Things you See in the ER

Last night, we had to spend some time in the veterinary emergency room. Our cat was exhibiting some distressing symptoms. Verdict is: Who knows. Maybe a stroke. Maybe a seizure (although apparently cats don’t get seizures like people do, the convulsions are symptomatic of something else, instead). Maybe a dislocated clot that caused her excessive pain. Maybe a brain tumor. No idea. We know it wasn’t hypertension because, despite the amount of noise she was making during the blood pressure test, she had perfectly normal pressure. Hopefully this is a one time thing, but we’ll watch her carefully for the next few weeks.

But, that’s not what this post is about. We were in the ER last night about 1:30 AM when two big, burly guys come rolling in carrying their huntin’ dawgs. They were dressed in mudders and other clothing that indicated that they had just come from the hunt. Their dogs had both been bitten by a snake or snakes. They were justifiably concerned.

My question: What were these guys hunting at night? With dogs? One of the dogs had a radio collar of some sort on. I imagine it was a tracker? I am excessively curious what they were doing. And, what self respecting snake is awake at night to bite those dogs?

Curiouser and curiouser.