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 […]
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 […]
