It will be a long time.

About 1 month ago, a client presented me with a scenario that for one thing, I couldn't hardly believe it, and second I was sure I would not see something like it again for a long time. But I was wrong. Last month a lady brought in her dog and asked me to remove a tick which was attached to the dogs belly. She had tried all the tricks she knew and the tick was not budging. She was getting worried because it was starting to "fill up" and get bigger. She tried soaking it with mineral oil, burning it out, squeezing it with tweezers and pulling hard, etc. and the darn tick was not coming out. It was time for professional assistance?

After examining the dog and looking at the "tick" I told her I must take it to the back to get better lighting. Really, I needed to go somewhere before I started laughing at what had been done. The tick turned out to be the dogs nipple, which of course now was red, swollen and sore to the point it was almost bleeding. I was sure I wouldn't see something like that for a long long time...until today.

An older gentleman brought his dog in today for an emergency examination, more professional assistance. He had found that his dog had somehow jammed a piece of metal into its leg. He did all he could to pull it out at home. He decided he needed assistance after the dog got angry and tried to bite him. The dog did fine until the man tried to pull the piece of metal out with his pliers, then the biting started.

He showed me on the dog where the piece was and I was having a difficult time finding it. The dog did have a shaggy coat, but I kept looking. He showed me a few more times then finally led my hand to the metal, which I was having a difficult time finding. Finally, I figured out what he was talking about. It wasn't metal at all, it was just the dogs dewclaw. I took the dog back and trimmed its nails and thought, It will probably be a long time before I see something like this again.