At the Doctor’s Office I Lied Obviously
Today I went by the vet’s office to get monthly flea, tick, and heartworm pills for the dogs. Before going, Houston weighed in at 25.1 lbs. Stella 15.6. So, the Quattro weight cutoff is 12.1–25 & 25.1–50. The desk clerk asked if Houston were over 25. I said “No” obviously. The 25.1 pound dog can have the smaller dose. He’ll be just fine.
Wait, what? yeah, I’m not going to be boxed in to a larger dose essentially for a double weight dog. Context people. This is the post-February treatment. February is the shorter month. 28 days. Yeah, I’m a day late, we normally give pills on the sixth. So what. It ain’t hurting shit. You should be glad for public health perspective I’m even giving them the pills seeing how there’s still two feet of snow on the ground. Sure, we’re due for a warm spell, but it won’t be long enough for the fleas and ticks to come alive. Nor will the heartworm bearing mosquitoes. And even were some to start up, another arctic blast is due after the warm. The parasites and the parasites that transmit the parasites are simply not here. Why would you arbitrarily adhere to a schedule without any consideration to context?
So, why is such a discussion in an aviation focused writing series? Again, it is that don’t strictly adhere to rules and instructions, apply context. Actually making decisions matters to decision making.
Consider the adage “you can always go around.” Nope, not so. And doing so can be more risky. Not doing so may bite more often yet such is a smaller bite than the bite of botching the go around. Yet, in some places, the go around can be extremely hazardous. Imagine a rejected landing on an instrument approach to Aspen. Or Sedona.
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Update:
March 30 weigh-in for April 6 pill purchase, Stella 14.8, Houston 24.8. They each got the little pill.
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Update:
In May, Houston weighed 26.4. We were entering stronger tick season. He got the big pill. Stella around 15 got the smaller. We also bought six-packs of each rather than month-by-month purchases.
In July, Houston was over twenty-five and got the big pill. In June, however, he came in under at 24.6. So we had given him one of Stella’s. Now we’re one short of the small pills. How do I plan to handle this? Well, if Houston comes in under twenty-five again, rather than each getting a little pill, we’ll cut a big pill in half and each gets a half. But if Houston keeps coming in over twenty-five, as we get to later fall with cold and lower tick season, and as we get to Stella’s last pill, we’ll cut Houston’s in half one of these halves in half. Thus Houston can take three-quarters of a big pill and we’ll have a quarter saved. Next time around Houston gets three-quarters again while Stella will get the two quarters.
What about oxidation? Moisture? Those pills come in individually enclosed pockets. I hear you, and I have a vacuum sealer. The quarter pill need not be left exposed.
We aren’t disregarding the threat of ticks. In the late spring through early fall, pups also wear Seresto collars. These work a different pathway of tick defense. But these two are also being deliberately “mishandled.” They say for up to eighteen pounds. The next tier is over eighteen meaning 18.1 and above meaning Mastiffs too. They’re both wearing the smaller collar. They’ve also had their Lyme vaccines with annual booster.
Yes, I know, you may be thinking sometimes medicines need to cross a threshold hence there is a bit of binning and discreteness to them. Though they also need to be below side effect threshold as best able. Meanwhile perhaps thinking a little more analog instead of in discrete especially arbitrarily discrete bins makes for better approach.
https://medium.com/cancer-systems/looking-for-the-missing-pieces-in-the-cancer-puzzle-c943393f332
