“Diego! Penny! Dot! What are you barking at?” I asked my three recalcitrant canines, who accompany me on our walks in the grasslands behind our home. Hmm…they usually don’t bark and were down in a valley where I couldn’t see them, so I double-timed it to the area of chaos. Javelinas! Not just adults but they had babies! Two out of the three dogs came back unscathed, but Diego, a little older and not quite as quick, headed towards me as best he could with one of the mamas hot on his tail. Mama saw me, broke off her chase and high tailed it back to the aunties who were taking babies away up a hill and they all disappeared. I checked the three dogs over. The only one injured was Diego, who had blood on his shaggy coat but was still able to run along home with us.
When we got home I tried to check him out. I am a retired vet tech, having been ‘in the biz’ off and on for 30 years, so am somewhat knowledgeable, but Diego was having none of that. His rear hurt and ‘by golly, ain’t nobody gonna see it’! Lacking proper help with restraint, and knowing that Dr. Jessica Rubin and her Lion and Lamb Veterinary Service was conducting her regular Saturday clinic at the Fairgrounds, I loaded poor Diego into the Subaru and headed to the clinic. (By the way, usually these emergencies happen at night or on a holiday weekend, so I was thanking my lucky stars that the timing was excellent for a change.)
Upon our arrival at the open air clinic in the fairgrounds parking lot, we were greeted by Lion and Lamb’s William Stelma, a college student and soon-to-be-licensed vet tech with his eye on vet school upon graduation, to check in, park and get a place in line. I restrained Diego and William gave him a quick once over. We both received a very high-pitched, terrified response from the poor wounded pup so it was determined that sedation was necessary.
Dr. Jessica came over, did a quick examination, asked if it was ok to sedate Diego—answer: YES!—and she quietly slipped in an IV dose of ‘happy juice.’ After a few minutes, Diego slipped into a peaceful ‘quiet time’ and Dr. Jessica went to work. She clipped the shaggy hair off the wounds, cleaned and flushed them, put in one needed suture, reversed the sedation with another IV injection, gave Diego a Rabies shot (I wasn’t sure when he was due, so just went for it) and we called it good.
This was all done in the back of our Subaru. Diego woke up, all fixed and ready to go home. When it came time to pay for Diego’s treatment, plus meds to go home, and a tube of Banamine to have on hand for our equines added on, I was shocked to hear that the charges were half of what my last pick-up load of hay was!
Dr. Jessica has been a practicing veterinarian for five years. She worked in our area for a time in 2022, then left to join a practice out of state for a couple of years. After determining that the practice philosophy there did not match her own, she returned here. She works part-time for Dr. Simon Escalada in Nogales, primarily handling the equine portion of the practice along with some small animal care. Though Dr. Escalada would love to have her there full time, Dr. Jessica prefers to continue her own work in this area, taking care of the needs of the local animals on most Saturdays at the Fairgrounds. She also makes house calls on the days that she is not in Nogales.
Dr. Jessica said she loves working with Dr. Escalada’s staff, and has learned so much from his 50 years of experience. He has benefited from her more current knowledge as well. They share the same philosophy about veterinary medicine.
“We both believe that taking care of the clients and the animals first, regardless of money or status,” she said. “It’s not okay to not treat an animal that is very easily treatable just because they can’t pay. Our job is to take care of them, so we do. The corporate practices tend to not do that. They have taken the connection out of veterinary medicine. It has become about money and numbers. Simon has continued to be loved in the community for 50 years because he has never been about that and I strive to do the same. Maybe we both just have bleeding hearts.”
Diego has healed nicely, and spends a good deal of time napping on the sofa. Hopefully he is a bit smarter about javelina behavior—and hopefully, Penny and Dot have learned by observation, but I wouldn’t put any money on it. Our walks on the wild side will continue but hopefully not with so much ‘wildness’ in the future.