This blog reflects my personal experiences and opinions and does not represent or reflect those of DierenAmbulance Nederrijn.
Shift Change
We’re supposed to come in 15 minutes before the start of a shift to ensure a smooth transition from the old team to he new. Until now, the transition means the centralist reading out for me what’s already visible on the To-Do list on the (administrative) tablet, and the old crew telling the new crew what they’ve already done – although this is usually done in the context of social interest.
In truth, all I need to know is if any equipment has been used in the ambulance from the previous shift so that I can replace it. Actually the previous shift should carry out any replacements so the ambulance is ready for use, but often they fail to do this. I take it on myself to ask.
As the 15 minute transition period tends to be a loud, chaotic social affair and as I don’t sit well with loud, untamed chaos, I take the 15 minutes lightly.
So this afternoon I arrived 10 minutes early, and as it happens, into a bit more chaos than usual. The centralist flapped and shrieked with anyone in her path (no-one knew where the path led) including me where she had time to tell me I was “late”. Why? One of the ambulances had been infected with bird flu so it had been emptied and cleaned. Most things had been put back inside; a couple of mats were still drying off on the floor outside in the sun.
The previous crew sat at a table with a drink, and the tablet showed 2 upcoming rescues. I put the mats back inside the ambulance (plus a couple for extra rescue boxes), and gave a prod to the driver that we could leave. There was still 5 minutes to spare! 😉
But first the centralist needed to tell me it had been busy in the morning, there was no centralist for our shift and that she was going to leave now. That took 10 minutes, so now we were ‘late’!
I was little apprehensive about having no centralist, but it went OK last time (thanks to the driver) so I was a bit calmer this time round!
A pigeon who didn’t want to fly
This poor pigeon had been on a drive for a few days. Neighbours tried to “chase him away”, but he was able to fly only 2 m high before coming back down.
The finder wasn’t at home when we arrived but they’d placed a washing basket over him on their drive so we could reach him without any problem. The driver recognised straightaway that the bird was a “Turkish Turtle Dove” (which made filling in the admin easier as I didn’t need to guess!).
We placed him into a rescue box, put a magazine through the letter box and I called ahead to the wildlife rescue centre. The head animal carer told me I could place him into one of their cupboards. I confirmed we’d be about 30 minutes before we were there.
Lost Cat
En route we stopped at a flat where a young cat had been spotted roaming the area. She wasn’t recognised, so we were called in to see if she had a chip, and if not, decide whether to put a “call me collar” on her, or bring her to a shelter.
The finder had managed to put the cat into a pet carrier with a towel over the top. This made me realise that they knew about cats, and indeed, she was a cat owner – which is why they waited for us by the flat door in the corridor and not inside. But we needed to be inside when we opened the carrier to read the chip; if the cat jumped out and escaped we’d have a huge problem if she was in the corridor!
Thankfully the owner was compliant, and so was the cat – she was nervous but calm! The chip was read very easily (must be the new chip reader!); checking the number on the database revealed that the owner lived a few hundred meters away. She was happy for the cat to be set back down outside, but she ended up agreeing to pick the cat up from the finder’s address. Perfect solution!
Missing Rabbit Found and (nearly) Reunited
Someone had found a tame rabbit and wanted to keep him as a pet. But they felt bad for the owner, so they put a post on social media in an attempt to find the owner and reunite them with their pet (so there are some good people in this world! 😉 )
We received a phone call whilst we were with the cat. It was the rabbit owner who’d seen the message and wanted information about how to get his rabbit back. As we were busy with the cat we told him we’d call him back. But first – let’s get the facts!
From inside the ambulance we found the contact details of the finder and gave him a call – a friendly chap who joked the rabbit was tasty, but hang on a sec and he’ll pull him off the BBQ(!). He agreed we could share his contact details with the owner, who we then called back. He didn’t seem that bothered and even hung up on the driver. Both the driver and I were surprised, and to get all English about it, were really disappointed with his behaviour and agreed that many animals are better than many humans.
But it was made up for when we saw the owner of the cat walking by with her cat! Happy together! 🙂
Grumping about Admin
I was grumpy on the way back to the base because the admin was difficult to complete. It works with context driven drop down menus, but the option for this perfect solution wasn’t available. I filled out something or the other and put an explanation in. I don’t know if it was good enough but it was the best I could do.
On my side, the cat was back with her owner so it was a brilliant outcome!
Back at the Base
Admin
That said, I spoke to the co-ordinator about the admin. She was going to correct my entry, but she didn’t have the time available to show me what to do in future. The main thing was cost – I was adamant we shouldn’t charge the cat owner because she was originally willing for the cat to be let free. So charging her for coming over and collecting her (a better option) is nuts! Thankfully that didn’t happen!
New volunteer
Back at the base we ‘picked up’ a new volunteer. He was going to ride with us for the rest of the shift to pick up some experience as a co-driver. I made a point to show him the admin on the tablet. Despite my rant just now, filling things in is pretty straight forward as long as someone shows you how. I described a few other things too, but I can’t remember what now.
Loose cat on road
A call came in; a cat was seen walking loose on the road. Then I was asked to wait, and after while I was told the owner had arrived on the scene and picked up her cat! She apologised for wasting my time – which she didn’t! I told her it was better to call us when were weren’t needed than not calling us when we are!
Deceased Dog
A call came in from a local vet who wanted to arrange the transport of a deceased dog to a place some 50 km away. Tomorrow – so it was a matter of entering an appointment online.
Animal Food Bank
Not much was going on, so we loaded the ambulance with some donated animal items so we could deliver them to the animal food bank. Then calls came! So the new guy unloaded the ambulance with stuff we were going bring to animal food bank!
Hedgehog
A hedgehog had been found in the garden, and it looked like he walked funny. He’d been given some food to eat (can’t remember what, but it included sunflower seeds). The driver advised the finder to put a box or something over him so we could come and pick him up and bring him to the wildlife rescue centre. As it was barely 30 minutes to the end of our shift, she made the point that it might be a wait before someone came (i.e. someone from the following shift); this call had been sandwiched by the one I’m about to write about! 😉
Stray (uncastrated) Cat
Next up, a semi-distressed phone call from a cat owner with a kind heart.
A cat has since January been visiting her own cat, and they get on together very well. She’d like to have the visitor castrated, but doesn’t know whether he belongs to anyone. She asked us for advice.
The first thing is to check for a chip. Finding one means there’s an owner (hopefully with registered details), though the reverse isn’t true. The other option is to attach a “call me collar” so the cat returns home, and the owner is invited to let the animal ambulance know the cat belongs to them.
Both of these options mean catching the cat; something the finder wasn’t keen on for practical reasons (the cat was very strong) and emotional reasons (it’s not nice to trap an animal). Further, it didn’t make sense for us to come if the cat wasn’t there, even though the cat was often there.
With the 3 of us at the base and some broken calls with the finder, we eventually settled when the finder said she had the cat in a box and could we come over now? Yes – we’re on our way!
On arrival I used to the snazzy new chip reader to unsuccessfully find a chip. But I couldn’t confirm that cat definitely had no chip because the jet black cat was still inside the carrier and there was quite a distance between him and the reader. That said, the finder had borrowed a reader from a friend and also couldn’t find a chip.
I took the pet carrier into the ambulance so we could open the box without him escaping. I was warned he was strong so I needed to be careful; I grabbed a towel as I’d learned in my training. The new guy was going to open the carrier, I’d hold the cat, then he’d check for a chip with the reader closer to the body.
What a stupid carrier! We couldn’t get it open because it had so many rigid plastic clips and twisty studs. But then something broke and I could get my hand inside and hold the cat’s head – but only for a moment! The towel was useless because there wasn’t enough space in the ambulance with a tiny table, a ridiculously clumsy carrier and both of us. The cat was indeed strong and he wriggled easily out of my grip.
Metal and plastic clinked, cages rattled and the ambulance rocked as I struggled to get hold of him again. It was like something out of a cartoon! I managed to get him in my arms (he had nowhere to escape – that was the point!), but it cost me scratches on my arm. I held him tightly against my chest, hoping to give him a feeling of security. I didn’t have a good grip though and I felt him slipping slowly but surely away out of my control.
Meanwhile, the new guy battled with the chip reader. I was an idiot; I hadn’t shown him how it works, and despite my frustrated on-the-fly verbal instructions, I couldn’t direct him to successfully switch the thing on (you’d think it would be a simple button to start reading…). And the cat was increasingly unhappy too, and I’m sorry to say he escaped from my clutches again. He clawed his way at the sides of the ambulance door which gave me another chance to grab hold of him with the towel.
This didn’t work; practicing with cuddly toys in a spacious well-lit training room is very different from reality, but I did manage to drape the towel over his head to calm him down once I’d gotten hold of him again. Even so, he hissed and wriggled his head free of the towel; a clear line of sight towards me from angry eyes I never want to see again! His claws came out, and he wriggled harder.
I told the new guy to give up with the reader and let’s go for the call-me collar. Even though it lay near by and in view, the poor guy couldn’t find it because he didn’t know what he was looking for. Again, this is my fault for not showing him before hand. The collars are essentially cardboard strips with self-adhesive tabs at the end so they can be folded round and made into a collar. Several are joined together making a sheet of cardboard, separation is easy (in theory) because of perforations. So whilst I was nodding and pointing with my feet to the sheet of collars I’d laid ready, the new guy saw only a huge lever arch file with stacks of paperwork.
The hero found it, detached a collar and easily put it around the cat’s neck. But not all the way around; the collar was too small!
My memory is now a blur, but somewhere around this time I realised I was in a lot of pain from the scratches. I’m embarrassed to say I was impatient with the new guy, even though he was doing his best – and doing better than I would have done without any instruction / guidance. I semi-shrieked at him to get the carrier back together so we could put the cat back in. This would give me time to join 2 collars together to make a bigger one (I’ve seen this done before).
But this took ages; it was simply a crap carrier with important bits like the front grill literally falling off. I became really frustrated, and asked him to try another box – one of ours so we knew how it worked. Except he was new and didn’t know how it worked – my fault again. He found a simple-looking box and we both man-handled the cat in here.
Aside: I’m feeling stressed with a tight chest as I write this up and relive what happened. I behaved really badly with this guy 🙁
We opened the ambulance doors for some fresh air and a breather. The driver was quick to say we shouldn’t continue trying to put the call-me-collar on, especially when she saw I’d been bitten on my hand which was bleeding profusely.
The finder brought me inside where she gave me some chlorohex (or something) to clean my wound. I was shaking by now; this was quite an experience! The driver was speaking to the piket by the time I came outside. The advice was to let the cat go free and tomorrow call a shelter for advice.
Rounding up
It was really late by the time we were back at base, and still lots to do; the calls for the hedgehog, the appointment for the dog, and an update for the cat all needed to be entered into the admin. One of the guys on the following shift has medical training and wanted to look at my wound; he agreed with the new guy that I should call the emergency medical care line to see a doc ASAP. I did so and got an appointment for later in the evening.
Probably more happened, but by now I can’t remember, and at the time I was writhing in pain so I just wanted to get home.
Lessons Learned
There is of course a lot irony in this experience. I’ve been on a course on handling stressed cats. I’ve practiced holding cats securely during chipping, and followed 2 first aid courses for cats. Ah yes – and I’ve been scratched by a cat before. And here I am receiving first aid resulting from my inability to handle a stressed cat!
The obvious lesson of looking after my own safety first and wearing protective gloves (or backing away from the rescue) isn’t my main lesson. It’s that I need to look after the people around me. I was an idiot not showing the new guy several things, and on top of that I let him join me what I’m now going to admit to call a dangerous situation.
I sent him a message afterwards to apologise and he was good about it; I should let the co-ordinator now that we (I) need to be more aware of my duties when there’s a 3rd person.
PS: It’s 2 days later. My hand is swollen like a balloon, the skin is red, it’s burning hot and sensitive to touch. I’m on a 5 day course of antibiotics which should kill off the infection. Meanwhile…
Ouch!
