Transcript
Speaker: nor listening to Spill the Kibble, the podcast where I read your submitted stories and have real veterinarians react to them. If you are interested in sharing your clinic story, email us at spill at spill the kibble.com.
Speaker: Please note that this show is not suitable for all listeners. Listener discretion is advised. And with that, let's go to the show. Welcome to Spill the Kibble. I'm Kel. I'm Dr. G. And I'm Dr. M. And we're here to tell your clinic stories. But first, how are you both doing?
Speaker: Why are you already laughing, Dr. G? I got stuck. I got stuck. You got stuck with what?
Speaker: Stupid. I'm sorry. We love stupid here. Stupid is welcome on the pod. what What is funny, though? I really want to know. Well, that I was trying to think.
Speaker: <unk> Oh my gosh, the giggle bug has struck so hard. oh is it Is it like one of those things where it's not even going to be that funny by the time you say it? but like that but Now it's just under your it's funnier because it's so stupid? Yeah, it's just nothing. I just got stuck.
Speaker: Okay, you were all like, how's everybody doing? And then I i was gonna guess who's back in the house? And then I saw the next door and their heels click clacking.
Speaker: And I couldn't make a way to make that work with surgery. Guys, I went back to surgery today and it was fun.
Speaker: I did surgery today too, on a Monday. was a great time. What did you do? I removed an epilis and did a dental cleaning on a golden retriever. What'd you do? I did an ovariectomy and a couple of mass removals. what of What's that first one?
Speaker: Ovariectomy. It's a version of a spay and it was on a 5.9 pound dog. Oh my. yeah I only heard like the half end of that. So I heard ectomy and I was like, I don't know what's the beginning part of that. We're to we're taking something out.
Speaker: yeah yeah That much we know. Oh, man. That's really tiny. it was so little. it was kind of It was great, though. It wasn't fatty. It was all kind of like right up where was supposed to be. It was like spanking a cat, which is better than a dog. Yeah, spanking cats is great.
Speaker: Why is it better? Or great? Doctor. they They are very tiny. And so they're um their business is also tiny. I don't know. it's everything they don't They don't tend to carry like a ton of fat. They're kind of lean. They're not super deep. So like you're not digging around. Like a super big, fat older dog. That's a lot of territory to search for an teeny, teeny ovary. And a cat, it's kind of like, um move the noodley little intestines aside and there it is. yeah So it's a lot more relaxing. Yeah. Less blood, I would say, at the time.
Speaker: It's easier to find. There's less fat. It's less greasy. Even if they're in heat. Well, cats, even if it's in heat, it's not that bad. No. um Oh, man. So, yeah, did that. It had a couple of them Wang Dangler dewclaws in the back paws.
Speaker: What kind teeny tiny baby animal was this? let's call it a Let's call it a cocoa, you know? Okay. Like a teddy bear animal.
Speaker: Something in that realm, sure. you Wait, was it a dog or a cat? It was a dog. um And it also had a retained deciduous tooth. But I opted not to take that because the other one came out, fell out on its own like a week ago. And I thought, we've been under. You're only six pounds.
Speaker: You're cold very quickly. um um So it'll come back if it needs to. There you go. that's That's just as well. ah But yeah, it had been ah it been a minute since full-on surgery.
Speaker: Was it like riding a bike? ah it yes Yeah, it was like riding a bike, and I fell off a couple times, only for my own street cred and confidence, not for the patient. The patient had no idea I hadn't been on a bicycle in while. But it's interesting seeing what happens with muscle memory, something that's so rote, but then you take time off. And so many times in last few days, i was just working through this procedure I've done hundreds of times in my head. like, I can't visualize the entire thing. And this is weird. so you know, of course, I read, refreshed, all that. But I just couldn't, like...
Speaker: make the movie go through from start to finish. And then when I got in there, started putting things where they were supposed to go. That clamp goes there. It felt kind of, it felt weird. Turn it around. like, oh yeah, this is the way that I like to do it. And as those little pieces started to fall into place, it just got faster and more comfortable. And it was lovely. We love that. With my playlist bumping, Tex realizing, man, this guy's got a good taste of music. Of course. And we got through the thing.
Speaker: Proud of you. Welcome back. It's good to be here. Guess who's back? It is I. It is Huzzah. Surgeon G. Well, awesome. I'm so happy that you're back at the knife. Thank you. Me too.
Speaker: I think that that would be what I would want to do is just do surgery. Do music and just, yeah, it's it's very fun. That's why some people like dentistry. It's a, you get to do, most dentists really like music. Have you found that to be a thing? And have we already talked about this?
Speaker: I don't think we we, we might have touched on it, but I 100% agree, even including human dentists. I feel like they like to bump to some jams. Absolutely. Even musicians, most dentists I know also play the guitar. have talked about this. We talked about how our old dentists play the can't. Oh, yeah. just can't get enough of these of these artistic denti.
Speaker: Sorry for the repeats, team. Sorry. Sorry.
Speaker: I mean, a dentist that plays the bassoon is pretty pretty niche. Yes. It is very niche. I mean, I'm a veterinary surgeon that plays a French horn. Do you actively play the French horn right now?
Speaker: What does actively mean to you? You've picked it up in the last year. You picked it up between the last time you did surgery and today. Yes. Okay. Last time I did surgery and today, then definitely yes. Well...
Speaker: No, we're good, we're good. Hey, you already gave him the stipulation. yeah That's fair, I guess you get that one. You fooled me this time. ah Speaking of blood and guts, just a quick little pivot.
Speaker: ah How do you- Are okay? Yes. How do you deal with unwanted creatures entering your workspace, AKA spooders and centipoods?
Speaker: Wow. Insect rescuer or and releaser. A catch and releaser? Or you a, it's on sight-er? So, spoodards and sunipoods, two of my favorite Pookamoon, they get an escort. Yeah, they get a they get a Dr. G exclusive escort on a piece of paper and a cup. And they get to go outside into the nearest bush, generally. um Those that do not make it are mosquitoes.
Speaker: Fair enough. And ants if there's too many of them. I'm sorry. Some totems it's overwhelming. It's a numbers game. You can't save them all. It is numbers game. Yeah. But yeah, anyone that wants my blood, I won't i won't be having that.
Speaker: I think that's a fair and safe rule. um In my casa, ah there's only one employee that is willing to save them. All others, it's on site. And there's a lot of screaming and yelling shoving. I mean, if you have a signpost at the door, then then that's on them for coming in. Can't bring in can't bring in guns, can't bring in spiders and centipedes. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Them's the rules. I wonder if part of your fear is that our dad would be the spider killer in our house, but he never quite killed it good enough that the spider didn't also fall out of the Kleenex as he was killing and it was still alive, and normally that caused a lot more trauma. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: He wouldn't even kill him right away. He'd say, that's your new pet. And I got that for you. And you have to name it. Oh, yeah. And I have to like just get rid of it. And he'd be like, that's your pet. i don't know what you want from me. You always wanted a pet. There you go.
Speaker: But then when he would kill it, he would always drop it. You would be proud of me. In fact, I am more of the the hero in in the clinic. I'm the hero that I had to become for it the others that are more afraid than I am. And so often, I am the one helping everybody out.
Speaker: ah We had an incident not too long ago where there was both a centipede and a spider in one of the runs. And all I heard was shouting and shoving and cries of victory as they figured out how to take on this duo.
Speaker: oh my goodness. I know. It was a lot. Do you think that maybe me if you kept the spiders around, they'd eat the centipedes, though? I think is it vice versa? Yeah. think it depends on the spider and the centipede, which type they are. That's totally fair. I don't think spiders are going to re-centipede.
Speaker: and don't know. Get in the comments, guys. If you know, if in the food chain of spooders and centipedes you know, please let us know. ah Because they can always tell when I'm on the internet searching up answers.
Speaker: During ah cicada season, we also had a cicuda sneak into a girl's open purse and we just heard like the buzzing and the rattling from within her bag and it was a full-blown panic.
Speaker: She's doing cicuda in her purse? Yeah. That's right. There's one, there's legions of them. It was just the one, but it was still pretty scary. they They make a lot of noise. Oh man, last cicada season was so, so fun.
Speaker: Meanwhile, at my house, we have an entire jar of cicada exoskeletons. wow When are they from? Which brood, dude? It's ever since ah my kid turned like two or three and she could get them off the tree herself. We've been collecting them. So she's sick now. An amalgamation of several broods.
Speaker: Yeah. I've seen people do artwork with them. I don't know what I would do with them. Paint them? Why'd you put air quotes when you said artwork? I haven't moved at all. I saw it, and that was very rude.
Speaker: um I do have two fingers on my temple, one on my cheekbone, because guess who's back in the house? yeah Cicada artwork. Do they paint them? Of course.
Speaker: ah Most of the ones I've seen, no. They just kind of use them as like building blocks, making like, I don't know if this is. Building blocks? Well, no, like they're the pieces for, I keep imagining.
Speaker: Yeah, but they usually make Gundams. This must be a me specific thing. It's a very, I like your FYP. I wonder what happens if if you guys looked up Cicada artwork, if you would also see those. I'm sure I would get like, you know, one smoking a cigarette in a bathtub or something like that because that's the kind of stuff I get. True. Yeah, it's not specific enough because Cicada artwork, it may be just capture it may be full portraits of Cicada.
Speaker: It could be Cicada, Cicada Mona Lisa, you know? Ooh. Little Cicada smirk. Cicada in the, Cicada in the park? Is that the one? I think so.
Speaker: ah One of us knows more about art than the other. Yeah, what's what's what's the name of that classic fart work? Wait, wait, which one? The one where they're all at like the park and the lake. The pointillism one in the park. ah Who is that? Surat?
Speaker: The Cicada with the pearl earring. just Skin it with a dragon tattoo. it's My favorite series. Gosh, guys. I was right.
Speaker: And is it a day in the park? A Sunday on La Grande Jete. The big jat. don't know which. A Sunday afternoon on the island of La Grande Jete.
Speaker: So that's what I'm talking about. Ah, bowl. It means Bowl. bowl sunday on the big bowl i did have to take art history and we had to remember all of these paintings the artist the name the date the style the location yeah there were a lot of people that disliked it but i liked it my modern art teacher acted as if he was like when i hung out with warhol and i'm like that was kind of you think he was fully you think he was fully in it or you think he's uh fluffing his feathers a bit
Speaker: No, I think he was like hanging out in areas where artists were hanging out. He was like, yeah, when I was at Studio 54, like it was it was a weird experience. And I'm like, I don't know why you're at this college. Here we are. And it made me like modern art more. Here's the thing about modern art. It needs more cicadas.
Speaker: And I'll stand by that. And the day that it fully. Sitting in the tub. Yeah, the day it fully embraces cicada art, and then it'll be perfect. You know, I feel like I should combat AI art by going back to actually painting again.
Speaker: Or using organic materials in the 3D that AI can't get to. That's true. That's true. They got the digital space, but they can't do anything in person yet. That's true. Sure they can. They can hijack 3D printers. Well, I know, but they can't explore and find whimsy.
Speaker: well I have some stories. Oh, yes, please. Love those little guys. I know. So, the thyroid shields are on.
Speaker: The lead aprons have been fastened, and we're gonna see some of them beautiful, beautiful bones! It's time to spill the bubble. Yes, f please. You got bone stories?
Speaker: The creatures inside surely have some bones. Yeah, they definitely bones. Actually? Also not another... fish story? Actually, this would be a good one. And I really want to hear your take on this.
Speaker: Ready? Centipedes and spiders don't have bones. Okay. This is not about insects. Thank you. Okay. People have bones. Our story begins. We received a call from a client whose rooster had survived a coyote attack, though he was left with a broken neck that caused his head to hang down.
Speaker: Oh, are they sure? are they sure it's a alive? is what the call says. You sure thought Newcastle's disease and they're just a so blaming ah an innocent coyote? No, go ahead.
Speaker: Instead of giving up on him, the owners found a way to help by manually lifting his head so he could still eat and drink. When she brought him in for an exam, it was clear she had already engineered a solution at home.
Speaker: What do you think the solution is? a tiny slinky. Toilet paper roll. I like the i like the the whimsy that comes with the slinky. I like the whimsy of a slinky. I don't know that it solves the problem. I think it adds more weight to our pendulous dome. You're right. You're right. ah Yeah, a toilet paper roll. I don't know. I'm trying to think of like what's a little bit smaller.
Speaker: Snap bracelet? snap bracelet. Chinese finger trap. Oh, but you got to be careful with that one. Right. because yeah you Well, you know you want its head to be stuck to its body.
Speaker: What about a popsicle stick and saran wrap? oh Like a splint. Yeah, like a splint. I'm ready to hear this ingenuity. I'm excited. It makes me think about my kid carrying her little giraffe stuffed animal by the neck, and and when she's not holding the neck, it's just like flopping around. youw Same basic principle. Maybe we can learn how to fix it right here, right now.
Speaker: Yes. So, to continue, the rooster arrived alert, mobile, and very much invested in life, still walking around and showing interest in his hens despite his injury.
Speaker: The reason for this became obvious when we saw what was holding him together. The owner had fashioned a neck brace out of a paper towel roll. Yes. Yay. First try. Points on the board. I'm sorry. Guess who's backing that. Fastened a neck brace out of a paper toilet roll.
Speaker: Oh, wait, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I said that. i I expressly chose the shorter version. Yeah. It says paper toilet roll. I should say fashioned a neck brace out of a toilet paper roll.
Speaker: Or is it dyslexic paper towel? Or I'm the dyslexic one. Who knows? His head poked out of the top and the support was somehow just enough to keep him functional.
Speaker: That's very cool. Chaotic. I love it. Good. You were thinking, just like this woman, what what could you use after a coyote attack to help your rooster? The neck is interesting because it's usually dad ass is what gets chomped when a dog bird attacks.
Speaker: Mm-hmm. So he wasn't running away. I'm glad that thing still works. yeah He wasn't ready. Yeah, he's facing his predators head on. Yeah, exactly. He had to protect his hens.
Speaker: If anything, he was getting a better look at the hen BBLs when he was looking down to the side, you know. ah Check him out. Dr. M, you did ah you did bring up Newcastle's disease. i feel remiss if I did not throw a shout out to my dear study pals in school.
Speaker: were probably there, M. Dr. Alphabet, you all know who yeah you are. Forget me through those. Day of the test, starting at 5 a.m., cram sessions. Oh, yeah. Where we needed all sorts of mnemonic devices and reviews. And yes, craning your head up to the sky and saying, is that a Newcastle?
Speaker: got me at least one point on more than one test. There you go. included, so. I have proceeded to share that p mnemonic with every soon-to-be vet student that I've mentored, and I'm sure they've passed it on to their fellow classmates now that they're in school, so shout out. Wait, am I misremembered? Were you in the room, or was that, did someone teach us the one?
Speaker: ah Five minutes before we walked in to take the test, I was panicking as I did every day before tests. And I was told that right before I went through. and it helped. And it stuck with me forever.
Speaker: And I'll never use it again. No. Well, let's finish up the story. Yes, please. New neck, new neck, new neck.
Speaker: We made a few improvements to the design, adding ventilation holes and prescribed pain medication and sent him home after confirming he was eating and behaving normally. As long as he remained comfortable and engaged, the owner declined euthanasia.
Speaker: Seeing a rooster confidently strutting around with a toilet paper roll neck brace, recovering from a coyote attack and still flirting like nothing happened was easily one of the funniest things we've ever witnessed.
Speaker: Life finds a way. You just wait until Disney or Pixar gets a hold of this story because they are going go all in on this little guy. well Don't you think the hens were like, oh, he was injured in battle? Yeah. Probably.
Speaker: Or he's wearing armor to protect us from the next attack. of Who knows what was going on through those those girls' minds. Honestly, I want to know what this rooster's name is. It didn't say. Oh, we should name him.
Speaker: Fella. Fella. Max. Timothy the Brave.
Speaker: God dang, he might actually gotten it. Yeah. That's a pretty good one. Thank you. I'll take that. Okay. Well, I have another story. Yes, please.
Speaker: So you're going to find out the theme very quickly. Is it birds? Yes. So no bones.
Speaker: There was a broken neck. Hollow bones. Oh, right. Hollow bones. My bird bones. So the story begins, a two-year-old peacock had recently gone into his regular vet for what sounded like a pretty routine procedure, removing a small lump from underneath one of his eyes.
Speaker: The surgery itself went fine, but not long after, his owners noticed he had started breathing strangely. They described it as a wheeze that hadn't been there before.
Speaker: What you guys think? A wheezy chick, a wheezy peacock. Wasn't a chicken. A wheezy peacock.
Speaker: a wheezy peacock with a mask under its eye that's now breathing strangely hi i'm wheezy peafowl that's a great name i'm taking that one what wheezy peafowl hi i'm wheezy peafowl it's nice to meet you guys don't even know this okay what do you think this peacock's name is Well, I think it's close to what Dr. Em did, but you're you're rushing it. It's Wheezy, middle initial P, last name Fowl.
Speaker: Wheezy Fowl. That's great. I like that. I like that even better. Good improvement. ah Do we get to know the name or just later? i can tell you now if you want. Should we?
Speaker: As a true? Yeah. Yeah. This peacock's name is P. Whizzle. Wow. Wow. Of course it is. And I love that for him P-Wizzle.
Speaker: P-Wizzle. Is it the letter P? And now then the word whizzle? P-E-A. Whizzle. P-Wizzle. We don't need the spelling of that one. Yeah. mouth Everybody knows.
Speaker: i would hope that Snoop Dogg has taught us how to spell whizzle. Yeah. but Okay, why is he wheezing? Why is he wheezing? He inhaled one of his feathers.
Speaker: that They took this thing off of its eye? Is it tumor? Is it an insect? it's ah It's like nasal mites. Let's go with nasal mites. That's a good choice. yeah Bird flu.
Speaker: i hope not. Well, let's find out. Over the next couple of weeks, it didn't improve, and eventually he was referred to a specialist hospital. The team there started with full-body radiographs to check his lungs and air sacs, but those looked pretty normal.
Speaker: Since that didn't explain the breathing issues, they performed a tracheoscopy, basically using a tiny camera to look down his windpipe. And that's when they found the problem.
Speaker: Inhaled a feather? Any thoughts? Last thoughts? Cicada husk lodged in trachea? This probably when I should asked you what I thought. You did. We didn't ah we didn't know. <unk> Yeah, we we guessed bird flu and stuff. i said I said nasal mites. They would have caught that before going to a specialist.
Speaker: Yeah. So let's see A section of his trachea had become significantly narrowed. In Burge, the trachea is made up of full rings of cartilage.
Speaker: So if one area becomes constricted, the airway can't really expand to compensate. true It's not very common, but it can happen after intubation during anesthesia. Oh.
Speaker: So it seems like maybe it was a complication after surgery. What's occluding it? and Well, I think one of his cartilage rings was damaged and now he's got basically like peacock tracheal collapse. Oh.
Speaker: Oh, I wonder if they inflated the cuff, which you should not be doing. that would make it That would bust and go outwards, not in. But what if it like stretched or damaged it and then it was just like the way he's breathing? It's...
Speaker: Mm. Collapsing. i don't know. I barely know anything about birds. Well, yours you were talking about you were talking about your daughter swinging her giraffe toy by the neck, just like that last bird. And now I'm thinking, you know those, um I want to say corrugated, but that doesn't seem right.
Speaker: Those plastic tubes that you spin and spin and it makes a howling wind noise. ahead i guess if you I guess if you pushed that really hard from the inside out, you could damage the structure and then it could sag back in. But I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know either. Bird people, get the comments. Yeah, let us know. Tell us what's up. So what did they do? Yeah, well... The only real option was surgery, obviously. Nice.
Speaker: More surgery. Yeah. Would it be an RNA with a trachea? I guess so. It's just tube. ah So let's see. Because they were operating directly on his windpipe, they placed a temporary breathing tube into one of his abdominal air sacs so he could stay under anesthesia while they worked.
Speaker: They then carefully removed the narrowed section of the trachea and stitched the healthy ends back together. They did do an RNA. That's bananas. I thought they would just like pop a ring in there like they do sometimes with tracheal collapse patients. You can't put a ring in it.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess you're right because it's bird. Can't just do dog stuff to bird. But do you think that's because it's like cartilage that's easy to like just like cut out the bad part and just stitch them back together?
Speaker: think the cutting out is always the easy part. It's the getting it back together. um Like a leak test with intestines where we, you know, more commonly are doing this type of thing. It's got to be waterproof, but it's got a lot of extra tissue. Trachea, like it's not rigid.
Speaker: yeah i can get a little inflamed, but not enough to like be airtight. I wouldn't want to do it. i like surgery and I'm not doing that. I'll bet ah bet they're going to say that its neck was puffing a little bit afterwards, but eventually got better.
Speaker: Oh, I don't know. Let's see. Airtight. Burp the Tupperware. Still good. Still good. Alright.
Speaker: He was monitored closely overnight and once they were confident he could breathe normally again through his trachea, the temporary tube was removed. By his follow-up appointment a couple of weeks later, the wheezing was gone and he was breathing normally again.
Speaker: Sick. Hip, hip, hooray. That's the story of Pee Whistle. They did it. Pee Whistle and the Whistling Trachea. Yeah. They kind of set him up for that a little with that name, I feel.
Speaker: Whistle. Yeah. Pee Whistle. It's just really. Whistle. Well, that's fantastic. I didn't know you could do that, and now we all know.
Speaker: Honestly, I think it was funny because they're both bird neck issues, but two different kinds of birds? Yeah, and two different kinds of neck injuries. One could be fixed and one just...
Speaker: Like slapped a toilet paper roll. I like to imagine Timothy the Brave eventually was able to free himself from his toilet paper roll like one day when he re-strengthens with a lot of physical therapy and a little bit of gumption.
Speaker: He does like a really good stretch and just yolks his way clearly, like just shreds it open. Yeah. And there he is. Yeah, with the thickest neck. The thickest neck you've ever seen.
Speaker: If a chicken's neck is broken, can you even fix it? Bones heal, baby. Give them a minute, they might heal weird. Bones do heal baby.
Speaker: But then why did they cast it? Well, it sounds like that's what this this was, the the cast. Essentially. It's a version of Traction. I don't think I'd want like a rigid fiber cast on my neck.
Speaker: You know? no Sometimes you got it though. Yeah, I guess. I'm just saying I wouldn't want it. Oh, sure. Well, okay. Yes. I don't even want a bandaid doc. I think I'm just thinking of like the toilet paper roll getting soggy and falling off. The family had to take extensive, extensive amounts of laxatives to keep up with his bird's medical needs and demands. But they had to just save all they push through their toilet paper rolls. Yeah. Listen, and did this happen? Sorry, kids.
Speaker: No crafts for you. They probably took little collection at like school and work and stuff like that. That's so cute. Probably. They probably posted about it on the book. I absolutely have had to save those types of rolls and stuff for like a school drive.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh, totally. you think it's for a bird? Could be. You could have helped. It could have been for a rooster's neck. I've saved bird's lives. So he could keep getting some. Yeah.
Speaker: That's what's up.
Speaker: Oh goodness, no those were some pretty fantastic stories, not gonna lie. I liked them. Thank you. fu Bird based all the way. Stories of a feather, I liked them, I thought they were great. We just spilled the gibble. Sertipards and spurters and peacirks, oh my.
Speaker: Thank you so much for listening. Please note that this podcast is for entertainment purposes only. Any medical advice heard on this show should be discussed with your animals care team.
Speaker: And a special thank you to our story submitters. Do you have a story you want to share? Email us at spill at spillthekibble.com and maybe we'll read your story.
Speaker: Also, please rate, review, and subscribe so that others can find us more easily. We look forward to next time.
