Week 12: Last Crazy Fun Week at the Clinic

What we use to measure blood pressure

This is my last week and I have plenty of information to share the First one, is that I brought everyone their thank you cards and their bagels, which everyone was surprised. But happy especially Tracy, who was allergic to gluten. I managed to find her some gluten-free cookies at some of the organic stories that I live nearby. This week is also the week that I found my special event, which was helping Dr. Dugan and Tracy determine the blood pressure of Bella, the black retriever mix. It was interesting learning about the different symbols and meaning on the screen. 

I also got to see two pit bulls that were recently rescued. Thought they did get into a dog fight upon the rescuer arrival. They had to stay in an emergency animal hospital for a few days before coming to Auburn Hills, as the owner was getting the dog out all the employees at the clinic made sure that there were no dogs in the waiting room. Tracy and I went into the room and the dog named Banjo was in two casts, one was called a warm cast and the other was an IV cast. He also had a torn up face and many small puncture wounds. Banjo is people friendly and he was also the loser of the fight meaning he suffered more damage than the winner. We did keep him overnight just in case the wounds may be reopened. He was gone the next day with some antibiotics and new casts.

But the best part of this week was seeing how all the employees pitched in to get me a card and some expensive chocolate bars. This really made me happy and inspire me to do well in college so that one day I'll come back to visit them. I will be seeing them soon since May the 4th is when they will be doing an open house I believe they are showing off police dogs and raising money to pay for the dog's expenses. I'll have to post it in the group chat to see if any are willing to come. 

Week 11: Check your dog for Heartworm!

During the week we had two pit bulls come for their annuals, meaning they were tested and updated on their shots. one of the tests that are performed daily at the clinic is the heartworm test. the test is easy all that is need is a few drops of blood from the dog and is then place on a plastic object. They way you can tell if it's negative is when there is only one line, two lines mean that it's positive. Unlike parasites, heart-worm can spread to other animals. This type of worm is common for dogs who are outside a lot. 

Ways that you can locate the worm in dogs if it's coughing, reluctant to exercise, more tired, decrease in appetite or weight loss. The way heartworm is transferred or even caught by dogs is by an annoying bug. This bug being a mosquito, how it spreads the worm is by biting into their host's skin. Then they transfer parasites that enter the bloodstream and later gets pumped into the heart. If left untreated this can cause heart failure in dogs. The pit bulls were lucky that their owners caught it early, but they will be treated with stronger drugs which will wear the dog out

How the heartworm test is preformed

How heartworm is transferred

Week 10: Picture taking

Week ten was mostly taking pictures of everyone at the clinic and set up my presentation. I took pictures of everyone that has mentored me at the clinic alongside with Stacy who set up the whole internship. A few things that I learn there was that never everyone went to college in the U.S. Charley is from Germany and has only been practicing at the clinic for 4 months as our newest vet technician. Before she came here her last job was in wildlife management.  Misha is the second person I know that didn't go to college yet works the clinic. The way she learned was by on the job training, she has previously worked at hospitals before deciding that she is better with animals than people. 


Another fact that I didn't know about was how old the clinic is. I thought it was pretty old based on how the building looks. But in fact, it's only 11 years old, after Dr.Stamps open it. I few pictures I took was the objects themselves, we have two types of X-ray machines at the clinic. One for dog teeth and the other one is for regular body x-rays. Over the semester I got to see both in action, which we always put the dog under some drug to keep them still.  I was allowed by Dr. Stamps to take these two pictures of them. 

X-Ray for broken bones/others

For Teeth

Week - 9 Human medicine for dogs

 

We had a new client that came to the clinic on Wednesday. His concerns were about his 12-year-old golden retriever, who had slip and fall during their morning walk. She, of course, had trouble walking and was in quite a lot of pain so the owner gave her some of his pain medicine to help her. When Dr. Dugan exam her she didn't find any negative side effects. but she did find a few bumps here and there though that was to be expected because of her age. The dog was given the animal version of the pill she was taking. 

Safe for dogs to have

This does make me wonder if we should be giving our dogs human pills since there are a lot of medicines a dog cannot have without the risk of some dangerous side effects. For example, the owner could have easily given the dog Tylenol or Ibuprofen. Which are perfectly fine for humans but do have dangerous effects on dogs. one of the common effects is an upset stomach or increase of internal bleeding. I'm personally not against using human medicine for dogs but not all medicine is tested on animals and only meant for human consumption. So if you do plan on using human medication it's important to talk to your vet and do plenty of research on it. 

Any type of Ibuprofen such as this is unsafe for all pets

Week 8 Dutch's Tumor

This week was interesting and very informational. We had many appointments most were there for their daily checks ups and shots renewal. A few that stand out was Bonnie the mini aussie who was nervous during the appointment but still allowed us to take blood and other vitals. Then we had Oscar who came in Tuesday for teeth cleaning. The results were pulling nine teeth out of twenty. After the cleaning Oscar woke up quicker than most dogs that I have seen. His reaction to waking up was funny since he had his tongue sticking a little bit out. Then we had a patient that came in Tuesday who had a massive tumor located on her right hind leg. 

After Oscar's cleaning, I help clean some of the equipment and prep for Dutch's tumor removal. I didn't get to see the full surgery. Though I did learn by Dr. Dugun how they took the tumor out. Which the Doctor made an incision in the middle of the tumor, and scooped it out into a big tray and a dog dish. The tumor weight up to 8 lbs and a draining tube was inserted into Dutch so all the build-up fluid can pour out.  Dutch is currently still recovering from the surgery but she is doing smoothly dispute her age.  Dr. Dugun said that she will be going home soon. 

Before tumor removed

Tumor that was removed from Dutch

The tube that was used to drain fluid

Week 7 - Hookworm findings

Hookworm is an internal parasite that can be found in many animals. At my internship, I was able to see under their microscope what a hookworm looks like. It looks like a worm dipped in slime and it was still active when the sample was taken. Meaning it was moving around inside the glass lens. I did a little bit of research on Hookworms and the main cause is by animals either eating the larva of the worm. Or they don't clean themselves and keep their area sanitized. The scientific name for hookworm is Ancylostoma duodenale. Luckily hookworms are easy to treat and the dog that had it just need to take a dewormer for a few days. 

Another thing that happened on Tuesday was a tooth cleaning on one of our employee's dog. His name was Gonzo, an Italian greyhound mix. He was anxious and very nervous during the whole procedure. But didn't lash out or turn aggressive on us. After sedation, we clean his teeth and nothing out of the ordinary was seen and there was no blood during the cleaning.  One thing that did happen was how Gonzo heart rate and pressure were dropping and rising randomly so the dog needs more oxygen. At times Tracy had to stop to get an accurate heartbeat and pressure from Gonzo. Tracy was careful with Gonzo and made sure that he was not given too much oxygen or too low. 

Picture of Hookworm found in one of our patients

Week 6 - Teeth cleaning and X-rays

This week was more interesting than the last one. I was able to observe a tooth cleaning for the second time at the clinic. The condition of the teeth seemed to be in poor health and at least 20 teeth had to be removed from the west high land terrier. Tracy and Dr. Dugan told me that it's not uncommon for small dogs to have the worst teeth condition. The most interesting looking teeth were three merged together and there was only one root. The terrier recovered well and but did had a reaction halfway through the cleaning and Tracy our vet tech assassinated the dog through the whole ordeal. Other than that hiccup the cleaning went well. During this day I saw a cat who appeared to be losing weight and not eating much so IV's needed it to feed it and hopefully mention weight. It is currently unknown of what has caused this but Dr. Stamps ruled out that it might be a cat version of anorexia 

On Wednesday I help Dr. Dugan and one of the new vet techs carry a large golden retriever mix on the x-ray table. The sedation that was used was very powerful since the dog was asleep in less than a minute. The reason it needs to be x-ray was that the owner thinks that it may have broken their right hind leg. Since it was walking funny when the owner noticed. Once the x-ray was taken Sarah showed me how the front of the middle of the hind leg was shifting back and forth. She told me how it was not supposed to do that it needs surgery to fix it. 

Cat that has difficulty eating so IV's were used

Week 5 - Skin Tags

Skin tags are small flaps of tissue that hangs off the skin by a connecting stalk. Rarely is it ever dangerous for either humans or animal. But besides tags Dr. Stamps found a fatty tumor growing on the belly of a Goldendoodle. A fatty tumor is not to different from a regular tumor the only noticeable difference between the two is that fatty tumors are made up of fat tissues. It doesn't seem that the tumor was growing so Dr. Stamps left it alone. The Goldendoodle was well behave during the whole appointment

Then I got to observe a lactation repair surgery. Which is veterinarian language for stitching a wound. The dog was a German Shepard who had a leg wound that is believed to be caused by a fence. Unlike neutering or spaying, the drugs used on the dog was different and an IV didn't need for the stitching. During this week Tracy taught me how to make cones and how to use a special type of sponge to keep the cone on the animal's neck.  

Cones that I made

What a Skin Tag looks like

Week 4: Testing

On Tuesday I got to observe a gray female wiemmear. Who developed a rash around her abdomen, Tracy one of the registered vet techs at the hospital perform a skin test. I helped Tracy by holding the dog's leash while she rubs a piece of tape on both sides of her abdomen since that was where the rash was. Then she put it on a rectangle lens and dipped it a blue, red, and purple liquid. Then put it underneath a microscope. The results from the test show that there were some bacteria and yeast.

The rash is treatable and not too hard to cure. But it does take a while Tracy explained to me that at the minimum the rash will disappear at 3 weeks but it can take longer depending on the rash.  Another thing that was discovered on the dog was a tumor that was developing underneath its eyelid. Dr. Stamps explained that the tumor isn't a concern right now but if it continues to grow then it needs to be removed. Another appointment that we had was dealing with a shelter dog named Frick. He was anxious around humans and need to be sedated in order to perform his annual check-up. Which went smoothly and the dog didn't bite anyone dispute how nervous he was. 

Picture of bacteria and yeast underneath 

Week 3: Odd Teethes

Thanks to the weather this week I was only able to go on Tuesday for my internship. But to make up for the lack of stories I took pictures with the hospital's consent. I was able to get a few sugary photos. Including one of them doing a tooth extraction from a male french bulldog. The reason why the french bulldog needs their teeth removed was that they were starting to grow in a weird place there were two adult teeth that were growing at the roof of the dog's mouth. So the vet took x-rays before and after they pulled the teeth out.

I hope next week will be a better week and that I can finally start on my project. 

Female French bulldog after spray surgery 

Tooth remove surgery on a male french bulldog

Week - 2: Tuesday is Surgery day and diabetes

January 30 was a very busy morning. I was able to witness my mentor and the employee's their prep for surgery. Before they interact with the dog they sanitize the surgery area. After that, they prepare the dog before the patient undergoes surgery, The first check for anything that could indicate that the dog is not ready for surgery. Next is shaving the area that they plan to make an incision. Then they put a tube in one of the dog's front legs. Then they give the dog anesthesia through the tube and keep giving it until the dog is fully asleep. 


The first dog to go under surgery was a dog with diabetes that is also blind. The reason she needs surgery was to remove some abnormal tissue from her genitals. The other dog I got to see undergo surgery was an 8-month-old puppy who had some baby teeth that didn't fall and was starting to overlap with the adult teeth. One thing I learned that day is that it takes a while to prep and do surgery. Another thing I got to see was how they tested for diabetes for dogs. They had to take a fecal and urine sample to find if one of the patients who owned a Boston terrier showed any signs for diabetes.  

Picture of an dog's eye that was caused by diabetes.

Week 1: Observing

This week of my internship at auburn hill animal hospital was slow but knowledgeable. I didn't get to do a lot of hands-on tasks but I did do plenty of learning and observing. My first day at the animal hospital involved learning how many items need to be sanitized, how they clean their rooms there.  I help with folding towels and cleaning off tables. I was also shown how they have a section dedicated to sterilizing items such as tweezers, or forceps. Another task they do in that section is having surgery prep cloths which they fold them similar to a care package. 

One of the many tasks that I got to observe was with a small dog that was having some eye problems. Dr stamps wanted to check the eye for dryness alongside with anything else. They check a Pomeranian eye for dryness by gentle pulling the under eyelid and sticking a piece of paper slip inside it. It was done in both eyes it the results came back normal. 

Picture of the eye test done on the Pomeranian. 

Introduction

Hello, my name is Tamia, I'm a senior at Andale high school.  The career I chose for my internship was veterinary medicine. I developed my passion for animals and science by watching the many documentaries on TV and online. Doing this internship would help me set apart for when I later apply to vet school and my resume. But the most important part is that it will really give me a better feel of wither I enjoy the type of tasks that you have to do as a vet.  My because worry is meeting new people, it's something I tend to struggle. What happens most of the time is I become shy and quiet. Another thing I tend to do is act anxious and too serious around those whom I don't know. I hope to overcome this and become more relaxed and give off a more friendly vibe.




I have some experience with animals, in fact, I have done two job shadows related to my interest. The first one being at an animal hospital located at Auburn Hills Wichita. This is where I first gain some in site of what a normal day may be like for a veterinarian. My second job shadow was on at Sedgewick county zoo where I got to learn more about exotic animals such as the Poitou donkey. Which is a breed of donkey that was found in the regions of France.



I hope this Spring Internship will be great for everyone.