February 1, 2007 7.30 a.m
"He was shivering violently this afternoon," the girlfriend said as her Chihuahua sniffed the marble flooring of the living room at 1.10 a.m February 1, 2007. The dog wagged his tail and looked at his owner. I was now fully awake now expecting some dire emergency. Fortunately, this male dog did not urine mark my living area.
"Many dogs do behave normally when they see the vet," I said. "What was his temperature at the emergency vet?"
"He was given some tablets," the girlfriend did not know what the medication 'Cimetidine' was for.
I put the dog on the dining table. The sudden development of violent shivering could be due to pain rather than fever. The temperature reading shot from 38.6 deg C to 40.9 deg C.
"Was the dog eating?" I asked the girlfriend as I palpated the dog's abdomen and found nothing abnormal or painful.
"Yes." So, it was likely that the sudden burst to above normal temperature was a freak result.
I used another thermometer to take the rectal temperature again. I asked the young man who wanted to study medicine to take the rectal temperature. He fumbled as he looked for the very small anal opening covered by the long coat of the Chihuahua.
Hm... That did not make a good impression on a customer (his girlfriend in this case).
The temperature was normal, at 38.6 deg C.
"What is the normal temperature of the dog?" Daniel asked. I was surprised he asked. But young man had better distractions than knowing such mundane things. But he was going to be a vet and maybe, he should know. To impress his girl friend, maybe.
"What is Cimetidine?" Daniel asked. I think he ought to read up.
I put 2 fingers and poked the dog from below the neck to the tail, inch by inch while the girlfriend held his head. The dog was unhappy. His eye-whites warned me to get off. He turned his head as I poked an area of his spine, midway up and behind his rib cage.
"Was he staggering like a drunk, as if he was lame?" I asked the girl friend. She did not know but the emergency vet had diagnosed some loose knee caps. Yes, his right patellar bone was partially luxuated and slipped up and down creaking like a loose stone when I flexed the right hind knee. The girlfriend was aware of that. When I put the dog down after flexing, he was not lame or painful.
I put the dog onto the living area. He sniffed and walked near to the sofa. Maybe he was going to urine mark.
"Call the dog to climb the 2 steps of the stairs separating the living from the dining area," I asked the girl friend.
The dog climbed easily. Then he wanted to climb the staircase to upstairs.
"Put the dog on the dining table again," I asked the girl friend.
She held the dog's head while I review the pain on the spinal area up and behind the rib cage. This time, the Chihuahua wanted to bite me as he lowered his body in great pain. I had poked at the painful part, the thoraco-lumbar spinal area --- behind his rib cage.
"Why did you use 2 fingers to do that?" the young man asked.
"Just to check for spinal disc protrusion," I said. "The dog had a spinal disc pain but it is not serious now. That would account for the violent shivering at 4 p.m., 9 hours ago.
"He is normal now but don't allow him to climb up and down stairs anymore."
"There are no steps inside the HDB apartment," the girl friend said.
"I mean, the flight of steps going up and down the apartment." I said.
As for the boyfriend, he is at the cross roads now. Like the traffic policeman in the picture, he has to decide whether he wants to go the straight path of researching and learning lots about veterinary medicine or turn right to the path of distractions of long hours of online gaming and partying with army friends and mates.
He can't have both because time is needed to hone his skills at veterinary medicine and he has only a finite time in this stage of his life.
"Three Grade As at "A level or CMS points (for those studying in Australia) of above 90%"
"Three Grade As at "A level or CMS points (for those studying in Australia) of above 90%"
