Horse jugular - AKA fishing for a garden hose

Today I got to inject a horse in the jugluar with a sedative so the ferrier could do his job. Having worked with small animals for so long I have loads of experience drawing blood and giving injections - but my largest patient was maybe 120 pounds and he couldn't run me down if he didn't like the tiny prick of the needle. When our professor asked who wanted to do the stick, I jumped at the chance (even though today is Kip's birthday and I probably should have shoved him to the front). A big difference with injecting horses, besides their sheer size, is you have to be careful not to stick the needle in the carotid artery. One way to be sure you have the correct vessel is to hold off on the neck, insert the needle first (without the syringe attached) and then take your hold off the vessels to let the blood flow. If the blood flows slowly and sluggishly, you have the jugular (blood pumped back to the heart via the venous system moves slowly since it is farther from the pump). If the blood is bright red and spurts out, you have hit the carotid artery (blood is pulsing and is more oxygenated). I got the needle in the correct position on my first try, but of course made a complete bloody mess by taking too much time to get the syringe attached. Such is life.

I have to say overall it was a pretty terrifying cool experience. But I'm still sticking with the tiny four-leggeds.....

Dolphin Discovery

About two weeks before the end of last semester, Dolphin Discovery had a new arrival! Allegria, a 25 year old female bottlenose dolphin gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl!

Since baby dolphins have a tenuous hold on life for the first year or so, and especially in the first month, the students at SMU were called upon to undergo a 'dolphin watch' 24 hours/day, 7 days/week. Basically you monitor the baby and momma's breathing rate, nursing schedule and time spent nursing, how often and how long the baby separates from the momma, and how often the momma and baby swap positions when swimming near the edge of the enclosure (i.e. is the baby between momma and the wall or is momma in the middle). This was my first up close experience with dolphins, and they are every bit as cool as I anticipated.

Kip and I got to know the trainers that day pretty well, and they invited us back the next morning to help out with 're-training' Allegria. She had been kept in solitary confinment for the last few weeks of her pregnancy, and will be kept alone with her baby for the first year. This means it had been weeks since she was used for any dolphin experiences, and the trainers needed to get back in there with people to make sure she didn't lose any of her training. They wanted to use us as 'guests', since we had no training and would act like any other person who had paid for the experience. The baby would be in the water with us as well, but we were told to ignore her and focus on Allegria. Easier said than done! Allegria was very nervous our first time in, since this was the first time so many people had entered her sanctuary . She was very torn between wanting to do what the trainers asked of her (and thus receive her fish!) and trying to keep tabs on her baby at all times. All in all she did very well, and we were asked back the next day to try again.

The second experience was much better for Allegria. She seemed more relaxed with us in the water, and while she was still keeping tabs she performed wonderfully. The baby was also enjoying our presence, and was getting much more curious about who we were and what we were doing. At one point she got too close to the trainer at my left (for Allegria's comfort) and momma went to correct her. Baby darted between the trainer and I with Allegria close behind her. I just lifted up my hands and stood still hoping the baby wouldn't make a sound or something that set momma off!

That day we also got to jump in with the dolphins and perform physical exams, experience a foot-push (see video), dolphin kisses, hand shakes and more!

Kip and Raul performing a physical exam on Cappy

Kip checking out Cappy's mouth. Dolphins have a reduced gag reflex, allowing the trainers to check deep into their mouth for any lacerations or lumps.

Checking out Cappy's belly and sides, looking for any new lumps or lacerations from playing rough with the other dolphins.

Getting a kiss from Esperanza (Cappy's girlfriend)

Shaking hands with Cappy

A few dolphin facts I learned:

• Life span - Bottlenose dolphins live about 50 years, however there was recently a dolphin in captivity that died at 65 years old.
• Teeth - They have 100 teeth, and all are permanent teeth. They do not grow "baby teeth" (deciduous teeth) that fall out letting permanent teeth grow in, like dogs and cats. Also the most accurate (and not very nice) way to properly age a dolphin is to pull one of its teeth out and cut it in half lengthwise. The teeth have layers similar to trees and you can count the layers to deterime the age. (this is NOT something they do at Dolphin Discovery!)
• Gestation - They go into estrus once every 4 months. They do not bleed like other mammals, and the only way to know they are 'in heat' (if you don't monitor on a calendar) is to pay attention to the behavior of the males around the female. The gestation period is about 11 to 12 months.
• Babies - The baby is born tail first. The mom is supposed to bring the baby up immediately for air, however with Allegria she dove to the bottom with her baby first and it was almost 3 minutes before the baby surfaced! They are born with no teeth, which typically grow in around 6 months of age. The babies nurse for about 3 years, however they begin playing with and eating fish as early as 3 months.
• Echolocation - Dolphins have their own 'sonar', using high-pitched clicks to determine their location in reference to an object. People often use this as a reason why keeping dolphins in captivity is wrong; however echolocation takes a lot of energy on the dolphin's part and living in captivity reduces the need to use this energy-wasting ability. They do not have to expend so much energy in searching for food or enemies, and can thus live less stressful lives.
• Sleep - Dolphins are voluntary breathers in that they have to think about breathing. Unlike humans or other mammals, when they sleep a part of their brain always has to be 'awake' to maintain their respiration. They go into sort of a trance-like state, shutting down one side of their brain for a few hours and then switching sides to rest the other side. If you ever see a dolphin just floating the water, not really moving, it is probably sleeping.
  

Three dolphins napping on the job

If brother and sister iguanas get busy, the eggs produced are infertile. How do we make humans like that?

Saturday we visited the botanical gardens where the Blue Iguana Sanctuary is located. Some background on the facility/animal can be found here. Basically Blue Iguanas are native to only Grand Cayman (Cyclura lewesi), and they are a morph of another iguana from the Cyclura genus found on Cuba. They are the longest living iguanas, oldest being 69 years old. They used to be plentiful on Grand Cayman until people began to develop the island for human use. Basically we destroyed their habitats and introduced various predatorial species that they could not protect themselves from. They are not good climbers (unlike the Green Iguanas), are creatures of habit (will live in the same one or two trees), and tend to stand still when confronted by a potential threat (versus the Green Iguanas who run at the first sign of Stranger Danger). Between the humans, dogs, cats, snakes, red ants, and rats the population was decimated to about 15 in 2003.
Recovery efforts have increased the population enough to get it off the critically endangered list, but it is still considered an endangered species. The program at the sanctuary is designed to assist these lizards in reproducing successfully and eventually being released into the wild. They have breeding pens that are designed to give the female an acceptable habitat for laying her eggs, and then the caretakers will dig the eggs up and keep them in an incubator until they hatch (about 10 weeks). They have to dig them up because A) fire ants will attack the eggs and B) rats will dig them up and eat them. Without the caretaker's help, maybe 1 or 2 of the ten-twelve eggs will successfully hatch and make it to the surface. With their help, usually all of the eggs survive and move on to be released when they reach a good size.

Once hatched, the babies are moved into the "Head Start" program where they are reared until about a year and a half to two years. When they reach a certain weight and health status, and vet will deem them acceptable for release. This is where the hard part comes in...these guys are really territorial so the caretaker's maintain a chart of where each lizard lives and they try to make sure no close family members live near each other. If close family members (mom/son, brother/sister, etc.) mate, they will produce infertile eggs which is counteractive to the mission. Since the lizards really only produce eggs once a year, it's imperative that they produce healthy, viable eggs each clutch. (how do you like that use of vet speak, Kip?)

Oh, and we learned that Blue Iguanas taste like kerosene and Green Iguanas taste like chicken. Supposedly. That might also be rumor the warden guy was spreading to encourage those desperate enough for food to eat the greens over the blues…

Okay, enough blah blah blah. Onto the pics:

Our guide was a former chef. He used a lot of technical terms like "tastes like kerosene" and "toxitity" and "knocked up".

This was a nest that was currently inhabited by a momma laying eggs. When she finishes she will cover the hole completely masking its location and (hopefully) preventing predators from finding the eggs. Once she's done the babies are on their own.

These are the first step in the Head Start program. Under 1 year olds stay here.

Little Baby

They grow so fast!

And the showdown begins....



Mad Max was freaking awesome. Especially when charging chicks with red toenail polish.

Showing his trademark black feet and spineless dewlap.

Stripeless tail as well. Good lookin boy!

I don't remember this one's name. But I do remember something about him having too small of a penis to properly copulate.

That's gotta suck.




This is an overview of the breeding area. Each iguana has his/her own square, and during breeding season they open the gate between so they can get "knocked up".

Check out his little teeth....just don't underestimate them! Robert Muldoon was telling us he had both of his thumbs broken by the same freaking iguana in the same freaking week.

That iguana also broke his foot and his manhood.

True Story.

I love those spines.

This one takes me back to the days of velociraptors and T-Rex.

A few years ago a pair of wild dogs killed two of the iguanas in the park. This was one of the epitaphs posted above the graves for the lizards. I'm pretty sure the other iguanas leave flowers and candles on the site every year as a memorial. I could still see some wax.

After the tour of the breeding facility Mr. Muldoon took us on a little hike through the rest of the park so we could see some of the animals in the wild. I'm pretty sure I heard a goat bleating in the woods.

This is a dig site for eggs. The mom was sitting just to the side of the hole glaring at the workers. Good thing they work in groups; if there was only one she would have tripped the guy and eaten his eyeballs.

Shhhh.....we're hunting Wabbits.....

Today we took a field trip to a local nursery school called Little Trotters where the children are not the only animals around. The owner is an animal lover, and over the years has taken in a nice variety of farm-ish animals who have for some reason or another lost their homes on the island. They are:

Todd the Overweight Goat



Pepper the Spoiled-Rotten Pig



Panero the Miniature Horse



a few ducks



and maybe 6 or so rabbits.

Our purpose for visiting this place was to learn handling, restraint, and various other clinical skills of working with rabbits. Since we are a small class (I sense this will come in very handy over the next 2 years) we were able to hang out in the pen areas and practice our skills.

I’ve never really handled rabbits during my years working at the shelter or in clinics. There were some for adoption at the shelter, but I would always get someone else to handle them for me. While working at the E-Clinic a rescue worker went to pick up a baby wild rabbit out of a box and she failed to scoop the rabbit’s back legs before lifting. The baby kicked and snapped its spine. That’s a very easy/common injury to rabbits, especially when mishandled, so after that incident I basically planned to never hold one again. I can still hear that poor thing scream. (Medical Note: the most common location for the break in the spine is L7)

So you can imagine I was quite trepidacious going into this adventure. My classmate Kip has a rabbit of his own back home named Merlin. (They do magic together which is just too freakin cute.) When it came time to split into groups, I stuck to Kip like glue. I didn’t want to be the loser who snapped a rabbit’s spine. At the nursery school. With little kids running around barefoot and happy.

I can just see them all surrounding me, crying and sniffling and snot running down their faces and their little chubby fingers pointing out my guilt.

Side Note: Speaking of barefoot…this place didn’t seem to encourage shoes. For anyone. Including the instructors. Here, on an island where random diseases are rampant, where tetanus is apparently lurking around every blade of grass, where House would find his wet dream of cases….no one wears shoes. Which brings me to my next side note....this is a paraphrase of a sign posted all over the facility:

Warning
For a few weeks many children have been coming to school with extreme diarrhea and vomiting. Some children have been taken to the hospital for dehydration. All students with symptoms must wait 48 hours post-recovery before returning to school. Blah Blah Blah Barefoot.

Um, dysentery anyone?

Which, by the way, can be treated with consumption of fresh, warm camel feces according to my irrefutable source, Wikipedia. And apparently the Bedouins.

Okay, back to the story. Where was I? OH yes, Killing Wabbits.

Our professor Dr. Shields gave us a basic lecture about handling rabbits, drawing blood, getting vitals, and performing an overall physical exam. Then she basically set us free to torture these poor animals as best we could.

(I am quite convinced Dr. Shields is really an angel brought down from heaven just to provide us with a couple of hours per week of puppy and kitty play time as sort of a pat on the back for getting through the rest of the week’s ridiculously tedious classes [ahem, histo] without going some form of postal that may or may not include the use of our required scalpels and box of blades.)

Now, I’m not going to start talking shit about my classmates on this blog, because that would just not be my style nor would it be smart since one day they may take it upon themselves to read this stuff. But seriously folks: if you don’t know what you are doing and your professor has stressed multiple times the inherent dangers involved in rabbit handling, please quell that inner need to kiss ass/look good and don’t bolt to the rabbit cages to be the first in line to perform Rabbitcide. Thank you.

After a brief breath-holding period of watching a few classmates chase these adorable creatures (with the biggest eyes ever!) around their pen, we were finally successful in capturing three fluffy bunnies. Once they were caught I had no problem holding the cutest little chinchilla-looking thing you have ever seen.

Here I’m scruffing the neck like a cat and holding the back legs steady so the baby won’t try to jump away from me. The towel is covering her face so she can hide. Paul is examining the central and marginal ear veins, which are the most common place for blood draws on a rabbit.

After working with the rabbits for an hour or so, we decided to check out the other animals. Todd the Goat is ridiculously overweight and has to be tethered when the pig and horse are fed because otherwise he will buck them out of the way to eat their food. It was Pepper the Pig, however, who decided to get her revenge on all of those lost meals by stealing back from Todd. Pepper made the bad decision to try and sneak over the side of Todd’s trough (which is basically a plastic barrel cut in half lengthwise), got her arms stuck over the side with the trough cutting into her armpits, and when she squealed in surprise/unhappiness at being stuck was caught red-handed by Todd who then basically pinned her between his stubby head and the fence. I was pretty sure Pepper and maybe even Robin (who stepped in to save the day) were going to be seriously maimed by that goat. Never heard a pig squeal so loudly.

Stupid Pig.

With the field trip to the petting zoo over, we returned home for some serious studying. Our first two exams tomorrow: Anatomy (lab & lecture) and Histology (lab & lecture). Yay.

More pictures:

Travis showing off his super awesome "penlight". Which I'm pretty sure he could use for anesthesia on smaller animals in a cinch.



Kip listening to the heart and lungs.

Kip demonstrating how to hypnotize a rabbit. No joke. If you can successfully flip them over on their backs without snapping their spine, all you have to do is rub their belly a bit and they just fall asleep.

Physical exam on a new rabbit.

Robin test driving her stethoscope.

Physical Exam.



Dr. Shields demonstrating the hypnotic technique.

Kip demonstrating proper restraint.

I'm about to get headbutted by Todd and my knee nibbled on by Pepper.

Todd getting a healthy snack.

This was the sink we had for washing up. Hysterical.

Todd trying to eat my camera.

My doctor says my boobs are normal. I beg to differ.

My immigration to The GC required a chest xray (WTF?) to check for Tuberculosis. Because that is just super prevalent here.

Anyhow, I had to get a written report from the doc who read the xray, and this is what I got:

I'm really quite indignant, I wear altogether way too uncomfortable bras & tight T-shirts to be called "Normal".

And to prove this point:

(you might need to click on the pic to see the text. have I mentioned my need for Photoshop?!)

This pic has a double meaning, actually. Not only does it do my chest justice (take that, doc.), but it also shows my support (*snicker*) for my Rossie peeps who are enjoying some Phun with Pharm today/tonight/tomorrow. You guys are gonna rock it, and then you'll rock finals, and then I'll expect all of you to return your full attention to me. *Ahem.* I mean, have a safe trip home and stuff.

I forgot to include the pic of my "After" unpacking. I figured while I have everything there I should go through all of my clothes and weed out unwearables/threadbare/etc.

I have entirely TOO MUCH CRAP.

Oh, and today I got my Open Water card! Yay!! I'm official and can even dive during my trip with dad next week! Except for that whole find an apartment, open a bank account, get car insurance, meet my new peeps, etc. all within 2 business days. Sooo, maybe we'll just settle for some snorkeling. Or a shore dive. Aw, hell.

Anal Hairs.

THAT got your attention.

Cristin and I were enjoying a lovely morning in histology viewing various slides of epithelium under the scope when we were rudely jolted out of our ambling journey by ANAL HAIRS!

Oh come on kids, stop snickering. It's just a word - a body part - like leg or arm or foot. Just because Beevis and Butthead found it amusing, doesn't mean we all have to. (Hee Hee)

Yes, our slide of a dog's rectoanal junction showed hairs. Creepy.

I took a pic, because naturally I needed to share with you all.

Look at the brownish long things the glowing pointer is pointing at...you know you're jealous of my photography skills.

Not that I ever thought the anal area was a particularly bald area, but I just didn't expect to find anal hairs while perusing a slide for glands and epithelium!

What a wonderful career I've chosen.

I heart Nutrition.

No, silly kids - I'm not changing my diet habits just yet. I just had this fantastic epiphany in class the other morning...

One of the best parts about knowledge and the adventure of aquiring it is that in learning about the world around us we always learn something new about ourselves.

When I was a little girl, climbing trees in an effort to freak my mom out or focusing on boys and dividing fractions - not once did I ever envision to myself saying these three little words:

I Heart Nutrition.

I realize the irony here. Please understand that this does not insinuate that I have had an epiphany that will lead to my consuming massive amounts of roughage and fruits.

Certinaly Not.

What about nutrition do I love, then? The biochemical details, of course. Thus, to rephase my previous statement:

I Heart Nutrition in regards to the Biochemical Nature of Life.

A bit too much for a bumper sticker, thus the earlier simplification.

Even more detailed would be to say that I absolutely love to learn about the micro-processes of our incredibly complex bodies (all animals) that make us who we are...from the detailed process of embryology (one itty bitty cell to a full fledged member of society) to the crazy systems in the body present simply to maintain homeostatsis.

Oh, and according to my nutrition prof the Liver is God. Therefore I welcome you all to have a drink and toast your personal God, the Liver. (trust me, the Liver does more for our bodies than we will ever know - it has a hand in just about all metabolic processes...be kind to it!)

Lesson of the Week #2.

Title: Why we have veterinary technicians.

Prologue: This week in Nutrition we've been learning about how the body responds to hormonal stumulii such as insulin and glucagon.

Details: (in very general terms, for the non-vets out there) The main fuel for all cells of the body is glucose. Two types of cells specifically run on glucose alone, red blood cells (RBCs) and neurons (highly prefer glucose). Neurons are really picky about their fuel source (think Saskia is a neuron and glucose is meat), and being the "generals" of the body they monitor levels 24/7. If the level of blood glucose drops, messages are sent off to the other cells of the body via hormones to reestablish homeostasis (i.e. it's happy place). These cells play a game of 'telelphone', telling each other that the body needs to eat. The body eats, the glucose levels go up, and the neurons are happy.

BUT - what if the glucose levels continue to drop?

The neurons get really really pissy, and they start to rebel. That's when the body starts to convulse, drop into a coma, and eventually die.

Lesson: So what is a veterinarian to do when a convulsing animal comes into the clinic? Get its glucose levels up fast. How? Give it Karo syrup. Who will get that Karo syrup into the convulsing dog's mouth? Why, the technicians, of course!!

(NOTE: to all of my former techincian mates, I in no way thought this story was funny nor did I participate in laughing one bit.)

Lesson of the Week #1.

Since starting here, I have learned some very quirky things about the world of animals. Thus, I've decided to begin a Lesson of the Week to pass along the interesting information learned in the annals of vet school. These lessons will come in varying forms; some in the form of a story, some as a recounting of events.

Lesson of the Week #1.

Prologue: We are sitting in histology this morning enjoying a lovely discussion about the tissues of the male and female reproductive organs. Dr. Stimmelmayr (yes, that is spelled correctly) begins to talk about the hormones produced during ovulation, and the process in which the follicles on the ovaries develop. She then abruptly interrupts herself by calling out to Dr. Kainer in the back of the room (filled with approximately 100 students): "tell them about testing for pregnancy using rabbits". Or some such nonsense.


Aside: Dr. Kainer is a very 'mature' gentleman, one who has seen many years in the scientific field and who is always willing to (very slowly) share his wisdom with his students.


Background: Prior to the advent of "the most advanced technology you’ll ever pee on", when his wife thought she was pregnant with their first child he had his wife submit a urine sample to him, which he then injected into a rabbit. A hormone called Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG) is released shortly after the egg implants itself on the uterine wall. This hormone causes the placenta to release progesterone that aids in preventing the rejection of the developing embryo. The hCG hormone is detectable in a pregnant woman's urine. Injecting the urine containing the hormone hCG induces detectable ovarian changes in the rabbit. Specifically, the ovaries develop many follicles, which can be seen upon dissection.

Lesson: [Story by Dr. Kainer] Thus, Dr. Kainer explained to the class that in order to determine if his wife is pregnant, he injected urine into a rabbit, gave it a few days to take effect, and then dissected the rabbit to examine the ovaries. In his case, the ovaries were covered with follicles and so they celebrated that evening with a supper of rabbit stew.

Yes, if you didn't catch that, they ate the freaking rabbit. After injecting it with urine. Ah, what a child they must have created.

May I say, it is very nice to live in the advent of technology.