The Fourth of July was my very first weekend on call as a brand spanking new veterinarian. I had a guy call first thing in the morning on Sunday.
Me: Hi this is DocMac.
Guy: My dog's acting kind of lethargic and I'd like you to look at him if you have time.
Me: How long has he been lethargic?
Guy: He seemed okay yesterday. We had a party and he ate a bunch of hotdogs.
(Alarm bells started going off in my brain. Bunches of people food, especially things like hotdogs can cause pancreatitis)
Me: Has he had any vomiting or diarrhea?
Guy: I don't know. He's an outside dog. He runs in the yard and plays in his pool. I found him in the pool this morning.
(And now I'm worried about heat stroke)
Me: I'll meet you at the clinic.
Oh my God! My first emergency!
Guy brings in a middle aged labrador and the poor thing is half dead. He can barely raise his head, his gums are white and his heart rate is slow. I'm like, holy crap! All the guy said over the phone was his dog was a little lethargic!
Sadly, this dog died about 15 minutes after presentation, I believe it was heat stroke. The previous day had been in the upper 80's with high humidity. The party had probably made him more active than usual and he pushed past his limits.
What I can't get over his how calm this man sounded the entire time. Even looking back with the wisdom of experience, this guy must have had ice water in his veins. I'll admit that I was freaking out a little bit through the process of trying to save this dog. It was my first emergency on my own and I had only been graduated from vet school for four weeks.
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