Last Semester's Experience

My first semester in iQuest started off a little bit rocky because it took longer than expected for me to find a mentor. I had almost given up hope when Mrs. Sekera finally got the call that Dr. Dowd would be happy to mentor me. Once that was settled, the rest of the semester flew by with ease.

I got to experience a lot of great and interesting things at the clinic in such a short time. I feel like I have pretty much seen it all and now feel prepared on what there is to come if I keep going to become a Veterinarian. Not only had the clinic prepared me, but they also gave me an oppurtunity to make money and spend more time there by hiring me as their kennel assistant.

Since I spend so much time there, I am having second thoughts about being a Veterinarian only because I now like the idea of becoming a Veterinary Technician more, but I have always been in between both careers. I haven't officially decided so I still plan to transfer to UC Davis and major in animal biology after I am done with DVC.

The only real bad experience I had at the clinic was when I had randomly fainted while watching the techs wrap up a dog's broken leg (no blood at all).. Since I had already experienced surgery prior to my "fall", I am convinced that it was simply dehydration that was the cause of me fainting.

My first semester was amazing and I plan on having an even better second semester because I don't plan on fainting again.

James Herriot's Dog Stories

 

 

Instead of reading James Herriot's book called All Creatures Great and Small I changed it to another one of his books called Dog Stories. All Creatures Great and Small was mostly about farm animals and I would much rather read about dogs. In the picture above I am 'reading' the book to one of my dogs, Lucy (the black one) and my current foster puppy, Bambi (the tan/white one).

 

Dog Stories is all about the different dog related cases that James Herriot experienced during his time as a Veterinarian. Each chapter is a different story, though some include the same animal but a different occasion. The stories ranged from simple check ups to serious injuries and some even ending in the animal being put to sleep.

 

My favorite part of the book was reading a particular story about a dog named Joshua. Joshua was run over by a tractor and though he had no internal injuries, he was lifeless. The accident had put the dog into such a shock that he had completely withdrawn. Though he was starting to walk and eat a little bit, he never barked like he always had before the accident. All of sudden one night, the families car was stolen. That same night was the first time the family had heard Joshua bark since the accident. This gave the family a new hope and they all knew he was going to recover back into his old self in no time. It was my favorite story because I got to read about how much this family loved their dog and how excited they were about their car getting stolen becasue it lead to Joshua barking. It was the happy ending that I hope to experience as a Veterinarian one day.

 

This book relates to my iQuest project because it is about a Veterianarian and his different adventures he experienced while taking care of animals. Because I work at the clinic, I have actually experienced a lot of the things that Herriot writes about in his book. This made it even more interesting to read because I am able to compare both our experiences. I also got to compare him and Dr. Dowd since I've watched her deal with the same things that he did. It was also cool to read about how much veterinary medicine and the qualifications it takes to become a veteranarian has changed since 1940 (the year Herriot started as a veterinary surgeon).

 

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves dogs. You don't really need to be interested in veterinary medicine to enjoy this book, but you do need to like reading all about dogs.

 

Even though I really hate reading, I really enjoyed this book.



Success!

So today was an exciting day for me at the clinic. Why? Because I got to vaccinate an animal! A cat was in holding in the back meaning his family wasn't there during Dr. Dowd's exam. She figured it would be a perfect time to actually let me prep and do a real shot!

A while back, one of the techs showed me how you would prep a vaccine, basically meaning how you get the medicine into the needle. It doesn't take long but it is harder than it sounds... Mostly because it take some practice to get ALL of the medicine from the vile into the needle. Once I got all the meds in, she actually let me inject it which I wans't expecting at all. It was kind of scary, but a lot of fun and I am happy I got the chance to do it!

It's Been Awhile...

Even though it has been awhile since my last post, nothing new has really happened in the world of veterinary medicine. I've been working at the clinic 9 hours each week plus an extra 5 hours once a month, so I have the opportunity to see stuff a lot more often.

The most recent memory that I can't seem to forget had taken place last week. I was wandering around the clinic and saw a female golden tied up to one of the stations. I went up and pet her and gave her lots of love like I do with all the dogs that are waiting for treatment or to go back out to their families. As I was playing with her, one of the vet techs walked by and informed me that this dog was very sick and it was nice of me to give her a lot of love since it might be her last day. I didn't ask what was wrong with her, I just kept petting her and giving her treats and she snuggled up next to me and fell asleep. She was one of the sweetest dogs I had ever met and I soon found out that she had cancer and if she wasn't put down soon, she would eventually bleed to death on the inside. I then found out that this was the second dog that was diagnostic with cancer that day.

These kinds of things are always heartbreaking, but it felt good that I could give her love and some nice last memories.

Hopefully this week will consist of happier stories and if they occur I will be sure to blog about it!