Two Emergencies, One Day

It was a two emergency day. Like one isn't enough.

Tucker, my beloved golden, got a stick stuck...in his mouth.
I noticed he was having trouble because he kept trying to chew on something, and it was clearly making him uncomfortable. He tried to drink, but even that wasn't successful.
i did what came natural to the former dental assistant in me. I opened his mouth, and had a good look.
this is when i saw this:

The stick in the picture is about as thick as a pencil, and about an inch and a half long, and it was lodged across the roof of his mouth, held in by his teeth on either side.
I tried to remove it, but that's not a safe place for a hand.
The vet saw us immediately and removed the offending piece of wood with a good yank and a pair of forceps.
(Note that the photo shows the piece of wood next to the LARGE size of MilkBone, purely for size comparison.)

Emergency two began with a phone call, from an upset client who couldn't find her cat.
I went over to her house, and we searched for over 30 minutes, to no avail. Ghost cat has struck!
Two hours later the client called, relieved to tell me her ghost cat finally came out of hiding!
I KNEW he was there all along, just hiding well in stealth mode.