554. Events happen in twos?

August 18, 2011. Thursday

I had written about events/things of similar themes happening in threes. But yesterday, the following events happen in twos.

1. A couple (a newly married man and wife) came with a male Shetland puppy for vaccination which was due on August 18, 2011. A new client.

2. The husband had two wounds on his left leg. One penetrating wound below the knee and one big red skin abrasion further down. He was limping and I advised him to see a skin specialist as his wound was still discharging fluid. I suspect some foreign bodies deep inside when he fell from his bike onto some stones in Bali. In Bali, the doctor poured some alcohol and that was 8 days ago.

3. The husband called an NTUC cab via his mobile phone. The first yellow cab whizzed by the Surgery. When he limped out, the cab driver had disappeared round the corner. So, NTUC gave him another cab. I went outside the Surgery with him to stop this 2nd cab. From afar, actually one block away, I saw the blue cab coming. It did not bother to approach further and turned left at the end of my block. So two taxis failed him. "Let me call a cab for you," I said. I noticed that he had spent some 30 minutes and was not in good standing (being lame) and must be suffering.

I used my Surgery fax phone to get the NTUC cab for him. "You better retire your husband and come out," I said to the wife who handed the Sheltie to him. "He is kind of slow." We stopped the blue Sonata cab and they went home.

4. Soon a man came with a female Sheltie pup for vaccination. "The brother of this pup just came," I said. "How do you know?" he asked. He is one of those knowledgeable puppy owners. He had phoned for an early morning appointment to vaccinate his pup just in case parvoviruses or any disease arrive from other clients' dog during the day. I said: "Same vaccination card. Same home breeder's name and breed and date for vaccination." As Dr Vanessa had arrived, usually after 11 am, I passed the case to her and attended to the counter.

I had done a health check on the first Sheltie which was purchased on August 18, 2011 and advised no vaccination till 7 days later to observe for any poor health. The couple came at 10 am and so I handled this case and that is how I encounter events happening in twos.

5. Two new clients with two Shelties from the same breeder to the same surgery. There are around 43 veterinary practices in Singapore and Shelties are rather rare in Singapore. So, what are the chances of seeing two of them in Toa Payoh Vets on the same day and in the morning? I will say, very low probability.

So is there divine intervention or just coincidence or the internet? Nobody knows.

TIPS
Don't vaccinate a puppy on the day of purchase as the puppy is stressed out by change of ownership, environment and may be incubating the deadly paroviral disease. If the vet vaccinates and the puppy really comes down with parvoviral disease, the vet gets the blame. Actually, the puppy is already infected and has not shown signs of the fatal disease yet.

The owner of the 2nd Sheltie had purchased 1 week ago. So, it was OK to vaccinate. For the lst Sheltie, no vaccination till 7 days later. Though it is not ideal, it is better to be safe than sorry.

The second owner knows much more about puppy diseases and that is why he wanted first appointment. He prefers not to go to the vet surgery to vaccinate, he told me. But then, he will need a house call and that may not be inexpensive.