The Paper RVN

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The Paper RVN This is a personal blog on life as a veterinary nurse. It will literally be my endless ramblings on work and every day life :)

11/01/2023

What smartarse thought it would be a good idea to make cat litter wood pellets slightly red!? Just spent 10 minutes thinking one of my cats had a UTI or worse!

Welcome boys!I never done a post to explain how we ended up with Loki and Leo. Or to welcome them to our family.I was ha...
08/09/2021

Welcome boys!
I never done a post to explain how we ended up with Loki and Leo. Or to welcome them to our family.

I was having an average week at work. We just happened to have a Devon Rex cat in for a procedure. It was either on the Monday or Wednesday. I can’t even remember what it had done. All I remember is the other nurses commenting on how I like weird breeds. I remember being encouraged to get a pet.

My other half, Nathan, randomly googled Devon Rex cats for sale. He just happened across Loki and and Leo on Gumtree. We both commented on how cute they were and thought nothing more about it.

By the Friday, Nathan had rechecked their selling post and the owner was willing to sell them separately. Loki and Leo were cuddling in their pictures, we couldn’t imagine them going to separate homes.

Come Saturday we found ourselves travelling to London to go meet them. We had obviously asked questions, but there seemed to be no doubt we were going to collect them. Those 2 were coming home with us, without a hesitation.

The lady who owned them was adopting and the baby she was taking on was allergic to animals. It was a tricky situation and I have never felt more awkward, but I fell in love with them the moment I saw them. Leo was more adventurous, trying to chew my shoelaces, while Loki hid under his blanket.

We committed there and then. The lady was nice enough to give us all their belongings and they made the journey with us back to Eastbourne. The first night was awful. Loki would just hiss and swipe at everything that moved, even his older brother Leo. We stayed up the entire night to keep them company and try to get them to settle.

They finally got there, though it was quite eventful. But we now know we made the right decision.

I want to welcome Loki and Leo to the family officially. It might be a madhouse at times, but we will love them unconditionally ♡

The Paper RVN

I never done a post to explain how we ended up with Loki and Leo. Or to welcome them to our family. I was having an average week at work. We just happened to have a Devon Rex cat in for a procedure…

28/08/2021

First trip out!

Loki and Leo had a busy day yesterday. They went to work with their dad and spent the day hanging out in their cool kennels. After a vet check, they got their vaccinations done and came home to chill.

Only we had to put their flea treatment on them....that was interesting! Next time we will definitely be waiting until they are fast asleep 😴

They must have worn their selves out yesterday, because they were pretty silent last night and have slept all day! I am very proud of them because they've had a few visitors and they've been on their best behaviour - no tired grouchy cats.

Check out how cute their little sleepy faces are though!

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2021/08/28/first-trip-out/

Well. Hasn't it been a long time? I am currently sitting on my lunch break stressing. Two amazing cats entered my life o...
25/08/2021

Well. Hasn't it been a long time? I am currently sitting on my lunch break stressing.

Two amazing cats entered my life over the weekend and honestly every time I think about them, I can't stop smiling. The only problem is...HOW THE HELL DO I NOT WORRY ABOUT THEM WHEN I AM NOT AT HOME!?

I am just in a constant worry about:

Will the house be standing when I get back?
Will they both be intact, all limbs attached?
Are they feeling abandoned and unloved with no one there!?

Turns out I am one of those pet owners 😂

But I could not ask for two more well behaved kitties. I will give them all the cuddles when i get home

Well. Hasn’t it been a long time? I am currently sitting on my lunch break stressing. Two amazing cats entered my life over the weekend and honestly every time I think about them, I can& #8217…

15/06/2021

Nothing better than someone butt dialling you at work 😂 the sudden shout of "you t**t!" really was the cherry on top 🙄

I’m going to lose a finger…or a hand!I’m starting to think I need to reconsider my career choices before I hurt myself p...
29/04/2021

I’m going to lose a finger…or a hand!

I’m starting to think I need to reconsider my career choices before I hurt myself permanently.

Last week, I got a nasty nip from an anxious pooch and ended up with a swollen, bruised finger as a result. I did get a lovely card and box if chocolates to say sorry. That made it all better.

Today. Exactly a week to the day. I only went and got myself bitten by a cat. In my defense the cat was a feral and trying to climb the walls at the time. Luckily I was wearing gauntlets, so though I’m certain the feisty feline was fixated on making me bleed, I got off easy with an impressive bruise. Why do I bruise really bad? 😭

Starting to think I’m no good at this restraining business anymore 😅 Well they say all things come in threes. I wonder what will bite me next time.

Everyone take better care of themselves than I am!

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/im-going-to-lose-a-finger-or-a-hand/

I’m starting to think I need to reconsider my career choices before I hurt myself permanently. Last week, I got a nasty nip from an anxious pooch and ended up with a swollen, bruised finger a…

I Am The NightI am the night and the night is me.I devour the light, until you cannot see.While I wander, creatures will...
11/04/2021

I Am The Night

I am the night and the night is me.

I devour the light, until you cannot see.

While I wander, creatures will sleep.

Loneliness continues to seep.

Little nightmares take flight

and rodents underfoot bite.

All I want is a sign of life,

something new and ripe.

Anything to break this darkness.

Something to leave me maskless.

On the horizon you rise.

Sunlight to hide away night’s demise.

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2021/04/11/i-am-the-night/

I am the night and the night is me. I devour the light, until you cannot see. While I wander, creatures will sleep. Loneliness continues to seep. Little nightmares take flight and rodents underfoot…

I need someone to help me decide what to read next! I've got so many books for Christmas and my birthday (honestly I'm n...
10/04/2021

I need someone to help me decide what to read next!

I've got so many books for Christmas and my birthday (honestly I'm not complaining here!). There is a huge variety! I can't decide what I'm in the mood for 🤔 Someone pick for me 😜

Yes....I admit, I have a problem. The way I see this: I have 15 new adventures to go on this year!

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2021/04/10/help-me-pick-please/

I need someone to help me decide what to read next! I’ve got so many books for Christmas and my birthday (honestly I’m not complaining here!). There is a huge variety! I can’t dec…

Let’s try and get this startedBeen trying to get back into writing for ages! So this might not seem like much to some, b...
17/03/2021

Let’s try and get this started

Been trying to get back into writing for ages! So this might not seem like much to some, but I actually sat down this evening and wrote 1000 words. That is a miracle for me!

I started rewriting my novel from scratch, but I just wanted to ask how to people manage to just sit and write without over worrying about the detail you are going into? I told myself to just write the whole novel as basic as I need to, just to get the story down on paper and I could come back and edit. But I waste so much time still worrying about the detail and technique I’m using.

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2021/03/17/lets-try-and-get-this-started/

Been trying to get back into writing for ages! So this might not seem like much to some, but I actually sat down this evening and wrote 1000 words. That is a miracle for me! I started rewriting my …

14/03/2021

I think all this talk about the dangers towards women and the precautions they take on simple walk alone is absolutely dreadful.
Then I carry on watching The Handmaid's Tale and realise I could be living in that world, so things aren't too bad 😂😂

08/03/2021

There is nothing better, than the feeling when you finally get to the time of year when there is daylight when you leave for work and it is still light when you leave work 😊

03/03/2021

Why is it, as an adult when you get super angry it is unacceptable to burst into tears 🙈 waiting on the phone for over half an hour just to be cut off 👍🏻

Some interesting information :)
23/02/2021

Some interesting information :)

A ruined dinner…I think I defeated the purpose of my run this evening by letting my other half get us fish and chips fro...
23/02/2021

A ruined dinner…

I think I defeated the purpose of my run this evening by letting my other half get us fish and chips from across the road. But I definitely ruined the treat by comparing my curry sauce to the vomit of the dog I was looking after yesterday evening.

Yep. When we make your pets vomit up something they’ve eaten by mistake… it’s us nurses who usually have to pick through the contents to make sure we’ve found what went missing 🤮🤢

My curry sauce smelt a lot nicer and tasted better. I really need to stop thinking about gross things at meal times 😅

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2021/02/23/a-ruined-dinner/

I think I defeated the purpose of my run this evening by letting my other half get us fish and chips from across the road. But I definitely ruined the treat by comparing my curry sauce to the vomit…

Guess who’s back?Guess who’s back, back again?In all seriousness though, I am back and ready to blog! I’ve been busy pla...
21/02/2021

Guess who’s back?

Guess who’s back, back again?

In all seriousness though, I am back and ready to blog! I’ve been busy planning out my novel and getting back into exercise (running hurts!). But I think I’m ready to get back into this. A blog post here and there seems possible to me now.

I’ve been saving some silly stories from work, for everyone’s entertainment. I will also be sharing my novel writing journey (mainly a place to get my writing frustrations out). And I suppose any other weirdness that comes to my head.

I hope everyone has been staying safe.

Blog you all soon 😊

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2021/02/21/guess-whos-back/

Guess who’s back, back again? In all seriousness though, I am back and ready to blog! I’ve been busy planning out my novel and getting back into exercise (running hurts!). But I think I…

Just laughFunny how you can be struggling for a while and then something so ridiculous happens, that you accept it can o...
22/11/2020

Just laugh

Funny how you can be struggling for a while and then something so ridiculous happens, that you accept it can only go up from there.

Got majorly roasted at work the other day! Apparently, it is almost unthinkable that I should work with no makeup on while my face is healing 😂 It gets people worried that I’m a burns victim.

Hilariously, when I decided to share this in a personal post, others got more wound up about it than I was! I laughed, honestly I might have cried if I didn’t, but laughing made me feel so much better. I think I was so worried about it up to that point, that when someone actually made a point of there being something wrong, I realised I no longer cared.

Yes that is my face, yes there is something wrong with it, but one of these days I will get a dermatologist appointment and I will hopefully go back to normal.

I kept this mind set for the rest of the week. I accepted I am ridiculously tired, pretty much all the time. It makes me pretty useless at getting anything done, but at some point I will get there. So, when I made mistakes, I laughed. It’s the first time I have laughed and not worried about my stupidity at work for ages. It felt so good. And you know what? Nothing bad really happened.

It’s nearly Christmas guys! Going to be a good end to the year ❤

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2020/11/22/just-laugh/

Funny how you can be struggling for a while and then something so ridiculous happens, that you accept it can only go up from there. Got majorly roasted at work the other day! Apparently, it is almo…

Burn outWhen I started nursing, ‘burn out’ was never talked about. I think back then, everyone was a lot more caring. Le...
28/10/2020

Burn out

When I started nursing, ‘burn out’ was never talked about. I think back then, everyone was a lot more caring. Less stressed. I know I definitely was. It isn’t fair of me to say that about other people, but there is truth to it. Whether it has escalated because of the current world affairs, I do not know, but it could be an explanation.

Writing this post has been on my mind for a while. When I started The Paper RVN, it was supposed to be for my entertainment and to show off about my job. Thinking back to then, maybe I was already feeling the effects of burn out and didn’t even know it. I have been so reluctant to write this, because for some reason I have made myself believe this is admitting defeat. Am I saying I am not strong enough? That is what I have believed for so long, that I am not good enough for this job. That is what I’ve been struggling with for a while, wondering whether to just give up.

Out of the blue, I decided to ask some vet nurse friends how their jobs were going at the moment. I’m not actually sure why I was so shocked by their responses. Most of them were finding no enjoyment where they were, some were moving on from their practice or the vet sector completely. We are individuals who have only been in the career for 6 years and surprisingly we are all dragging ourselves along.

Maybe part of it is due to being taught that the veterinary industry is always changing, but finding so many individuals who are stubborn and set in their ways. We are grown through education to be proud of our adaptable and changeable natures and when we are shut down, this crushes us. Maybe this is why I am seeing an increasing rise of negativity on veterinary social media. Post after post on su***de awareness and the constant keyboard wars – since when did we become money grabbing thieves that pump your pets full of drugs which will make them ill. That was never in the oath I took and will never be the way I see my job, no matter how many practices corporates take over.

For those of you who do not understand what burn out is, it is the collapse under the emotional and physical trauma we undergo every day. The emotional shaming from clients who cannot afford their bills, but it becomes our fault because we are heartless. They are the ones to take that responsibility when they take on the animal, so why is it us who go home crying because we couldn’t care for your animal to the best of our ability. I have had people screaming in my face, banging tables, threatening to smash my car and even contemplating committing su***de in front of me. Add this onto the long hours, non-existent lunch breaks, lack of time for a social life and stressed out colleagues and I hope you can understand why I am at the end of my tether.

I didn’t realise what was happening to me. I have always been a caring person who wants to help out everyone and I was always in wonder at the world around me. I became irritable and the smallest things would cause anger to spark or tears to roll. I stopped going out of my way to help others, either because I’m anxious my help won’t be good enough for them or because I’m so exhausted from not getting the help back. I lost my empathy, I forgot to care for people going through hard times and just spent the entire time wishing the situation could be simple and over with. My motivation evaporated and I simply existed during my day. I’d count the hours through work, come home and sleep. I had no energy for anything, not even sitting in front of a movie.

I found no joy in anything. I would love to read with my headphones in, music full blast. I would lose myself in the story, become emotionally attached to characters and the music would only add to the atmosphere. Now, I barely get excited for a new album. Nothing satisfies my boredom. No matter how long I sleep, I am always tired. The nightmares about work probably don’t help.

I am too stubborn to leave the veterinary industry and besides, I would have no clue what I would do. But, people just need to care for each other a bit more. What good is ever gained from telling someone there are others better than them? I’m starting to engage in things a bit more and telling myself it is okay to breakdown every now and then as I am human (though I like to think all vet nurses are superhuman). I will probably keep moving on until I finally find a place that fits.
This is why I haven’t written in a while. It is like I’ve been stuck in a hole of exhaustion and some things just needed to be built back up again before I could start to escape. If you have anyone in your life who its part of a medical profession, whether for people or animals. Just talk to them every now and then. You don’t have to ask how they are or what their day was like. You could talk about the likelihood of aliens invading Earth for all they care, but it will be a small distraction what is probably haunting them daily. Invite them on a walk, go have a drink, watch a movie. Just do something.

Take care of each other. This world wasn’t made for us to be self-centred.

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2020/10/28/burn-out/

When I started nursing, ‘burn out’ was never talked about. I think back then, everyone was a lot more caring. Less stressed. I know I definitely was. It isn’t fair of me to say th…

Unspoken rulesYou may think this is over-exaggerating, but you would be surprised how true this is. If you break any of ...
19/08/2020

Unspoken rules

You may think this is over-exaggerating, but you would be surprised how true this is. If you break any of these, you will have some very angry colleagues 😛
The Paper RVN

I found this highly amusing. * I did not make this and own no rights - it was posted to a public page.*

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2020/08/19/unspoken-rules/

I found this highly amusing. I did not make this and own no rights – it was posted to a public page. You may think this is over-exaggerating, but you would be surprised how true this…

14/08/2020

Back at work after literally 5 days off and I feel like someone has sapped all the knowledge from my head. We won't even mention simple, every day tasks. Maybe it's the heat, but after walking around with a towel tucked under my arm doing random tasks for 10 minutes when I was supposed to be folding it and putting it on the shelf. I have come to the conclusion, I am just a bit stupid 😂

Week 3 complete :) Slightly behind schedule, but hopefully I can catch up! Too much overtime at work with no lunch break...
28/07/2020

Week 3 complete :) Slightly behind schedule, but hopefully I can catch up! Too much overtime at work with no lunch break haha. Will have to start fitting this in to every day

Get started with fiction writing, focusing on the central skill of creating characters. Join this practical online course from The Open University.

Well this was going to initially start as a blog for my veterinary life. In all honesty  I think that is going to be pre...
26/07/2020

Well this was going to initially start as a blog for my veterinary life. In all honesty I think that is going to be pretty miserable just at the moment because I am so stressed out.
Instead, I am going to post about things in my outside life as well. I always wanted to be an author and a friend pointed me in the direction of a free online writing course. I am loving every moment of it!
It is an 8 week course and it is aimed to help us develop characters in fiction writing.
I had my first go at a short story (350 words), which was so hard because I like to blabber on. I just got my feedback and other writers really enjoyed my small piece! It is the first time I have ever had strangers read my writing. They could be so harsh towards what I've written because they will never meet me. Instead I got comments like 'I was left wanting to know what would happen next.'

I can't explain how happy I am right now :) it has given me the confidence to start posting some of my writing on here so keep your eyes peeled!

Well this was going to initially start as a blog for my veterinary life. In all honesty  I think that is going to be pretty miserable just at the moment because I am so stressed out.Instead, I…

Weird thought of the day…I have no idea why this came to my head today, but does anyone else find it surprising how many...
29/06/2020

Weird thought of the day…

I have no idea why this came to my head today, but does anyone else find it surprising how many vet nurses are meat eaters?

Just hear me out. I am vegeterian and have been for around 13 years of my life. I have nothing against meat eaters. My siblings eat meat, my boyfriend eats meat and I am cool with that. I will happily cook meat for other people. Sometimes, I even question why I don’t eat meat!

But, for some reason when I began my journey as a vet nurse, I felt like a lot of the people around me, would be vegetarians and vegans. Today, I started wondering why I ever thought that. Because it really is not the case.

Maybe, it’s because we care for animals, so it just seems to contradict this characteristic when we eat them. There is nothing wrong with it. Eating meat is perfectly normal cycle of life. Just found it interesting that I automatically assumed that.

Out of curiosity, let me know if you do eat meat or not!
Also let me know what other characteristics/things you assume about vet nurses!

The Paper RVN

I have no idea why this came to my head today, but does anyone else find it surprising how many vet nurses are meat eaters? Just hear me out. I am vegeterian and have been for around 13 years of my…

Back to workHi! :)So for those of you, who did not know, I have just returned to work after a much needed week off. I ha...
17/06/2020

Back to work

Hi! :)
So for those of you, who did not know, I have just returned to work after a much needed week off. I have been back in the workplace for just over a week now and surprise, surprise, things have changed yet again.
Everyone knows things are slowly easing off with the whole lockdown situation, but at the back of everyone’s minds is: when is the second spike hitting. While other businesses are reopening, as far as I am aware, most veterinary practices are not easing up on their Covid-19 protocols. This seems to be confusing a lot of clients, but let me try and explain.
Some vet practices are still working with very tight teams. Most have small teams to start with. If one person in that practice shows symptoms of the virus or is confirmed positive of having the virus, everyone working with them should technically isolate for 2 weeks. I don’t know the situation with other vet practices, but mine would have to completely shut the practice for the 2 weeks, because we just don’t have the bodies.
People seem to think we are being overdramatic or ridiculous at not easing up, but we are being over cautious, so we can still provide care for pets. I am begging anyone reading this, to bare this in mind and not bad mouth us down the phone. Because we will be here in an emergency, but there is still a virus out there! The way we are working is not nice at all and trust me when I say; a lot of us are not liking it.
The new precaution we have taken at my practice is we now have a ‘buddy’ system. One vet and one nurse will work together and are not allowed within close proximity to other staff members (keeping the 2 meter rule). It feels like everyone is avoiding you like the plague. The feeling of being alone actually became worse, which I did not think was possible.
Yeah, we joke about the whole situation. We give the other pairs team nicknames. But the other day I had a colleague who broke down into tears, who I couldn’t even hug and that sucked. We are not doing this to make people’s lives awkward, we are doing it as a precaution so we can still be here if we end up having another wave of this awful, stupid virus. We are staying away from friends at work so we might stop any potential spread if we pick something up.
I’m still hating this whole situation. I changed my job at the worse possible time, but I did so to remind myself that I do still love being a vet nurse. Covid-19 has ruined that for me. I have never been so anxious going into work each day. Dealing with the stress of clients getting too near to me in the car park, because they’ve suddenly forgotten there is a 2 meter rule. The dread I feel I’m my stomach every time I answer the phone because I don’t know if I’m about to be shouted and sworn at because I cannot give an exact date of when things will be back to normal. No person can enjoy that.
I’m not writing for sympathy. I just want people to remember this the next time they contact their vet practice. Be patient with the staff, they are doing their best. We are human too.
On the plus side we are slowly seeing more consults in practice which is putting clients minds at ease a little more. It is still on a basis that the client stays in the car park and we will come, collect your animal and take them inside alone. But it is working.
It will be so odd when things go back to normal. For starters, I will actually get to meet all the team at work! Everyone had already been furloughed when I started, so I’ve barely met anyone and I’ve been with this practice for nearly 3 months! It will be the longest I’ve ever felt like a newbie.
I will try and keep you updated with the weirdest of work! Take care :)
The Paper RVN

Hi! :) So for those of you, who did not know, I have just returned to work after a much needed week off. I have been back in the workplace for just over a week now and surprise, surprise, things ha…

I have become a big Animal Crossing fan with the new game on Switch :) I have been playing since April and though my tow...
03/06/2020

I have become a big Animal Crossing fan with the new game on Switch :) I have been playing since April and though my town is still very basic, I am slowly getting there.

Well yesterday, my sister gave me a late birthday present. She made it herself. She drew the design and got it printed on t-shirts

So May is over, along with vet nurse awareness month. I have to say, I failed with my posts, but I did enjoy writing the...
02/06/2020

So May is over, along with vet nurse awareness month. I have to say, I failed with my posts, but I did enjoy writing the few which I did get round to writing. I hope the people reading, enjoyed them as well.
I decided I'm not going to apologise for the lack of posts. Not because I am rude, but because if I do, I will feel like I was useless, when in reality, I done as best as I could at the time.
It is the new thing I am trying - do not apologise for things that are not in your control. This includes at work as well. Yeah, I know I said I was going to post each day, but realistically that target was always going to be a struggle on a normal day. I never considered everything else which affected that goal.
I thought work used to wear me out in the past, but with reduced staff, increasing workload and long hours, I am falling asleep the moment I hit my sofa at home. I can't even explain what is wearing me down; sometimes it is just the pressure to stay positive with so much stress and anxiety around you.
Plus all the other things outside work there is to worry about. Vet nurses are amazing at switching off emotions at work (not that we don't care), but we are still human when we get home.
So yeah, I didn't get many posts done, but I am glad I made a small effort :) I have decided, I will carry on these information posts, from time to time. Not just for the entertainment of others, but it makes me proud to remind myself how much I can do.
Just a note of how busy we've been. Here's a screenshot of the alarm I set for the past Saturday morning (and no I was not at work). Safe to say my partner was slightly concerned (luckily he's a vet nurse too!). It probably didn't comfort him finding out the lab sample in question was sat next to the eggs in our fridge 🙈
There is no limit to the grossness vet nurses get up to!

Have a nice week :)

The Paper RVN

VNAM 2020 – Placing intravenous cathetersPlacing iv catheters is an important task that vet nurses undertake within prac...
22/05/2020

VNAM 2020 – Placing intravenous catheters

Placing iv catheters is an important task that vet nurses undertake within practice. We will perform this daily and it can be on a range of species. The most common veins we will use are the cephalic vein (in the foreleg) or the sapheneous vein (in the hindleg) for cats and dogs or the marginal ear vein (in edge of ear) in rabbits. There are a number of other places you can use in other species, but in small animal practices, these are the most common.

Most pets in for operations during the day will have an iv catheter placed on arrival. This will probably be done by two of your practice’s vet nurses. One will hold your pet and raise it’s vein and the other will place. What I mean by – raising the vein – is the person will put pressure on the vein, higher up the leg than where the catheter will be placed. This will cause the blood in the vein to build up and fill the vessel; essentially raising it through the skin so we can visualise it better when placing the catheter. The person placing the catheter will clip the fur above the vein, clean the skin and insert a catheter of appropriate size at a slight angle into the vein. They will then have to make sure it is taped and bandaged securely, so the pet will not knock it or tear it out.

Having an iv catheter in place allows for easy administration of intravenous medications or fluid therapy while the pet is in the practice. Vet nurses will check them throughout the day, by flushing the catheter with saline or heparin, to ensure it is still flowing into the vein correctly. If it has dislodged or the vein has blown, then the fluid flushed through the catheter will pool around the vein under the skin and/or the pet will draw their leg away.

Fun fact: IV catheters should not be left in longer than 3 days. If a pet needs to stay hospitalised longer than this, often another iv catheter will be placed in a different location and the old one will be removed.

That is it for today’s post. A nice short one, but I hope you still found it interesting!

The Paper RVN

https://thepaperrvn.wordpress.com/2020/05/22/vnam-2020-placing-intravenous-catheters

Placing iv catheters is an important task that vet nurses undertake within practice. We will perform this daily and it can be on a range of species. The most common veins we will use are the cephal…

VNAM 2020 – Taking a blood sampleWhen your pet comes into practice for a blood sample, often the vet will hand them over...
20/05/2020

VNAM 2020 – Taking a blood sample

When your pet comes into practice for a blood sample, often the vet will hand them over to a vet nurse to take the sample and run the lab test while they sort out their notes or deal with something else. We usually know exactly what blood tubes are needed for a specific tests and with no offence to the vets, we can usually run the lab machines a lot better.

The best place to take a blood sample from is the jugular vein, however sometimes this is not possible so the cephalic vein, in the foreleg is used. A nurse will be holding the pet and another will be taking the sample. The nurse holding will be lifting the animal’s head to an angle which will push the jugular vein forward and with cats, they will also hold their forelegs to prevent them from moving at the wrong time. The vet nurse taking the blood will apply pressure lower down the neck to raise the vein so they can visualise where it is. They will clip a small patch of fur from this area and clean the skin before taking the blood. The best needle to use is a 21g so it does not damage the blood cells and you have to make sure you have a big enough syringe for the sample size you need (usually a 2.5ml or 5ml).

Fun fact: Supposedly, the left jugular vein is bigger than the right and therefore easier to get a blood sample from.

Some samples cannot clot for you to run, so it is important the sample is collected as quickly as possible and transferred into a blood tube which has an anticoagulant in it. Blood tubes can have different types of anti-coagulants in, therefore you have to make sure you use the right one, for the test you want to do. For example, both an EDTA tube and a lithium heparin tube will stop the sample clotting, but you would use one for haematology tests and the other for biochemistry.

On average, you should take no more blood from an animal than 1% of it’s weight within 2 weeks. The best practice is to take the least amount of blood possible, for the tests you need to do.

Fun fact: Vet nurses have a vow, that no one is allowed to comment on the size or appearance of a vein until after the blood sample has been taken. They do this because they fear they will be jinxed and not be able to hit the vein.

Thank you for reading 🙂

The Paper RVN

When your pet comes into practice for a blood sample, often the vet will hand them over to a vet nurse to take the sample and run the lab test while they sort out their notes or deal with something…

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