Emergency Vets on Animal Planet
 

I can say without reservation that the show Emergency Vets on Animal Planet can be one of the saddest shows on TV. I'm never watching it when I am home alone again. :( I cried like a baby today.

I went to High School with one of the Dr.s on there - if they are still shooting at Alameda East or whatever its called. Hes Dr. Jason Sokup. He was a good guy.

My mom is addicted to this show. Yes, we always bawl when we watch it, too.

The show is shot in the Denver area and post produced at the facility I ran in a previous lifetime. The producers have about fifteen or so shows running on different cable networks from Animal Planet to Discovery to Home and Garden.

They are arguably the hottest cable programmers in the country right now.

I love that show so much! They have a mix of happy, sad and funny moments! My favorite episodes are Saving Missy (I cried like a baby), Frankenkitty (I felt bad for that gorgeous cat, but he was fine afterwards) and Bellyaches (the iguana's $800 problem)!

http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/dogrun.gif http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili.../catsmiley.gif

Haven't seen this one, but I do watch Animal Precinct (NYC) and there's a similar one in, I think, Detroit? And sometimes it's very upsetting. I saw an episode where they retrieved something like 241 cats and kittens (that's not a typo) from someone's house. It took them 2 days. And at the end they said the cats would all have to be euthanized because they were feral. :(

My mom saw this episode once and called me one night when it was being replayed. MY GOSH! I cannot even fathom that. I cried during that one just because it was so unnecessary.

I'm such an animal person.

so one day i was watching this er animal show in between classes one day at the DG house and i sat there and BAWLED over this dying cat and an old italian man. i dont even like cats but i was BAWLING over this one. all of my sisters were making fun of me and banned me from this channel. the worst part was that i was still crying over this cat up to 2 hours later!!

***dances an an*I*mal dance***

I thought the other GC animal lovers might enjoy this story from a June edition of the Capital Gazette, our Annapolis newspaper. I first heard about this from a friend of mine who is in practice with the surgeon in the article. Enjoy and keep a Kleenex handy! http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/dogrun.gif



Plastic Surgeon and Vet Work Together to Save Wounded Puppy

By E.B. FURGURSON III Staff Writer
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Olivia, a 3-month-old black lab, lost her tail and a slice of her hindquarters to a lawnmower last week. But through the kindness of an animal lover and two doctors, the puppy will soon have something to sit on.
Veterinarian Grant Nisson and plastic surgeon Daniel Laughlin donated their time to perform reconstructive surgery yesterday to close a gaping 4-inch wound.

Without the help, the pup would likely have been put down after the accident.

When the hound was rushed to the Anne Arundel Veterinary Emergency Clinic outside Annapolis May 26, the previous owners decided euthanasia was in order.

"I saw her little eyes and they just did something to me," said clinic receptionist Kristin Klein.

A week later, after adopting the wounded dog, the 21-year-old University of Maryland senior took it to her Annapolis home. She named it Olivia, to go with her 10-month-old yellow lab, Oliver.

She took the puppy to the clinic for daily dressing changes. To help close the wound, the emergency clinic vets sewed velcro strips on either side of the gaping flesh and stretched the skin together.

'The tear is about half the size it was last week," Ms. Klein said.

Other connections came together as well.

Ms. Klein's mother, Ruth, works part-time in Dr. Laughlin's office. They brought the puppy to him, and he thought he might be able to help, provided a veterinarian could be found.

"She needed help. I was happy to do it," said Dr. Laughlin, whose Annapolis practice is normally limited to people, mostly those seeking cosmetic enhancement.

"I did do surgery on dogs during my training," the plastic surgeon said.

The Kleins' friend, Wendie Crouch, is a veterinary
technician at Muddy Creek Animal Hospital owned by Dr. Nisson. She brought the two doctors together.

Yesterday afternoon Olivia was prepped for the procedure. She tried to nip the attendants when they got to close to the open 2- by 3-inch wound with just a tiny stub of raw tail sticking up.

Her conical, plastic Elizabethan-looking collar prevented that.

Within minutes Olivia was napping, collarless and floppy from the anesthesia. She was shaved about halfway up her back then moved to the operating room.

"The emergency clinic did an excellent job," said Dr. Nisson as he scrubbed in.

It was the last surgery performed at the hospital, which moves just up the road this weekend to its new larger office just farther down on Muddy Creek Road.

The pup went home with the Kleins afterwards. She should be fully mended in about three weeks, Dr. Nisson said.

Olivia still will not have a tail to wag - but that's not so important. She's just lucky she has those sorrowful eyes.

The Saving Missy episode was on today...it did me in!

I can't watch it anymore....If I have to see one more hurt/dying puppy and hear it whimper, I'll become a shut-in because I will mentally lose it!! I LOVE PUPPIES!!!! And I hate to see animals hurting...

I cannot watch that show. It makes me cry and think about when we put my family's dog down. I LOVE dogs so much and I would love to help them, but having to do surgery like that on some of the animals would break my heart.:(