Theme of the day

I swear, some days it seems like every patient you see has the same issue. Vomiting. Diarrhea. Itchy skin.
Last Thursday? Gastrointestinal foreign bodies.

Keep in mind that I work at a "day practice" - i.e. a clinic set up for wellness visits, vaccines, and patients with itchy skin. We don't have digital x-rays. We don't have an ultrasound machine. We have a fairly limited pharmacy of drugs to choose from. There's just one doctor on duty (yours truly) so emergency surgeries have to be sent somewhere else unless I want to shut the clinic down and cancel a ton of appointments (boo).

One patient's foreign body (pieces of a toy) was in the stomach according to radiographs taken the day before. Repeat radiographs showed that it had traveled to the colon. Great - discharged the patient, advised the clients to feed a small meal and watch for poop.
One patient's foreign body (suspected bark) was in the intestines. Radiographs showed a distended loop that appeared connected to the colon on the lateral view but not on the v/d view. The patient had been inappetant and vomiting for 2 days. Sent that one to a nearby emergency clinic for a second opinion on the radiographs and possible surgery if needed.
(As an aside, it SUCKS that we don't have digital radiographs - otherwise I could email them to a radiologist for a second opinion and get an answer back in 1-2 hours!)
The last patient? I'm not entirely sure that he had a foreign body, but he had a history of ingesting string and had surgery in the past for that. He was inappetant, vomiting, and had a fever of 106(!)  Started him on IV fluids and IV antibiotics, advised the clients that he would need overnight care, and transferred him to the nearby clinic as well.

By the way, the clinic that I transferred both of those cases to was where I worked as a tech prior to veterinary school. It is also the clinic where I really really really really wanted to work after school but could not get in (they wanted someone with 3+ years of experience). My goal is still to either work there or a place like that because a.) I attract emergencies so might as well work at a place equipped to handle them and b.) this being the only doctor on duty thing has gotten old already.