Yesterday I attended another day at my external clinic. There was another student there - a pre-vet student, doing his ten day's worth of work experience prior to being accepted into his course. It was good having another student there, because it gave me a chance to explain some of the things to him while he was watching, which hopefully helped him get a better idea of how the clinic is run as a whole, as well as learning about the vet's role in the clinic.
We had a bitch spey on a Cavalier cross puppy, who was pretty cute, though she did tend to scratch at the cage door if you left her alone. Her surgery went okay, but we had a few problems with the endotracheal (ET) tube's cuff not being inflated to the correct size, meaning that there wasn't a good seal in her trachea, and she wasn't getting as much isoflurane as she should have been - as a result, she definitely felt the first incision, though we remedied that pretty fast. She also had a bout of hypotension, but a small increase in fluid administration rate helped clear that up, and the doppler signal was clear and strong, for her heart rate.
We also had four cats come in for boarding, who all came from the same home, were all strays, feral, or otherwise homeless at some stage, and were all in need of vaccination, worming, and flea treatment. The first of these was not a very friendly cat, and she resented being held quite a lot, and by the time it came to worm her, she was fed up. Unfortunately, this coincided with me using an incorrect grip to secure her paws (I was holding them in one hand with a finger in between and trying to control the head with the other hand) and she managed to get free - though we did get the pill in her first. This led to a bit of a rigmarole, as I didn't think I was going to be able to handle her, but we equally couldn't do much with her running around the consult room. One of the senior vet nurses came to the rescue with a large towel, and after a bit of effort we managed to get her back in a carry cage, though myself and the other vet nurse got scratched a few times.
After that, the vet kindly showed me a much more secure grip for when someone else is able to control the head, which basically has the cat on a table in front of you, with your left hand around its upper left foreleg, and your right hand around its upper right foreleg, with thumbs basically in the armpits and fingers around the front, extending over the elbow joint. Paired with your elbows blocking in the side escape routes, and your chest preventing a backwards escape, this grip was a lot more secure than the one I was trying to use, as long as the cat didn't want to start biting. Using that, we managed to pill, worm, and vaccinate all three other cats with minimal trouble.
Overall, it was an interesting day. I think I learned from my mistakes, and the new grip for pilling should come in very handy - hopefully it will help me prevent other cats from making a bid for freedom.
In a few days, I have my first rotation at the specialist clinic, and I'll be in the medicine department. This will be a big step from my external clinic work, as it will involve animals that are in fairly poor condition, and need to be cared for correctly, with no errors, to prevent unnecessary stress on animals that may not be able to handle it. I have to admit that I'm more than a little bit nervous, but we've been given some preparatory material to look over as an introduction to the department, and I'm planning on studying the areas I'm not very familiar with over the weekend. I've already started going through fluid therapy, as this is a major component of hospital care for long term patients, but we're also expected to take a jugular blood sample, which will be the first time I've stuck a needle anywhere except subcutaneously. I'm hoping for a large dog with nice big veins so that I have a big target, but it will be interesting, to say the least, to see how it goes.
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