Shadowing!

I really need to come up with some better titles.

Yesterday I was going to shadow, but a high schooler was in, so I instead headed up to the SPCA for a couple of hours to play with cats and dogs. In the evening we went to "my" hospital for the doctors to give the pre-vet club a tour and talk to them a little bit about the vet profession. Between the two of them they have done small animal, cattle, horse, exotics and research, so they are just really awesome people to talk to. I really hope the club enjoyed it- we got seven people out, so that was a good number at least.

Today I went in at 8 am and am glad I did! It was certainly a very busy day and I'm very happy I was around to give a hand. The very first appointment was a beagle for vaccines and a nail trim, and he was quite possibly the worst dog I have ever seen in terms of acting up. You would have thought we were cutting off his entire toes, not just trimming him. We got one foot finished and a snagged, bloody  nail (that did, I'm sure, actually hurt), before it was just no longer worth it. We returned the dog to the woman with a suggestion that she work with him on it.

That started the bad nails for the day... we had a chihuahua with a wrenched toe and toenail that couldn't come off because it wasn't loose enough, but was causing a heck of a lot of pain; a big bug-eyed pit whose owner wanted the nails "show-short" and kept sending the techs to take off more, regardless of whether or not they bled; and, strangely, a cat with ingrown toenails. The cat never shed it's nails, clawed on anything or chewed them off, and they continued to grow around and into it's paws. It wasn't too badly infected, but I'm sure that poor cat was hurting. The worst part was that she was so good for us to clip her nails... it literally would only take the woman bringing her in once every two months and getting them clipped to have this never be a problem.

We also did three euthanasias today, quite sadly. One of them was a six week old kitten that these people had brought in from the barn or somewhere outdoors. It had been at the hospital but was doing horribly due to whatever had happened to it- I'm not sure if it had gotten hit by a car or was just deathly anemic due to the fleas. It's breathing was erratic and it's eyes were goopy, it's gums a stark white. I held it for awhile while they talked to the owners, and I am sure it was a relief for that poor baby to go to heaven.

The second euthanasia was a older golden retriever who had a humongous tumor that extended all the way from her vulva down about halfway through her abdomen. It had grown quickly, and was a very hard, almost bone-like mass, that yesterday had begun seeping huge amounts of blood and puss out the dog's vulva. She was happy and  bright, but had stopped eating and drinking and was very much fighting with the cancer (or so I assume it was). There was nothing that could have been done with that extensive of a mass however, and so she as well was sent to doggy heaven.

The third one was much scarier. The dog came in and was shaking, had a low temp and had had bloody diarrhea for a day. We took him to the back and he vomited up yellow fluid, and then about a minute later squirted about half a gallon of blood out of his back end. The most solid thing in it was blood clots. They did a CBC on him, and his white blood cell count was astronomically low. Amongst all the other symptoms, it was a no-brainer that he had parvo. The official test came back positive. Amazingly, this was the second dog in two days that had come in with parvo, both from different rescues, and both which had to have come in to the rescue with the disease. So sad that such a bad disease, which can be stopped with only two fairly inexpensive vaccines given as a puppy, can be so prevalent...We then had to bleach down the entire hospital to make sure there was no contamination. As soon as I got home, I stripped and washed all my clothes and shoes with extremely hot water.

And then of course once I got home the dog peed on the carpet (not like I hadn't cleaned up enough bodily fluids today), the sink was leaking, the dishes had piled up, the carpet was covered in hair (the Rem-monster is shedding), and I still have an essay to finish writing before Monday. Oh yeah, and a lab report, and a quiz and starting to study for finals. And to think just two days ago I was thinking about how badly I need a job... I forgot about the fact that I have no time! I guess it's just one of those days where everything piles up on you.

Hope your weekend is going better than mine!

~Melissa