Typical Morning Shenanigans...and a Lesson in Pet Care

I may be the electronic notes representative for our class, but I just learned how to post pictures to my blog. You can start judging me... now.

These are the furry children from the left on a typical morning: Pacino, Quoddy, Jasmine, Ben (and KJ's face)

Ben sleeps like a little person...

They get super cuddly when its cold out and the fleece sheets are on the bed!

True puppy love.

I love these guys like no other. They make us smile and are constantly entertaining us. I know not everyone is as lucky as we are to have two dogs and two cats that genuinely enjoy each other's company - I know that we are lucky. When I have a tough day at school and open the door to see them all cuddling on the couch, it reminds me why I do what I do.

Veterinary medicine is very challenging, yet so rewarding. This summer has been a good lesson in trials and tribulations that go along with a high volume clinic, but I never doubt how much these doctors care about their patients and the lengths that they go to to help the animals and their owners. This afternoon I had a rude awakening that not all owners see their dogs as part of their family. We had an incredibly adorable and young cocker spaniel in for grooming who was a very nervous nellie and marked "careful". She bit one of the kennel girls and looked so pitifully scared while sitting in her kennel. When the owner came to pick her up, I got her out of her kennel (bite-free!) and brought her to the front while sweet talking her the entire time. She took one look at the owner and tried to run back to the kennel. I handed him the leash and he proceeded to grab her and shove her into a cat carrier that was never meant to hold anything larger than a 10 pound cat. This sweet 25-30 pound cocker spaniel couldn't stand up, turn around, or MOVE at all inside that small space. Poor baby. No wonder she acts the way she does. It really bothered me the rest of the day and although this isn't a huge problem - I just wonder how she gets treated at home...

Shared Holiday

Happy Father's day!  and Happy birthday to me!  I can't believe I am 26 years old.  Last night at my cousin's graduation party, someone asked if I was one of my cousin's friends.  My cousin is 17 and just graduated from high school.  Yikes!  Which makes me wonder - Am I going to be taken seriously as a doctor when I graduate?  Or will the clients ask for the "real doctor"?  But I was then told that it is a good thing that I look younger than my age and I will appreciate it one day :)

Interesting case presented on Thursday.  A MN three year old corgi presented with ataxia, difficulty walking/standing on his own, and couldn't keep his head up right (it kept rolling to either side).  The dog look neurologic, with no nystagmus present.  Ran bloodwork - unremarkable other then hypokalemia (value was 2.9).  Rads were fine as well.  Owner insisted there was no way the dog could have gotten into anything (typical).  Ended up recommending that they go to the teaching hospital (where I go to school - about 15 minutes away).  Apparently the owner dropped off the dog and returned home to search the house for anything the dog may have gotten into.  She then discovered that a 1/2 loaf of rye bread dough was missing that she had thrown away.  The dog had eaten it and the dough was fermenting - meaning the dog was essentially drunk!  The dog is doing fine and is home again after a nasty hangover the next morning.  

Which is how I feel right now - graduation party for six hours is a lot of time to drink a lot of beer.  I'm not really looking forward to my 8 mile run this morning... may have to trim that down a bit :)

I'm still a bad blogger.

I love reading other blogs - I check for updates daily. For whatever reason, I've been really bad at keeping up with my own blog, which is weird since I have written diaries/journals for the majority of my life! I am going to make a conscious effort to write and to let you in to the realities of veterinary school and the daily life of a veterinary student - as well as talking about the loves of life (my fiance - KJ, the animals, running, etc).

Anywho - summer is here! What a long and twisty road this past year was! I ended up with pretty great grades considering how difficult spring semester was. The funny thing is that for most of the classes, I had the lowest percentage possible to achieve the letter grade I wanted - but hey, I still did it!

This summer, I am working in the diagnostic lab at school (my regular school year job) and working at my fiance's mom's animal hospital just east of where we live and go to school. It was a large adjustment going from a sedentary student lifestyle to being on our feet all day at work but I'm getting in the groove now and really starting to enjoy it. There have been a number of interesting cases (rodenticide toxicity, possible Blasto case, and many moore) and KJ and I have been getting to "play doctor" and doing a lot of the pre-op bloodwork along anything else they let us do.

I'm starting marathon training in a couple weeks - it is a 16 week program and the goal is the Indianapolis marathon on October 16th. Side goal is to lose about 10 pounds before vacation in August :) KJ and I have been lifting/running in the mornings before work and its going pretty well so far, so I really hope that continues.

The animals are great as always. Still keeping an eye out for any lumps or bumps on Ben (our pti bull). He had a low grade 2 mast cell tumor removed from his scrotum late last year, so he doesn't have that lovely "flap" anymore!

That is life for right now. The dogs are whining at me so I guess its time for dinner!