Tails from the Vet

heartwarming stories from veterinarians just like you...

Dr. John Howe has been a veterinarian at North Country Vet clinic in Grand Rapids, MN for over thirty years.  He has treated all creatures, large or small, regardless of fur, scales, or feathers. He's helped everything from tiny kittens to grizzly bears. This is his story:

We had had a particularly rainy spring this year. One drizzly early morning I received an unusual phone call. The gentleman at the other end of line, called upon my skill, because he said, because he said, not without agitation in his voice, that his cat had gotten stuck in the mud. Of course I always want to help folks in any way I can, but I couldn’t help but ask, in the nicest way I could muster “can’t you just pull it out?”   The man was quite emphatic when he said “Oh no, it’s really stuck!”   At this point I became more concerned. Perhaps something more serious was going on, and maybe the poor kitty was suffocating in a tar-pit like mud hole as we spoke. “Can he breathe?”, I cautiously asked. “I think so”, the man replied.

Good, the patient is still breathing, all is not lost. The situation seemed urgent, yet called for immediate practicality. Trying to not sound condescending, I dared ask: “Well, can you just get some shovels and dig it out?”  I needed to know before driving all the way out there. The man was becoming frustrated with me, “That’s why I’m calling you!” he said indignantly. 

I never mind helping someone if they need it, but it really seemed puzzling that a man that sounded mentally competent should not be able to simply pull a small desperate cat out of the mud. I was baffled.  “Sir, just how big is this cat of yours?”  I finally queried. “It’s a D9 Caterpillar”, he replied, exasperated. That’s when I got it. I tried hard not to chuckle, as I said to the man with the troubled cat “But Sir, I’m a veterinarian, and this is North Country Vet Clinic”. With a sigh of relief and no small dose of embarrassment, the man replied “Oh, I thought I was calling North Country Equipment!”

 Dr. John Howe with a real feline patient

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