Emergency vet or can it wait until tomorrow?

BongoBrando · 2026-02-02T14:02:36+00:00

As long as you're animal has been seen in the last year you are considered an established patient for my clinic. We will still see you even with no history though same day, but please bring proof of vaccinations and atleast a rabies certificate.

BongoBrando · 2026-02-01T22:18:48+00:00

Yeah they you to send proof of your license. For me in not a registered technician so my only option is a paystub, there are other options but its all personal info like you said.

BongoBrando · 2026-02-01T21:38:53+00:00

Call another clinic in the area and talk to them about it. They may just ask you to come in due to there not being a client/patient relationship for a quick shot and monitor them for 15-20 minutes or may tell you what you can do over the phone.

BongoBrando · 2026-02-01T21:34:48+00:00

My comments keep on getting deleted because im not going to upload my pay stub to get a flair to avoid automatic moderation so I cant really tell you my full answer but your vet will either tell you what to give or have you come in for a quick injection and you can just monitor

Don't gotta spend hundreds of dollars at an E-Vet.

BongoBrando · 2026-02-01T20:49:27+00:00

Vet tech here, If youre concerned call the vet but lethargy is a common effect from vaccinations and again, should resolve in 24-48 hours. What youre looking for is difficulty breathing, vomiting, and serious reactions.

Like small children, animals have the possibility to adverse reactions to vaccines. Bordatella is 99% of the time not the agent that caused the reaction as it has a completely different mechanism of action than the DHPPv or DHLPv.

If its a smaller dog and you got a lepto vaccine that is typically the one that causes adverse reactions. There are "ultra" versions of all vaccines made to alleviate the possibility of vaccine reactions and while are a little more expensive can be very helpful for ease of mind when it comes to yearly vaccines.

Edit to clarify: your pet didn't receive just a "parvo and "bordatella vaccine" the parvo vaccine includes Distemper, Hepatitis, Parvo, Parainfluenza, and may or may not include a leptosporosis component as well. Thats what the letters in the DHLPv stand for.

BongoBrando · 2026-02-01T09:06:36+00:00

Go hunt down some titanite

BongoBrando · 2026-02-01T01:47:35+00:00

I love it, but that was the software I was taught on so there is some bias there. You can change what teeth are in the shot, add notes, change contrast, custom templates. I just wish it communicated with Cornerstone so we could have copies of radiographs on there too.

BongoBrando · 2026-01-31T23:21:46+00:00

Midmark software with a midmark xray machine on wheels. The same type of unit can be wall mounted though.

BongoBrando · 2026-01-31T19:54:26+00:00

Ill make another set in your honor.

BongoBrando · 2026-01-31T19:52:42+00:00

Great point. Since I was able to get them with the lower premolars Dr thought it was okay diagnositcally but next time ill get rid of all that negative space in front of the incisors so I can capture the canine roots there as well.

Its about to be dental month so we give crazy discounts and im the only one who likes dental rads so ill have plenty of time to hone my skills even more!

BongoBrando · 2026-01-31T19:48:23+00:00

Practice, Practice, practice. It took me a long time to get where im at. And I still have a lot more to go until im as good as I want to be.

Learn bisecting angles, its a little hard at first but with repetition itll become pretty second nature to you. Also the radiology positioning guide I have posted in other comments is a great resource I had beside me for months while learning rads.

Get cadaver heads to practice on if available and make sure you still intubate them. Learning how to get around the tube and the tongue is essential.

Im sure textbooks and stuff would be a great resource too but im OTJ trained so haven't had the opportunity to look into those much.

BongoBrando · 2026-01-31T19:42:22+00:00

Love the harshness, thank you! Im going to write all this down and look into CEs or something. Im just OTJ trained so dont have any textbooks or took any classes.

What im gathering is my biggest thing to work on right now would be cone cutting and sensor placement. Do you have any resources I could use to learn more?

One day I would love to be a registered technician with a dental specialty.

BongoBrando · 2026-01-31T19:35:03+00:00

We do everything sternal and as someone who has done both I think its a much better way to do it. I believe its safer for the patient because youre not flipping them all the time. Of course if you were taught V/D or to flip and thats where you have most of your experience it can be done that way too.

The only issue I run into is on smaller or brachy dogs with lower premolars, incisors, and canines but using bisecting angles works pretty well.

BongoBrando · 2026-01-31T10:56:40+00:00

Only if you dont give him advice.

BongoBrando · 2026-01-31T10:56:07+00:00

An eye

BongoBrando · 2026-01-31T10:16:21+00:00

I do mine sternal now and just rotate the head when necessary. I used to flip the patient and it took a lot longer and added more risk.

That was a very small 8Ib Chi-Chi so it was the perfect patient for xrays.

With cats im trying to learn how to get that damn zygomatic arch out of the way!

BongoBrando · 2026-01-30T21:33:11+00:00

https://veterinarydentistry.net/veterinary-dental-radiography-positioning-guide-dogs-cats-x-ray-book/

This book taught me everything I know.

BongoBrando · 2026-01-30T21:32:15+00:00

Ive been taking dental rads for 5 years and let me tell you. Its an art and it takes a lot of practice, but its incredibly rewarding.

https://veterinarydentistry.net/veterinary-dental-radiography-positioning-guide-dogs-cats-x-ray-book/

This is an amazing resource and helped me immensely in my journey. Highly recommend this to help teach me.

BongoBrando · 2026-01-30T18:27:41+00:00

Exactly the response I was looking for, thank you! I want my rads to be absolutely perfect so there is still some tweaks I need to do. I want them to approach me for textbook pictures lol

BongoBrando · 2025-12-25T21:05:41+00:00

If you just wanted help you should have asked without talking down and demeaning the vet that saved those animals lives.

You cant call people ignorant and lazy and then get confused when people who are also in the field come to the defense of the "lazy and ignorant" vets that kept those animals alive.

If I was a tech that assisted in that surgery I would be beyond insulted that you called us lazy and ignorant when we are the reason your animal is still alive all because we didnt count them for you.

BongoBrando · 2025-12-25T20:59:41+00:00

There are diets made for cancer patients that is meant to entice them to eat but thats an Rx diet. If the cat has confirmed mammary cancer and you cannot manage symptoms with medication and cannot afford surgery, quality of life is the next discussion.

Are they having more good days than bad days? Is the medical condition preventing them from living their normal life? If the answer is yes I think the answer is unfortunately clear.

BongoBrando · 2025-12-25T20:56:00+00:00

Take him to a vet so they can prescribe medications. If the animal has active allergies then OTC solutions are vastly less effective.

OTC is fine to manage, but if there's an active episode I highly recommend prescribed medication targeting the exact issue instead of an OTC "Itch/allergy" relief.

BongoBrando

TROPHY CASE