pet connection

Gina has posted several times recently how much she trusts her veterinarian. I’m very lucky in that way, too. My veterinarian, Dr Paul Richieri, Melrose Veterinary Hospital in Vista, CA is an excellent vet and I trust him implicitly.

I met Dr. Paul close to twenty years ago when my veterinarian died unexpectedly and far too young. Dr. Joe Williams was a wonderful man and fortunately I’ve become good friends with his daughter and keep in touch.

But after Dr. Joe, any vet was going to have a hard time measuring up. But Dr. Paul doesn’t mind when I ask lots of questions and he doesn’t get excited when I ask about alternative treatments. When those alternative treatments work, I see him making a mental file about them and he’s even called me to ask about them for other clients.

Recently all three of my dogs came down with diarrhea – I think we got a bad batch of treats but I don’t know for sure so won’t name names (Yet!) – and so all three dogs and I made a trip in to see Dr. Paul. The dogs are all so funny when they see him.

Riker is his normal extroverted self even with a belly ache. As Dr Paul examines him, I hold Riker’s head to protect Dr Paul from too many sloppy tongue kisses and Riker’s tongue still stretches towards Dr Paul’s face. You’d think the dog had an elastic tongue.

Bashir is normally quite reserved and very dignified and keeps that demeanor in Dr Paul’s office. However, when Dr Paul inserted the rectal thermometer, Bashir lost his reserve. Throwing back his head, he let loose with the most mournful howl; it sounded like he pulled it from the depths of his wolf heritage thousands of years ago. Apparently a thermometer up his butt was not at all dignified! Poor Bashir! And I’m sure it didn’t help his dignity that both Dr Paul and I were laughing until we cried.

Archer, on the other hand, really suffers when he has a tummy ache and he wants the whole world to know it. He curled himself around his belly, arching his back, and he whined! Oh, he whined! As far as he’s concerned, no one has ever had a belly ache as bad as his was! Until it was mealtime, that is. Come mealtime, that chicken soup and rice was really good. What an actor.

Dr Paul is not at all fond of reptiles, though, and sees them only because he knows my husband and I do rescue work with them. One Sunday morning an iguana was dropped off at our house that was in bad shape. She’d been attacked and had several bite wounds; a couple of which needed stitches.

I called Dr Paul, fully expecting him to say to go to the emergency clinic but he said if we would be his assistants, he would treat her.  Awesome! My husband held the iguana and I worked as a vet tech (which I did for many years) so we got her taken care of with a minimum of fuss.

Dr Paul has also treated a number of rescued tortoises for us and euthanised a few reptiles who were too far gone to save. But one snake stands out in my mind and I know – without asking him – that he’ll never forget this one, either.

We rescued a blood python that had been severely neglected. It needed immediate vet care so I called Dr Paul and he said bring it in. I could tell by the tone of his voice that he wasn’t happy about it but was willing to see the snake.

Now, blood pythons are a medium length python but they are heavy bodied, thick, and very strong. They can also be quite grumpy. This particular snake had been neglected, didn’t feel good, and wasn’t happy about being handled. Unhappy snakes have a very nasty way of showing their displeasure.

I was holding the snake’s head so he couldn’t bite, and as soon as Dr Paul began examining the snake, it began to thrash and defecate. In just seconds we – all three of us – were covered in snake feces. Nasty, liquid, stinky snake feces.

I shoved the snake back in the carrier and Dr Paul left the exam room – quickly! I asked one of the vet techs for a wet towel and cleaned myself up as best I could and then tried to clean up the exam table. When Dr Paul came back in, he had obviously washed up and changed clothes. He said, “Liz…..” and we both began laughing. It was just so horrible we had to laugh.

And hey, even after that he has kept me as a client. He’s a good man. (All three dogs are fine, by the way, and if I find out anything definitive about those treats I’ll pass the word.)

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