Perks of the Job..

Well, I have to apologize in advance for the topic of this post, you'll find out if you read further.
When I tell people what I do for a living and that I work in a veterinary hospital, it is usually followed by "awww, that must be so nice working with puppies and kittens everyday" or something to that effect. Well, let me set you straight. Sure cuddling and socializing puppies and kittens is a very nice perk, there are many things that people don't realize that come with the job of working with animals.

Let me go back to when I first started working in an aquarium and the injuries that ensued.

My first injury or shall I say illness, came when I started working with a flock of african penguins. The habitat was old and not very well ventilated prior to getting it's new facelift. I spent alot of time in there everyday, cleaning and scrubbing poop, feeding, getting in the 3 degree water to clean glass, I'm sure you get the picture. I came down with a nasty cough and raspiness in my chest so I went to the doctor. After a thorough history, she said "I think you have a respiratory infection, cause by chlamydia", nice huh. Let me point out that this isn't the clap that many people first think about, birds shed chlamydia in there feces and therefore can be inhaled and lead to respiratory conditions. Antibiotics got rid of it, but it wasn't fun explaining to my mom that I contracted chlamydia from bird poo.

My second injury came from the penguins as well. It was the middle of January in cold Alberta. I was suited up in my shorts, fleece pullover and rubber boots, cleaning the poo from the habitat. I turned the wrong way and fell straight onto my thumb. Unfortunately, it swell up like a banana, and my co-workers took me to the hospital and called my mom to come and keep me company. We sat in the emergency room for hours, but we had most of it to ourselves as no one wanted to sit near me. I had no idea why, I know that I looked ridiculous in my shorts and sandals in January....and then then smell came. I could smell myself...fish and poop. I stood up to ask my mom if she could see anything on me, and she started laughing, I guess when I fell, I fell in a big pile of poop. I had penguin poo smeared all down my back and bottom. No wonder no one wanted to sit near me. Needless to say...the diagnosis this time was a broken thumb.

After that, I had a few more injuries working in the aquarium setting. I was bit by a snake (non-venomous thank God), bit by a shark, nearly bit by an alligator (he lunged and hissed, but missed thankfully), whipped by an 8 food iguana (felt like a baseball bat!), bit by a green sea turtle, bit by a flamingo, and yes the list goes on.

Now, working in a veterinary clinic has been relatively good for me. I've only been bit a few times by cats and only once has it put me on antibiotics (and that was from a kitten no less). Never bit by a dog, but of course now that I say that, I'll go to work tomorrow and get bit. And of course, bit by my very own rabbit (and those bites have to hurt the most! But I have been scratched to the point of no vitamin E or bio-oil will ever get rid of the scars. And this leads me to today.
I have an incredibly swollen finger, thanks to Walter scratching my cuticle, (yes it hurts to type, but I'm bored so I gotta do something) and nail, it's bright red and insanely hot to the touch. I have kept a band-aid on it with polysporin, but it hasn't helped. I was slightly excited to wake up this morning and find a nice little pus pocket and abscess on it, but I was very disappointed, maybe tomorrow.
So just to reiterate the fact, working with animals, though very fun and rewarding most of the time, comes with many consequences. I consider myself lucky to only have to go on antibiotics once (though if this finger thing continues, it will be twice), never on IV antibiotics as a few of my co-workers have, and never been seriously injured. To those of you who own animals and take them to the vet regularly, please try to socialize your animals as early as possible as many of these injuries are caused by fear. Take them to a veterinary clinic that highly praises your animal when they come in to try to make the experience as positive as possible. Even though we pride ourselves on doing this, accidents do happen. It's not your fault as an owner, I don't blame animals for biting most of the time as I wouldn't want to be held down to have blood taken either. But with owners taking time to socialize and veterinary staff taking the time to learn less stressful restraints and techniques we can hopefully decrease injuries to both owners and staff.

.....Now, to go soak my finger like my mom said.......