Switching Gears

I know I've spent a lot of time talking about poo lately, and for that I apologize. I know I've offended some of you with delicate sensiblilities. Oh who am I kidding? No one who reads this blog has delicate sensibilities. Or if there was anyone, they're long gone by now. As I was saying, you've been regaled with plenty of poo and puke stories, so I'm going to veer in another direction today. I want my readers to know that I do think of other things on ocassion. I can be deep and thoughtful when I so choose.

So today's topic will be infected, impacted, abcessed anal glands.

No, I'm serious. That's today's topic. Dingle's infected, impacted, abcessed anal glands, to be exact.

So last week I noticed a little blood on the floor. I go on the hunt to figure out who (and what) is bleeding. After donning some rubber gloves, I figure our Dingle has what I thought was a sore on her butt. I cleaned it up with some infection protection foam and decide to wait. It looked better that night, but the next day another sore had developed and she had chewed quite a bit of fur off, so I make an appointment with the vet for Friday morning.

When we got to the vet, I set my full Sonic drink on the table by the benches and Clara follows suit, spilling both in the process. The bottom of mine busted out, so ice and DP went everywhere. I was so embarrassed and offered to clean it up. Of course, no one ever lets me clean up our own messes, so I got to watch as one of the girls at the front counter got a towel and mop bucket out. She was very nice even as she had to move the bench and little table to get all of it. Did I mention how embarrassed I was?

So they take us back, and the vet tech takes a look then she calls the vet in who says we'll need to leave her for the rest of the day because they have to put her under to lance it. Poor girl. That is so NOT what she wanted to hear, I'm sure. So it wasn't just a sore. What I was seeing was the opening of the anal gland. I always secretly wondered where the anal glands were. Seriously, I did. And now I know!

They had her ready to go at 7:00 pm and the girl was probably wondering where in the world that breeze was coming from. They shaved her whole backside. It's a very distinguished look. I would have put a picture here, but I do want the rest of my readers to come back, so I refrained.

Oh, before I went to pick her up, Clara and I made a thank you card for the nice lady that cleaned up our mess. We added dog stickers and Clara drew some dogs on it. We picked up a Sonic gift card and included it inside (we of course mentioned to be careful not to spill her Sonic drinks). I didn't know her name, so we made it out to "the nice lady that cleaned up our big mess this morning".

She happened to be the one that took me back to the room when I went to pick Dingle up, so I handed her the card that was blank on the outside and said, "this is for you". She looked really confused and I told her she would understand when she opened it. She went out the back way and I could hear her telling some of the others what it said and what had happened. I heard "awws" and "how sweet"s and even a "you should hang that on the wall".

It made me feel much better about that morning and I know her co-workers and superiors were back there and now know what a good job she did even if they didn't witness the unfortunate spillage earlier. I only tell this story to encourage you to go out of your way to thank someone for a job well done. (Or to apologize for your stupidity, whatever the case may be.) I don't do it nearly enough. Write a note if you get exceptional service. Workers don't get many comments that speak highly of exceptional service they may have given. Customers are much more likely to send letters of complaint. It means a lot to get that good mail. When I worked at Hastings, every comment card that was turned it went past the president's desk and he personally noted a job well done on the good ones. They also were mentioned by name at the staff meetings, so it's a big deal to send in those good comments. Hmmm, where was I? Oh yeah, impacted, infected, abcessed anal glands.

We were sent home with a weeks worth of pain pills and a weeks worth of antibiotic. And a bill for $225. Moral of the story: If you think your dog's anal glands might be impacted, by golly get those suckers expressed so you don't end up losing 200 bucks and your dog's dignity. As always, I'm here to inform; sometimes the truth isn't very pretty.