Today was a pretty slow day in comparison
to all of the previous days. Besides
some cage cleaning, nail/claw clippings, ear cleanings, and a couple euthanasias,
not too much else happened. Two more Chihuahuas from the same family as Oreo and Salsa had also eaten castor beans later on in the day yesterday (their names are Ninja and Cherry), so the owners brought them in this early morning to get treated. Also in the
morning, there was a boxer-mix who had something that looked like extra nails
growing in between his toes. Dr. Amanda
said that they weren’t actually nails, but she wasn’t exactly sure what they
were so they are being sent out for testing.
It was a quick procedure, she gave the dog a bit of anesthesia so that
he couldn’t feel them being removed, and then made quick little incisions
around the nail-like growths and was easily able to pull them out (there were
three of them, two on the front left paw and one on the front right paw). Dr.
Amanda stitched the little holes up, and then we moved him to the recovery room
so he could rest a bit before going home.
Even
though that procedure was a short and really simple procedure, it was the only
major surgery we had today. There were
no emergencies, and no other scheduled surgeries. After watching Dr. Amanda remove the
nail-like substances, I assisted Pat with inserting a catheter into a German shorthaired
pointer for a euthanasia. The poor guy
was unable to walk and had problems with his nerves, so the family decided it
was time to put him out of his misery. Once
he was gone, Pat and I carried him into the back area and placed him on a gurney,
where I trimmed his nails so I could practice my clipping skills some more. After I finished, she showed me how to
properly bag him, and then how to properly fill out his tag so they would know
who he was, who he belonged to, and what the owners wanted done with him (i.e. a
burial, a group cremation, an individual cremation, if they wanted an urn, etc.). I moved him to the freezer in the back once I
was finished with everything, where he stayed until he was either picked up by
All Paws (the cremation and remembrance company), or by the family (if they
wanted to bury their pet).
For the
rest of the day I assisted in cleanings and anything that the Veterinarians or vet
technicians needed me to do (i.e. holding an animal, inserting sub-q fluids,
etc.). During the times throughout the
day when we didn’t have any appointments, I practiced staining slides for blood
analysis. Lauren showed me how to make a
good slide; she said first to place a small drop of blood on the end of the
slide, right before the label. She then
said to take another slide, place it on the drop, hold it at a 45-degree angle
(the drop will then spread out on the bottom of this slide), and quickly move
it across the first slide, lifting up once you start reaching the end. The point is to get a nice feathered look
where slide 2 was lifted off of slide 1, because that is where all the
platelets will be and that’s where they will be able to see if the animal’s
blood has enough platelet, antibodies, and red blood cell counts. It takes a really long time to get good
slides consistently; Lauren said it took her more than a year and a half to
start getting them consistent. So, I
practiced staining a lot of slides throughout the day. I had a lot of flat lines (rather than the feathered
look) at first, but I began to get a little better and I practiced more. I used up a box and a half of slides and then
decided to stop for the day. I ended up
having a couple of okay slides, and then one slide that Lauren said would have
been perfect, which made me happy. I of
course still have to do a lot more practice so I can start getting good slides
consistently, but having a good slide during my first practice definitely
boosted my confidence in my abilities a bit.
Lauren's example slide for me. The desired feathered end can be seen clearly against the black coloring.
My good slide. It isn't as clear of a picture, but I have that feathered part at the bottom of the smear, which Lauren said made this a good slide.
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