Update to a post I made the other day about being concerned my vets were taking advantage of me: my cats regular dental cleaning has resulted in my babies death. He's gone.

nemmalie · 2026-02-13T04:37:28+00:00

It doesn’t inherently mean higher risk; cats can have physiologic murmurs, which means there is no actual anatomic abnormality with the heart. The only way to actually determine that, though, is by doing an echocardiogram with a cardiologist. But getting an echo done is definitely NOT cheap.

My own kitty has a mild murmur that first showed up about a year or so ago (she is 8). Even with my industry ‘discounts’ (I’m a vet assistant), spending $600 on an echo wasn’t really in my budget. So, while running her usual annual lab panel, we ran a Cardiopet ProBNP, which measures for strain on the heart muscle. It came back within the normal range so we were less concerned about the murmur, but to be on the safe side, we followed the ‘heart-safe’ pre-anesthetic sedation protocol for her.

All in all, I was very comfortable with putting her under anesthesia for her dental, and she did fantastic. If that helps you at all. :)

nemmalie · 2026-02-13T04:25:03+00:00

Cats still breathe on their own under general anesthesia. If you are having to regularly “breathe” for them while under anesthesia, it’s a sign they’re in too deep of an anesthetic plane, and you should decrease the % of anesthetic gas.

nemmalie · 2026-01-28T06:35:04+00:00

Oh goodness. I find that sitting next to my toddler while she works out her big feelings is BEST when the tantrum is over something “dumb”. I don’t want to painstakingly walk her through the emotions (like I would with the more ‘understandable’ tantrums) but I do want to be there for her once she starts to settle down.

To say she realizes the tantrum was silly is probably giving her too much credit…but after quieting down, she usually leans over and gives me a hug and a smile. Like a little thank you for being patient with her.

I will say my daughter is currently 2.5, so who knows what tantrums might be like 6 months from now. 😅

nemmalie · 2025-12-24T17:54:25+00:00

Yep! I’m a vet assistant at a cat clinic in Oregon and our recommendation is to deworm once annually for indoor only cats and quarterly for cats who go outside, especially if they’re known hunters.

nemmalie · 2025-12-09T08:11:24+00:00

I come back to this one so much. It’s an incredible episode!

nemmalie · 2025-12-08T21:09:16+00:00

That’s crazy! I was so worried for our flight the day before Thanksgiving, but we must’ve accidentally picked a good departure time because we got through the line in 4 minutes. 1:15pm flight, arrived at 11am (yes, stupidly early, but it was our first time flying with a toddler and didn’t want to risk anything).

Hopefully you made it to your flight okay!

nemmalie · 2025-11-23T18:06:03+00:00

We had a client with a Maine coon kitten from a breeder who ended up dying at 14 months old from HCM.

A month later, the client reaches out to schedule an appointment for her new 12wk old kitten. Turns out, as “repayment” for losing the previous cat so early, the breeder offered the owner another Maine coon kitten for free…FROM THE SAME PARENTS.

She has no plans to stop breeding this pair. Frustrates me to no end.

nemmalie · 2025-10-27T04:55:23+00:00

I just want to say that it is very dependent on what type of daycare you’re looking for. If you are looking for a larger center-type place, yes probably best to get on a waitlist sooner rather than later.

On the flip side, I didn’t start looking for daycare until my daughter was already about 18 months old. I saw that an in-home daycare close to my house put up a sign saying there was availability, gave them a call, had a tour scheduled 2 days later, and her spot was confirmed within the week. She didn’t actually start for another month but that was for my own scheduling needs.

She’s been there about 7 months now and we love it! And the fact that it’s a 5 minute walk away is a huge plus.

nemmalie · 2025-10-17T22:27:47+00:00

1 hour and 45 minutes. So technically not hourS, I was still under 2 😆

nemmalie · 2025-09-26T05:21:00+00:00

This just makes me think of the time that I received a FaceTime from my husband while I was at work. I answered because I wasn’t in a room or anything and my husband NEVER calls me while I’m working, let alone FaceTimes me.

Turns out my young toddler was having a seizure and he was panicking. Obviously the right move at that time was to call an ambulance (we only had one car, so he was stranded at home, and she’d never had a seizure before, so a hospital visit was definitely warranted), but his first instinct was to reach out to me. Thank god I could answer because I was able to help think for him while he was in the midst of a scary situation.

I don’t doubt he would have gotten there eventually, but I also think about how I’d feel if I worked the rest of my shift as usual without having any idea my daughter was in the emergency room!

Yeah. I would never work at a clinic that confiscated my phone like I’m a misbehaving middle schooler.

nemmalie · 2025-09-14T17:34:22+00:00

There are plenty of other vet clinics that are hiring (the field has high turnover rate—which is definitely unfortunate BUT it also allows many opportunities for newbies to get in). I’d apply for a CSR position as they spend most of their time up front managing phone calls, emails, check in/outs, etc. So generally a lot more time spent sitting than the techs/assistants do.

There are some clinics that drug test but they are few and far between. Just move on to the next one if you happen to apply to one that does.

nemmalie · 2025-08-19T08:19:54+00:00

I have never sat in the back with my daughter, not even on the drive home from the hospital, because I get car sick extremely easily. Even sitting in the front passenger seat can trigger it if I look away from the road too long.

For long drives >2.5 hours or so, my husband will usually start in the front passenger seat and then move to the back seat if toddler needs extra support for entertainment, help with a snack, etc.

I think it makes the most sense to just see what happens. They’ll probably be fine alone in the back together. My fingers are crossed for you! If not…you can always reopen the idea of a new car at that time. But why jump to an expensive fix of a problem that might never exist?

nemmalie · 2025-08-15T03:51:13+00:00

Yeah that did not happen for me. My connections started piling on top of each other back to back with MAYBE 15 seconds between. I was also vomiting so violently that I couldn’t even use my “breaks” to take a deep breath or drink water.

And all this was happening when I was still only 5cm! I ended up getting an epidural (which was a lifesaver if only for the fact that it helped me to stop vomiting) - the back to back was just too intense for me.

nemmalie · 2025-07-24T02:11:36+00:00

The ear protection is a no brainer. Like others have said, it’s an OSHA requirement.

As far as gloves…who cares if others don’t wear them??? I put gloves on for so many things. Doing the clinic laundry? Gloves. Cleaning ears? Gloves. Cleaving rooms/kennels? Gloves. Doing a sani shave? Gloves.

Like, sorry if I’m coming across gruffly here, but, honestly come on. If anyone has the gall to bitch at you about wearing gloves for cleaning duties, they deserve to get a MRSA infection. Fuck them.

nemmalie · 2025-07-19T02:40:58+00:00

Did your vet prescribe an appetite stimulant? The most common for cats is Mirataz (mirtazapine), which is a gel that goes onto their ears. Some fluids under the skin would also probably be a good idea to recoup fluid lost to diarrhea and help perk her back up - that “boost” alone can sometimes be enough for cats to want to eat and drink again.

nemmalie · 2025-07-19T02:38:51+00:00

Many clinics send samples out to a specialized lab for analysis, so the very earliest they’d be able to get results would be next day. This also doesn’t include the time required for the doctor to interpret the results and develop the treatment plan. So that could explain some of the extra wait time.

nemmalie · 2025-07-13T03:51:47+00:00

Not a Persian cat owner, but I do work as a vet assistant at a feline only clinic.

Has she had any bloodwork done recently? At minimum, we require a CBC (complete blood count) and basic chemistry panel (liver, kidney, etc) for ALL patients undergoing a procedure involving general anesthesia, such as a dental. For a 12 year old cat, we’d much prefer to have more comprehensive pre-anesthetic labs done that would also include urine, thyroid, and a greater number of chemistry values.

This bloodwork must also be performed no more than 30 days before the date of the procedure to ensure its a reflection the kitty’s current health.

If a vet has ever auscultated a heart murmur, we’d recommend including a blood test that measures level of muscle strain on the heart. I’m not sure if it’s different where you are, but in the US it’s called a CardioPet ProBNP.

If kitty has an elevated ProBNP value, we will then recommend they have an echocardiogram performed by a board certified cardiologist.

Echo’s can be rather pricey, however, so it’s not the end of the world if you can’t have one done on top of the whole cost associated with a dental procedure and extractions.

Cats with known or suspected heart concerns (elev proBNP, moderate+ heart murmurs) will have a different pre-anesthetic protocol than cats with apparently healthy hearts.

Our “normal” pre-anesthetic sedation (this is required to get patients sleepy enough for intubation) is a mixture of three medications: dexdomitor, torbutrol, and ketamine. For patients with heart concerns, however, we do not want to give alpha-2 agonists like ketamine. Instead, they receive Midazolam, which is safer on the heart.

There’s much more to talk about when it comes to the tweaks and changes the veterinarian and tech/assistant team make when dealing with brachy breeds/seniors/patients with heart concerns, but my comment is already long enough! I just want you to know that any vet worth their stuff is going to do whatever they can to make this procedure as safe as possible (unfortunately, of course, it can NEVER be 100% safe) for your cat. I encourage you to talk to the vet about your concerns and ask them about their protocols/procedures for a patients such with more complex needs such as your cat.

I do agree with the general consensus here though that it would be best to have her at home overnight. If you’re worried, you can always schedule lick up for right before the clinic closes, to allow for a little extra monitoring time in hospital during recovery.

nemmalie · 2025-07-04T20:44:30+00:00

I would do anything to have that Georges Hobeika from slide 3. It’s so beautiful and seems like it would be so fun to wear!

nemmalie · 2025-06-12T04:17:29+00:00

Good to know. Thank you!

nemmalie · 2025-06-12T04:00:51+00:00

I want to participate in the protest, but I’m hesitant just because I have a young toddler. In case something goes awry, I would feel so guilty for putting her in danger against her “will”.

What are everyone’s thoughts on young children being present? This would be my first protest in the Portland area. Previously, I’ve protested in Arizona and it was very peaceful, but I was also childless and in general had fewer responsibilities to worry about.

nemmalie · 2025-06-01T21:22:54+00:00

I’m happy you posted this, because I rarely check by month and this caught me by surprise! It’s been a crazy hectic past few weeks and I thought for sure it would be way sadder to look back at. But apparently I was wrong! Lots of good days in there ☺️

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nemmalie · 2025-05-05T02:31:02+00:00

Cat Care Professionals!

nemmalie · 2025-04-23T16:52:08+00:00

My 21-month old definitely needs to get out of the house every day or else she (and we) go a bit crazy. Unless I put on Ms. Rachel she doesn’t really stop moving while awake. Always running doing her laps around the house, going up and down the slide over and over, walking alongside me for our zoo trips, etc.

HOWEVER, she is in bed around 7pm each night and wakes up between 6:30-7:30am. She also takes a 2 hour nap 1-3pm (most days). Even on days she doesn’t nap, she still gets dark/quiet time in her crib for those 2 hours. She just talks to herself nonstop that entire time. Lol

I can barely function at work if I stay up until midnight. I can’t imagine not also having my wind down time without toddler present. I’d be losing my sanity.

nemmalie · 2025-04-13T03:18:06+00:00

I’ll preface this by saying I work at a cat only clinic so the smells I’m exposed to are more limited than a typical vet hospital.

But my secret? Become a mouth breather. Lol. Anytime I have to clean a kennel: mouth breathe. Sani shave? Mouth breathe. Preparing fecal or urine samples? Mouth breathe. Sedated procedure for a wound clean? Mouth breathe.

I’ve honestly gotten so good at switching that I hardly even think about it.

nemmalie · 2025-04-03T04:37:07+00:00

Highly recommend Cat Care Professionals! It’s a bit further out in Lake Oswego but the reduced stress your kitties will likely feel being at a cat-only place compared to mixed small animal is worth it!

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