Leaders

First week of classes- done! Here's to hoping it stays as simple as it has started haha (yeah- right!)

As I am the "Pre-Veterinary Belly Dancer" it is about time I post something about my dancing. I finished assistant teaching a summer course with my friend who was supposed to also take over the college troupe this year- as I mentioned previously- he transferred to Utah. This left our Troupe leaderless. I told everybody I didn't want it because I didn't have time for it- turns out, nobody else wants it or has time for it either... We held a meeting last night to decide the fate of the Troupe and I (stupidly) took the floor at the meeting and volunteered myself to be the new leader.

Last Fall my friend said he was planning to transfer this Fall (then changed his mind in Spring, then changed it again in Summer as is the norm with him), with that the last leader elected me to take over the Troupe and another dancer offered to "co-run" it with me. I was about 2 weeks away from being announced officially as the new Troupe leader this Spring when my friend had opted to stay-- so I guess I felt a little obligated to become the leader since I had long since agreed to do so in the first place. Thankfully, my friend (the fellow dancer) is still willing to assist me in running things. I also figured it was one more good thing to tack onto my Veterinary applications before sending them off- it's a great way to show leadership, right?

And on the note of beefing up my applications, I noticed I am sorely deficient in any sort of Large Animal experiences. I saw a few LA things during my initial veterinary shadow a few years ago but by a few I mean literally about 3 things. So I figured I should get some and ASAP! I'm also a little umm.. "uncomfortable" around large animals so that's definitely something I need to work on regardless. I asked my friend (the one that left) if I could come visit/brush his horses now-and-then and he and his family said I was welcome to come whenever. I bought 2 brushes for the horses (yes, I bought equine brushes when I don't own any horses lol) and went out for the first time this evening after work.

Meet Gypsy:

And Penny:

Penny is definitely the leader of the two- she is such a butt-headed attention whore! Gypsy is a bit older and much more of a lover. As soon as I got there they asked if I wanted to give them their vaccinations- I, of course, was delighted to get the chance! First vaccination I've ever given- yay! I then got them both good and brushed up, except for their manes because I didn't want to try their patience too much the first day out, and gave them lots of organic celery I brought along for them. They are good horsies- they deserve the attention!

The Foot Behind the Flower Pot

WARNING: This blog will contain graphic images of open wounds and surgical scenes. View this blog at your own discretion.

Imagine being a little girl waking up on your birthday, getting ready for a trip with your family to go to a nearby zoo when there is an odd meowing outside of the house.

This was the beginning of a very cool case to observe. A rural family heard meowing outside on a Thursday night, but not owning any cats (or having any farm cats) they disregarded it and went to bed. The next morning they discovered a very small gray kitten sitting outside near a flower pot, and sitting behind this flower pot was a foot! The kitten's foot to be exact. They bundled the kitten up in an old cloth and brought it (sans foot) to the clinic. This is the condition it came in:

 This is not the best angle but it was the best I could get at the time. You can see that the right hind-foot/leg is fully amputated at about the knee. The whitish area is some kneecap.

The "owners" had no intention of getting a pet but told the vet if the kitten could be repaired and it survived that the kitten would be their daughter's "birthday present". The father told his daughter she could name it "Tripod" or "Lucky".

Initially it was believed that the kitten had recently lost the leg, but it was puzzling that there was little-to-no blood by the flower pot where the kitten was found and the leg was not bleeding. It was then discovered that there was a little colony of maggots living on the inner thigh (near the groin) and it was decided there must have been  trauma of some sort to the leg and once the tissue died the kitten then chewed off its dead limb.

All that was left to do was to clean up the wound and finish the amputation. First it was thoroughly scrubbed, maggots were removed and the area was shaved and prepped.

 

You can see the remaining parts a little better in this photo- like the splinter of femur sticking up here. The excess bone, tissue "debris" and kneecap were removed.

Next any excess skin that was unnecessary for closure was removed. And then it was closed up.

 

 Finally the little guy got his teeny tiny testes tied up & removed. Almost didn't find one they were still so small!

Follow-up: He was named Lucky! He was given an injectable antibiotic but still developed an infection within a few days of surgery, was given an additional antibiotic and is now doing just fine with his new family!

 

Fall Semester

My Fall Semester begins tomorrow: Music History I, Art History I, Physics I, Physics I Lab, & Trigonometry. All lower-level courses so shouldn't be too bad except that Physics is a killer regardless!

Will try to get some of those vet-cases up this week! :)

A Very Long Week

This week was a cluster. I was signed up to take Calculus and Calculus-based Physics this year but there is an entrance exam you have to pass to be able to take Calculus-- I have been in a complete and utter tizzy about passing this exam since I have not taken Trigonometry, it's been 3 years since I took College Algebra and I only ever took 1 semester of Pre-Calc in High School (which was 6 years ago) and my review wasn't going well.

I realized none of the vet schools I am planning to apply to (now looking at 7) actually require "Calculus" I had just assumed, so after some frustrating attempts to verify that I could take the Trigonometry-based Physics I have officially dropped Calc from my schedule and switched to Trig & the Trig-Physics. This also means I have about $300 worth of textbooks to return and my schedule is very... awkward now.

I have also been trying to sign up for an online Animal Nutrition course to meet the requirement for a couple of the vet schools. Oregon State University says on their website that they offer an online course for non-OSU students. So the admissions people emailed me what I needed and I noticed it said "summer session" which is closed and ended today. I called the OSU admissions and turns out they are NOT offering the class online at all this year! What a waste of my time. They did email me 4 other schools that offered AN courses online which are mostly not helpful except for Purdue. I am working on the Purdue app but was told by the Vet Tech today she took one sponsored by Hills through a local college so I am planning to look into that one as well.

Speaking of the clinic- I spent the day there today and it has been my best day shadowing yet! They were very busy, had a few emergency cases, I got to be hands-on again (including getting to have my very own client! -just a nail trim for a doxie, but still!), saw a "new" breed, and I watched the 2 coolest surgeries I've ever gotten to see! I have lots-and-lots of graphic photos of the 2 cases to share but they will each get their own blogs in the next week or so.

I will however share the picture of the "new" breed: a puppy came in that I thought was maybe a weimaraner due to it's color, but it definitely looked more like a lab puppy. It turned out to be a Silver Lab! I didn't know such a color existed in labs before now, I had never seen or heard of one. Apparently they are quite the pricy designer pooch and this poor little girl came in with an extremely bloated abdomen. She had apparently been fed her breakfast by the mom and then after the mom left for work nobody else made sure the puppy didn't have access to the other dogs' food- and it gorged itself! They have only had the puppy for a day now and racked up a $100 bill. X-rays did not show a twisted stomach so some fluids, laxative, and time later the puppy vomited 3 times, pooped twice and was starting to feel a little playful by the end of the day and was allowed to go home.

 

The puppy was very lethargic- due to a killer tummy ache! This is a picture I took after the puppy had been with us for a few hours, the abdomen was probably about 30% or more larger when it first came in.

In non-vet related news I will be training in the new Pet Tech at the doggy daycare tomorrow, having a 'company' BBQ and then saying good-bye to my best friend who is leaving Sunday morning for Utah (because he decided to transfer). I am then leaving for a little vacay with my mom Monday-Wednesday, working all day Thursday and then hopefully spending most of the day at the clinic Friday (and some of the day making wedding invites for my other best friend)-- so it is hard to say when I will be updating again and getting the pictures of those two cases up. They will be worth the wait though! :)

Meet Mr. Squirrel

 

Mr. Squirrel is the squirrel that lives in our neighbor's tree. He is fond of begging for food from my mom & I, but is particularly fond of tormenting my dog Lena- a 7 year old shih tzu I inherited from my grandfather about 2 years ago.

We are rather fond of squirrels (as you can tell from our little collection on the steps- of which one recent addition, a wooden squirrel, is in the ER for a paw that randomly snapped off), but that is nothing compared to my dog's "fondness" for them. We have a large bay window just to the left of those steps and she sits there all day barking at squirrels, especially Mr. Squirrel. She gets so worked up she literally bounces with all 4 paws simultaneously off of the ground because she gets to barking so much. Mr. Squirrel seems to enjoy provoking her as he will just sit on the steps and stare back at her for no good reason. And of course, if Lena ever caught him, she wouldn't know what to do with him. Just the same, it's one of her favorite activities. The best part however is if you bring her to look through the door by the steps or carry her outside to look at the squirrel she is completely silent and will eventually just start crying softly and shaking with excitement- not a single bark out of her! Not when Mr. Squirrel is too close.

I came home from a rather hectic day at the doggy daycare to find Mr. Squirrel and friend in the lawn, Mr. Squirrel then ducked onto the side of the step and froze- in perfect placement of the statues-on the step just below the one on the right! Unfortunately, he moved to the middle of the step by the time I got my camera out.

It has otherwise been a rather uneventful week with many things just not going the way I had hoped... Here's to hoping things start looking up soon! In the meantime, I will have Lena and Mr. Squirrel to entertain me/drive me nuts!