I recently received a phone call at around 7:30pm on an evening when I was not on call. These phone calls annoy me because I'm only not on call about 25% of all hours in the year. So the last thing I want to do when I'm off is answer the phone for veterinary related questions. However many people feel comfortable calling my personal cell phone for ALL their minute, emergency, and appointment making phone calls. I'm not sure how this happened, and I'm not sure how to change it. At any rate, the poor lady was exasperated.
Ms. Worried: Hi Dr. VetChick, uhh something really bad happened, and I just wanted to call to see what I should do.
Me: Ok, what's going on?
Ms. Worried: Well, my daughter was riding her horse at a canter and then all the sudden he started shaking his head and pinned his right ear FLAT TO HIS HEAD. We looked at there isn't a tick in his ear.
<pause>
Me: Uhh, ok. How long did this continue?
Ms. Worried: Only a few seconds.
Me: Well, I guess I would start looking for pieces of the bridle that may have shifted and caused him discomfort during the ride. Then I would try to re-create the behavior by palpating his head to see where the origin of the discomfort is.
Ms. Worried: Ok we will do that. Thank you! <Hangs up abruptly>
In retrospect, maybe I should have tried to tell her that this wasn't an emergency nor anything to be so anxiety-ridden about. I never heard anything back, so I guess they figured it out. (And I have no clue why she told me there were no ticks in the horses ears. It's not exactly tick season here. Weird.) It's funny what people think is pertinent to tell you. I once had a lady tell me she knew her horse wasn't colicing because it passed nice, relaxed farts. You know, not those mean, nervous farts.
It was hard to be mad at that interruption of my time. It was kind of funny...
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