Today, I was supposed to have a double volunteering shift at the clinic. 8:30am-1:00pm then 3:00pm-5:00pm. But there was only one dog and three cats today, so we finished at 10:30am LOL. All I really got to do was set up cages, set up heating pads, fold surgery towels, intubate and extubate a dog, clean cat testes, and play with Butters.

Lucy and Pigpen got adopted! I walked into the clinic and there weren’t two grey balls of kitten energy running around. It was kinda sad but I’m glad they got adopted. I miss them already. I’ll still always have Micky and Butters there to play with though.

I received an e-mail from the New England Aquarium. I got an invitation to go have a one hour interview for being an intern at their medical center! SO NERVOUS. I hope I don’t screw this up ._.

Finished an hour early at the clinic today. It was my last shift in the surgery clinic until spring break or until I have a day off of school. Lily Blossom and Couscous are in the clinic. They just got spayed/neutered. Loveee those bunnies. 

I got to do lots of post-op stuff :D And I met a girl named Beatrice today who’s waiting to hear back from vet schools. Makes me so nervous just thinking about it. 

There’s a kitten named Tucker whose brother got adopted so he was super upset and clingy. So we filled his cage with giant stuffed animals and he cuddles them. SOOO CUTE. He got neutered today and woke up all drugged and cuddling with his stuffed duck. 

Also, Olivia, a vet tech was talking to me about lots of things. We talked about Hawaii and Anonymous. It was funny. She’s this blonde girl with dreadlocks with an attorney boyfriend. So he’s against her supporting Anonymous LOL. Then she told me to contact this woman that works at the MSPCA that also works as part of the rescue team for the aquarium. She’s been doing it for 25 years so she can give a good word for me for my internship. :D

At the shelter, there’s a bad respiratory infection going around in the iso room. Had to fully gown up to medicate them. Everyone’s eyes were so crusty. Gus wasn’t though :] It was his last day in iso. I’m kinda sad that he’ll be on the adoption floor soon. I want him D: Then I medicated a rat today. He was surprisingly super easy to medicate.

Everyone’s having fun in the living room right now. But I have to try to sleep because I need to wake up at 7am tomorrow :[ And working from 8-1 in a surgery clinic is no fun when you have no sleep. I’d rather work and not be falling asleep as I prep animals for surgery.

So this past Thursday, I volunteered at the shelter surgery clinic again. It’s always fun there. I kinda like surgery.

There are two new kittens temporarily living there. One’s really dirty though because he likes to go through the trash and not clean himself up after. He also threw up a lot. Next to the litter box, next to the water bowl, next to the food, and then almost right on top of his cagemate. We were freaking out yelling “NO! NOT THE OTHER KITTEN!” Then we had to clean the cage >.> His cagemate was so excited to leave there LOL.

I learned why Butters is always shaved funny. Apparently, he rips his own fur out when it gets too long.

Also, I got to do more post-op and pre-op things. I like when I can do things on my own :D

AND I WAS SO SAD I MISSED THIS OPPORTUNITY BUT I WAS JUST SO HUNGRY AND LIGHT-HEADED. The shift is from 8:30am-1pm. No breaks. And when I’m up that early, I’m not hungry. I forced myself to eat a little though. But I guess it wasn’t enough to last. I was going to stay past 1 to watch a dystocia surgery.

There was a 1-year old pekingese who gave birth to four mutated stillborn puppies. And the last two were still stuck in the vaginal canal. She’s been like that for three days and hasn’t eaten at all. There was bacteria growing all over her because the dead puppies were just rotting inside of her. She smelled so bad and the infected area was all green. The owners couldn’t afford an examination. Or this surgery. So they surrendered her to the shelter.

I wish I could’ve stayed to watch but I was dying for food >.> I need to start packing lunches. Olivia told me dystocia surgeries are super intense. Sometimes the green bacteria will spray out… like literally spray because of all the pressure from it building up in there. She said once it landed on her lip. And she’s TALL. So the surgeons usually wear full face masks for this.

GAH. I WANT TO WATCHHHH.

Went to Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine’s open house today.

IT WAS SO FUN. It just makes me want to go to the school even more! THERE WAS JUST SO MANY THINGS. And I learned that it’s a non-track school, which is apparently pretty rare in vet schools? I like that though.

And I found out I’m on the right track :D

Their average GPA is 3.6. GRE Verbal score is 161, Quantitative is 158, and writing is 4.5. And they don’t count hours of experience the way other schools do. They focus on the depth and breadth of your experience. YES. ANDDD 1/3 of their accepted applicant spots are for MA residents only. YAY.

MUST BE AN OVERACHIEVER SO I CAN GO HERE. 

Also, that cow has a hole in her stomach. Her name is Portia. I learned that she's a rumen donator. It's still so weird to me.

And alpacas are super soft. And funny looking. I LIKE IT.

Medications shift #... 3?

So my previous shift on Wednesday, I was all alone :o The lady I usually work with, Sue, was busy and couldn’t come in. I had to leave a lot of medications for the staff because I don’t have enough training to medicate dogs yet. It didn’t take as long to do it alone as expected though. But I had a lot of questions to ask. It made me feel bad that I was interrupting their work, but everyone is so nice when I ask questions. They all say “thanks for asking” afterwards.

My shift before this, I watched Sue give a cat a pill. I had to do that today, but the vets said that they found out he likes Pill Pockets, which are a treat that you could put the pill inside and they’ll eat it. Whew. No prying his mouth open and throwing the pill into the back of his throat LOL. 

I had to medicate these three bunnies. I remember them from when I was in the surgery clinic. I had to clean their cage. I had to medicate them last because they had a very contagious bunny virus. I forgot the name of it. But bunnies are surprisingly easy to give medicine to… once you calm them down.

This is Butters. He’s one of the cats that live at the clinic I volunteer at. He doesn’t know how to purr. It’s a half meow half purr sound.

Don’t you just love the way they shave him? LOL.

PM Medical Rounds: First shift

So on Wednesday, I had my first shift medicating animals.

And there was a blackout. I got there and it was dark. The room with all of the sick animals had no windows, so we had to go in with flashlights! The vets joked and said they figured that if I can do it in the dark, I’ll be a pro in the light, so they turned off the electricity lol.

It actually wasn’t too hard. My 3 hour shift ended up being only 1 hour. We finished that fast. And in the dark! There was a bunny that was super easy to give medication to. She went up to me and opened her mouth as soon as she saw the syringe LOL. SO CUTE.

And it was a lot easier medicating them after they taught me the method. Man, I wish I knew these methods when Bert was sick! It was such a hassle medicating him :p

Also, Butters got a new haircut. He looks like a lion. A hunchback lion. He is the weirdest cat LOL.

So yesterday, I went to my last surgery assistant shift until winter break.

I got to learn how to hold a cat and dog to intubate them. And I got to prep a whole cat by myself. Shaving them is hard. They just have so much fur. And it’s hard to avoid giving them razor burn or cutting their nipples :[ 

I also had to clean some cages. There were three cute baby bunnies! One was a lot bigger but he was the same age as the other two. I think he eats all of their food. I got to hold them, pet them, and play with them. I really want a bunny now. Especially now that I know how cuddly they can be.

And there was a cute black kitten with big blue eyes. It was so small, you could have it sit  comfortably in the palm of your hand. It had a coccidia parasite though. So it smelled really bad. It had bad diarrhea, so it was walking around uncomfortably because its butt burned. And it threw up a lot in its litter box. It was so sad. But it wanted to play soooo bad. Whenever you walk by the cage, it’d follow. Even jumped in the water bowl in an attempt to follow me. I WANTED TO PLAY WITH IT SO BAD. There was also a new black cat at the clinic as a temporary resident. Her name was Precious. She has a missing leg. Apparently, people at the shelter call the three-legged pets “Tripods”. She was soooo nice. Simba was in a grumpy mood though, so he hissed and growled at her the whole time. 

And the highlight of my shift was… a monk came in. With his own paparazzi. He blessed the animals. It was… interesting. LOL.

Surgery Assisting - August 21, 2012

So since I’m getting used to being there, it’s not like “OH MAN EVERYTHING IS SO COOL!” anymore, but still really fun. Today, we did mostly adult cats from the shelter because there’s an adopt-athon this weekend where all cats 1 year and older is free! 

While I was pulling some Heparin, an anticoagulant, today, I accidentally stabbed myself with the needle. I was trying to get the syringe off the needle to keep the needle in the vial but it was stuck on there pretty good… then the needle slipped out and stabbed me. With anticoagulant on it. So I bled. A LOT. It dripped down my hand. I didn’t think a small needle could make me bleed that much. 

I learned how to shave them. Didn’t try yet though. Learned how to strap a dog onto the table. Got to practice giving more vaccines. Practiced sanitizing the incision area for surgery. Clipped nails. Lubed the eyes. Brought cats to and from surgery. I think I got the hole post-op routine down. I learned more about the anesthetic machine, like how to know which number to set it to on my own and stuff. 

I’m kind of sad that next week is my last week in surgery assistance. But I get to do it again during winter break! I’ll just be doing medicine work during the school days :p

So yesterday, I was more active as a surgery assistant. I knew to clean the tables after every animal. I set up spare cages when it was slow. Put body parts in the bowl LOL. And I got to do more vaccinations. I remember what most of them are and what they do now. And if they’re inter muscular or sub q. Still haven’t learned how to intubate them though. Oh, and I got to clean the incision area before surgery and clip nails. Haven’t gotten the chance to shave them yet :p

Today, I had my working interview at the MSPCA. Unfortunately, it was a super super slow day so I couldn’t show my potential. It was so slow that even the other technicians were doing nothing but reading magazines. All I basically did was label things, send them to the lab and I got to put away a dead body. It was this huge German Shepherd that got put to sleep. He was leaking some bile. It smelled SO BAD. The morgue is pretty cold too. Kinda creepy.

That’s pretty much it… I wish it was busier so I could’ve helped more >.>

First day of being a Surgery Clinic Assistant!

Today, I had to wake up and be at the clinic by 8:30. There were these 4 cats wandering around the clinic. Two of them were permanent residents of the clinic, Micky and Butters. Butters is one funny cat. Looks like Bert but with eyes that are far apart so he looks kinda stupid LOL. One of the vet techs likes to say he has no brain :p So when she got all the cats “stoned” with catnip, she said it doesn’t affect him since he has no brain. There are also two temporary cat residents, Whirligig and Simba. Whirligig is a tiny kitten who’s missing an eye. He’s super cute and hyper. There was also a bunny… that’s overly friendly and made it hard for me to clean his cage. But omg, he was so cute.

That’s Butters LOL. He’s the funniest looking cat, but so sweet!

So everything was so overwhelming for me today. So many things to see and learn! I thought I’d be nervous watching a surgery but surprisingly, I wasn’t nervous at all! Neutering was interesting… Watching them pull the testes out of the scrotum and cutting it off. They put all the testes of the day in one bowl LMAO. So weird to see a bowl full of different sized testes…

I got to see them extuberate animals, where they put the tube into their mouth to give them oxygen? I think they said it was called extuberating. And learned to shave and sanitize them. Clip nails and clean ears. Watched them clear the animals’ bladders, which was really weird because they just squeeze the stomach where the bladder is and all this pee just comes pouring out! 

Then eventually, they taught me how to do injections, both the sub q and intermuscular ones. I was kinda nervous to give them a shot, but it wasn’t too bad. I also got to make some drug suspensions and decorate medicine bottles for them LOL. And learned how to inject microchips, IV lines, and how to operate the anesthetic machine.

So much to learn! But it was fun and interesting. Can’t wait until I can actually do it all myself and not just watch :p