Why Christmas is not a vet's favorite time of year....

Let's maybe do this to the tune of the 12 Days of Christmas....

On the 1st Day of Christmas....
my clients gave to me...

One emergency vaccine visit (because they decided to board last visit, so it's a good reason to double book the vet)

On the 2nd Day of Christmas my clients gave to me....

Two emergency Health Certificates (because they didn't realize you needed one to take your Chihuahua to Mexico

On the 3rd Day of Christmas my clients gave to me...

Three cats who ingested tinsel...

On the 4th Day of Christmas my clients gave to me....

Four Foreign Bodies (dogs that ate beer skewers, underwear, the angel and an unknown Christmas present)

On the 5th Day of Christmas my clients gave to me...

Five Dogs with Chocolate toxicity....

On the 6th Day of Christmas my clients gave to me...

Six clients who come in late (without an excuse) and make the vet late...


On the 7th Day of Christmas my clients gave to me...

Seven wonderful goodies (clients bring in really tasty treats that go straight to our hips)

On the 8th Day of Christmas my clients gave to me....

Eight cases of Pancreatitis....(This is a disease that happens when dogs eat fatty foods, I once had a patient who was a chihuahua/beagle mix eat AN ENTIRE FRIED TURKEY... The dog wasn't even as big as the fried turkey... Sick for a week...)

On the 9th Day of Christmas my clients gave to me...

Nine Christmas puppies

and Ten Christmas kittens! (Great gifts as discussed previously...)

On the 11th Day of Christmas my clients gave to me...

Eleven cats in the tree (and one of them ate an ornament hook)


On the 12th Day of Christmas (and this is really accurate, because this is generally the whole week after Christmas)...

Twelve dogs with diarrhea/soft stool from all of their treats and Christmas goodies and a few extra things they snuck from the humans...


On a less cheerful note..

I did not include the holiday euthanasias on this song because it just doesn't seem appropriate.  We do a disproportionate amount of euthanasia's this time of year.  Either everyone's home for Christmas and the pet has been hanging on for the college student to get home or they don't want the animal dying on Christmas day, so they do it before it gets to that point or they don't want to be embarrassed when their guests come over.  The same thing goes with skin diseases.  This is the time of year that severe diseases of the skin get noticed and people want emergency fixes...