Day 20: Diabetes Mellitus, Cushing's Disease, Pancreatitis, Hemorrhagic GastroEnteritis, Unfortunate Death, Corneal Ulcer, Lymph Node Cancer, and a Baby Bird

                The recovery room was much more packed today (as opposed to yesterday);  there was a Retriever/Lab mix named Kobee in the corral, a Yorkshire Terrier named Rudy, a Retriever mix named Bailey, and Jett and Tex were both still in there as well.  Kobee has diabetes mellitus (a common form of diabetes) and Cushing’s Disease (caused by Cushing’s Syndrome [which is high levels of the hormone cortisol in the blood], with high levels of Adrenocorticotropic hormone [released in response to stress] from the anterior pituitary gland).  He had a fever symptoms (odd hot/cold temperatures and was drinking lots of water), so was receiving insulin and Covonia, which helps fight cold and flu-like symptoms.  Rudy has pancreatitis, which is an inflamed pancreas.  The pancreas releases digestive enzymes, helps neutralize the acid in the upper gastrointestinal tract, and releases insulin into the bloodstream to help regulate the cells’ intake of glucose.  When the pancreas is inflamed, it releases those digestive enzymes prematurely (which can cause all sorts of problems), and it doesn’t neutralize or release insulin the way it should be.  He is on Buprenorphine to help ease pain, and he is also taking Cerenia to help stop his vomiting.  Bailey has HGE, which is spontaneous release of diarrhea (typically smelly, bloody diarrhea).  She was leaving when I arrived, and the poor dog had an episode of HGE right as she was leaving.  She was going home with some antibiotics, so hopefully she’ll be better within the next couple of days and her episodes will stop.  Tex was continuing the same treatment as yesterday, and he went home in the afternoon (we didn’t think he was ready to go home, but we think that the owners didn’t have enough money to keep him at the hospital under treatments any longer).

Kobee, the Retriever-Lab mix.

Rudy, the Yorkshire Terrier.

Bailey, the Retriever mix.

                Jett was also receiving the same treatment as she had been yesterday, and she was in the closed cage receiving saline nebulizer treatment when I arrived.  She was walking around and acting, for the most part, fine.  Around mid-morning, Jen took her out to go for a walk, and she collapsed and aspirated in the hallway.  Jen rushed her back to the main area, and she, Pat, Nancy, and Dr. Todd hooked her up to breathing machines and monitors, I helped grab materials and do whatever they needed me to do or get whatever they needed me to get, and Jen and Pat began giving her CPR; Jen gave her chest compressions while Pat used an oxygen machine to pump oxygen into Jett’s lungs (at appropriate intervals relevant to Jen’s chest compressions).   After a minute or two, they were able to get her heartbeat back, but it was too late; her brain was already gone so it didn’t make any difference.  She had a lot of bloody fluid coming out of her mouth (the fluid that was in her lungs), so Dr. Todd took a sample of it and was going to look at it later to see what kind of infection it was.  It was really sad, though.  That was the first time I’ve seen a true emergency (trying to bring an animal back to life, I mean), and since she seemed to be doing fine before it was a shocking and unexpected happening.   It was a difficult thing to watch/help with because everyone was doing everything they could to bring her back, but when it came down to it there was nothing that could be done.  I felt completely helpless…and that was a hard thing to experience.  I realize not every animal can be saved, though, and I’d rather have this happen than her be in a lot of pain.

Everyone frantically working with/around Jett to bring her back to life (this was taken after I had done all I was able to do). 

                Other patients we had come through today were a Poodle named Missy, a Domestic Long-Haired cat named Lycan, and a bulldog named Buddha.   Missy was getting a recheck on her left eye, which was healing from a corneal ulcer.  Dr. Karen let me look at it through the ophthalmoscope after she did, and I could see all the blood vessels on her cornea; Dr. Karen told me all the blood vessels meant the ulcer was healing (as I said on day 14, the doctors would numb the eye that had a corneal ulcer and then gently scrape it with a needle to draw blood vessels to the ulcer, which would make it heal).  Lycan had rashes on his body from most likely an allergy (Dr. Roberta said it was most likely a food allergy).  She took some hair samples from the areas of the rash and placed them in a fungal culture to see if he had ringworm, and she also took him into a dark room and looked at the rashes with a UV light to see if the rashes were caused by ringworm (some forms of ringworm cause the hair in the rashes to glow).  The fungal culture and light test both came back negative, so it most likely was an allergy.  She sent Lycan home with some antibiotics, and told the owners to be careful with what they feed Lycan (like Dr. Todd did with Booshka’s owners on day 9).  Buddha originally came in to receive vaccines, but when Dr. Karen was doing a quick check-over on him she discovered that he had lymph node cancer; his lymph nodes were huge!  Dr. Karen said that a lymph node is very tiny (the size of pea, give or take a bit smaller or larger [depending on the size of the dog]).  They can’t be seen or felt, but Buddha’s lymph nodes were at least the size of golf balls!  His owner had no idea about it, and he was really torn up when he found out about it.  Because of this, Dr. Karen didn’t give him vaccines and instead talked to his owner about treatments and such.  When she finished her appointment with Buddha, she took me to her desk and showed me a book about lymph node cancer, which included a normal lymph node (mostly small lymphocytes) and the different kinds of lymph node cancer that an animal can have, such as Eosinophilic Lymphadenitis (small lymphocytes with medium lymphocytes and eosinophils [white blood cells containing granules]), Pyogranulomatous Lymphadenitis (inflammatory cell with degenerate neutrophils [neutrophilic white blood cells] and macrophages [large bacteria-absorbing cells]), and having a reactive lymph node (abundance of lymphocytes, both small and medium-sized, with plasma cells).  Also, one of the night techs found a baby bird (don't know what breed) sometime yesterday, so they brought it in and were trying to keep it warm and fed.  It was in a small box with a rubber glove filled with warm water, a blanket of tissues on top of the glove, the bird on the tissues, and a tissue folded as a blanket on the bird.  Tracey took it home when she went home to try and see if she could raise it and keep it from dying, but the bird was so small and fragile no one is sure what would happen; most of us think it will probably die before tomorrow.  But we will wait and see what happens and hope for the best.

Missy the Poodle.

The rash on Lycan's head.

The rash on Lycan's armpit.

The fungal colony.

The lymph node on the back of Buddha's right knee.

One of the lymph nodes in Buddha's neck.

A normal lymph node, with mostly small lymphocites.

Eosinophilic Lymphadenitis.  Small and medium-sized lymphocytes can be seen, along with some eosinophils (the light pink/grainy-looking cells).

Pyogranulomatous Lymphadenitis.  An inflammed cell  can be seen, along with lots of white blood cells.

A reactive lymph node.  The large plasma cells can be seen with the small lymphocytes.

The baby bird.  As I stated, it's very small and very fragile.

Another view of the baby bird.

Another view of the baby bird.

Another view of the baby bird.  Some long, thin streaks can be seen extending downward from the tip of it's 'arm', where wings will start to form.

Day 19: Fungal Infection Pneumonia, Coyote Bite, Hypothermia

                When I first came in today, I saw we had a black-coated retriever named Jett who was in a closed cage receiving a humidifier-like treatment.  Pat told me she had some sort of pneumonia (the doctors thought it may have been a fungal infection because the x-rays showed a white fuzz-like substance throughout the lungs, and Jett had some lesions [wounds] on her body that looked like fungal lesions; but they weren’t able to tell for a fact that it was indeed a fungal infection), and the saline nebulizer was acting as a humidifier to help try and break up her congestion and all the junk that was in her lungs.  She was also receiving oxygen, as well as the antibiotics Baytril (helps treat respiratory infections), Doxycycline (helps fight bacterial infections), and Clindamycin (helps fight severe bacterial infections in the lungs by stopping the growth of bacteria).  She’s a bit lethargic and having a little difficulty breathing, but other than that she doesn’t seem to be doing too bad, so hopefully that continues and she will be able to fight off the pneumonia.

Jett recieving the 'humidifier' (saline nebulizer) treatment.

X-rays #1 (on the left) and #2 (on the right) of Jett's lungs.  Some white, foggy spots/swirls can be seen in the lungs, which id the fluid/possible fungal infection.  #1 was taken when Jett first came in yesterday, and #2 was taken today to see if there was any improvement.

More X-rays of Jett's lungs, taken at a different view.

One of the lesions (most likely fungal) on Jett. 

                The other two major patients we had today (it was another slow day with no surgeries) were a poodle named Daisy and a Domestic Short-Haired kitten named Tex.  Daisy had been bitten by a coyote a couple weeks ago (she had gone to a different animal hospital when that happened), and received a broken rib as well as a few other minor injuries that required some sutures.  She had a large chest bandaging/cast to stabilize her ribs, and she was getting the bandage and sutures off today as well as re-check x-rays.  She was a very nervous little poodle.  Her owners were supposed to bring the first x-rays that were taken at the other hospital so we could compare them, but they didn’t so we had nothing to compare our x-rays to.  Dr. Amanda thought the x-rays looked okay, though, so she told the owner that Daisy seemed to be healed and could go home without getting any re-bandaging.  Tex is here because he has hypothermia (extremely low body temperature), hypoglycemia (glucose deficiency in the blood), and excessive diarrhea.  He is in a heated incubator with heating pads and blankets, and he is on the medication metronidazole (used to treat urinary and anal infections, so to help with the diarrhea).  He was also being given (and force-fed, since he didn’t feel well and didn’t want to eat) lots of food as well as some sugary substances to raise his glucose levels. Hopefully he will be getting better as well.

Daisy the Poodle.

Tex, the Domestic Short-Haired cat.

Day 18: Ear (Yeast) Infection, Teeth Cleanings Are Important, and Herpes Keratitis

               We hardly had any appointments today, not even tech appointments; it picked up a little once the afternoon hit, but even so, today was one of the slowest days we have had since I started.  I walked a couple of the stray dogs in the morning, and helped the doctors with the few appointments we did have.  There were three larger appointments we had today, the first with a Cocker Spaniel named Toby with an ear infection, the second with a Domestic Long-Haired cat named Tequila Rose who had blood and eating issues, and the third with a Domestic Short-Haired cat named Schwarzenegger who had a severe eye infection.

One of the strays I walked this morning; he's a very sweet and happy guy, so hopefully he'll have no trouble finding a home.

                Toby came in to get his ears checked because his owner said he had been shaking his head a lot the past couple of days, and his ears had an odor coming from them—a sure sign of a yeast infection.  Sure enough, that’s what he had.  After Jen stained a slide (half with some goop from his left ear and the other half with some goop from his right ear) and we looked at it, his right ear was filled with yeast bacteria and his left ear had a lot of rod (bacillus) bacteria (which is another kind of ear infection).  We massaged some Mometamax into his ears (which fights bacterial infections, fungal infections, and inflammation), and Dr. Amanda gave the owner some other antibiotics for the infection as well as some Mometamax to massage into Toby’s ears daily.

Toby, the happy cocker spaniel.

Toby when he wasn't shaking and I was able to get a clear picture of him~ 

                Tequila Rose’s owner brought her in because she said Tequila Rose hadn’t been eating for a couple of days, and she was extremely dehydrated.  When Dr. Karen was checking her over and running blood tests (it was really hard to get blood from her—little to no blood was coming out of her vein into the syringe, and her veins kept blowing up like crazy; most likely because she was so dehydrated), we found out that she had really bad teeth and was in dire need for a dental.  While having bad teeth may seem unimportant, it was actually a key factor in determining what was wrong with Tequila Rose.  If the blood work came back normal (which it did), than the fact that she had bad teeth would have been the cause of her lethargy and dehydration.  If teeth get bad enough, then her mouth will hurt and she won’t want to eat.  In addition, bacteria could get under her teeth and then get into her bloodstream, which could cause an illness or infection.  Since her blood work and every other test came back fine, her not feeling well was most likely caused by a sore mouth and possibly a slight bacterial infection.  I gave her some sub-q fluids to help rehydrate her and Dr. Karen told her owner that she really needed to schedule a dental for her cat.

The blown vein (the jugular) on Tequila Rose's neck.  This picture doesn't really do the vein justice; her neck was very red (from the blood) and a huge bump formed where the blown vein was.  The blown veins in her legs were a less severe version of the jugular, the poor girl.

The Domestic Short-Hair, Tequila Rose.

                As I mentioned earlier, Schwarzenegger had a bad eye infection.  At first Dr. Todd thought the infection was Eosinophilic Keratoconjunctivitis (thickening and a bit of discharge on the conjunctiva [the membrane that covers the eye]; cause unknown), whereas Dr. Karen thought it might be Herpes Keratitis (activation of the herpes simplex virus on the cornea, which causes an ulcer as well as severe pain and inflammation).  After further observation and some book research, they came to the conclusion that it was most likely Herpes Keratitis.  Dr. Karen stained Schwarzenegger’s eye with some drops and gave him some numbing drops, moved his third eyelid to the side (he had it covering his eye since it was so hurt) and then looked at his eye through an Ophthalmoscopes Ophthalmoscopesophthalmoscope to check the eye better.  When she was done she showed me how to work the ophthalmoscope, and then let me look through it to see his eye.  It was pretty cool; I was able to see all the blood vessels and his infected cornea better, which as I said was extremely inflamed with an ulcer. Dr. Karen said that a cat will usually have an upper respiratory infection as a kitten; the infection will usually stay with them as they age, and then the infection will sometimes show up again as this virus when they are an adult (like chicken pox and shingles in humans).  She gave the cat some Proparacaine Hydrochloride Ophthalmic Solution (0.5%) drops and some Enisyl-F Lysine Treats to help fight the infection (the treats are specific to help reduce the severity and duration of the Herpes Keratitis virus).

Schwarzenegger's infected eye.  The third eyelid is currently covering it, but the inflammation and corneal ulcer can still be seen.

Dr. Karen staining the eye (the staining drops' color is the greenish color seen on the tissue) and giving the numbing drops.

Day 17: ACL Surgery and a lot of Firsts

            Today, not much happened before the afternoon hit (we didn’t even have that many tech appointments).  The only real procedures that we had this morning were a neuter on a tiny Shi Tzu and a dental on a Saint Bernard.  The Saint Bernard, named Charlie, was a little aggressive towards a lot of us, which made him really difficult to deal with.  But he was deaf, so I’m sure he was scared and frightened because he couldn’t hear us talking to him and never really knew what was going to happen when we would come to get him.  Everything was able to be done and no one got hurt, so all in all everything worked out fine with him.  Spike is feeling much better today; in addition to having his energy back, he’s not vomiting anymore, and he’s passing solid stools again.

The deaf Saint Bernard, Charlie.  Normally he would have been up barking like crazy and trying to jump the gate, but I was able to get a picture of him while he was taking a nap.

The afternoon today, however, had a few firsts for me; my first time seeing a torn ACL and ACL surgery, my first time trimming nails on a conscious dog, and my first time measuring out and giving medicine to an animal by myself.  The ACL surgery (or what we thought was an ACL surgery) was on the back right leg of a Pitbull named Roxy, and this surgery was an interesting one because rather than the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tearing in the knee joint, the CCL (caudal [posterior] cruciate ligament) tore instead; Dr. Mark said that it’s a very rare occurrence for the CCL to tear.  During the surgery, he placed extracapsular (outside the capsular ligament of a joint) sutures from the patellar tendon (tendon that crosses over the kneecap) to the caudal tibia (the groove in the kneecap where the CCL and ACL cross) and fibular head (the top of the bone that runs between the knee and the ankle).  Doing this would make the tenants slip less, so in addition to helping the torn ligament heal, it would also help prevent it from happening again.  After placing the suture and sewing the incision up, he removed a small mass cell growth on the inside thigh of the back left leg.  The mass cell was very tiny and not much of a lump at all; when I first saw it, I thought it was just a small discoloration on Roxy’s skin.  However, it was, in fact, a mass cell; Dr. Mark told me that while most mass cells are bigger and you can usually tell right away that it’s a mass cell, some of them come in weird shapes and sizes and an eye always has to be kept on the lookout for them.  This procedure was the same as the others: cut a large (relative to the size of the growth) diamond shape in the skin around the growth, remove that part of the skin and place it in a jar to be sent out for testing, and stitch up the skin.  After this was done, Roxy was all set to be moved to the recovery ward to be woken up.

This picture shows the anatomy of a knee (even though it's a human knee, it's pretty similar anatomy in dogs).  As it can be seen, the CCl/PCL is crossed directly behind the ACL, partially why it's a rare occurance to tear and a tricky tear to fix.

Photo Credit: http://www.crossfitwest.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/knee-joint.jpg

Cutting away tissue to get to the tibia and torn ligament.

Dr. Mark feeling around to see what he has to work with.  The femur can be seen sticking out next to his finger. 

Moving the leg up and down to see how the kneecap and torn CCL move.

The drill and small drill screws he'll use to make a hole in the fibular head so he can loop the extracapsular sutures through and connect everything.

Drilling the hole into the fibular head.

Connecting everything (the patellar tendon, caudal tibia, and fibular head) together.

Suturing the incision up.

The area circled in black is the small mass cell that needed removing.

Making the diamond-shape cut in the skin around the mass cell.

Cutting/pulling the skin area with the mass cell off.

The last couple of things that I was able to do before I left today was trim nails on a conscious dog for the first time, and give a kitten its medicine.  These were some big deals for me when it comes to my hands-on experience, because caution has to be taken when doing them, especially when doing them for the first couple of times.  Since I’ve never trimmed nails on a conscious dog before, I had to be really careful about the dog (Sandy, a Dachshund) moving and pulling her legs while at the same time, being careful to not cut too far down, which would cause her to bleed and feel pain.  I was a little slower than the other techs are when they trim nails (which is understandable), but I didn’t cause her to bleed and the techs told me I did a very nice job.  That, of course, made me feel really good about this task!  It also made me feel a bit better about trimming nails.  I still don’t like nail trims (the anticipation of waiting for the dog or cat to start freaking out is what freaks me out—I hate anticipation), but I think with each nail trim I help with (or actually do myself, now), I’m starting to feel slightly better about them.  After I trimmed Sandy’s nails, Nancy asked me if I wanted to give medicine to a stray kitten (whom I call Cream Soda).  The medicine the kitten was on was Doxycycline V.A.L syrup, which fights upper respiratory infections.  The dosage was 0.13 cc’s of the medicine, so I correctly measured out the medicine (while also getting rid of the air bubbles that came into the syringe with the medicine), and then gave the kitten her medicine.  Again, this was a happy first step for me because each week I’m being allowed to help more and more with medical tasks.  The fact that I understand the medicinal dosages and am starting to better understand the medicines, in addition to the fact that I’m now starting to be able to give the medicine myself, makes me very happy.  It also makes me feel much more helpful for the Veterinarians and techs, in addition to feeling much more helpful to the animals themselves.

Cream Soda, who has the upper respiratory infection.  Her eyes are red, swollen, and squinty becasue upper respiratory infections also affect the eyes (therefore, the eyes are a key symptom of an upper respiratory infection). 

The Doxycycline V.A.L syrup.

The syringe (after I gave the medicine, hence the brown).  This specific syringe is meant for small amimals, and it's measured in the tiny amounts of tenths of a cc (same as tenths of a mL). 

Day 16: Pericardial Tap, Put Your Pet's Needs Ahead of Your Own, and Reflections

                Today was another slow day.  There were a few spays and neuters that Dr. Todd performed early this morning, but other than that there were no surgeries.   There were also a couple of dentals and some animals who were being housed from surgeries that had been done during this past weekend.  While Dr. Todd was performing the spays and neuters this morning, Dr. Amanda was tapping the heart of a German Shepard mix (a.k.a a pericardial tap).  A Pericardial tap is done when fluid builds up around the heart, and if it’s not treated properly it can lead to a slow and painful death.  Dr. Amanda was performing an ultrasound (to see the heart) while she was trying to take the fluid with a syringe.  However, there were so many blood clots that she wasn’t able to get the needle through the clots in order to obtain the fluid.  After a while of trying, the only solution she could think of was performing surgery to remove the fluid, and if the owner decided they didn’t want surgery she would suggest euthanasia so that the dog wouldn’t have to have such a slow and painful death.  The owner, however, decided he didn’t want the dog to have surgery (even though money wasn’t an issue), and also decided he didn’t want to euthanize the dog; he just wanted to keep his dog at home.  This really angered me, as well as angering the Veterinarians and techs.  Dr. Amanda explained to him how this would be a very slow and unpleasant death for the dog, but he just kept repeating that he didn’t care; he wanted his dog to be home.  As I said, we were all pretty angered by this because if the dog is home, there’s nothing we can do for it.  Yes, I understand that he doesn’t want to let go of his pet.  But right now, the pet is what’s important and he needs to put his pet’s best interest ahead of his own emotional feelings.  This poor dog is going to be suffering for a while before finally passing away on its own, and that is not right or fair to the dog. If a person is going to have a pet, they need to make the commitment to take care of them and put their pet’s best interest at heart.  No pet should have to suffer because of the insensitiveness of their owner.

The German Shepard mix who was receiving the Pericardial Tap.

Dr. Amanda performing a ultrasound on the heart (so she could see it) while trying to draw the fluid out of the area around the heart.

                Anyway, as I walked around looking at the new housed patients, I saw we had a Mastiff mix named Lulu who had pyometra, a Westie named Casey who had diabetic ketoacidosis, a stray terrier named Spike who has vomiting and diarrhea, a black cat named Diamond who had a skin pocket gone wrong, and a Chihuahua named Lilly who had constipation.  Lulu had surgery for the pyometra over the weekend, and she was still recovering from it.  Pyometra is where the uterus fills with pus, and it can only be treated by completely removing the uterus and other reproductive organs; so essentially, the dog has to be spayed. Pyometra can be deadly if not treated quickly, and the symptoms are extremely difficult to detect.  Luckily, Lulu’s owners noticed she wasn’t acting quite like herself, so they brought her in and the doctors were able to catch it and perform the surgery.  Casey had been in over the weekend receiving fluids, antibiotics, and insulin, and she was able to go home today.  Spike had been having vomiting and diarrhea today, so Dr. Christy tested him to see if he had Parvovirus (a disease extremely contagious to other dogs that causes vomiting and diarrhea.  It’s passed through fecal matter).  When the results came back, he luckily didn’t have Parvo, so Dr. Christy gave him some sub-q fluids and Cerenia to help the stop the diarrhea and vomiting.  Diamond was recieving vaccines, and while Dr. Christy was giving them to her, she found a large bump on Diamond's back.  She felt it and automatically knew it was solely filled with oil and pus (it was like a giant pimple), so she inserted a syringe and drew out all of the fluid.   It wasn't anything harmless, but I've never seen anything like it before and thought it was interesting.  Lilly’s owner brought her in because she hadn’t been eating, so Dr. Kris took some x-rays and saw that she was highly constipated.  Her stomach was extremely filled with food (which is why she wasn’t eating), and her colon was backed up.  Dr. Kris worked at taking some of the stool out, and Lilly then started to go to the bathroom on her own.  That, of course, was good, and Lily seemed to be feeling better right after that.

Lulu, the Mastiff mix with pyometra.

Casey, the Westie with DKA.

Spike, the stray who was very ill.

These three syringes are filled with the oil-pus fluid found in the sebaceous cyst on Diamond's back.

This is after Dr. Christy drew all the fluid out, but it can still sort of be seen how large the cyst was.

Lilly, the constipated Chihuahua.

An X-ray of Lilly.  As it can be seen, her stomach and colon are extremely full.

                After working here for three weeks, I have started to have a feeling for what I enjoy about working in a large Veterinary hospital and what I dislike about it, though the enjoyments definitely outweigh the dislikes.  One of the major things that I noticed and didn’t really realize before is the amount of pet owners who don’t take care of their pet.  Whether the culprit is money issues, or the ignorance, laziness, selfishness, etc. of the owner, the pet’s needs and best interests aren’t being met.  We have more patients (than I would have originally thought) come in who are way overdue for vaccines, have been sick for a week or more (and getting progressively worse each day) before the owner decided to bring him/her in, animals who need treatment (or who should be euthanized) and the owner refuses to, etc.  As I mentioned earlier when talking about the German Shepard mix, this absolutely drives me insane.  Pet owners need to be able to take care of their pets and place the best interest of the pet ahead of their own, because it is unrighteous and unfair for the pet to suffer because of the owner.

                The two main procedures that I really dislike doing are nail trimmings and euthanasias.  While I haven’t done an actual nail trim on an adult dog or cat myself (I’m still practicing nail trimmings on euthanized adult dogs/cats and adult dogs/cats that are under anesthesia), I hold the dogs and cats for the tech who is doing the trimmings.  I am not a fan of anticipation; anticipation kills me more than the actual task that I’m anticipating.  With nail trimmings, I never know when the dog or cat is going to jerk, try to bite, or start trying to get away.  Because of that, I’m very stiff and hold strongly while the trimming is going on in case the animal starts to act up.  Like I said, it’s this anticipation that kills me because since I’m the holder, I was to make sure that the dog or cat isn’t able to hurt me, him/herself, or the trimmer.  Since I don’t know when the animal is going to start acting up, I get nervous because I don’t want any one of us to get hurt.  Euthanasias, of course, are upsetting because we are inducing the animal’s passing.  I definitely know that the majority of euthanasias are done because it’s more humane than letting a pet or stray suffer, and suffering of the animal is something we definitely don’t want.   The euthanasias that I don’t like are the ones where the owner gives a terrible excuse for a perfectly healthy and happy pet to be euthanized; those are the ones that are heartbreaking because there is no reason for that animal to be euthanized, but the owner decides that they don’t want the pet anymore so they choose to euthanize rather than give their pet to a shelter or a better owner.  But even if they have a terrible or no excuse, we have to euthanize the animal because a) the owner could choose to give the animal over to someone else, but in order to do that they would have to give up their ownership, which hardly anyone wants to do (why, I don’t know; I think that’s ridiculous.  If their animal could have a better life, why wouldn’t they choose that over killing them?), and b) if we don’t euthanize the animal, there is a possibility that the owner could use their own method to try to kill the animal, or the animal will just sit in their home and suffer until finally dying.  We want the animal to pass away painlessly, so we would prefer to euthanize the animal rather than take the chance of the animal suffering in any way.  Even so, the cases like that are still sad.  Because of things like this, I am on the border with how I feel about pet owners.  Some of the owners I have dealt with are like this; meaning, they are ignorant, lazy, selfish, rude to us, etc., but then there are other pet owners who are very kind and who really care about their pets.  I love meeting the nice owners because they tend to be very sincere people, and we can sense that because of how much they care about their pets.  However, the ignorant and rude owners are the ones that I absolutely can’t stand dealing with, because most of them act like they know more than the Veterinarian and it’s never pleasant when dealing with rude people who are like that.

                However, even with the good and bad, the happiness and fulfillment that I get from working in a Veterinary hospital definitely make everything worthwhile.  I’ve been learning and experiencing so much each day that I go in to work; the Veterinarians and Veterinary technicians there are wonderful, and they are very explanatory with what they’re doing when I’m watching and helping them.   They are also allowing me to help more and more each week, in addition to entrusting me with more tasks and more detailed tasks each week, which I’m extremely grateful for.  I’m learning a lot by watching the doctors and technicians, and I’m also learning a lot from the hands-on tasks that they’ve been teaching me to do.  As all of my blog posts have shown, I’ve been participating in a lot of hands-on activities in addition to observing the surgeries and procedures.  Even though I’ve only been working for three weeks, I love knowing the fact that everything we do is helping the animals, I love working with the Veterinarians and technicians, I love the amount that I’ve been able to learn and experience, and I love the feeling I get when I wake up and go to bed each day. It’s a very rewarding feeling, and I feel like I’m helping to do something that is extremely worthwhile while I’m still learning about this kind of job; the amount of joy I’ve felt seeing an animal regain its health is wonderful.   Again, even though I’m only three weeks into the internship, I feel that it’s really helped ensure me that I’ve chosen the right career path for myself.