Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Tuesday, January 13
Today was my last day at location b. It was sad, much like Monday. Unfortunately, we only had one surgery today and it was another dental prophy. I didn't do the prophy this time, instead I kept up with Dr. S during the day and got to accompany Dr. L into one of her rooms. Today was neither busy nor slow. Various appointments came in - a couple of spaniels, one with various health problems, a dog being treated for heartworms, a cat to be put down...he'd actually come into location a on Monday and wasn't doing any better overnight, a cute boxer puppy that I saw the first time I shadowed at location b...he was back in for a skin recheck and the last of his puppy boosters, and a few others. There was nothing terribly exciting, but I got to draw blood for an advanced panel we did on an older, overweight Golden Retriever who we suspected to be suffering from arthritis. The owner brought her in because her activity level changed suddenly. A urinanalysis showed nothing of significance but I'm not sure what the blood results said. I also gave a few vxn injections and asked a lot of questions. I saw that Dr. C had posted a packet about ordering a test kit for the MDR1 gene [SIDENOTE] so I did some research and found out what that was. I will definitely be posting about that in the next couple of days. Since I'm done shadowing Dr. S, I'm thinking of moving to a new blog but I haven't decided for certain just yet. I'll update once I've made up my mind.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Monday, January 12
Today was my last day at location a. It was pretty sad when I walked out of the front doors...being the chatterbox I am, I got to know each of the techs and the vets on a personal level. I knew little things about their families, their aspirations, and the oddities about their pets as well as how they came to acquire them. It's hard for me to break little bonds like that. I'm sure I'll be back though, as that will probably become my vet of choice from now on.
Well, Aphrodite (I'm not sure if I mentioned her in a previous post? I believe I did...she was a sick dog from last week) went home and was still doing very poorly. Her owners made the decision to euthanize so she came in today for euthanasia. The clinic was actually quite crazy with appointments today...some people came late and others came early and most were for Dr. S which made things quite hectic! We saw a couple of very sick animals - one very sick (and very old) cat and one very sick, relatively old dog. Both were treated and will be watched by the owners for any improvement in their condition which would indicate they still have some quality of life left in them yet. We also saw a cute little Shih Tzu puppy who came in for her last boosters I believe. She had a very attentive owner, which--while a bit time consuming--is quite refreshing for me to see. I love to see owners concerned about taking proper care of their pets. Another lady came in with two Devon Rexes, one white and one black. Those are pretty nifty cats so that was neat. All in all, there weren't many out-of-the-ordinary cases today (aside from the "quality of life" patients) but it was a good day.
Well, Aphrodite (I'm not sure if I mentioned her in a previous post? I believe I did...she was a sick dog from last week) went home and was still doing very poorly. Her owners made the decision to euthanize so she came in today for euthanasia. The clinic was actually quite crazy with appointments today...some people came late and others came early and most were for Dr. S which made things quite hectic! We saw a couple of very sick animals - one very sick (and very old) cat and one very sick, relatively old dog. Both were treated and will be watched by the owners for any improvement in their condition which would indicate they still have some quality of life left in them yet. We also saw a cute little Shih Tzu puppy who came in for her last boosters I believe. She had a very attentive owner, which--while a bit time consuming--is quite refreshing for me to see. I love to see owners concerned about taking proper care of their pets. Another lady came in with two Devon Rexes, one white and one black. Those are pretty nifty cats so that was neat. All in all, there weren't many out-of-the-ordinary cases today (aside from the "quality of life" patients) but it was a good day.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Tuesday, January 6 / Friday, January 9
Tuesday, January 6
Alright. The details from this past week are hazy. I will list a couple of things I did on Tuesday.
Wow...this is pathetic. I need to update right after I get home...otherwise I end up in this predicament. I will update as more events from the day come to me.
Friday, January 9
Today is one of my last days at the Vet. It was a good day. I had lots of questions for the Vet which she happily answered. She also asked me more questions and I was able to formulate more intelligent responses for her than I have in the past...so that was nice! I also drew blood successfully at the end of the day from the saphenous vein of a dog so that was a nice way to close things out.
Alright. The details from this past week are hazy. I will list a couple of things I did on Tuesday.
- Gave some injections
- Did a dental prophy on a Daschund - a dental prophy is a simple preventative procedure where the teeth are cleaned and polished. It was fun!
Wow...this is pathetic. I need to update right after I get home...otherwise I end up in this predicament. I will update as more events from the day come to me.
Friday, January 9
Today is one of my last days at the Vet. It was a good day. I had lots of questions for the Vet which she happily answered. She also asked me more questions and I was able to formulate more intelligent responses for her than I have in the past...so that was nice! I also drew blood successfully at the end of the day from the saphenous vein of a dog so that was a nice way to close things out.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Monday, January 5
Today, first thing I asked Dr. D about Ashley. It turns out she had to be euthanized. Her bloodwork showed that she was in kidney failure. Her autopsy showed that her liver also had some cells of unknown origin. Dr. D supposed they were macrophages but he said his cytology wasn't very good. He was interested in sending them off to have their identity clarified but the owners didn't want to do anything further than relieving poor Ashley of her misery.
Now this is quite sad but I slacked on my blogging and now I can't remember exactly what I did on monday! I will try to remember and update later! Sorry. :(
Now this is quite sad but I slacked on my blogging and now I can't remember exactly what I did on monday! I will try to remember and update later! Sorry. :(
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Friday, January 2
Happy New Year!
Today was an interesting day at the Vet. Dr. S has been on vacation so today I followed Dr. D and Dr. J (mostly Dr. D) around. I got to watch a cat neuter which I've never seen before so that was great! While neuters in general are pretty simple and quick procedures, cat neuters seemed to be simpler and quicker (it's a product of the anatomy of cats vs. dogs, according to Dr. D and the Vet student there with us) than dog neuters. We also had a spay on a cockapoo. Spays are much more intricate processes but they're very neat to watch up close...especially because I recently took a course on Reproductive Physiology in Animals (last spring), so I knew what I was looking at and I knew what Dr. D was referring to as he walked us through the procedure.
Ashley came back today. It seems that the ADC found that her platelet count was EXTREMELY low. (Don't quote me on these numbers, but I believe Dr. D told me that she went from a 150,000 count to a 35,000 count the next day) It was suspected that maybe the foreign substance she'd gotten into was rat poison. I don't remember the specifics of how they treated her at the ADC but if she'd gotten into rat poison, the treatment there should have cleared it up. However, she came back to us today because now she wasn't keeping any water or food down. It was quite sad. We drew a bit of blood from her to measure her platelet count again. Dr. D had a private conversation with the owner...so I'm not sure what they discussed or what the next step will be for poor Ashley.
A couple of weeks ago we had some feeder mice come in from a pet store. They'd been beat up by another mouse on a rampage in the cage. We checked them out and treated them with antibiotics. Today, one of the mice (the one that had the worst scab) returned. Dr. D thought there were ways we could handle the ugly wound but the pet store didn't want to invest that much money into him so we had to euthanize him.
We also had a puppy come in...this case was quite sad. She was a Christmas puppy for a kid. She was a cute little tan and white mix of some sort. In any case, she was suffering from distemper. The family said they'd taken her to the Vet when she had a cough and that the Vet diagnosed her as having kennel cough. However, a couple of days later, the puppy began have tremors and convulsions and was throwing up so the owners brought her to our Vet. Within an hours time at our place, she was having seizures. It was determined that she was most likely suffering from distemper and that it was progressing so fast that the little treatment we can do for distemper (supportive care) probably would not have saved her life. (Sidenote: I will update with information about distemper at a later date.) I'm not sure what happened later on in the day but I'm fairly certain that the puppy had to be euthanized.
Today was an interesting day at the Vet. Dr. S has been on vacation so today I followed Dr. D and Dr. J (mostly Dr. D) around. I got to watch a cat neuter which I've never seen before so that was great! While neuters in general are pretty simple and quick procedures, cat neuters seemed to be simpler and quicker (it's a product of the anatomy of cats vs. dogs, according to Dr. D and the Vet student there with us) than dog neuters. We also had a spay on a cockapoo. Spays are much more intricate processes but they're very neat to watch up close...especially because I recently took a course on Reproductive Physiology in Animals (last spring), so I knew what I was looking at and I knew what Dr. D was referring to as he walked us through the procedure.
Ashley came back today. It seems that the ADC found that her platelet count was EXTREMELY low. (Don't quote me on these numbers, but I believe Dr. D told me that she went from a 150,000 count to a 35,000 count the next day) It was suspected that maybe the foreign substance she'd gotten into was rat poison. I don't remember the specifics of how they treated her at the ADC but if she'd gotten into rat poison, the treatment there should have cleared it up. However, she came back to us today because now she wasn't keeping any water or food down. It was quite sad. We drew a bit of blood from her to measure her platelet count again. Dr. D had a private conversation with the owner...so I'm not sure what they discussed or what the next step will be for poor Ashley.
A couple of weeks ago we had some feeder mice come in from a pet store. They'd been beat up by another mouse on a rampage in the cage. We checked them out and treated them with antibiotics. Today, one of the mice (the one that had the worst scab) returned. Dr. D thought there were ways we could handle the ugly wound but the pet store didn't want to invest that much money into him so we had to euthanize him.
We also had a puppy come in...this case was quite sad. She was a Christmas puppy for a kid. She was a cute little tan and white mix of some sort. In any case, she was suffering from distemper. The family said they'd taken her to the Vet when she had a cough and that the Vet diagnosed her as having kennel cough. However, a couple of days later, the puppy began have tremors and convulsions and was throwing up so the owners brought her to our Vet. Within an hours time at our place, she was having seizures. It was determined that she was most likely suffering from distemper and that it was progressing so fast that the little treatment we can do for distemper (supportive care) probably would not have saved her life. (Sidenote: I will update with information about distemper at a later date.) I'm not sure what happened later on in the day but I'm fairly certain that the puppy had to be euthanized.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 29
Today was interesting. We had a macaw with a neurological disorder come in, three snakes come in for boarding, various other appointments, and then a silver (I think she was actually brown with an activated dilution gene) Shepherd-type mix come in for what we originally thought was poisining.
I'll start with the macaw because her story is shorter. I wasn't there long enough to find out what she was diagnosed with, but the macaw came to us because she'd been exhibiting the inability to balance and random, uncontrollable shaking of her head for about three months (since the owner got her). She would also take a few steps and fall, take a few steps and fall, etc. whenever she walked. The owners said she could fly fine, but couldn't climb. The bird was quite affectionate but very obviously had a neurological disorder. I'll update when I find out what they diagnosed her with.
Long story short, the owners had a bit of sand—that had mixed with the contents of a busted aerosol can filled with rose insecticide—in the corner of the yard. They have four dogs and none of the dogs seemed interested in the pile. Then this morning, they saw Ashley (the dog) digging through and eating from the sand. She then staggered into the house, layed down, and defecated on herself. They brought her in immediately. When she came in, her temperature registered at 97.5°. A dog's temperature should be around 101°. 99° would be something to be concerned about so as you can tell...97.5° is much too low! She was very cold to the touch. We looked up the ingredients in the particular formulation of insecticide they said had busted in the sand and even checked with a few other sources and found that these particular ingredients would not poison a dog. In the meanwhile, we got a catheter in (it took about six tries between the different nurses who tried because Ashley's blood pressure was terrible! Poor pup.) and started fluids on her. We also put some warm towels on her and placed some warm fluid bags beneath the towels to help get her temperature up. We drew blood and Dr. D ran a CBC on it...there were four values that were abnormally high (I will update with the names of the values after I go back on Friday) which indicated trouble with the kidney and the liver. So Dr. D began to think of alternatives...one of which included that perhaps Ashley was suffering from ethylene glycol poisoning. Ethylene glycol poisoning is what happens to dogs when they eat antifreeze. We promptly called up one of the local emergency clinics to order an ethylene glycol test. While we were waiting for an estimate on the cost of that, Dr. D did an ultrasound on Ashley. He extracted urine from her bladder and in the process discovered that Ashley had ascites (fluid in the abdomen). This meant that perhaps the situation was even more serious than we were already worried it was. Dr. D extracted some of the fluid from the abdomen...it was blood! The blood clotted in a few minutes which indicated that Ashley was still actively bleeding. This is when we called the closest Animal Diagnostic Center. I don't know exactly why Dr. D wanted to send Ashley there but we knew that in order to figure out exactly what was going on with her, we were going to have to do an abdominal exploratory surgery anyway so he called them up. I left around this time, but he had Ashley's owners come pick her up and bring her to the ADC. I really hope things turn out for the better for this pup; she was a sweet, pretty little gal. I'll update when I found out how things went with her as well.
I'll start with the macaw because her story is shorter. I wasn't there long enough to find out what she was diagnosed with, but the macaw came to us because she'd been exhibiting the inability to balance and random, uncontrollable shaking of her head for about three months (since the owner got her). She would also take a few steps and fall, take a few steps and fall, etc. whenever she walked. The owners said she could fly fine, but couldn't climb. The bird was quite affectionate but very obviously had a neurological disorder. I'll update when I find out what they diagnosed her with.
Long story short, the owners had a bit of sand—that had mixed with the contents of a busted aerosol can filled with rose insecticide—in the corner of the yard. They have four dogs and none of the dogs seemed interested in the pile. Then this morning, they saw Ashley (the dog) digging through and eating from the sand. She then staggered into the house, layed down, and defecated on herself. They brought her in immediately. When she came in, her temperature registered at 97.5°. A dog's temperature should be around 101°. 99° would be something to be concerned about so as you can tell...97.5° is much too low! She was very cold to the touch. We looked up the ingredients in the particular formulation of insecticide they said had busted in the sand and even checked with a few other sources and found that these particular ingredients would not poison a dog. In the meanwhile, we got a catheter in (it took about six tries between the different nurses who tried because Ashley's blood pressure was terrible! Poor pup.) and started fluids on her. We also put some warm towels on her and placed some warm fluid bags beneath the towels to help get her temperature up. We drew blood and Dr. D ran a CBC on it...there were four values that were abnormally high (I will update with the names of the values after I go back on Friday) which indicated trouble with the kidney and the liver. So Dr. D began to think of alternatives...one of which included that perhaps Ashley was suffering from ethylene glycol poisoning. Ethylene glycol poisoning is what happens to dogs when they eat antifreeze. We promptly called up one of the local emergency clinics to order an ethylene glycol test. While we were waiting for an estimate on the cost of that, Dr. D did an ultrasound on Ashley. He extracted urine from her bladder and in the process discovered that Ashley had ascites (fluid in the abdomen). This meant that perhaps the situation was even more serious than we were already worried it was. Dr. D extracted some of the fluid from the abdomen...it was blood! The blood clotted in a few minutes which indicated that Ashley was still actively bleeding. This is when we called the closest Animal Diagnostic Center. I don't know exactly why Dr. D wanted to send Ashley there but we knew that in order to figure out exactly what was going on with her, we were going to have to do an abdominal exploratory surgery anyway so he called them up. I left around this time, but he had Ashley's owners come pick her up and bring her to the ADC. I really hope things turn out for the better for this pup; she was a sweet, pretty little gal. I'll update when I found out how things went with her as well.
Friday, December 26, 2008
Friday, December 26
Today was extremely enjoyable. While the clinic was relatively slow (the day after Christmas in a Vet clinic can often be that way), I got a bit more hands on and was able to interact with the customers more. It started with a very ticked off kitty who needed blood drawn. Once that life threatening task was over, I shadowed Dr. S in a room with a less-ticked-off (but still not happy) kitty who is suspected to have suffered a stroke. What was interesting is that we had two cases of cardiomyopathy occur today and I've been trying to pull together research on that very disease in order to post my sidenote information about it (one suspected and the other was confirmed as the cause of death). Dr. J performed an autopsy on the second cat and after looking at the heart was fairly certain that he was suffering from heart failure. While sad, it was incredibly interesting to see his heart. The left ventricle was ten times the thickness of the right ventricle! Granted, the left ventricle is supposed to be slightly thicker than the right ventricle but certainly not ten times as thick. Something odd she also noted was that his heart was smaller than it should have been. I'm not completely sure what caused that, but I will hopefully have more information when I go back on Monday. Once she was finished with her autopsy, she allowed me to suture the cat back up before he was cremated. I learned how to do running sutures as well as how to tie knots when you've finished suturing. That was the highlight of my day and also my week! I've now got plans to practice on stuffed animals so that I can prepare for my Veterinary days. I also got to practice drawing blood from the cephalic veins (the vein that runs through the front legs) on about three dogs. I was only able to accurately hit the vein on a larger dog. With time and practice, I'll be able to get the veins on smaller dogs and those wiggly-veined Dachshunds!
Edit: I forgot to mention the other pretty neat thing I saw at the Vet today. Dr. S has a cat that was given to her by some former clients. You see, the cat was an at-risk patient and ended up dying under anesthesia. However, Dr. S was able to bring her back. She did suffer some brain damage and in the beginning, she was blind so the owners didn't want her back. She's no longer blind (Well not totally...she doesn't see very clearly. She can see shadows and general places of where things are, though) but does have some evidence of brain trauma. She swats at things that aren't necessarily there (either that or her depth perception is off) and she gets very, very stressed (very, very ANGRY) and it takes her a couple of days to calm down after she's had to travel. (i.e. to and from the actual vet office.) Well I just thought I would add that because that was an interesting part of my day which built on my experience.
Edit: I forgot to mention the other pretty neat thing I saw at the Vet today. Dr. S has a cat that was given to her by some former clients. You see, the cat was an at-risk patient and ended up dying under anesthesia. However, Dr. S was able to bring her back. She did suffer some brain damage and in the beginning, she was blind so the owners didn't want her back. She's no longer blind (Well not totally...she doesn't see very clearly. She can see shadows and general places of where things are, though) but does have some evidence of brain trauma. She swats at things that aren't necessarily there (either that or her depth perception is off) and she gets very, very stressed (very, very ANGRY) and it takes her a couple of days to calm down after she's had to travel. (i.e. to and from the actual vet office.) Well I just thought I would add that because that was an interesting part of my day which built on my experience.
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