For the past week I have been working at Heathfield vets again to gain more valuable experience.
On Tuesday I started the day in the operating block and watched a cat have a lower canine removed because it had a small cavity on the side of it's tooth. This was achieved by the cat first having a full dental, followed by the vet cutting away a small section of the lower jaw cut away before the tooth is pulled out sideways. I learnt that it is very easy to break a cats jaw so extreme care is taken in this operation to reduce the risk of this happening and also that cats have a very sensitive larynx and can go into spasm when inserting the intubation tube. To prevent this the vet used a numbing spray, also used in humans, to help the tube go down without irritating the cat's throat. After this I watched several lump removals including one from a golden labrador male which was a very large fatty lump on the left side of it's main body and another from a young male black flat coat retriever from behind his ear which took a while to stitch back up again.
On Wednesday I sat in on one of the vets morning consultations. The first patient was a one year old female Labrador who needed it's annual vaccination and kennel cough. The annual vaccine covers the following diseases:
Canine Parvovirus, Leptospirosis, Canine Distemper (Hardpad), Canine Parainfluenza Virus, Infectious Canine Hepatitis and Canine Coronavirus
Whereas the kennel cough, administered in nasal drops, protects against a bacteria called Bordetella Bronchiseptica.
The next patient was a young male cat who had both a broken left rear leg as well as a leg which needed re-dressing. This leg had been infected after flies laid eggs on the leg whilst the cat was immobile. These maggots burrowed into the leg and ate away at the flesh leaving big gaping wounds down to near the bone. The re-dressing began by cutting away at the already existing bandages and taking away all of the dirty cotton wool between the cat's toes and washing the wound using dilute hibiscrub and saline water and then followed by a general re-dress.
A general check up followed of two cats, one male, one female, with their annual vaccinations given as well. An older dog with arthritis and very stiff joints came in and was prescribed a pain relief that should be taken once a month followed by a young flat coated retriever bought in for feeling 'under the weather'. Bloods were taken for thyroid and to check if she is having a phantom pregnancy.
Thursday was started in the surgery were I watched a dog castration where I learnt that the scrotum isn't clipped to prevent discomfort to the pet when in the recovery period and that really only one incision in necessary; just in front of the scrotum. The tubes running towards the penis were clamped and tied off and each testicle was removed from the internal 'attachments' and the incisions were sewn up neatly afterwards. There was also a dental, a routine operation, and then blood was taken for several tests afterwards.
On Friday I watched surgery again and watched my first ever amputation, on a cat who had cancer lower down it's leg. It was a fascinating operation to watch and I found it incredible who little blood there was from the cat but I was told this was a fairly common operation in cats as they can easily fracture bones in their leg and this is a less expensive option compared to trying to fix a broken leg. The vet left the scapula on to help the cat with it's balance and I watched him inject numbing liquid into the nerves to prevent pain. The cat woke up fairly soon afterwards and started to get up quite quickly. It was put on metacam and metadol for it's pain relief.
I also watched a skin biopsy and scrapings on a guinea pig with possible ringworm or internal worms. We bathed the guinea pig in maliseb and it immediately looked improved.
I had an amazing time at the vets and learnt a lot of very useful information!
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