Another Tuesday

Tuesdays have historically been busy. I don't like them. Today, we were short a person, and very busy in the afternoon. For some reason, it seems Tuesdays (more than other days) everyone has a problem with their pet. Today, we saw skin problems (usually allergy issues) and we saw pee problems. Yes, working in the animal field, we deal with a lot of pee. We had "leaky" dogs. We had dogs with infections. We had cats straining to pee. But the prize of all problems today...goes to the ruptured anal gland. Anal glands are scent glands that lots of animals have. Luckily, people do not. These glands store stinky fluid that is supposed to express every time said animal goes "number 2." Thats what is supposed to happen. Sometimes the ducts get clogged, or the fluid is thick and they don't express like they should. If it gets really bad, the fluid keeps building and building and much like a zit, has to burst someplace. Now the poor pooch has an additional opening into the anal gland. Its not pretty, its not comfortable and its really really stinky! The absolute worst part of the whole process is when some of the fluid lands on a staff member. It is a smell that is not going away any time soon. ICKY!