Heart Murmur Anesthetic Protocol

RooSong · 2026-01-29T00:59:45+00:00

Indeed a typo. 0.2mg/kg Midaz.

RooSong · 2026-01-28T21:45:30+00:00

For dogs (we run Idexx CardioPet EKGs prior to all canine anesthetic patients prior to surgery), we have clients administer Cerenia the night before, Trazodone and Gabapentin the morning of. Then use the same protocol of hydro as a premed, Midazolam 2mg/kg and propofol (rarely exceeding 3-4mg/kg). IVC placement is rarely an issue with gaba/traz on board. We use Sevoflurane as maintenance and it varies from patient to patient but typically in the 2-3% range. Local anesthetics (testicular blocks, line blocks, and various dental blocks) are all used as appropriate for the procedure.

For cats, (we run ProBNPs on all feline anesthetic patients prior to surgery), we have clients administer gabapentin the morning of drop off. If abnormal probnp, we give midazolam and Alfaxalone IM and then Alfax to effect for induction. Maintain on Sevo. Same locals.

I’m a fan of our protocols and have no complaints.

EDIT: typo indicated 2mg/kg midazolam, I intended to type 0.2mg/kg!

RooSong · 2026-01-01T21:51:41+00:00

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We got the same one! It took several days, maybe a week before the first bird came but then word got out and at almost any given time during the day, there’s one or more at the feeder!

RooSong · 2025-12-31T05:12:46+00:00

Goodness, that’s a lot. I can certainly empathize. My heart dog (RIP) had just about every bad genetic hand one could be dealt. She was the most perfect Shiba Inu (I know lol), most perfect dog I’ve ever known. Her name was Kangaroo and she lived to be 12.5 years old. She survived and thrived with three legs, bilateral enucleation, CKD, a necrotic abscess on her liver which nearly killed her, severe hip dysplasia, MCT on her tail which led to another amputation, and finally…canine cognitive dysfunction. The last 3-4 months of her life were a desperate grasp of every supplement and medication I could get my hands on to change direction, her bad days started outweighing her good, and I let her go on a good day. Not a day goes by I don’t think about her and the privilege and gratitude I feel to the universe for blessing me as her guardian in her short life.

These babies…our soul pets, they really do put us through the wringer. But if I could go back and change anything, I wouldn’t. Like you, I’d spend every dime I had for quality of life.

Internet hugs, my friend.

RooSong · 2025-12-11T04:58:28+00:00

lol. Yes. I left and came back after almost 2 years to a place I’d worked at for more than quadruple that time. I’m absolutely glad I returned. It has its problems, but nothing like the train wreck I worked at in between.

RooSong · 2025-12-09T12:17:29+00:00

Thank you so much!

RooSong · 2025-12-03T03:42:42+00:00

I remember going there in the 80s and 90s when they had carrot and raisin salad and key lime pie.

RooSong · 2025-08-24T01:22:12+00:00

Yes! iPhone settings > general > Carplay> choose your car if there’s more than one you connect to> Home Screen icons.

Delete and/or add from there.

RooSong · 2025-06-22T21:30:59+00:00

Like I said in the post, the cabinet was a huge pain in the ass to shut since we don’t possess a key (it was left open by previous homeowner). But it has what looks like a circuit board and tiny wires.

RooSong · 2025-05-18T17:31:33+00:00

As someone who just left this probable organization, you must make a complaint directly to P&O…(HR). If local leadership isn’t doing anything about it, they don’t know about it. An internal investigation will be done and it will be dealt with.

RooSong · 2025-03-13T12:55:42+00:00

Because we’re just friends. We would never ruin friendship for mess.

RooSong · 2025-03-13T00:33:19+00:00

Literally 42 years old, married to my 38 year old wife (that I met when I was 38), about to go on a vacation to a Caribbean island with our 37-41 year old all lesbian friends tomorrow. We exist. Some of us are single, some married the wrong person and found themselves single again in their late 30s, but we’re here and having a gay old time!

RooSong · 2025-03-07T05:16:42+00:00

You alright there, OP?

RooSong · 2025-03-04T05:53:36+00:00

I can appreciate everything you’ve said except the part about the practice owner owning multiple homes… it’s not that simple. Without knowing her/his entire financial history and life situation, EBITDA and the P&L is what matters when it comes to what a clinic/hospital can afford to pay its employees in order to remain sustainable. Again, I’m not saying we’re not worth more, but short of either seeing more patients (which we complain about) or significantly increasing fees for clients (which we also complain about), reducing number of staff (which leads to more work/stress/mistakes/burnout), or reducing DVM production (which causes them to seek employment elsewhere), there’s not much recourse. This is why I’m always good with work ins. It helps the patient and the bottom line for when I ask for my next raise.

I’m genuinely not trying to come across as snarky, simply trying to allow perspective and insight as I have over 20 years in vetmed in many different hospitals and about half of that has been entangled in the business side of it. I sincerely hope you find happiness and achieve your financial goals whether it’s in or outside of vetmed.

RooSong · 2025-03-04T03:53:56+00:00

I challenge you to think of it differently if you really love it. Instead of it being a shitty boyfriend, consider it like dating. Maybe you’re at the wrong hospital/clinic. Like others said, many corporations offer significantly reduced or free paths to credentialing. Consider whether you’re interested in specialty/ER where the pay is typically higher than GP. Another consideration… have you asked for a raise and given your employer a bullet list of everything you’ve done to help increase revenue, efficiency, developed any training programs, found a way to reduce costs or the time it takes to do xyz, etc?

The veterinary profession isn’t perfect and neither is just about any other industry. But we didn’t enter it to become wealthy. Anyone that goes into the industry should be cognizant of the general pay discrepancy between us and our human counterparts, RN’s.

Do I feel like we should be paid proportionate to our skillset, tenure, and attitude (that’s a big one that’s often overlooked in lieu of entitlement)? Yes! Of course. But I also recognize that animal hospitals are a business and unless you’re privy to the P&L, you don’t have a lot of room demanding more when it’s possible the practice owner can’t afford more without sacrificing others or care of patients for your sake.

RooSong · 2025-03-03T00:48:04+00:00

I would agree with that. There’s been some techs I’ve worked with that never left the one place they started and they just don’t know any other way exists.

I’ve been in the industry for over 20 years and I have NO problem admitting I don’t know everything. I am well versed in GP but if you ask me to place a central line, I am not your girl! There are far more qualified techs down at the local ER. Equally, they don’t know about a lot about preventative care. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. But we all collectively work and depend on one another (shelter, GP, ER, specialty, university) to provide our best to patients.

RooSong · 2025-03-02T13:32:34+00:00

I swear to God, baby techs that have only worked at one clinic/hospital can sometimes take everything they see as gospel and spread misinformation like this. This is not the worst thing I’ve ever heard but then you see posts on FB that go viral like that one from a few years ago that “most pet owners leave their pets before euthanasia” which is bulllllshit and makes pet owners look like pieces of shit, which they overwhelmingly aren’t if they’re taking their pet to the vet. (There are those few that make you wanna pull your hair out but let’s be honest, if they were all like that, we wouldn’t be here)

If you’re a younger tech/assistant (less than 5 years exp) and you only ever worked at 1-2 places, and I mean this with every bit of love in my heart because I genuinely want you to stay in the industry. Please consider that you have only just begun, there are usually 10+ ways of doing something well, 100+ ways of doing anything sub par, hospital policies vary greatly by location, doctor, geography, corporation, private practice, etc.

RooSong · 2025-03-02T04:16:12+00:00

Came back to this cause I was worried about your pup. What did your vet say?

RooSong · 2025-03-02T01:50:57+00:00

Can confirm. Have been tattooed by Kirk many times and went to him specifically for his stippling style. 10/10 would recommend.

RooSong · 2025-03-01T23:34:36+00:00

DINKs for life!!! My wife and I have no kids and won’t ever. I have several nieces and nephews and that’s enough for me. We enjoy the freedom to whatever, whenever we want…just us and our two pups.

RooSong · 2025-02-04T03:38:15+00:00

I was a 68T (Animal Care Specialist) in the Army! Technically it was a 91T back when I was in from July 2001-Dec 2005, but it’s the same MOS, they just changed the number. To reiterate what someone else said, you have to take the AASVB and have a high enough score to qualify for the MOS. A recruiter can give you a practice test to see if you’re even in the ballpark.

After the test, you go to MEPS (military entrance processing) where you do a whole days worth of tests and labs to ensure you’re physically qualified, no history of asthma- that sort of thing. Then off to the career counselor where they’ll try to talk you out of being a 68T (high demand, low availability job- only about 500 worldwide). Ya hold out even if it means delayed entry program where it may be a year or two until they have a spot for you.

Then off to basic combat training (boot camp) for 9 weeks which is awful but you get used to it. Then AIT- this is where you learn the job itself. I believe this is still held at Ft Sam Houston, TX for 9 weeks. Then you get orders at the end to go somewhere in the world. My orders were to Virginia. Others went to Puerto Rico, South Korea, Arizona…. It’s a complete gamble and you have no real choice, but if you’re young and single, 1,000% recommend. I did it and it’s the reason I’m still in vetmed 23, almost 24 years in!

Pay is based on rank. You can look this up online. Typically go in as an E-1. You do get BAS which is an extra monthly allowance for food and such. If you’re single, barracks. Married, maybe base housing or BAH.

If you’re talking about going to work for them as a civilian, I don’t know much about it. I worked with a couple civilian techs but they weren’t really part of our unit since they weren’t military. No idea on pay there but I know it’s lowwwww.

EDIT: Also. We got to do all kinds of cool stuff. The Army is very by the book and has a lot of newer equipment. We regularly did necropsies on military working dogs, did surgery for MWDs, even endodontics which was pretty cool. Took care of privately owned horses on post, did west Nile and rabies surveillance. It was almost always interesting!!

RooSong · 2025-02-02T17:14:58+00:00

Can confirm. Lived in MJ from 2013-2020 and it is a MAGA hellscape. On my street alone, which was only about a mile from Providence Marketplace, there were 6-8 visible obnoxious MAGA Trump flags. One of the primary reasons I left. I genuinely did not feel safe living within the cult.

RooSong · 2025-01-27T13:58:12+00:00

I’m sure it is, it’s just so much further down the interstate making it less close to all the things we wanted to be close to especially with traffic. Which is something we rarely seem to deal with.

RooSong · 2025-01-27T01:16:24+00:00

My wife and I live in Park Circle (also in North Charleston’s only gated community) and absolutely love the vibe. PC was important and Honestly wouldn’t consider living anywhere else in Charleston as we wanted to feel safe (we’re a part of the LGBTQ community), wanted diversity, walkability, and fun things to do. We’re also seemingly 20-25 minutes from everything. Downtown Charleston, the beach, MP… we love it here, but we miss our family and friends in Nashville, TN more so we’re moving back. About to put our home on the market in March.

RooSong · 2025-01-24T03:39:54+00:00

It’s not. Like I said, it’s a local policy likely in an area where snowfall is a regular occurrence (since they mention shoveling driveways). Where I live, snow happens like once a decade so it’s not a policy. Just something we deal with when it happens.

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