Aborted Pups

Sometimes things make no sense. Like me- I make no sense.

The first thing that happened today when I walked in the clinic and was looking over the animals in the back was that the doc on staff (Dr. K) offered to let me check out some aborted puppies from the morning spay. I had seen the little poodle looking depressed and asked what had happened to her, they said she was a pregnant spay- she had been bred by her son. Oops. Having never seen one of these before, I asked how old the pups were, etc. So Dr. K asked if I wanted to see them- of course I answered yes because I'm sick like that and I think these things are terribly fascinating.

So he dug around in the trash can, pulled up the uterus and plopped it on the table, gave me a pair of surgical scissors and told me to go to town... It was awesome- I got to look at the different layers of the uterine wall, check out the umbilical sack, the placenta (which is very differently arranged than what I am used to with horses), and the dead pups ( which I did not dissect because I thought maybe that was a little too far). It was bloody and oozey and there were dead things... and I wasn't bothered at all. Not the slightest bit of dizziness or anything else. Dr. K. explained the bits to me and showed me where everything was and talked to me about the case. It was awesome.

The rest of the day was pretty exciting- I got to see a torn ACL and the wigglage of the knee joint (which you usually cannot see at all in a healthy dog), and got an explanation of all the bits and parts. We saw a ton of puppies and kittens today- 6 kittens and 2 puppies, all from different places. All the kittens probably had worms. Everybody was flea infested (talk about getting a case of the ghost itches). We also saw two dogs with bad bacterial ear infections, and a chihuahua with the strangest skin condition I have ever seen, where just it's poor ears were peeling. Dr. K. wasn't sure if it was fungal or bacterial, but it sure was weird.

I very much enjoyed Dr. K- this is my first time shadowing with him, and he is a very personable guy. He reminds me of Doc (the equine vet) quite a bit- same extreme intelligence and teacher quality. He was also genuinely interested in my life, what I've done, who I know, that sort of thing. Turns out we know a lot of the same people and he is involved with a lot of the places I am involved with, so it was very fascinating. He also runs a multi-vet equine practice in the same town, and so I asked him about shadowing opportunities for the club- it is a bit closer than Docs, and the more practices we can get students involved with, the better. He said no one had ever asked him about it, but he would look into it to see if it would be okay and then let me know. He also was great about teaching me things today- I love when vets take the time to explain not only what it means to see a certain bacterial culture, but also how it affects the animal, the name of the disease that it causes and how to treat it. I hope one day to do the same to my interns!

Tomorrow will be pretty busy- I get out of class at noon and have to leave for my cousin's wedding at three. I am very excited though- I'm sure it will be a wonderful occasion.

~Melissa