When I
first came today, there was a pekinese named Bailey who had a cyst on
side that had ruptured inside her skin.
Dr. Mark cleaned her off and gave her owner some ointment to apply on
the wound. After Bailey, we had a lab mix
named Coffee who had a strange lump on her elbow. Dr. Roberta drew some blood
and drew some of the fluid from the lump, but it came back non-cancerous so luckily
it’s harmless. We didn’t really have any
appointments for a bit after that (just small things like nail trimmings), so I
fed and stimulated (made them go to the bathroom) the kittens again and walked
around to see how the animals were doing.
I found out that Jetta (the diabetic cat) had been euthanized the night
before, which, as sad as it was, was overall was good to hear because she had been in a lot of pain,
and just overall not doing well the past couple of days. I also saw that the police department had brought in a ferret during the previous night, but we don’t know if the ferret has an owner or not so
we’re housing him for now.
The cyst on Bailey's side.
A closer veiw of the cyst.
The lump on Coffee's elbow.
Coffee.
The four kittens we received yesterday.
The ferret.
Technician appointments (ear cleanings, nail clippings, etc.) and walk-ins were sort of slow again today, except for Dr. Lou, who was swamped with surgeries. In addition to having a few regular
checkup appointments (blood draws, ear cleanings, etc.), she also had four
spays, two neuters, two cat declaw dewclaws, two lump removals, and a dental
surgery to complete throughout the day.
Dr. Todd and Dr. Amanda both also had surgeries, so even though there
weren’t too many appointments going on, there was always something going on in
the surgery room today.
The
surgeries I watched today were lump removals and declaws. The first lump removal surgery was a mass
cell on a dog. Dr. Todd removed it, making
a wide, diamond-shaped cut in the skin with the laser, cut a little bit into
the fatty tissue, and removed that diamond-shaped area with the lump. He was pretty sure that it wasn’t cancerous,
but he was sending it in for tests just to make sure. The other lump removal was on Jenny, the dog
who came in yesterday with the mysterious lump in the armpit area her front
left leg. The owners had said that the
lump kept bleeding since she had come in yesterday, so Dr. Amanda took her into
surgery to remove it. Since the lump
wasn’t inside the skin, and since we knew it was only filled with blood, Dr.
Amanda simply made an incision and carefully poked around the area of the lump
while she was removing it so she wouldn’t accidently hit any major blood
vessels. Because it was outside the skin
and only filled with blood, it really wasn’t a harmful lump, so it wasn’t sent
in for tests or anything. The last lump
removal was on a cat named Kabu that was receiving a dental treatment. Dr. Karen noticed the lump while performing the dental procedure. Since he was sill unconsious from the dental, she was able to just grab the laser and start working on getting rid of it. It was a tiny lump (like a cyst) by the cat’s
eye, so Dr. Karen took the laser and removed the lump by killing off the cells
with the laser.
Dr. Todd cutting through the fat around the diamond-shaped area he lasered.
The removed lump.
Dr. Todd stitching up the tissues and skin.
The finished stitching and stapling.
The lump under Jenny's arm (after Dr. Karen drained it of most of it's blood filling yesterday)
Dr. Amanda removing Jenny's lump.
Stitching up the incision.
The finished stitching.
Dr. Karen lasering off the tiny lump/cyst by Kabu's eye.
After the lasering. The small brown spot was where the lump/cyst used to be.
The
declaw procedures were simpler than I thought they’d be, but then again I wasn’t
sure how these procedures were done in the first place. After putting the cats (Ozzie and Harriet)
under anesthesia, Dr. Lou showed me how to properly cut the claw below the
joint (where the claw would start to bleed; animals get very nervous when their
claws/nails get trimmed because a vessel runs into each claw/nail, and if they
are cut down too low, they start to bleed.
Just like if a human nail gets cut down too far). After cutting the claw down about as far as
it can be cut, Dr. Lou pulled out the last bit of claw that was left in the toe
and showed me how a smooth bone should be clearly seen. Once she finished that, she tissue-glued the
toe shut and moved on to the next claw.
Dr. Lou jutting out the claw so she could cut it.
Dr. Lou cutting the claw.
Pulling out the last bit of claw.
Showing me the smooth bone that should be seen.
Gluing the claw hole shut.
The removed claws.
The
last thing I was shown today was a blood test for a cat that tested for
heartworm disease, FIV antibody (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus), and FeLV
antigen (Feline Leukemia Virus). The
test is called the ELISA Test, and it detects the presence of the tested disease(s) in the
blood. An enzyme that is on the test
attaches to detected antibodies, so if the antibody for the disease is detected,
it causes a color change on the test. After
waiting for ten minutes and seeing the results, the cat luckily didn’t have
anything wrong with her, but she of course still received some prevention
medicine so she could continue being healthy.
This is an ELISA Test.
No comments:
Post a Comment