Geoffrey van Zilj - Emergency Vet Tech

Be sure to follow Geoffrey for funny, educational, and fascinating ER vet cases.

@aint.doin.right

Be sure to follow me on Instagram @drcliffworldwidevet.com
Listener questions, episode suggestions, or if you have a good idea for a guest, email me at dr.redford@vet905.com
Additional information can be found at drcliff.ca

Transcript

Dr. Cliff Redford (00:00)

Hey everyone. Welcome to this episode of VetLife with Dr. Cliff. Stay tuned for a fun interview with my friend Joffrey. He is a veterinary technician and an emergency veterinary technician with 20 years experience. Basically he's hilarious and so knowledgeable and we have a good time. So stay tuned and check it out.

You're, you're at work. You're on your break. what is this? A 16 hour shift? What are you doing?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (00:32)

Yeah. Yeah.

No, close, 18, but it's light work, know, easy. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, we do 312s.

Dr. Cliff Redford (00:39)

you got me, man.

Ah, 312s a week and you prefer that over like 410s or 5 8s.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (00:52)

I don't know to be real honest with you. mean, I prefer two sixes, you know, if I'm going to be honest, but no, I do enjoy the four days off, but once hour 10 kicks in on my shift, I'm like, maybe I should switch to four tens, you know? So it changes as the hours go longer, as the hours go by.

Dr. Cliff Redford (01:09)

True enough. Do you find that the 12 hour shift, like is there a benefit as far as continuity and sort of less need to do rounds kind of thing? Like if you do, let's say you do eight hour shifts, you got three different turnovers in the course of 24 hours.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (01:27)

That's a good point. always wonder why they decided because I human emergency medicine I see they do 12-hour shifts as well I'm wondering if that's the reason behind it all because honestly I never knew and I'm like cool These are like some of the hardest jobs that you can do like not only mentally but physically So why not do it for 12 hours straight, but that makes a lot of sense that it's like a rounding thing and and that way Yeah, because we only do rounds twice a day when the new doctors come in

Our doctor shifts typically go from 6.30 to 6.30. So we'll do rounds right after that. And then we'll also do a team huddle where the team kind of catches up on how everybody's doing and who's going to be where. we typically find like a nice fun topic that we can talk about to kind of create that camaraderie where, you know, we just shoot the shit for a little bit, have a good time and get to know each other. And, you know, at veg we have the manifesto, which is basically just like.

a written document that kind of encompasses our culture. And so we cover topics about that and just really hone in on being good people and getting to know each other. So those huddles typically fall right after rounds. So we get to do rounds and that. So yeah, it kind of gets the whole team involved because for the technicians and the nurses and the assistants, we have three different shifts or maybe even four.

We have got a couple swingers, which is me. I like to do like either 12 to 12 or two to two. And then we have the six 30s to six 30s, which is like your basic day and overnight. So yeah. Yeah, I'm definitely well, I hate the mornings and I'm definitely not like a late night person. So for me, that's the best case scenario.

Dr. Cliff Redford (03:03)

You're the swinger of the group.

Gotcha, gotcha. Give me one second. This happens every episode. I'm in the basement and the dog's, damn it. The little one went back outside. Now she leaves the door open and it's freezing cold. Where are you again? You're where it's warm. How warm is it there? Because you're high up.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (03:22)

hahaha

Denver.

We're

currently living in about 55, 60 degrees.

Dr. Cliff Redford (03:35)

That's that's cool-ish, but it's better than what we got. It's not it's not Yeah, it's not below. It's not below freezing. I am going to I'm in Toronto

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (03:39)

It's my perfect style of weather.

Where are you at?

Yeah, but where are you at temperature wise?

Dr. Cliff Redford (03:48)

Oh, uh, today was Celsius minus five. So what is, what is Fahrenheit? Uh, what is it? 32 is freezing. Yeah. So we're like minus we're like 20 Fahrenheit.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (03:58)

Yeah, so you're... Yeah,

20. Well, I'm European, so I prefer the Celsius. Negative 5 makes much more sense to me. I know exactly how cold that is.

Dr. Cliff Redford (04:06)

Okay. Yeah, we're, we're, we're negative five. We actually though we

had a, March is always a rough. I mean, I love it, but March is always a tough month for a lot of people because, you know, January, February is freezing here. It's quite cold. could be minus 20 sometimes. and you know, very little sunlight, et cetera, et cetera. And then there'll be a period in March where it's gorgeous, you know, 10, 12 degrees, which may not sound like a lot for people, but when you're coming from the winter, that's.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (04:19)

Yeah.

It's shorts. Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (04:36)

It feels so warm, right? And you got snow

and the sun is reflecting off the snow. So it warms you up even more. And you got that layer of winter fat that never seems to go away in the spring and summer. But, you know, you stop shaving your chest so you stay warm. And so everyone was like, this is it. Spring is here. This feels amazing. And we had that last week and then it got cold again, but it's going up to like 12 or 13 in the next few days. So out comes the mud. It'll be nice.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (04:55)

Yeah.

that's nice.

Dr. Cliff Redford (05:06)

yeah, let me go, let me go shut this door. Give me one sec.

Ta-da! The last two Januaries I volunteered up in the Arctic North, like right by the Arctic Circle. The joke is I'm the only vet crazy enough to go up there in the wintertime. And we adopted, we took home some rescue dogs and of course one of them never left the house. And she's the one that she doesn't care. And she's even just, she's just a little Jack Russell corgi cross. She's, you know, 11 pounds, but she's a savage when it comes to the snow. She does not care.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (05:16)

Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (05:39)

and she'll just stay out there until it's yeah yeah she's a cool she's a cool dog she's a lot of fun

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (05:39)

I love that. I love that.

Hey listen,

you might be the only vet crazy enough to go up there, but if you ever need a crazy tech, I'm definitely your guy. Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (05:49)

I do that. do that.

So the first year, I mean, you know, I've done a lot of traveling and the first year it was my daughter, son, and I, and although they grew up in a vet world and my daughter's done a lot of traveling, she can throw in a catheter, she can intubate, she's not a technician. and so this year when we went up again, I took, one of my technicians, Arthur, and, it was amazing for him. What a great team building sort of bonding experience.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (06:16)

Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (06:17)

And, we were able to see twice as many patients because they have no vet there. So in this community of a Cali, it's the, the capital city, cause it's the largest community of the Nunavut territory, only 7,000 people. but half of the people are Southerners. They're from Toronto, Ottawa, that sort of thing, where they go up for work. Sometimes a six month contract, which often turns into a two year contract and they bring their pets, but there's been no veterinarian there.

four years there's a animal hospital but no vets so they're desperate so when we go up there like talk about talk about a 12 hour shift like you just work work work work work because they it's it'd be so much fun and you know they bring you seal meat to try and narwhal blubber do eat meat there you go

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (06:57)

I'm there for it. Yeah.

I do, not at the moment,

I'm going through a little bit of a phase. I'm doing the 75 hard right now, so I decided to go vegetarian. It's like a mental strength program that focuses heavily on working out, but it's two 45 minute workouts a day. One has to be outdoors, no matter what the weather is. Then you have to read 10 pages in a self-help book, like something non-fiction that's gonna make you a better person. You have to drink a gallon of water every day. That's the hardest part for me because I hate water. stick to a strict diet.

Dr. Cliff Redford (07:14)

What is that?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (07:38)

So it's a struggle. don't know why I do this to myself, you 75 days straight, yep. I've just restarted it because I made it to day 23 and because of unrelated issues, I got a gastric ulcer in December. So I am back on day 10 right now. So we're getting there. It's getting a little easier. Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (07:40)

There you go.

And it's 75 days. How far in are you?

my goodness. Does everyone at

the, at the emerge hospital? No. And so they like keep the cookies away from you or is it the opposite? They just, they just offer, they just offer. And all of a sudden it's the one time the doctor brings in something amazing and yummy. And we normally never do that. Right. Like it's usually the front desk or we know.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (08:08)

no, opposite. Yeah.

Yeah.

No, absolutely. And you know how it

is in the vet world, we get rewarded with food. And so it's on any other day, I love it, but the next 60 something days, no thanks, I'm good.

Dr. Cliff Redford (08:30)

When we, it's actually when I first graduated, guess, so I graduated in 98 and right before graduating, you do some placements, right? Like a week here, a week there. And I picked regular practices instead of specialty stuff, because I knew I was going to stay in GP work. And Dr. Oates, Tellup, Oates is his nickname. I think it's Omar, but Dr. Tellup, Brampton Animal Hospital.

we were talking about like teamwork and bonding and whatnot. And he said, the secret is chocolate Fridays. And every Friday he brings some chocolate sweets of some kind. And he's like, it's just the simplest way. Lord knows no one in the vet industry gets paid what they're worth. but at least you can do is, you know, cause some, cause some sugar highs.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (09:03)

I love it.

yeah, that that were supplied with plenty over here for sure.

Dr. Cliff Redford (09:22)

Yeah. Yeah. I love it. Do you find

actually then, you know, with the emerge hospital, like I have such a bond with my, with my clients and my patients. see them from, you know, birth to grave and, and I'm blessed to have generations now of, of clients. there's some, you know, Christmas time we get, we get wine and chocolate and all these treats. and, often just random.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (09:43)

Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (09:47)

random times, know, thanks for doing the emergency spay on my six month old dog. It's like, well, it's a routine surgery, but okay, I'll take it. Do you, do you get that? Like, do you get many clients that, that afterwards come with you with gifts?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (09:49)

Yeah.

We get it, yes, often. I would say many people definitely do that. Obviously we don't have the... The difference between general practice and emergency medicine is that at the end of the visit, I say, don't come back. We do not want to see you again. Okay? That's like one of my go-tos. You know where to find us, but I don't want to see you again. You're not allowed to come back. And they're always very grateful for that.

Dr. Cliff Redford (10:17)

Yeah.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (10:26)

So quite often the stuff that I miss from the GP to the ER, we don't get a lot of follow ups. We don't know. And that is also a blessing, you know, at the other end of it. Because sometimes I simply just don't want to know. Like I already know what time it is with lot of my patients and they offer like in-home euthanasias or stuff like that. And the people that we do bond with generally are not having a good time. It's one of those things where if you see us on a repeat basis,

Dr. Cliff Redford (10:32)

Right.

Mm-hmm.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (10:56)

something's very wrong. But we do have the ones that spend like three, four days in the hospital. so we, because we're an open concept at Veterinary Emergency Group, we do get to know them very well. We have like a little hotel room that people can stay with their pets if they want to, which many people take us up on. And you really get to know somebody when they're spending the night. So it's definitely a sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Dr. Cliff Redford (11:12)

wow.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (11:23)

But I do miss that about general practice. I miss the relationships that I build with certain people, but I get a small amount of that in ER.

Dr. Cliff Redford (11:30)

What made you do the switch so you started out in general practice?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (11:34)

I started out in shelter medicine actually. was, so we have a large shelter here in Denver called the Denver Dumb Friends League. They finally just changed the name because I don't think too many people even understood that old school way of describing our pets and then they get offended, know, like they're not dumb. Like, no, there's a different definition there. You know, they don't speak, they don't talk and by that definition back in the day, that was what it was. But I started there because my heart was really with...

the ones who didn't have owners, know, and the ones that needed help as much as possible. That burned me out so fast that I switched to a couple different departments. did GP for a while. I went from shelter medicine to high-speed spay and neuter, still low-income medicine, which was also really cool. But then I went into GP for a while and I jumped around because I started getting burnt out. I went into ER coming up on a decade ago and I...

I never thought I was good enough. Like I was like, that's like the double black diamond of veterinary medicine. You know what I mean? For all my skiers out there. That's the most difficult thing I can do. And I didn't think I was going to be good enough. I didn't think I knew enough and it stopped me from doing it, but I've always wanted to be an ER. And now that I have been, it's yeah, it's GP was too mundane for me.

I always say like bless the people that work GP because listen my pets still get their dentals done and you know their their routine stuff done, vaccines and stuff because we don't carry those at the ER except for rabies for when they get bit. So I think GPs are fantastic. It just wasn't for me. I'm an adrenaline junkie through and through as long as it doesn't require me going on Insane Heights. But overall the fast pace.

speed, unpredictability of ER is what drew me to it and I never look back. Like that was, this is my home. This is where I want to be. Yeah, for sure. And I'm lucky enough to have found it.

Dr. Cliff Redford (13:31)

You found your place. Yeah.

Yeah, you found it and you're good at it. Like what a blessing.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (13:37)

Yeah, yeah, like to think

I'm average. You know, I'm hanging.

Dr. Cliff Redford (13:42)

Well,

your average amongst stars, like I've seen the stuff on your Instagram. It's amazing. and, and, you know, the, the, the types of catheters you guys are placing and the types of surgeries you guys are involved in. absolutely, absolutely incredible. you know, you're, you're, you know, you're talking about this sort of GP to emerge medicine. Well, I've gone on a few rants, on these episodes.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (13:45)

Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (14:13)

at various times and it's often, at the expense of my fellow GP veterinarians. And in the sense of, feel that as a whole, as a general statement, which I know is not always true, we don't do a good job in, supporting the emergency clinics in that we, we send clients to you guys too quickly. do you, do you feel that? And I mean, you may not want to be honest, but like, what I mean is, is

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (14:35)

Okay.

Dr. Cliff Redford (14:43)

is if I'm open until, say I'm seeing appointments until seven and a dog, you know, an owner

calls a client of mine, let's say, and has a pretty simple laceration. I could see that animal and either quickly sedate it, stitch it up, staple it up, and then it's good. Or I can at least bandage it, hey, I'll see you in the morning. But so many clinics.

because I end up seeing them because the word has gotten out that I'll see them. So many clinics, nope, it's two hours, I'm booked up, I can't squeeze you in, I'm not taking a chance, send it to a merge, and then you guys are backed up, backed up, backed up. Do you find that's a problem in the US? It certainly is, certainly is here.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (15:26)

It is for other ER hospitals that I've worked at for sure. I often remind people, right, we have a wonderful saying at my company, which is don't get mad at Donkey Kong, meaning Donkey Kong's job is to hurl barrels at you, right? This is the game you started playing. This is what you signed up for. When you go into emergency medicine,

even in a broader sense, right? You can't be mad at the cases that are coming into you. If the owner comes in and they're like, my dog's had diarrhea three times today over the span of eight hours, I'm worried about it. It's not for me to deem whether or not it's an emergency. For them, it's an emergency. And I feel like that rings true for any type of referral from a GP as well. You guys have your hours, you guys do your job. We're here to catch the rest of it. And,

I don't think, know, when, it's funny because I'm actually doing a quick little video here on Instagram in a week or two, I think I have it scheduled, but I talk about what we consider to be so toxic in our veterinary field, right? And a lot of it, a big portion of it, I always divided into three pillars. Stop talking shit about your clients for the exact reason I just said, right? Why are they here? Why are they angry? Whatever. Stop talking shit to each other.

meaning your co-workers at work. But on the back end of that is let's stop talking shit about each other in veterinary medicine. Often we get transfers from other animal hospitals and we're like, why did that doctor do this? Why did the technician use all of my front legs? Now I can't place an IV catheter, right? That's one of the biggest complaints I always hear in ER. Like the GP just ruined all the front legs, ruined all the veins and now we can't place it. I'm like, we're gonna get an IV catheter and don't you worry.

I will find a vein, but that whole idea that like we are so pitted against each other, it drives me absolutely bonkers. And then those same people want to say vet med is toxic, which I don't disagree with. But these three things, if we stopped doing that, I think we would see a clear change across the board, meaning that we need to support each other better.

We need to stop like, if you've had a hell of a day and you decide to send that laceration to us, for one, medicine is a business. It always will be, it always has been, and that's just how that works, right? We're grateful that you send it to us. It shows that you trust us. It shows that we can create a relationship between your GP and our ER. That is fantastic. And I want that relationship to be strong and the longevity of it to be reaching into years, if not decades. So.

For me personally, no, I don't get mad at that. Have I seen others? Absolutely. The way that my company operates is a doctor will triage you within 60 seconds and we hit that mark pretty good. Now that means we're come talk to you, right, and make sure your patient is stable and then put you in the triage order and see where you land. So the wait times are very small because of that because the minute my doctor goes over and talks to them, we have a couple tenure technicians that like, listen,

I'm not a doctor, but there's a lot of things that I know are gonna be, that we're gonna do diagnostically. Like cool, this Labradoodle has been vomiting for three days and has been known to eat stuff. Cool dude, I got the x-rays, I'm gonna do a lactate, let's get that Roland Spice and IV catheter, get some fluids going, because I already know what time it is. So our wait times are very short because of that. Elaceration repair, yeah, like if that's the example we're going with.

Please send it to us because at the end of your day, you may have already seen 40 clients, 40 patients, five of them which were absolute assholes to you. The other three you have to euthanize. You had a long day. Like it's not for me to decide why you send that to us and whether or not it was legitimate. You're sending it to us because we're here for that. So again, don't be mad at Donkey Kong. We're in the ER, we're in the ICU.

We know what we signed up for as you know what you signed up for together. We're, we, we're, it's a very symbiotic relationship that we need to focus on making better and not throwing each other under the bus because there's so many different ways of practicing medicine. And we're always like, why did this hospital do that? Or why would they, you know, we don't know, we weren't there. And yes, maybe because we did things different. it's not wrong.

I often tell the people that I'm mentoring, right? There's a thousand ways of doing something right, but I prefer you use mine. That doesn't negate the fact that there's still a thousand ways of doing something right. I mean, everybody tapes their IV catheters in differently. Doctors do suturing. Like it's, it's, it's all different, right? But it's not wrong. If it works, it works. And I'll be the last person to be like, screwed this up so bad. You know? No, I, I, it's, it's so tough. And then again,

Dr. Cliff Redford (20:11)

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I hear you.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (20:25)

throwing each other under the bus in veterinary medicine, like I'm so sick of it. And I want to change it. And I hope, you know, that not only this little spiel we just kind of dove down into, but also the videos I'm going to create around that is going to help people maybe be a little bit kinder to each other, which is not just veterinary medicine. It's the whole world we live in nowadays. Like we're so quick to cancel and to throw somebody under the bus because something happened. And I'm like, you have no idea what the other person's going through.

And the older I get, the more I realize that because I was very quick to be like, why? does, like the why is rarely important because it is what it is and now you have to deal with what's in front of you. So.

Dr. Cliff Redford (21:03)

Right.

Yeah, there is, there is certainly room for improvement though. So what would you say? You know, if, if how can regular veterinarians make your job easier if we're sending you a case, maybe that was seen quickly or was that our hospital for the day? How can we make it easier for you guys to provide that service to take care of our patients? And also how can a client who calls you up in the middle of the night?

hasn't spoken to the veterinarian, is there something they could do that would make your jobs easier and then therefore the care for their patients easier? mean, obviously, we got to save a cephalic vein maybe for that technician if we're sending it over, but you're gonna hit it in the saphenous or somewhere else, central line or whatever. But is there something that we can do as veterinarians, as GP veterinarians to make your jobs easier?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (21:55)

yeah.

Communication, and that's in two forms. First and foremost, heads up, right? Have your receptionist call us ahead of time, like, hey, we're sending Fluffy over there. Fluffy was with us for eight hours. This is what we've dealt with. Second and more importantly is complete records that get sent over to us. So we know exactly what the patient is there for. Quite often, more often than not, I would say,

we do get a transfer from a GP with little to no information. And then we have to start from scratch, which isn't the end of the world. But if you've already done x-rays and you've already done blood work, and now I have to go back and tell this client that I'm going to charge three times the amount of money for x-rays and blood work because we're an ER, not only are we setting that client up for failure, right? We're setting us up for a longer journey to success, not necessarily failure. So.

Dr. Cliff Redford (23:02)

And, and, and that vet is setting up their relationship with their own client to failure as well. Cause understandably the vet, the, clients can go, well, why didn't they send the records? You know, it's not film. We're not doing film X-rays anymore. You know, everything's pretty much digital and, just don't ask the veterinarian to send it. I still don't know how to email records or how to email a X-rays. I have no clue. have no clue. you know, but my team are, it just.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (23:02)

Those are the biggest ones.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No.

Don't flip.

Dr. Cliff Redford (23:32)

just magically happens. We got these magical elves that just magically happens. All right, well, let's get let's get to a little bit more fun stuff. So I sent out a request for questions. Do you follow the UFC at all? Okay, do you know the Canadian fighter Jasmine Jasutovicius? You'd you'd probably recognize her if you saw like if you watch it because she hasn't been on a main card yet. She's always prelims. She's Canadian.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (23:33)

Yeah. Yeah.

Absolutely.

No, no I do not know. Okay.

That's super easy,

super easy last name by the way. That just rolls right off the tongue. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (24:02)

Just Sudovichist, just Sudovichist. Jasmine, just Sudovichist. I had to practice it.

But we've become friends. I reached out to her. I am in sort of the martial arts world a little bit, but I reached out to her. It's my little sneaky way of slipping into the DMs. I see that the celebrity has a pet and I'll mention, hey, if you ever have questions, hit me up. Well, she ended up, so it works great.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (24:28)

same. Guilty.

Dr. Cliff Redford (24:31)

I got, I got all kinds of, I got all kinds of people on my Rolodex center that is just like, how do you know them? Hey, you know, they had a pet and, know, had a bladder infection. just answered some questions.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (24:34)

Yeah.

I did

it to an actor in The Pit. don't know if that's, The Pit is a new show about Pittsburgh ER, the most realistic emergency show I've ever seen in my life. Highly recommend, highly recommend. I saw one of the actors had in his bio, I have questions about dogs. I immediately responded to, have answers about your dogs. Let me know if you need anything. I haven't heard anything, but fingers crossed.

Dr. Cliff Redford (24:50)

Okay.

Beautiful, beautiful. So she is flyweight. She's ranked number nine right now. She's fighting again in May in Montreal against a tough Brazilian named Andrade. And she's going to beat her because her wrestling is beyond exceptional. She came to me, she shades a hope to the Wildlife Place one day and volunteered as my junior tech. And she was amazing. Yeah, was really, she's a cool woman and I love her ambition. Anyways.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (25:27)

Cool.

Dr. Cliff Redford (25:33)

She reached out to me, she wanted to know what is your coolest or most memorable animal you've worked on.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (25:41)

boy, there is a couple answers to that. So the coolest animal I've worked on actually wasn't that long ago. And this is not a fun ending, but that's part of my job. We do see wildlife and I had the honor and privilege, a good Samaritan brought in a crow with a broken wing. Now, I was often told and know this to be a fact that crows and ravens are among the smartest.

of the birds, not to mention the smartest of the animals. And so I actually got a first row seat to that. This crow bonded to me in a matter of minutes. And it's like one of those cases where you know, they're like golden retrievers where they, where they know the veterinarians there to help them instead of a husky or a chihuahua that's like, no, you are my mortal enemy. I'm going to destroy you today. this creature saw that I was helping and

and understood it and now I'm personifying right now I'm putting a human but that's how I perceived it to be because we gave him a pain injection because his his wing was severely broken unfortunately had been broken for weeks on end it looked like we did end up having to euthanize and I actually had to bow out because I was like I can't like I made the mistake of bonding and naming him I named him Brandon for all my older

Brandon Lee fans, you I love the crow. And so I had to name him Brandon. And Brandon unfortunately didn't make it, got euthanized for the right reasons because otherwise he would have been something's lunch out there. And this is a much more peaceful way to go. But that was one of the coolest experiences. I've got some pictures that I took obviously of holding Brandon and Brandon like immediately trusted me, at least seemed like he trusted me. May have been the methadone, I'm not sure. But.

Dr. Cliff Redford (27:32)

you

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (27:34)

We definitely bonded and that was a really cool experience because again, you could see the intelligence in that bird's eyes. Like he would track me, he would see me and then he would come up to me. Heartbreaking case, but so fascinating. At Veg we have a saying that if it fits through the door, we'll see it. So we do see exotics. We had a mini donkey come by. Thank God he was fine.

Dr. Cliff Redford (27:53)

Wow.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (27:59)

But that was an experience. Little dude loved Oreos, which was really cool because I do too. So we were eating Oreos together.

Dr. Cliff Redford (28:09)

Thank goodness it wasn't

during one of your 75 days.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (28:12)

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, they are vegan. feel like that should, you know. Yeah. And then I worked exclusively with hedgehogs for a while. Those creatures are incredibly fun, They definitely are prickly and they hurt. But if you handle them properly, like one of my funnest little tricks with hedgehogs is they'll roll up into a ball to kind of hide themselves and they don't want to be used. The way you unroll them out of a ball, you can't manipulate them because they're very good at what they do.

Dr. Cliff Redford (28:16)

account account.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (28:42)

is we put water in a litter box about a half inch deep or so and we just dip them and before you know it they're like and they open right up and that's when you can grab them around their quills and and and hold them. So hedgehogs are fantastic but we see everything. Snakes are always always fascinating creatures to work on. Any of the reptile family you know like it just I got asked the other day at a at a

at an outside event that had nothing to do with work, like is it more difficult because you see so many species? And I'm like, yeah, it's absolutely more difficult because I know how to draw blood on a chameleon. I know how to draw blood on a cat, ferret, a hedgehog, a turtle, like all of these things, right? And every single one of these patients I've seen and I've had to utilize these skills. So it's definitely hard to say what's the best animal. I don't have the...

What's

The golden retriever that loves you more than anything is my favorite patient of all time. Yeah, they're great dogs.

Dr. Cliff Redford (30:05)

They're so amazing. They're so amazing. Well, I mean,

we'll get you up to a callowat, but I should take you like next time I head to India and you can help me with the bats and the monkeys and the, you know, like that'd be amazing. Or if you're ever in the Toronto area, man, I volunteer once a week at the wildlife rehab place and talk about hedgehogs being prickly. do surgery on porcupines. It took me about five years, literally took me five years to get used to not.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (30:16)

Well done.

Dr. Cliff Redford (30:34)

brushing the air quotes fur out of the way when I'm trying to look at a wound because it's not fur, it's quills and you know, get them in your hand and then like a husky, I cry and everyone else laughs at me and just yanks it out of my finger. They really hurt. yeah, like bald eagles, porcupines, deers, coyotes, micro bats, everything. And it's amazing. I love it. So I get you up there in a second.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (30:42)

Yeah.

Yeah. They hurt like hell.

Yeah, that's fantastic.

Dr. Cliff Redford (31:04)

guess up there second is a great way to learn a great way to learn and great way to humble yourself as well which I think I.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (31:06)

Yeah.

I agree. I did

large animal for a while and I mean like working on a horse. There's nothing like it. I mean those creatures demand respect. There's a reason they use them for therapy, right? Because when you're with a horse you have one track attention and that is on that horse and therefore the rest of the world melts away around you. At least I hope that's how it works because if it doesn't someone's gonna get hurt. But like you know they're wonderful creatures. Surgery on a porcupine.

Dr. Cliff Redford (31:19)

Hmm.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (31:40)

I've only done surgery on porcupine victims, which are always labs and pit bulls. those are my favorite, some of my favorite things to do is to sedate them, to knock them out and start pulling quilts. like the most we've pulled is over 300 where we stopped counting and we had bulls and bulls and bulls of quilts just floating around everywhere.

Dr. Cliff Redford (31:46)

Always.

and he just...

Wow.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I haven't had to deal with that in a while, but thank goodness. Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. It's, you know, yeah, you don't want them to get hurt, but if they do, you want to be the ones to take care of them because how fun is it? How fun is it? All right, a couple of quick questions, then we'll get you out of here. Let's see. So for blood collections, would you choose saphenous, cephalic or jugular? What's your first go-to?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (32:07)

Super fun. Yeah.

Absolutely.

I'm old school jugular all the time. Listen, if I want a good sample, right, the funny part is my doctor, I've done a video on this too. If my doctor asks for a single test, I'm pulling a rainbow, right? Meaning all the colors of the tubes. It doesn't matter. Like you're getting all the blood unless it's some type of hemodynamically challenged patient. I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna stay away from the jug and those as well. But a jugular is 100 % my go-to.

The trick with the jugular is you have have a good restrainer, especially in cats. And all credit goes to the restrainer when you hit a vein. Like that's just common knowledge, right? That being said, honestly, the most challenging ones are the most fun. So you said cephalic, which yes, I love pulling blood from an IV catheter. That's my go-to. you're hitting two sides on that one. Like I've got my IV catheter and I'm drawing blood from it right away.

Dr. Cliff Redford (33:00)

Yeah. Yeah.

100%.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (33:25)

Dorsalpedal, you know, is up there too. Like if everybody's tried and they can't do it, dorsalpedal is my go-to. Yeah, so I say jugular first and foremost. Cephalic is great. Yeah, I don't have a preference to be real honest with you. I just think about the practicality behind what the sample is that I need. So a jugular is gonna yield the results and give me the most of what I need.

Dr. Cliff Redford (33:30)

All right.

Yeah, it's so rewarding though when you're like lying down on the floor belly down stretched out in some weird yoga position because you're reaching in the you're getting blood from a saphenous vein a super roly-poly saphenous vein on you know, hopefully it's a greyhound with veins as thick as as nylon cords, which you're never allowed to discuss about how big the vein is you do not say fuck I just screwed you for the rest of the day. Just look how big those

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (34:03)

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, we've... Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna have a month now, thanks.

Dr. Cliff Redford (34:19)

Jesus, it's like, don't even one quick funny story.

Um, I, everyone's heard about this documentary that I've done. It's coming to American TV soon. And in it as the intro story, this Fox comes to my clinic and a technician Miranda from the wildlife place brings the Fox, the Fox has been hit by a car. And, uh, so we've got the cameras on like crazy, right? And she shaves up the arm and I'm throwing in a catheter cause we're going to do surgery.

And the vein is enormous on this cephalic, right? And I look at her and she just nods her head like she knows, she knows not to say a frigging word. Of course, I still don't hit it. And so I'm just like, and I look at the camera and I say something along the lines of, people may think that doctors and veterinarians are the cat's meow, but it's really nurses and technicians that saved the day. Do you want to give it a try? And she's like, yeah, sure. No problem. First shot. Boom.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (34:58)

Don't say a word.

Dr. Cliff Redford (35:19)

in first shot and it wasn't because I was holding she was good at holding I just couldn't hit it but there you go

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (35:19)

course.

Yeah.

I gotta give a shout

out to my medical director that Dr. Chelsea Mandola came in after three technicians tried and this was a dead on arrival dog where placing an IV catheter is probably one of the most difficult things you can do because they're not with us anymore so finding a vein can be incredibly tricky. Three of us tried including myself and I do not like to admit this and I can't believe I'm doing this on a public forum but Dr. Chelsea Mandola got that thing on the first try and I looked at her and I said well...

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, so, sick!

Dr. Cliff Redford (35:56)

What?

Well, I mean, in your guys defense, you went to the hard parts first and you, saved the good spot. and, and don't worry about it, this being a public forum, not too many people listen. why, why are you pulling blood or getting a catheter in a animal that's deceased?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (36:01)

Yeah, exactly. We gave her the easy one. Yeah.

if they opt for CPR. Yeah. Yeah, but typically, like if I, if one of my, if the first tech doesn't get it, I pull out the IO gun, the intraosteus gun, which is basically just a, a catheter that sits into inside of the bone inside the bone marrow. and yeah, it's a pretty violent procedure. They're using human medicine all the time as well. you're literally screwing in a giant bore, needle.

Dr. Cliff Redford (36:17)

okay. Give it a try. Yeah. Yeah. Give it a try. All right.

Yeah.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (36:43)

into a bone cavity, which is very difficult and very intimidating for people who have never done it before. But in all honesty, it's five times easier than an IV catheter. You find a good spot where the IO lives and you are able to give a small amount of fluids and or medications with almost the same exact efficacy as intravenous catheter. you know, it's, yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (37:04)

Beautiful see I'd have

the stuff you guys are doing is so technically advanced. I'd have no idea

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (37:12)

If you know how to use

a drill from Home Depot, you're

Dr. Cliff Redford (37:16)

I'd ask my wife.

That's not true. just cocked. I just did cocking on on my bathtub and it looks amazing. It was like a pro did it. It was like it was incredible. I was so I was so impressed. It took me two tries. The first one was a complete failure and then I actually did some YouTube research and figured it out. Okay, let's have a couple of I guess yes, not yes or no questions. Some some some pick ones here.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (37:24)

very satisfying job.

Dr. Cliff Redford (37:40)

If you had to deal with treating, what's your favorite treating a chocolate ingestion or raisins ingestion? Yeah. It's when they throw up, it smells so nice.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (37:47)

Hold.

It's fantastic. It's like an air freshener for the clinic. And raisins are just so tricky. You know, we still are pretty, pretty behind the ball on what it does and why it does it with chocolate, right? So the worst chocolate ingestion that I can imagine, right? What's, are we going to do? We're going to get propanolol to drop that heart rate down. We're going to deal with, with excessive tachycardia at that point. and those are really fun to treat because propanolol.

Dr. Cliff Redford (37:52)

It's so nice.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (38:18)

is one of my favorite medications to use on my patients because I can see a instant result in what that medication is doing. Plus, yes, the emesis, the vomiting part of it is refreshing at that point. Raisin ingestions, raisins and grapes obviously are just so tricky and they can be so long and ongoing and you can see long-term damage with that. It always bums me out because once that damage is done, it's irreversible.

Dr. Cliff Redford (38:46)

Yeah.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (38:46)

And we're talking

about very high cases of incredible high toxicity levels.

Dr. Cliff Redford (38:51)

Yeah, and the thing is if you get the dog to vomit up 80 % of the chocolate, you're probably good. If you get the dog to vomit 80 % of the raisins, there's still 20 % of poison that's not dose dependent in there.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (38:57)

You're good, yeah.

And not

to mention, right, some dogs do fine with it, some dogs don't. So it's like the owner is thinking, well, do I have to? And I'm always going to go from worst case scenario because that's what ER is. When my friends call me for advice, I preface it with, listen, you're calling an ER nurse right now who has seen what happens when that sock gets stuck in the guts.

Dr. Cliff Redford (39:07)

Yeah. Yeah.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (39:27)

99 % of the time it probably passes and we'll never know because it's somewhere in the backyard and until the snow melts it's gone, you know, we don't see it. But it's the one time that it doesn't and that's how grapes and raisins are too, you know, like we're gonna treat worst-case scenario, which when it is worst-case scenario...

We're in a shit show at this point, right? We're gonna see all kinds of organ failure and by that time we're up a creek where we can't fix it anymore. And then there's dogs who do just fine. Like my parents Beagle, who lives underneath a grapevine, who ate grapes without my knowledge for years and did absolutely great. Of course it's a Beagle, which is the dog equivalent of a goat. They have a garbage disposal of a stomach, so that's, you know, hard to say, but.

I, yeah, there's too many question marks around grapes and raisins that I hate. Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (40:14)

Too many variables.

Yeah, yeah. But really the big thing is the vomiting is so satisfying with chocolates. So satisfying. Especially if it's like Easter eggs with all the foil, because then it's like it looks like a glitter party that they want. It's so much, it's so much fun. And then they go and try and eat it again. No regrets. They got no regrets.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (40:20)

for sure, for sure.

it's fantastic. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. but you know, here in Denver,

most of our chocolate comes with a little extra toxin THC, you know? So if they get into chocolate, it's like, okay, they're also higher than a kite right now. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (40:42)

I bet. I bet. Yeah.

What else? Yeah, what else? That's right. That's

right. Okay. Lansing an abscess or Lansing a hematoma, which would you pick?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (40:56)

abscess all day long. That is such an easy one. I'm, yeah, I think a good veterinary professional loves a good abscess, preferably while I'm eating something. That is just, you know, best case scenario. A cheese sandwich. Let's say just that.

Dr. Cliff Redford (40:57)

Really? Really?

Yeah, yeah. The thing with the hematoma

is when I'm doing surgery and I got this from a buddy of mine just after graduating, a classmate of mine, I pop it with like a four millimeter biopsy punch. And when you push down, the blood shoots up the biopsy punch like a volcano, like a primary school volcano thing. We add a little hydrogen peroxide and it make bubbles. It's lot of fun. All right.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (41:26)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (41:35)

a sebaceous sister a bot fly do you guys have bot flies bot fly especially if they're alive

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (41:38)

I

mean, honestly, I said that really quick. That's a tough answer. But listen, a good bot fly that freaks the rest of the hospital staff out, right? Because I'm one of the few that absolutely loves them. It's so satisfying. So much goes into extracting a bot fly. Like, sure, we can cut it out, right? But I try as much as possible to drown the little sucker first with some jelly or some lube.

and then just grab it and pull it out. It's my favorite thing in the whole wide world. I love a good Botfly video, but yeah, Botfly's all day long.

Dr. Cliff Redford (42:14)

Beautiful.

All right. All right. Well, then let's do a championship round here cat bite abscess or bot fly

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (42:23)

Botfly. I'm still going botfly. Yeah, but I mean, listen, you have to put a gun in my head to answer that one because I'm to go with both. I would like them back to back. Okay. I would like both. Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (42:25)

Okay.

Back to back and be like, don't do that one yet. Don't do that

one yet. I just got to just drown this sucker and then I'm coming over there. Wait, wait, wait, let me see it.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (42:37)

Yeah, plus not to mention,

I always have my mind wrapped around creating content. Let's show the world what we do. Both of those cases, I would be like, you better wait because my camera is going to be right on top of that. We're shooting content around both these cases for sure.

Dr. Cliff Redford (42:53)

You come to Shades of Hope with me and see a porcupine with an abscess. It's out of this world. The chunk that they produce, it's unbelievable. All right, one last question. you had to work either Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve, which one would you pick?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (43:00)

Yeah, I bet.

I I both. Yeah, you know, I would say Christmas Eve because I prefer to be busy. Christmas Eve tends to be busier with ingestions and you know, I don't know why my dog started vomiting all of a sudden. I know why your dog started vomiting. It's no mystery to me. You don't have to tell me. We'll just go and start doing diagnostics and do what we have to do. New Year's Eve, I have worked the majority of New Year's Eve's over the last decade tend to be dead.

Dr. Cliff Redford (43:16)

You don't care.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (43:43)

And I'll say that today, not on the actual shift, because we know the cardinal rule. You don't say that when we're on the floor. But now that I'm in leadership, I say it all the time because I want it to be busy for the team. But it doesn't count anymore at that time. I don't think my jinxes work. New Year's Eve's too slow for me. People are out partying. It's New Year's Day where the shit hits the fan and the shift becomes hot garbage fire at that point.

Dr. Cliff Redford (43:43)

you

Mmm.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (44:09)

I would say, so if we're gonna say New Year's Day or Christmas Eve, I would say, boy, probably New Year's Day, because it's definitely like everybody gets back from their partying or wakes up from their hangover and...

Dr. Cliff Redford (44:20)

I was going to say, not only

are they bringing in their sick animal, but they are so hung over and it's just...

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (44:25)

Yeah, we should start doing BOGO

deals. You know, here's an IV catheter for you. Here's an IV catheter for your dog. We'll get you. We'll get you right. Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (44:31)

That's right. Little vitamin B for everybody and they'll do okay.

You know, talking about, you know, it's dead in here, it's quiet. Veterinary medicine, at least general practice as a business is so easy because if it gets quiet and I'm not paying my bills, I just walk around the clinic and go, it's not much going on. It's pretty quiet today. And I know that all of a sudden the revenue is going through the roof. This is gonna, it's the craziest.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (44:55)

It's the greatest drinks of all time. Like it just works.

Dr. Cliff Redford (44:59)

It's the craziest

thing. happens. It's not even, I mean, it's a rule. It happens. I don't know what it is. It happens. Yeah.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (45:06)

I agree. In the famous

words of Michael Scott from The Office, I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little stitious, you know? That's we, we are wholeheartedly superstitious in our fields. With science to back it up.

Dr. Cliff Redford (45:14)

There you go.

I love it.

One of my good friends, Chelsea, who listens to this will absolutely love that you quoted the office because she's the ultimate. She's not a little fan. She's a super fan for sure.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (45:32)

I'll tell you right now for Chelsea specifically, my fiance and I are getting married on the same day that Jim and Pam's episode aired because we are two super fans and ever since the extended versions came out, the super fan versions, I have just been living my best life. Like, yeah.

Dr. Cliff Redford (45:51)

Beautiful.

All right, you found your soulmate. Congratulations. I love it. I love it. All right, well, let's wrap this up. Let's tell everyone your content is amazing. It's hilarious. There's definitely a tone of education in there. I already feel like a better person listening to you. I learned so much chit chatting with you and have a good time. Where can people find out about you?

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (45:55)

100 %

So I literally only do Instagram, which has been a point of contention for me. Like I think I need to do, but my Instagram account is ain't doing right. for all my vet pros out there, you know what that is. I am super ADR and it was very fitting. And it was a shocker to me that it wasn't taken yet. So I'm ain't doing right on Instagram. And I'd always tell everybody, if you follow me, I typically go through my following list, and, see who's in vet med. I automatically follow you back. I'm always available.

for messaging, I'm a big, big advocate for mental health in the vet space. I'm a big advocate for treating each other right, you know, so I get a lot of inquiries and a lot of messages about, I'm dealing with a certain situation, what would you do? Obviously, any medical advice, because I've been there and I've done that, I'm always here for it, but shoot me a message on Instagram, ain't doing right, and yeah, I like to have a really good time and I like to have lot of fun and a lot of my stuff is heavily based around humor.

but I do do a lot of, I speak a lot at conventions and I do a lot of those things. I speak at colleges too, because, you know, I've been doing this for 20 years and I'm, I'm convinced that, the veterinary technician profession is actually turning into a profession and not so much a hobby anymore where we would just get bodies off the street to do it. So I'm here to let people know that it is a career you can do long term.

It is sustainable and I have all kinds of tips and tricks on how to make that a reality both mentally and physically and I'm super passionate about sharing that information and I do so on my Instagram account and you know I'm I just I love talking with my fellow veterinary professionals especially you doc because you know we are are separated by a few thousand miles and and the differences that we see

And not only patients, but how things are done, right? We have so much to learn from each other. So just my little bubble here in Colorado is very much a bubble. And we do things a lot similar here in the Denver area. But then I hear about stuff that they do in Miami, because I have a counterpart in Miami that practices different medicine there. we've done reels around, you well, I see weed injections. She's like, well, I see cocaine injection. And I'm like, well, we...

She sees gunshots and I'm like, see deer attacks with horns and whatnot going up inside of body cavities. we always square off against each other in a really fun lighthearted way. I'm here just to learn as much as possible, to teach as much as possible and bring a little bit of joy back to the veterinary field because Lord knows we need it.

Dr. Cliff Redford (48:57)

where else we need it. Well, you're a gem for doing it and I'm so glad that we've become friends and we're gonna meet up one day and it'll be, it's gonna be so much fun. Wherever that is, look out.

Geoffrey AKA AINT DOIN RIGHT (49:06)

I can't wait. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm ready for

it. I don't know if the people around us are, but I'm ready for it.

Dr. Cliff Redford (49:15)

Nah, it'll be good, it'll be good. All right,

cool. Thank you very much and we're gonna do this again soon.