Ahh! A Day in the Life of a Vet Technician!

As a veterinary technician, parts of my job are down right dirty. One aspect that gets the most laughs is trying to collect a free catch urine sample from dogs in order to complete an urinalysis. I try to make it a joke with owners about the situation, and it's pretty funny because you can imagine having to chase a dog around with a small bowl as they pee.


One situation I find that I can always laugh at is one of the big dogs recently, who also had the kids present. Both daughters were extremely interested on how I was going to get a "pee sample" from their dog. I told them we have a fire hydrant out in the yard that does the trick pretty well for making dogs go to the bathroom, and that I was fast on the draw with my collection bowl. They kept questioning me, and the power of the fire hydrant. I told them it had a magical doggy smell, and we had pretty good success. They then wanted to see how this magic works. Sure enough, their dog took a big sniff of the fire hydrant and felt the urge, and I was my normal quick on the draw. The mother asked if I frequently got peed on doing this part of the job, and the older daughter thought that was really gross. We were on our way back into the clinic, and realized the younger daughter was still in the dog yard. She was sniffing the fire hydrant, with big noisy inhalations, and then told us as only kids can say it "This fire hydrant isn't magical, I can't smell anything. Doesn't make me want to go to the bathroom!"

Back in the exam room, the father of the family showed up to help with the child shuttle services, and the older daughter promptly announces to him that her sister had just smelled the fire hydrant. He wasn't sure what to make of the comment until the wife explained how it happened that their youngest kid was smelling the fire hydrant at the vet. Now he announces himself at the clinic as the dad of the fire hydrant sniffer!

Please enjoy! This is one of the heartwarming parts of working my job, as well as humorous.

This post was written by Lindsey, owner of Cardstock Equine, and a member of the Crafting for Animals Guild on Art Fire.  Lindsey designs and makes cards for all occasions, and you can see them at her online studio:  http://www.artfire.cm/ext/shop/studio/CardstockEquine and on Etsy at www.etsy.com/people/CardstockEquine?red-si_pr