#vetscience

Hi everyone,

After a couple of years away from this blog, I am back! A lot has happened between my last post and now, so I thought I would fill you all in.

My last post described my first ever consult as a qualified veterinarian during my first shift of my rotating internship, in the emergency department. After 4 months in emergency (which to be honest, completely destroyed me - mentally, physically and emotionally), I worked in the oncology and the internal medicine department. I learnt an enormous amount during my internship year. The theory behind my internship was to eventually complete a residency in small animal internal medicine (and my, my has my plans changed).

After my internship, I started working in general practice, in a mixed general practice as a matter of fact. I never thought I would touch another sheep, goat, pig or alpaca but here I am, loving it. In fact, I hand-reared 2 orphan lambs (attached photos), Rory and Tommy. I have completed a 55kg pet pig ex-lap, hundreds of cat speys as a part of my clinics charity program as well as working up interesting and bizarre cases.

Currently, I am in Cambodia doing 3 weeks of volunteer veterinary work. In the 4 days that I have been here I have repaired a diaphragmatic hernia in a 1 year old husky (more on this to follow), completed the most bizarre lump removal on a (failed) de-mining dog and worked up a complicated ascending paralysis case in a 4 month old Bloodhound.

Surgery Rotation

My final rotation of the year! It seems like yesterday that I was following a hand drawn map of the hospital to locate the ophthalmology room for my very first rotation. How far I’ve come!

On this rotation we began with a small group of four students (rather than the usual eight) which was then divided in half, with two students beginning on soft tissue and the other two on orthopaedics. I was assigned to soft tissue surgery for the first week and it was hectic! My buddy and I were run off our feet trying to complete the work of four students. We arrived at 7:30 each morning and didn’t leave until after 7:00 at night when our patient records were completed. Once home, our evenings were spent frantically researching surgical procedures to avoid looking like complete idiots when the specialists inevitably quizzed us the following day.

Students were assigned to cases and responsible for collecting a history during the initial consultation with the owner, performing a physical examination, scrubbing into the surgery, writing a detailed surgical report, looking after the patient in hospital, administering medications, overseeing wound care, recording vitals and the progress of recovery, and eventually discharging the patient. Our ultimate goal was to get our patients through all of those stages and discharged as quickly as possible, to minimise the number of animals in our care and allow us to leave the hospital at a semi-reasonable hour each day.

Another 10 Reasons Why Black Cats Should be Appreciated Today and Every Other Day of the Year!!

1. Most people believe that black cats are of the Bombay cat breed but there are actually 22 cat breeds with black coloured variants. 

2. Black cats are being used as a models to study human diseases as the genes causing their coats to be black are similar to genes that cause resistance to diseases like HIV in humans. 

3. Black cats get some of their bad wrap from Greek Mythology as the Goddess of Death and Witchcraft’s servant was a black cat. 

4. Apart from Greek Mythology, black cats became known as witch’s companions. Shunned women who were found “guilty” of witchcraft were often seen feeding homeless cats - of which the most common colour is black of course! 

5. Black cats are considered good luck in the sailing community - British sailors believed that a black cat was not only a good companion and rat catcher on a ship but brought them good luck and ensured a safe journey and safe return home. 

6. They look like mini panthers! 

7. Due to some of the genes associated with the black coat colour, black cats are more resistant to diseases than other cats. 

8. Black cats can rust - so to speak! If black cats spend too much time in the sun the pigment in their coat can break down to reveal a light dusty, brown colour. 

9. Some animal shelters refuse to re-home black cats during the month of October out of fear that they may be adopted to be used in Halloween rituals. 

10. Lastly and most importantly, black cats just have the sweetest personalities! 

I thought some of you might be wondering how the final year veterinary exams work here in SA since I am busy with them at the moment 😜 Here’s a simple break down...

We write two exams:

1. Clinical Exam - consists of Small Animals, Equines, Production Animals and Wildlife

2. Non-Clinical Exam - consists of Public Health (Milk Hygiene, Meat Safety and Zoonotic Diseases), Pathology, Controlled Diseases, State Vet and Epidemiology

We also do a practical examination which consists of four different practical tasks in a set amount of time.