Take Me Home

CHAPTER FOUR 🐾

It's always a tragedy when an animal dies. The past few days have brought a deep sadness around the place, and it's hard to shake. The animals are our life, and if we can't save them there's an enormous amount of guilt.

Dante talked through and organised the cremation part for Benny the spaniel, supporting his owner the best he could. I didn't want to leave the poor girl's side when we got back to the clinic, allowing her some time on her own with her dog in the gardens.

Life goes on, but it's hard when you have to watch the faces of the owners when they realise they're going to have to learn to live the rest of their lives without their best friend by their sides.

Dante knocks on the reception desk to grab my attention from the computer screen. He motions to the examination room. "Can I borrow you real quick?"

I push back and follow him. "Of course, is everything okay?"

He opens the door and waits for me to step inside before closing it. There's Fudge, the cat eyeing me evilly in her crate, Julie, her owner smiling sweetly in the corner.

I look back to our vet. "Is fudge giving you problems?"

"I need a second opinion," he says, shocking me silent for a moment.

Our contract has very strict policies. I am not to diagnose, treat, or prescribe without Vet Dante or nurse Jennifer's approval and then it's a very grey area because he stipulated he didn't trust me to even try attempt any of those things in the first place.

I poke my finger through the grid to stroke Fudge's whiskers which she likes very much. "Okay, what we got here?"

Dante opens the crate door to grab the big tabby cat out of there. He sets her on the table, and shows me a patch of skin on the top of her tail which looks incredibly sore and scaly.

"I'm thinking this could be ringworm, but I'm not a hundred percent convinced considering the way it's bleeding," he says, handing me a pair of latex gloves.

I stretch the latex over my fingers and feel around in her fur, noticing she has scabs in other places along her back. "I don't think this is ringworm. It's rain rot."

"Dermatophilosis," he says the technical name in a curious voice.

I pull at some of the hair and it peels off to reveal the sticky residue on the skin underneath. All classic signs. "It's rare in cats, but not impossible. I would start her on a weeks course of antibiotics and high dose silver cream, but give the antibiotics chance to work first because the creams can sometimes cause the infection to breed faster."

"I've never heard of it before," says Julie from the corner.

I tug off the gloves and dispose of them. "It's a lot more common in horses."

The change in the room almost causes me to flinch. I can sense Dante's eyes on me and when I look up, I spot him staring. The dark, almost jet black stubble covering his jaw is a new thing, but it does nothing to hide his stiff mouth.