"I knew I was in for a rough day the moment I saw the chart for my afternoon appointment. Christy at reception had dog eared the chart with a little note that read 'FLOCK, sorry doc!', and I felt my blood pressure rise instantly. The oh so delightful members of The Flock were a fundamentalist group of leaf-muncher Ovis Aries nutcases that lived in a closed community not too far out of town. Their benevolent minister was firmly of the belief that hospitals and modern medicine were the cause of the fertility decline, and obviously the logical solution to this dilemma was that he should have twenty seven wives and not use penicillin. Sly old bastard would come in and get fertility boosters on the reg though, but I wouldn't know anything about that, on the record at least.

Despite their absolute disdain for modern medicine, the Flock did see fit to come bother me for certain procedures. A few years in prison for botched home surgeries resulting in child abuse charges mellows out even the most fundamental of fundies I reckoned. At the time Helping Hands Execs with dollar signs in their eyes, twisted my arm to go get trained and qualified to do the procedures correctly, so that we could capitalise on the gap in the market. I refused, at first. But I'm not too proud to admit that everyone has a price, and after the wife left I was hurting for something to supplement the alimony bleeding my accounts dry. Now I'm the go-to guy, the expert, and none of the other bastards in the hospital will go get their license because no one wants to be that guy. Let Greg handle it, he's been doing it for ages anyway. Pack o' wankers. I've lost track of how many I'd done at this point, sometimes I lie in bed and try to count them in my head.

As I thumbed over the chart the new M.D on the wing walked past to return to her office. Pretty little blonde thing, but I could tell she was as sharp as her teeth. I liked her. She was a calm no-nonsense sort of girl with an excellent bedside manner. Just what I needed so I waved her over.
'G'day Evelyn, can I ask a favor,'
'Oh..certainly, I have a little time before my next consult,' she replied quietly, brushing a strand of hair from her muzzle.
'I like to have another staff member present at these damn things, these wanks like to get litigious if they don't like something, do you mind?' I asked, standing up and handing her the chart. She glanced over it and squinted slightly before turning to me.
'I thought this procedure was banned in '98.' she said as I herded her out of the room and down the hall to the pediatric waiting room.
'Oh it is, absolutely. Except on religious grounds. Even better is that the sods wont let me use anesthetic or any sort of humane surgical procedure, just the old-school banding method. And don’t even get me started on how utterly unnecessary it is in the first place Evee. I think most species, even the dumbest ones, have mastered the art of cleaning their fur so it doesnt get infected and bloody fly-blown. But tradition trumps logic, more often that bloody not, apparently.'

She nodded in response, calmly following me and leaning against the admin station to greet Christy and the other nurses while I called the patients. Wise and benevolent dad was of course, not present, but two of whom I assumed were his wives were. They were a pair of gaunt looking ewes with their fleece trimmed and hair pulled into severe looking buns. Their little daughter was playing by their feet with one of the wooden jigsaw puzzles. Cute little tyke, with bright green eyes and a twitchy wagging tail. All the colors in the room and on the toys were probably a welcome sight next to their drab and strict looking guardians and that miserable compound they all hailed from. Unsurprisingly they refused to accompany their daughter, Lily, insisting on waiting in the lounge while it was carried out. I hated that. I don’t know why I even bothered to ask anymore. Bastards should look their kid in the eye while they do this to them, for the sake of beauty, or tradition, or whatever malarkey they come up with.

Evelyn came over and knelt down beside her and the little lamb gave a squeal of surprise then grabbed at her muzzle with both hands, in the slightly uncoordinated manner you would expect from a toddler.
'You have a weird nose, its all wet!' She bleated, bopping it with her palm. Evelyn gave a playful huff and smiled while the guardians watched on with a tensed pose.
'I'm just a big silly dog! I like to help people, just like Lassie, woof woof!' she replied flopping one ear and poking out her tongue to imitate one of the stuffed animals on the floor. The little lamb giggled and Evelyn scooped her up, and turned to the guardians.
'I'll be assisting Dr. Robinson on Lily's procedure, we'll take good care of her, it wont be long.'
The ewes nodded and gave polite smiles and seemed more at ease as we took their child to the clinic room.

I led them to the exam room and closed the door. From there Evelyn didn’t need much coaching, she did the standard health checkup while I prepared the tools I needed out of sight. As I wheeled the small cart into the room I made a gesture for her to distract the little lamb. When kids spot a big scary looking medical instrument they tend to panic, and panicking children with hooves are not a fun time for anyone. She smiled and nodded, and I quickly began to understand why she was one of the more highly requested doctors when she was on clinic duty.

'Okay Lily, let me ask you a question. What's you faaaaavorite animal?' she said kneeling down to be eye level with the lamb on the exam table. The little girl scrunched her face while she thought about it and I positioned myself on the opposite side of the table.
'I like....bunnies! We have them on the farm!' she squeaked in a high pitch voice. Her tail twitched as she said it and it broke my heart. I flexed open the jaws of the device, stretching the blue elastic docking ring wide.
'Really?! They are my favorite too!' Evelyn replied, leaning down to the play-mat behind her to grab a stuffed animal. She propped it up in her hand and jiggled its head and arms in front of the delighted little girl. She leaned forward to touch it and I took the opportunity to do the procedure. Evelyn was quick to scoop her up as she shrieked with shock. She held her close and crooned gentle comforting words and rubbed her back to ease the distress as I filled out the paperwork and documented the placement of the docking ring.

The band was fitted well, and would leave her with an inch or so of her tail, in about ten days or so. As for the pain, I wasn’t legally able to do anything. Even slipping her an over the counter pill would land me with a malpractice lawsuit. I let Evelyn handle the follow up with the guardians while I retreated to my office for an emergency moral boost from the bottle in my bottom drawer. Booze always helps quieten my thoughts, The silence was something I welcomed, it's the screams of lambs that bother me."