Day 3: Castor Bean Poisoning, Bunny Bladder Stone, Proper Kitten Bottle-Feeding, Anesthesia Description and Information, Kidney Failure, and Cysts

              Today when I arrived, there were two Chihuahuas, named Oreo and Salsa, who had eaten castor beans and were receiving antibiotics and IV treatment for that.  Castor beans come from the castor plant, and these beans are very poisonous to both people and animals because they contain the toxin Ricin, which prevents protein synthesis—henceforth preventing the continuing of cell function and life, causing death.  I don’t understand why, but the couple who brought Oreo and Salsa in have some of these plants in their yard, which is how the Chihuahuas had access to the beans.  They were still receiving treatment when I left for the evening, so I’ll have to see how they are tomorrow.

                                            Oreo, one of the Chihuahuas who ate castor beans.

               Some of the patients we were able to release today were Nacho and Arnold.  Nacho had been in the recovery ward for about five days, for he had eaten ibuprofen and had been receiving treatment for his high-consumption of the medication.  Arnold was the dog who had gotten in the car accident yesterday and was missing part of his front left paw.  I wasn’t able to see the surgery, because it happened after I had left yesterday, but when I saw him today his front paw was all bandaged up, his other paws had been cleaned up and looked fine, and he seemed happier and more enthusiastic. Both of them are fine and were able to go back to their families.
              A bunny came in yesterday who was acting very lethargic and having trouble urinating.  Dr. Kris picked up the rabbit and knew right away that the rabbit had a bladder stone, for she could feel it through the skin.  I felt the area as well, and the stone felt huge; about the size of a golf ball.  The surgery was put off until today.  Dr. Lou performed the surgery in the early afternoon, and when she reached the bladder we looked at it and the stone took up about the size of the entire bladder; it was big!  When Dr. Lou made an incision into the bladder and took the stone out, we could see that it was a bit smaller than the size of a golf ball, but still quite big for that poor rabbit; after the surgery it was being sent out for tests.  After the stone was out, Dr. Lou showed me how to properly stitch each incision she had made (the skin, muscle, and bladder), and how each was beneficial to each specific area based on the thinness of the skin or tissue, the size of the incision, etc.  For instance, when sewing the bladder, she first made small individual stiches, tying each stich she was making off with a knot and cutting the thread before making her next stitch.  After she closed the space, she then made a unique stitch which inverted that area of the bladder, and she told me she did that because a bunny’s skin and tissues are so thin and delicate, she didn’t want the rabbit to be irritated by the stitches rubbing against her muscle tissue.  She did something similar with the muscle tissue, but instead of inverting it after making the individual stitches, she took a layer of fat (it was a thin layer, the bunny was quite healthy) and sewed that together over the sewed muscle tissue.  The fat was sewed together in a way that those stiches would irritate as little as possible.  Finally, to close the skin, Dr. Lou used the thread to make a single, looped stich throughout the skin to close it, and sealed it with some tissue glue.  After we began to clean up, Dr. Lou allowed me to inject the sub-q (subcutaneous fluids—they flush out the system and hydrate the animal) under the skin of the rabbit.  About five minutes later the rabbit began to fully wake up and hop around, so we moved him into his recovery cage and later during the evening he was able to go home.

The bunny before surgery; his stomach was shaved for access to the stomach area, and the ropes are to spread his limbs out so they don't get in the way during the surgery. He is also wearing an anesthesia mask because rabbits are tricky when it comes to anesthesia; they can die really easily so that feeds him just enough anesthesia the entire time for him to be unconcious throughout the whole surgery.

 This is the rabbit's bladder, and the shape of the stone can clearly be seen through the bladder.  It can also be seen that the stone nearly takes up the entire area of the bladder.

                                                        This is the bladder stone that was found.

              Earlier in the day, around late morning, Jen (one of the vet technicians) and I fed some little four week old kittens.  They still haven’t been completely weaned onto solid food yet, so we took some hard food and smashed it with mortar and pestle until it was a powder, and then mixed it with some water and formula to make the food like a paste.  This way they would get the nutrition of the hard food, and the paste consistency would allow them to eat/swallow it.  Since that consistency can’t really get through a bottle, we filled syringes with the food and slowly and carefully squeezed it into their mouths.  It was definitely one of the more relaxing and enjoyable experiences, but I also learned that if they aren’t fed properly, it could cause indigestion.  I also learned that the food can’t be squeezed straight-on into their mouths because it could cause the kittens to asphyxiate; if the food goes straight-on into their mouths, the food could accidently go down the trachea (to the lungs) instead of the esophagus (to the intestines and stomach), which would impair their breathing and cause them to severely choke, and could also cause them to die.  So in order to prevent this from happening, Jen first took one of the kittens and explained everything to me while she showed me how to feed properly, and then she let me feed the other kitten while she watched.

                                                           Jen feeding one of the kittens.

              In addition to the kittens, we had three adult cats come into the hospital today.  Sage, the first cat, is a black cat who has kidney failure and was being kept there for observation while being given an IV and antibiotics.  He was still in the hospital when I left, so I’ll check on him again tomorrow.  The second cat (whose name I don’t know), was a simple grooming and nail trimming.  Catherine, another vet technician and the office manager, gave him some anesthesia so he would be asleep and not fuss while he was getting groomed.  She then showed me how to properly shave and comb a cat that has lots of long, knotty hair, and she explained how careful you have to be so you don’t cut them because sometimes, cats can have pretty thin skin.  She also explained how careful you have to be with the anesthesia and how you really have to know what you’re doing when it comes to anesthesia because too little a dose will cause them to (obviously) be partially aware of what’s going on and give them the ability to move, but too much of a dose could kill them.  It really is amazing to think that with these animals, their lives are put in our hands for the time being.  I’m really going to have to learn a lot about medications, anesthesia, drugs, and doses before I can do a thing with that aspect of the field.  She also explained two of the different types of anesthesia to me, ketamine valium and propathol.  Ketamine valium isn’t good for older animals, and it can also cause seizures and other medical issues depending on the medical issue that an animal may have; in cases like that, the doctors would use propathol.  But again, the doctors and technicians have to do blood and urine work on the animal first to make sure that they would be able to even put the animal under anesthesia and how large of a dose the animal should get.  There is so much thought and detail that goes into every procedure and surgery that happens.  Back to the grooming, as the shaving went on I didn’t do any of the shaving, I watched Catherine do it as she explained things to me.  I can see that that’s going to take quite a bit of practice and concentration to become skilled at it, just like drawing blood and giving shots and anesthesia will. While she was finishing up the shaving I trimmed the cats nails, which allowed me to practice my trimming skills some more on an animal that wasn’t moving, and also wouldn’t be able to feel the pain if I cut the nail too far down.

                                                         Catherine shaving the cat.

One of the anesthesia machines.  It can be seen these machines are quite complicated and have to be watched carefully to make sure everything is going right with the oxygen, anesthesia, heartrate, breathing, etc.

             The third cat (whose name I also don’t know) was an emergency case, and he was very thin and sickly (he didn’t even fuss when we touched him—it was almost like he was too weak to even struggle or show discomfort).  The owner told us that he had been a stray up until about two weeks ago, when the owner found him and took him in.  The doctors needed to run blood and urine tests, but it was difficult because he had tricky veins and hardly any urine in him.  When Jen tried to take blood from the cat’s front left leg, the cat was just so thin and frail that the vein blew up even though she had barely even poked through the skin  Dr. Mark tried then on the right front leg, and he was able to get some blood for testing.  Based on the symptoms of the cat, Jen and Dr. Mark believed he had chronic renal failure—they believed he was so far along with kidney failure they said they probably wouldn’t be able to save him.  The test results came back after I had left, so I don’t know what the results were and again, I’ll have to check on him tomorrow and see what happened.

Jen attempting to draw blood from the leg.  As it can be seen, the cat's vein is blown up.

                The last major occurrence that happened today was in the late afternoon, right before I left.  There was a chameleon (which was pretty cool since we typically get dogs, cats, and some rabbits) who has a big cyst on his eyelid; luckily it was only filled with harmless pus, but it needed to be squeezed so all the pus could come out.  Dr. Lou deals with exotic animals, so Tracey, another vet technician, held the chameleon and gently held his eye closed so Dr. Lou could get to the cyst.  Some of the pus came out when she squeezed it, but the rest was being stubborn so she used a small curette to help force the pus out from the outside.  The pus was kind of strange because it was completely clear and had a jelly-like consistency.  With the curette the rest of the pus came out, and the chameleon was fine and could leave.

                                                                The chameleon.

Dr. Lou using the curette to get most of the pus out.  The eye cannot be seen; the brown bubble by her fingers is the large cyst.  In the picture, it can also be seen how the pus is clear and has a jelly-like texture.