Pennard vets week beginning 22/7/13

I spent another week at Pennard vets in Tonbridge from the 22nd-26th of July. Here is an account of the main things I learnt/observed:



Monday:

• Very busy day with many operations:
• Hernia (umbilical) operation; this was possibly a intestine hernia but ended up just being a fatty hernia so was simply removed. The main thing I found new was that you have to stitch up three layers- muscle, subcutaneous, fat and skin. 
• Caesarean (c-section) of a springer spaniel. She had six puppies overall and the general incision was  made done the stomach to get them out. Consideration had to be taken because the anaesthetic drugs that were given to the mother could also be transferred to the puppies. The main role I took in this operation was helping to rub the puppies after one of the nurses had received and cleared the airways of the said puppies. There were 4 boys and 2 girls. 
• They also did a routine spey whilst the dog was under the anaesthetic. 
• Dental and tooth extraction on a cat.
• Ultrasound to take a urine sample by needle.
• X-rays
• - a cat with possible broken hip after an RTA 
• - cat with possible decayed tooth
• De-knot of a cat with very matted fur that included shaving the body all over.

Tuesday: 

• No surgery today
• Watched consults:
• 3 x vaccinations into dogs
• 1 x worm and flea treatment 
• One cat with scabs around eyes- possible ringworm. To test for this we got a UV light and shined on the cat and the site of the scabs glowed green. 
• X-ray of cat's tooth followed by an extraction and dental.
• Dog that would not stop vomiting- suspected from eating too many grapes/grass

Wednesday: 

• Cat spay- down the mid-line rather than flank (because the owner didn't want the fur to grow back obviously a different colour
• X-ray of solid lump on cat between shoulder blades- possible malignant tumour- tried to get a liquid sample from inside but was not possible
• After that the cat was going to be rescheduled for a biopsy 
• Another De-knot of a cat.
• Cells take from a lump near a dogs eye 
• Dog came in that was very unwell- suspected HGD and kept vomiting
• Dental and tooth extraction
• Got shown the X-rays of a young bulldog, Winston, who got saved by the team a few weeks before having got liquid built up in his lungs following electrocution. It was so interesting to see the X-ray and then to see Winston after the recovery to see how he went from nearly dying to being healthy and happy again. 

Thursday:

• Consults with vaccines for dogs/cats (see heathfield/prev posts for details on vaccinations)
• Benny the cat came in and is a regular. He has 75% platelet count in his blood compared to 35% which is what it should be. To help this the vet nurses take 20 ml blood and then injected 20 ml saline to thin his blood and lower his platelet count.

Friday:

• Routine cat spay- flank rather than mid-line
• Routine dog castration
• Fatty lump removal from a Labrador type dog that was on his shoulder blade. 
• Sat in on consults and learnt about the shorthand used and the importance of writing up every essential detail from each consult so that a history can be given to any vet that would require it and to also ensure that you have evidence of what happened at a certain consult- for legal reasons

I really enjoyed my week with Pennard and would love to come back and help and really felt like I learnt a lot during my time there.

Pennard vets February-May

During February, March, April and May, I spent my Wednesday afternoons volunteering at the Tonbridge Pennard Vets. This was incredibly convenient as it a simple 20 minute walk from school and I had double free in the afternoon. So, I though what better use to spend my time than doing something productive? I learnt a great deal about both the medical- surgical side, as well as watching consults, learning about general hygiene/cleaning and all about the running of a practice.



 Some of the ops I saw whilst I was there included-
Routine ops such as:

• Cat neutering,
• Dog neutering,
• Cat dental,
• Dog dental,
• Rabbit dental,

Specific cases such as:

• Echo cardiogram on a dog with a heart murmur,
• Fatty lump removal- mainly on dogs of Spaniel/Labrador breeds,
• X-Ray on cats/dogs possibly needing tooth removal in they are rotten,

I also got to sit in on consults where what I saw was mainly:

• Dog vaccinations that are annually done to protect against canine parvovirus, canine distemper virus, leptospirosis and infectious canine hepatitis.
• Cat vaccinations that are annually done to protect against feline infectious enteritis, feline herpes virus, feline calicivirus and feline leukaemia virus. 
• Rabbit vaccinations that are annually done to protect against myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease. 
• General health checks of all pets that come in

1. A once over of the outside of the dog checking things like; teeth/gums for tartar/plaque build up or rotten/decayed teeth; ears to see whether they are clean and clear with minimal wax; eyes for any signs of cataracts/cloudiness or any sort of infection; joints and muscles (especially if known to be elderly/prone to stiffness etc); a feel of the stomach to check for things like: heat- a sign of infection, any lumps/swelling or general uneasiness when touched in that area. 
2. Then the vet took measurements of that animals health by performing an examination of the patient's heart rate/breathing rate and seeing if there is any abnormalities. Another measurement that they take is it's temperature. 
3. Finally, if necessary they take the animal into the back surgery to other things like clip nails or take bloods

I also learnt how to clean, sterilise and pack surgical instrument kits which contain:

• needle packs,
• swabs, 
• needle holder,
• scalpel holder,
• rat tooth,
• straight artery forceps,
• curved artery forceps,
• mayo scissors,
• metlenbams,
• straight mosquito scissors,
• and curved mosquito scissors.

Overall, I had a really great few weeks and have also booked a week in late July to come back and watch the practice in full swing for five whole days rather than just the afternoons which I am very excited about! 

Eight days of Lambing!

The most amazing work experience ever was my eight days of intensive lambing that I did recently! I thoroughly enjoyed it mainly because of the exciting new things that I learnt daily but because of the responsibility it gave me. Because it was on the same farm as the cows the farmer left me in charge of the lambing pens for the majority of the time-leaving me to do it by myself.

What I learnt:

• Penning of lambs and general hygiene/organisation system that you have to have to stay on top of the mass of lambs that are being born. 
• How to iodine the lambs navals and administer Spectam within a few hours of birth for prevention of disease and to allow for effective absorption. 
• Ringing the lambs tails, navals (if they are ballooned and not dried up) as well as castrating the male lamb's testicles making sure that both of them are in the ring.
• Ensuring new born lambs got adequate colostrum and milk from their mothers and tubing if necessary to make up this loss.
• How to prioritise the workload as three ewes could be lambing at once.
• Skinning dead lambs to use on unwanted/rejected lambs that can then be accepted by a foster mother ewe. 
• The dangers of releasing these vulnerable lambs into their new fields as some were mauled by badgers. 
• How to tag and label the lambs according to who they belong to.
• How to get a ewe to follow it's lamb by holding it near the ground and making 'baa-ing' noises. 
• How to be around them as to not cause a fuss- but also being able to catch any that may need help with delivering their lambs

As well as all this I delivered multiple singles, twins, triples, breeches as well as dead lambs. Besides from all the gore and blood I really found this the most enjoyable work experience!

Injections/medicines used on the farm

On the farm I work at their tends to be a vast supply of drugs that can be administered to the cows to save calling out a vet if anything looks poorly.

Some of these injections I've given have been intramuscular (IM) and subcutaneous (SC) which include the following: 

• Alamycin LA:
• Long acting antibiotics against bacterial infections injected using IM in the rump of the cows. 
• Ultrapen LA: 
• Long acting penicillin for organisms susceptible to penicillin. Given by SC or IM.
• Resflor:
• For the treatment of bovine respiratory disease (BRD) or pneumonia. You look for key signs such as appetite loss, runny eyes and bad breathing. Given normally by SC.
•  Draxxin:
• SC injection which acts as a type of antibiotic which can be used for the treatment of BRD, IBK (infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis) and foot rot. 

All of these have been taught to me by the farmer and has been an enjoyable part of learning new skills on the farm! 

Sticking my hand up a cow's rear end!!

Vets are renowned for having to do the jobs that are a necessary thing in regards to the animal profession! One of these is putting your hand in crevices that aren't considered the normal. I, myself, performed a rectal examination for the first time a few weeks ago and it's nothing like I've ever done!

This was to check to see whether this certain cow was 'bulling' (on heat) and whether it was ready to be artificially inseminated or put with the bull. To see if a cow is bulling you get erratic/over-active behaviour normally in the form of head-shaking and jumping/mounting onto other cows. As well as this when you feel the cervix from above (in the rectal examination) it is a formed and hard round tube that leads to the ovaries.

As I have been doing this farm work for a few weeks now, I have performed these nearly every time so this will help me get used to the basics of feeling the inside reproductive anatomy of a cow and it's all really interesting!

I'm sure I will get a lot more of this kind of thing when I do lambing in Easter next year! If anything, working with the cows has been my favourite placement so far and I learn something new every week. 

Learning how to handle cows and rearing young heifers

How to handle cows is harder than I thought! They have minds of their own and like to do anything but do what you tell them to... Tell them to go one way, they'll find any excuse/way to go the opposite way. Some tips I've picked up from working at the farm when handling them is to make yourself as big and 'scary' as you can whilst flailing blue sticks around! It's all fun though and I really love working with the cows especially learning all about the general husbandry of these animals. My main responsibility on the farm is to help maintain the young calves (heifers) that Jeff gets on his farm every few weeks.

The process goes as follows:

• The cows come at about 3-4 weeks old, and are fed on milk (heifer-lac twice a day) and small cow cake that gives them all the nutrients/calcium that they need to grow in the early stages of their lives. 
• As they get older they get de-horned (see prev. blog post) and de-teated to make sure they are okay to be introduced into the milking process- because if they were to have an extra teat it would be disrupt  the process. 
• They stay on milk for a few weeks but slowly they don't drink it as much and gradually get weaned on to just having small cow cake. 
• Eventually they have a mixture of big and small cow cake to get them used to what they will be having in the future until finally going on to the big cow cake. 

Following this process my favourite part is probably the constant stream of calves that come through as it gives me so many jobs to do on my weekly day on the farm (Sundays) 

Here are some pictures of the milk feeding process. 

You tend to mix 2 jug fulls of powder with a bucket of hot water that has to be at least 30degrees

De-horning! (21/10/12)

Started at eight with learning how to measure out the young calves milk and how to attach their trough to drink from. Then fed them with pellets, hay and straw and topped up water.
Then I got to help de-horn five calves with the help of Geoff and Sophie. I got to give an injection of 5ml of anaesthetic into a dip behind each eye and the sign that it had worked that the eye had gone 'sleepy' looking.
After that we headed up a de-horning iron so it was extremely hot and I used that to dig into and around the horn buds and eventually after a lot of movement the bud was able to be flicked out.
I'm glad I've been able to do this as it has helped me to become more firm when dealing with the cattle, compared to the beginning when I gave in if they pulled away.
The first de-horning that I did took a lot of coaxing but I just think that I needed to improve my technique, which happened over the next few goes.
Then moved a herd of about 30 cows from about a mile down the road to a field closer to the farm to help limit the damage to the grass of a particular field.
Then re-bedded a pen for a new batch coming in later that day and gave them more feed. I'm getting more and more comfortable in doing this job and de-horning was an amazing experience for me! Loved every second.

The dehorning holes where we removed the buds