Unpredictability. It’s one of the things I love most about veterinary medicine, but also a common source of frustration and emotional ups-and-downs. I love that I can never predict my patients: The elderly diabetic tortoiseshell feline is not the grumpy, skeletal cat I was expecting, but a silky well-conditioned cat who looks remarkably young for […]
Roberta Hemmer, DVM
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, 2018
Roberta graduated with her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Tufts University in May 2018. She will be moving back to Vermont where she will work as an associate veterinarian at a small animal general practice in the Northeast Kingdom. Roberta is excited to settle into a new community and can't wait to make more time for hiking, skiing, and singing. She will continue fueling her lifelong love of learning by focusing on interests such as ophthalmology, ultrasonography, and feline medicine.
Herd Health Checks: A Vet Student’s Diary
Hour 1: Two classmates and I carpool to a 10,000-cow dairy, arriving at 8 am to catch the vet as he comes out of a monthly meeting with the herdsmen. The vet is eager to begin work, so he passes out skeins of rectal sleeves, pulls on the ultrasound goggles, and opens the door to […]
The Spooked Lamb
The third emergency of the day was a 2 week old Lincoln lamb, squalling loudly as he was moved onto the blanket-covered table. The little black-and-white faced lamb had presented for a strange hindlimb gait noticed this morning, although he was still able to nurse well. I quickly checked his gum color before listening to […]
