

ICU_RN2 : I have a two year old Boxer. She’s great fun, never was destructive as a puppy – but that could be because my other half was home with her often. She went to work with him while she was a puppy, so she was never crated for long periods at home when she was little. We do crate her now when we’re gone, and very rarely does she go all day in the crate. Her energy level reflects whatever we’re up to…if we’re laying around the house all day, so is she. If we’re outside, she’s running around like a crazy dog for hours. She certainly has an endless supply of energy when she chooses to use it!!

I’d love to do doggy day care with her, but just an fyi – all the doggy day cares in my area open at 7 or 8am, and pick up time is before 6pm…I can’t seem to find one that has hours that work for my 7-7 shifts!

Good luck!!