Wednesday's Occurances

I'm sorry to all of the people who read this normally, you can just skip the first paragraph.  To everyone to has not read this before, read everything I've already posted.

Thanks!

Dogs, dogs, and more dogs.  That's most of what I saw on Wed.  I saw no cats, and one horse, the rest were dogs who started arriving at three, and didn't stop until 5:15 when I left.  Two of the dogs had Arthritis, one was an adorable lab puppy (I will never get a lab) who had waaaaaay too much energy.  I'm starting to think that hyperness is a genetic trait in labs that runs quite high.  Doc's dog, Red, got an ProHeart6 injection. . . I didn't ask what it did, but I could hazard a guess that it had something to do with his cardiovascular system.  I also saw Ginger, a dog who just laid down, gave Whitney her paws and let Whitney trim her nails.  Michelle said that she had never seen another dog do that before, and probably never will see that from another dog.

The horse that I saw was named April.  She has a condition called a shelved vagina which means that her rectum is more than 4 cm further back than her vagina.  So when she poops, guess where it ends up?  Doc had to preform a caslicks operation to help prevent contamination of the vagina and to prevent infection.  I believe that he stitched up part of the vagina, I was running to get the red book of Equine (horse) Practice because I did not know what a caslicks operation was/did.

I will post Day 2 tomorrow, as it's almost 11 now, i'm sorry for the delay.  Until next time,

~Rebecca

Gelding

     yadda yadda yadda If your new, just read every post before this yadda yadda yadda.

Thanks!

     You all remember Jack, right?  The gorgeous horse that I saw on Fri?  The one who was sent to Mexico to be trained and the people attempted to breed him.  The lucky lady didn't want to be bred apparently and kicked him in the testicles.  This morning Jack was gelded (like neutering a dog), and I got to watch! : ) 

     First he was sedated with Xyloxene (pronounced Zylozene) to relax him, and another sedative to make him fall asleep.  Doc then led him into the grass by the Stock (mini stall that makes it easy to check up on the horse). That horse looked drunk.  Before he fell completely asleep he was wobbling around and stumbling.  That was pretty funny.  Then Doc did something interesting with the lead rope, so that when Whitney held the rope taunt, Jack's head was still on the grass but his back legs were spread and one was being held away by Whitney.  Doc made a quick incision and pulled the testicle out of the skin that covered it and used this tool to cut it off, and seal the wound, while he did the same process to the other one.  For such an important organ to the survival of the species, it's not very well protected.  It was amazing to look at the testicles and compare them, because one was filled with scar tissue on the inside, so it was according to Doc, 3 times larger than it was supposed to be, while the mare that kicked him completely decimated the other one.  It was pulp-like and surrounded by scar tissue. Poor guy.

     After that, all that was left to do was wait for Jack to wake up.  When he did he was making low noises that sounded like he was complaining.  My vote goes to that he was telling Whitney and I how bad he has it.  Whitney also pointed out something that I hadn't considered before; when you breed a mare you usually hobble them, or tie their legs together so that they cant do anything about being bred.  Whitney has always objected to it, but she realized that without hobbling the mare, the breeder could lose themselves a good stallion.

     I'll write up tomorrow's activities tomorrow, and I'll try to put Day 2 up as well. Until then,

~Rebecca

Monday in the Office

Ok, so there is a pattern here! If you are new to reading this, please read everything I've written beforehand.

Thanks!

Monday was only slightly eventful.  I saw a lot more cats today than usual.  i usually see about one cat, maybe two.  Yesterday I saw four.  One cat, Oreo, had ear mites, a tooth abscess, and a bladder infection.  Another cat, Sissy, had well developed cancer, and another, Sassy, had FIV.  FIV stands for Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, aka cat AIDS. According to Doc, the vaccine is great and works incredibly well, but the actual treatment for FIV does practically nothing.  So - a note to all of the cat owners reading this - VACCINATE YOUR CAT!!!!!  Sassy had to be put down, and was the first cat I saw get put down. So, all in all, not a very good cat day.  The other cat had a normal exam, and was perfectly healthy.

I also saw a lab yesterday. He was hyper. I've had a puppy and that dog had more energy than Domino ever did.  He was really sweet, and just wanted to lick me and Becky (Monday's vet tech).  His name was Tahoe.  I remember Doc commenting on how big he was "If Tahoe get's any bigger does he become an SUV?"

Unfortunately there were no horses on Monday, so there is nothing to report from that district.

I'll type up today's activities right after I post this and you will get to read all about them!!! Thanks for reading!

~Rebecca

Day One

So, if this is your first time reading any of this, please read all of the previous posts. I took the time and effort to type them all up and i would not enjoy that effort to be wasted.

Thanks!

On my very first day at the clinic I didn't do too much, I mostly learned what I had to do when I first got to work and I also figured out what happened for each exam.  It was a Wednesday so Whitney was the vet tech.  The most interesting thing that occurred was the exam of a cat named Mr. Butterballs.

Mr. Butterballs arrived in a group of three cats and their owners.  the first cat to be examined was Samantha, a really fluffy grayish cat.  she was in a crate that was across the exam room from the other two, because the other two were, to put it kindly, not fond of her.  Samantha was the first cat I ever saw while at the clinic.  Once Samantha's exam was over the next cat was examined.  The third and final cat was Mr. Butterballs.  The other two cats had gone through their examinations quietly, and I expected Mr. Butterballs to do the same.  As soon as Doc started to check his ears, Mr. Butterballs started hissing.  By the time Doc was going to check his teeth he lunged.  Luckily no one got hurt, and that the owners had a towel.  Whitney wrapped the towel around Mr. Butterballs using it to keep him in place so that Doc could give him his vaccines without being bitten or having his eyes clawed out.

Another cool thing that happened was the exam of a horse named Sonny. (FYI I am going to tell all about all of the horses that I see because I want to be an Equine vet, and because I love them so.) Sonny's right hind fetlock was swollen, and Doc prescribed antibiotics because he thought that there was an infection.  That was the horse experience for my first day.  Not very exciting, but oh well, I got to be around a horse!

I will hopefully continue to write up my previous excitements this weekend and i'll add the current ones when they happen.  Untill next time or on Mon when something brand new and different has happened, thanks for reading.

~Rebecca

The Adventures of Me

Before I begin, if you have not read the previous post, please do so it gives a lot of background info and i refer to it when I say a normal day or normal exam.  So please read all of what I took the time to type up. Thanks!

Today was basically quite ordinary.  I only saw one horse, and i feel pretty bad for him.  He is a Stallion which means that he is a male who hasn't been gelded (neutered).  He was sent away last year to Mexico for professional training.  While in Mexico the people there tried to breed him.  The mare to whom he was supposed to breed didn't want to be bred and so she kicked him.  Now one of his testicles is larger than the other because she messed up the bloodstream and he has scar tissue all throughout the area.  The question that the owners had was wether or not he would be fertile.  The verdict was that Doc could either collect a sperm sample or they could just geld him.  They went with just gelding him. He was such a pretty horse, almost a red gold color with a black mane and tail.  His ears had a black tip and he had black stockings too. <3

Other than that my day was quite average.  I got to help a little bit more though.  I held 2 cats while Doc examined them.  Both of them were really good during the exam, no scratching, no hissing, nothing.  That was reassuring for me not having to go fight an angry cat to keep it in place so that it could be examined by Doc.  I saw a lot of dogs getting checked up on for their allergies.  When a dog has an allergic reaction to materials in the air the reactant is hard to determine so the dogs are given an allergy test that costs upwards of $300.  Once that is complete the dogs then get shots designed specifically for them.  I now know how to give a dog a shot because Doc had to tell a patient's owner so that he could give the shot to his dog.  Anyways, after about a month of getting the shots (there is a specific schedule on the form that the owners are given) the dog then comes back to the Vet's so that Doc can see how they are reacting to the medicine, and how well it helps them.

Another thing I did today was feed some horses that are either Doc's or that are boarded at the clinic.  It took forever to find them. they were in this side pasture that Whitney (the vet tech i work with on Wed) didn't look in at the first pass by.  We then got to walk halfway through a large pasture in search of two horses, and when we didn't find them in the large pasture, we walked back to the barn and in front to see if they were waaaaay up there.  They weren't.  After that we got to walk almost all the way up to them to get them to follow up to their designated feeding spots. This all occurred after the storm cover had left and the sun had decided to come and make it not only humid, but hot and humid. fun fun.

Enough complaining.  I do not have work on Fri, so i'll spend the time in between working on typing up my earlier adventures.  The ones that occurred before I got this blog.  Untill I actually find the time to type them up, good bye! and i hope you enjoy reading all about everything that goes on at the Vet clinic where I volunteer.

~Rebecca

Background Information

Well it just so happens that I am volunteering at a Veterinarians office all throughout the summer and because some of the stuff that's going on in my vet's office is noteworthy I created this blog.   My main duties at the office is to clean.  When I arrive I get to sweep and mop the surgery room/Doc's office (We call the vet Doc).  Then I wait for either Becky or Whitney (the veterinary technicians at the vet's office) to arrive and then I either clean the runs (kennels) or something else in the exam room.

By the time Doc gets here at 2:00 the first patient of the day is there and waiting for him.  The Exams for dogs usually start out with either me or Becky/Whitney getting the weight of the dog.  Then we pick the dog up and put it on the exam table while we get it's temperature.  After that Doc comes in and looks at the dog's ears, eyes and mouth.  He asks a few questions about the dog to see if there is anything out of the ordinary then checks the dog's history to see what vaccines are due.

For a cat the routine starts the same -  we get a weight and a temperature, except for the weight there is a special scale.  It looks kind of like the ones that are used in science classrooms but it only has one end so you don't have to balance the scale.  We put the cat in a bucket and put the bucket on the scale.  Other than being shedded upon in extreme quantities the rest of the process is identical to that of a dog's.  After each exam I get to clean the exam table

I haven't seen any normal horse exams so I cant really give an explanation for those.  I have seen Longhorns though.  They were unloaded into a pen with a chute to one side.  All 5 longhorns were then crowded into the small chute.  The longhorns that needed vaccines were given them and Doc asked questions concerning what the owner wanted for the longhorns.  They were going to a show and the owner needed a certain form from Doc saying that they were medically sound and up to date on their shots.

When the last patient of the day leaves I get to sweep and mop the exam room and take out the trash.  Even though most of the work is cleaning, I enjoy the time that I spend at the clinic.

I'll post todays experiences later so please check in then.

~Rebecca