Country Vets
Last week I posted information about our local vet. That brought to my mind all sorts of stories about country vets. I thought I might tell a few now.
Before I moved to Wall, SD (that's where I lived before moving to Haxtun), I visited once with my mother to check it out. One of the most important tasks I needed to do while I was there was to find the local vet. Now remember, I was used to city vets with their little offices in strip malls or next to grocery stores. My mom and I looked up the vet's office address in the local phone book and trekked out to find it. Our little map that I pieced together from mapquest.com printouts led us to the edge of town. The highway we were on headed straight to the Badlands National Park, which is not where we wanted to end up. We drove up and down a length of the highway several times, trying to decide which road to turn on. Finally, we just picked one.
We drove down that road a little way, but all we saw was a turn-off to a gravel road that looked like it led to a truck repair shop (we guessed that by all the old, falling apart trucks in the yard). We drove up and down that street and then up and down the highway again before realizing that the gravel road was our only option left.
I drove up to the intersection between the paved road and the gravel road. That was probably the first time I had ever driven on a surface other than pavement. I said a little prayer and drove off onto it. It was a terribly uneven road and seemed ten times worse because I wasn't used to it. I drove very slowly, cringing at every bump. I was sure that when we stopped all the tires would be flat!
Driving up to the buildings, we saw that there was indeed a truck repair shop, but right next to it was a little office. In the window I could see bags of pet food, so I dared to venture in. Inside, I saw ropes and various products for horses and cows. A woman about my age appeared. She probably thought I was pretty strange when I asked if I had found the vets office and even stranger when I asked if he treated cats. As soon as she told me yes, I got my embarrassed self out of there!
I moved to Wall with both of my cats partially sedated for the 3 day drive because they had a tendency to get very car sick. Kearney, my fluffy cat, also had a tendency to get urinary track infections, especially if he got dehydrated. Knowing that they were barely eating and drinking due to the stress of the trip, I decided to take Kearney for a precautionary check-up as soon as we got to Wall. That was the first time I met Dr. McConaughy.
Dr. Mac, as his assistants called him, explained to me that they would have to draw a urine sample and I probably did not want to watch. I stepped out into the waiting room. A moment later, I heard Kearney yowl and then howl and then scream! I imagined that taking the urine sample was causing him a lot of pain. After a few more unhappy screams, the vet stuck his head out of the office and said, "I just thought you should know that we haven't even begun to take the sample yet." Kearney was so scared of vets that even the approach of one made him holler! After that, I helped hold my cat down.
My cats seemed to get into a lot of trouble while living in Wall. They got in fights with the neighbor cats and developed abscesses too many times to count. One of them got shot with a pellet gun by who knows who. And the worst time was the slow death of my cat Doku from some kind of disease. My point is, I had many opportunities to visit and get to know the staff at the vet's office. I have very interesting memories of them.
One day, I drove up to their office and they had a temporary pen set up out front with a very unhappy horse laying on its back with its legs strapped up in the air. I forget what procedure the horse was undergoing, but I will never get that image out of my mind!
Another time, when Doku was dying, I brought him in for an emergency exam late in the evening. The vet already had a patient there. It was a woman with a newborn foal (horse). For some reason the mother horse had rejected the foal so it didn't get to suckle from her. It was weak and cold. The woman had to leave to check on the mother horse again and so left the foal in the vet's care. The vet set the foal up with an IV and asked me to sit with it while he checked my cat. I remember being amazed by the size of a baby horse, but also by its fragility. I petted it, but it was barely breathing and just wasn't warming up. As scared as I was for my own pet, I felt sorry leaving the foal that night. The vet told me the next day that it didn't make it. I have to say that I learn more hard life lessons in the country than in the city.
In the 20 months that I lived in Wall, the vet's staff figured out that I was a big softy who could never think ill of an animal. I came in one day to pick up cat food and they had a cat in a kennel on the floor of the waiting room. The vet got a big smile and suggested I take a look at that cat and tell him what I thought. Bending over to get a look, I saw a bloated and lumpy face barely reminiscent of a feline. I was startled and a little repulsed, but I tried to be polite when I said, "Not the most attractive cat, is it?" The vet and his two assistants broke out into laughter. The cat, it turns out, was suffering from some kind of allergic reaction that caused its face to swell. An old gruff farmer had brought this farm cat in because he really liked him. As sorry as the cat's condition was, the vet's staff had a hard time feeling sorry for it because it turned out to be quite mean! I think that cat was the one that motivated the staff to get their rabies vaccines after they all had suffered bites and scratches from it! I never told them that I still felt sorry for the cat . . .
Well, I meant to talk about a few other vets, but this has gone on too long as it is. I will have to stop here and continue the vet stories another day!
Before I moved to Wall, SD (that's where I lived before moving to Haxtun), I visited once with my mother to check it out. One of the most important tasks I needed to do while I was there was to find the local vet. Now remember, I was used to city vets with their little offices in strip malls or next to grocery stores. My mom and I looked up the vet's office address in the local phone book and trekked out to find it. Our little map that I pieced together from mapquest.com printouts led us to the edge of town. The highway we were on headed straight to the Badlands National Park, which is not where we wanted to end up. We drove up and down a length of the highway several times, trying to decide which road to turn on. Finally, we just picked one.
We drove down that road a little way, but all we saw was a turn-off to a gravel road that looked like it led to a truck repair shop (we guessed that by all the old, falling apart trucks in the yard). We drove up and down that street and then up and down the highway again before realizing that the gravel road was our only option left.
I drove up to the intersection between the paved road and the gravel road. That was probably the first time I had ever driven on a surface other than pavement. I said a little prayer and drove off onto it. It was a terribly uneven road and seemed ten times worse because I wasn't used to it. I drove very slowly, cringing at every bump. I was sure that when we stopped all the tires would be flat!
Driving up to the buildings, we saw that there was indeed a truck repair shop, but right next to it was a little office. In the window I could see bags of pet food, so I dared to venture in. Inside, I saw ropes and various products for horses and cows. A woman about my age appeared. She probably thought I was pretty strange when I asked if I had found the vets office and even stranger when I asked if he treated cats. As soon as she told me yes, I got my embarrassed self out of there!
I moved to Wall with both of my cats partially sedated for the 3 day drive because they had a tendency to get very car sick. Kearney, my fluffy cat, also had a tendency to get urinary track infections, especially if he got dehydrated. Knowing that they were barely eating and drinking due to the stress of the trip, I decided to take Kearney for a precautionary check-up as soon as we got to Wall. That was the first time I met Dr. McConaughy.
Dr. Mac, as his assistants called him, explained to me that they would have to draw a urine sample and I probably did not want to watch. I stepped out into the waiting room. A moment later, I heard Kearney yowl and then howl and then scream! I imagined that taking the urine sample was causing him a lot of pain. After a few more unhappy screams, the vet stuck his head out of the office and said, "I just thought you should know that we haven't even begun to take the sample yet." Kearney was so scared of vets that even the approach of one made him holler! After that, I helped hold my cat down.
My cats seemed to get into a lot of trouble while living in Wall. They got in fights with the neighbor cats and developed abscesses too many times to count. One of them got shot with a pellet gun by who knows who. And the worst time was the slow death of my cat Doku from some kind of disease. My point is, I had many opportunities to visit and get to know the staff at the vet's office. I have very interesting memories of them.
One day, I drove up to their office and they had a temporary pen set up out front with a very unhappy horse laying on its back with its legs strapped up in the air. I forget what procedure the horse was undergoing, but I will never get that image out of my mind!
Another time, when Doku was dying, I brought him in for an emergency exam late in the evening. The vet already had a patient there. It was a woman with a newborn foal (horse). For some reason the mother horse had rejected the foal so it didn't get to suckle from her. It was weak and cold. The woman had to leave to check on the mother horse again and so left the foal in the vet's care. The vet set the foal up with an IV and asked me to sit with it while he checked my cat. I remember being amazed by the size of a baby horse, but also by its fragility. I petted it, but it was barely breathing and just wasn't warming up. As scared as I was for my own pet, I felt sorry leaving the foal that night. The vet told me the next day that it didn't make it. I have to say that I learn more hard life lessons in the country than in the city.
In the 20 months that I lived in Wall, the vet's staff figured out that I was a big softy who could never think ill of an animal. I came in one day to pick up cat food and they had a cat in a kennel on the floor of the waiting room. The vet got a big smile and suggested I take a look at that cat and tell him what I thought. Bending over to get a look, I saw a bloated and lumpy face barely reminiscent of a feline. I was startled and a little repulsed, but I tried to be polite when I said, "Not the most attractive cat, is it?" The vet and his two assistants broke out into laughter. The cat, it turns out, was suffering from some kind of allergic reaction that caused its face to swell. An old gruff farmer had brought this farm cat in because he really liked him. As sorry as the cat's condition was, the vet's staff had a hard time feeling sorry for it because it turned out to be quite mean! I think that cat was the one that motivated the staff to get their rabies vaccines after they all had suffered bites and scratches from it! I never told them that I still felt sorry for the cat . . .
Well, I meant to talk about a few other vets, but this has gone on too long as it is. I will have to stop here and continue the vet stories another day!
Posted by Susan at October 26, 2009 
Categories: Rural Living
Tags: Wall South Dakota vet gravel road horse veterinarian foal cat
Categories: Rural Living
Tags: Wall South Dakota vet gravel road horse veterinarian foal cat
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