It's the time when dogs howl at the moon: Midnight. But at midnight here, nothing stops:
Dr. Daniel Carey-Veterinarian "It's a matter of just being prepared for chaos."
Doctors prep, patients arrive:
"They give you that look in their eyes. Mommy I don't feel good."
And the dogs keep howling. Not just at the moon ... but in pain. Welcome to the overnight shift ... in the pet E-R: This is the Cincinnati Animal Referral and Emergency Center ... the Care Center ...Cincinnati's first and largest all day, all night, all year never closes specialty emergency room for pets:
"At night, nobody else is open so they come to see us."
And you never know who ... or what, is going to show up ... or throw up:
"There's a number of different things that can cause vomiting."
Sadie is a seven year old mixed breed who's been throwing up for a day and a half. Lost five pounds. Dr. Matt Noble .. the overnight ER vet ... treats Sadie as if she were one of his own. He has two dogs and a cat:
"Since I was a small child I can remember always wanting to be a veterinarian."
"Hi Sadie, she looks like she doesn't feel very well for sure. No she doesn't. She does not feel good I can tell you that. She's pretty tough, she's a trouper. Hi sweetie pie."
Sadie looks dehydrated. You can tell from the gums. So it's blood tests and IV fluids: There's another slightly smaller girl already here ... Precious ... the dog in the bag.
"So when I went to pet her again, when I got to her hind legs she snapped,and she don't bite you. So her whole personality has changed."
Back pain could do that. Could be skeletal. So it's time for an X-ray. The discovery?
"One area where one of her vertebral segments is a little bit narrow."
But that's not a crisis. And by now, Precious seems pretty much okay. Anti-inflammatory meds should help.
Not so with Sadie. Her pancreas may be infected: "I'd suggest that we keep her here."
There are 55 cages at the Care Center, so there's room. Some are ER walk ins...or crawl ins. Others are surgery patients ... usually day shift stuff ... but sometimes those day shifts run long:
"This is Orion. He has chronic ear infections so he's getting a total ear canal ablation. We're actually removing his ear canal so he no longer has these chronic infections."
In many ways, it's just like a people hospital. Sometimes things are almost funny if they were not so serious:
"It's about 3:30 in the morning." Why here now? "My dog Roscoe had gotten an unknown amount of chocolate chips that my son had hidden under his covers."
That's the funny part. Now the unfunny. Dogs are allergic to chocolate, big time:
"It can affect the kidneys, heart, if they get enough it can kill them."
"He's been vomting since midnight."
Roscoe will be admitted. Now you might think at 4 o clock in the morning that things would slow down to the point that the staffers could catch,you will excuse the expression, a little cat nap. No such luck. They do let sleeping dogs lie ...if they're sedated: But otherwise, it's a typical non-stop mixed breed of overnight cases ... cared for by people who truly love animals:
"Especially since they can't talk to you. You have to be able to know what they're thinking and work with them to make them feel comfortable."
As the night shift wears down, Sadie gets anti-nausea medication. Her owners decide to take Sadie home. It's one-hour back to Blanchester ... and by the time they get there ... Sadie's own vet will just about be open. That's fine. The goal here ... make the animals feel better ... which makes the people feel better:
"No pet drives themselves to our clinic. They are attached to an owner and those owners need to be taken care of as well."
"There's momma's girl. There's momma's baby girl. Momma's girl. You have any questions? No. You're all right sugar, yeah."
Take two doggie aspirin and call me in the morning. actually, by now, it is the morning. But the midnight shift is not far off:
