Cats, Dogs, and Vets.

Well, today marks the end of my first week as a volunteer\observer\shadower at my local veterinary clinic. I now realize how hard it can be to get up at 8:00 a.m. or 7:30 a.m. each and every day in order to establish a habit of going to bed early and getting up early. I'm starting to get into that routine, and though I'm not a morning person, I'm going to keep getting up before 9 even on the weekend(s). Next week, though, I can't volunteer as I'll be working at church for our Vacation Bible School (Boomerang Express, which I'll blog about next Friday).

So what have I done at the clinic? Monday, I mainly just observed and observed a cat being neutered (a surgery done on a male cat to fix it, for all you non-medical people. LOL), watched the vet perform examinations, and examined an x-ray of a cat's leg\elbow. Tuesday I was off, because the clinic here (which is another office of the one in a town not far from me) is only open on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and half of saturdays, and on Tuesday I was helping our music director burn some cds for her students' recital Sunday and straighten up her computer and such. Wednesday was back to work. That morning, I observed a dog being spayed (a female dog getting fixed) and it was interesting! Because femals obviously don't have the same anatomy as males, they have to go in and remove the uterus and ovaries. So, in the process, I got to see the bladder, spleen, and small intestine. We were booked with appointment almost all day. I also got to file some files and run an errand to the bank for the vet's assistant.

Today, Thursday, I was able to finally see some ultrasounds run on two mares. Before that, I helped with an ultrasound on a cat (but he wasn't very happy about it, lol). Since I'm under 18, and not an actual worker at the clinic, I had to stay out of some things because of insurance issues, but that was okay. I stood back and watched as they ran an ultrasound; (and if you're wondering if they do it on the outside or inside, let me tell you, they do it internally; i.e. first they put their hand\arm inside the horse *the south end, the rear* then they run the ultrasound camera thingy in and look around). One of the mares was pregnant again, even though she had already had a colt\foal recently (the difference between the two is that a colt is a male baby horse, the foal is a female baby horse).

So, it was fairly interesting. I'm still not sure if it's something I'd like to do with myself, but it's worth looking into.

If you think about it, please pray for me this Saturday morning. I'll be taking my SAT test and am very nervous about it. :)