So my last blog was about my volunteer work, and since then I was able to talk with the vet that was there, and she told me that the colic case that came in ended up having a neurological problem instead. However, they are not sure whether its due to the current virus or not. But the owners took the horse home instead.
The baby alpaca probably wont make it, as she was very weak and born premature, however the owners took her home for the lat of her days i guess. As for the grannie alpaca, she died =( not sure how mom alpaca will cope with that as she was very attached to grannie.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
A day at the University Veterinary Teaching Hospital in Camden
I volunteered to help out on a sunday from 8am -4pm at the clinic, mainly the horse unit. Once I got there, the first thing they told me to do was to do a physical exam on this horse named King that is a regular blood donor and also had a sinus trephination(holes drilled into her sinus for drainage. I then gave him some oral meds.
I then helped the intern to restrain a mom alpaca so she can do warm compression as she has mastitis. Then she milked out the coagulated milk. The mom alpaca was quite agitated and kept trying to run away. While i was restraining her, i can hear her getting ready to spit! but thank god, she didn't.
We then went to Gran alpaca (the mom's mom), she was in to keep the mom company but developed diarrhoea while she was in hospital. But all her vitals were normal. After we finished with her, we had to disinfect ourselves before doing anything else.
We then went to help the vets hold a mare while they checked on the foal with corneal ulcer. I was able to take a good look at the ulcer close up after the intern gave him a nerve block to prevent the eyelid from shutting. Later, the intern gave the foal meds through this flush through the eyelid. After that was done, we took the mare and foal back to their box. The mare was a little rowdy, and tries to bite and stuff especially when we are doing things with the foal. But this occurs to most mares with foals...
Around 10 am we took the cria (baby alpaca) out to have some fresh air, she wasn't doing so well. She would just lie there. It seems like she was very very weak. She was born 4 weeks premature and she is now 2 wks old. At first, she wouldnt drink the milk and seemed to have a head tilt. She also would'nt pee by herself! The intern stimulated her to pee, but whenever she stopped stimulating her, she would stop peeing! Also whenever we tried to make her stand up, she had a funny gait, but that could be because shes still a baby but she had some proprioceptive defects in the right hindleg (she actually stood on the top of her foot instead of the right way around). She would also hang her head down when she was standing. Hwever, when she is sititng down, she was able to lift her head up, so I'm not sure if shes just lazy or if it is weakness.
But since she was born premature and she was the first for her mom, her mom didn't let this poor baby suckle her so the cria had a failure of passive transfer (failure of transfer of maternal antibodies) thus she is weak. We finally got her to suckle and she ended up nearly finishing the bottle till she fell asleep.
Afterwards, a horse came in who seemed to have colicky signs, but the vet is not really convinced. Kept him in hospital to further monitor him. He pawed at the ground slightly, and also got down into sternal recumbancy but got up shortly after.
THis is when it was very busy possibly around 12- 1pm. We got alot of cases to follow up and to administer meds but now we got to take care of this case that just came in. So then I did a TPR (temp, pulse, respiration rate) and the intern took some blood and gave some flunixin (anti-inflammatory drug) to see how it goes.
We then changed bags of fluid for "winter" who has neurological signs which is suspected to have west nile which is not in australia and is transmitted by mosquitos. She liked to bite! I was holder her while the intern checked her TPR, and dring that time she will try and bite me! so i had to be aware of what she is doing with her head at all times.
By now, I have helped out with alot of blood work. Mainly spinning down blood and getting a PCV and TPP value for the horses and the cria (alpaca baby).
Now is around 2pm, so its time to do another round of TPRs with the above animals again, and this time King requires flushing of the sinuses. Quite messy job. It involves having the horse in a crush, and a small hose to run water through the holes into the sinuses to flush watever is in there such as pus or any material left inside the sinus. The water squirts everywhere, the vet who was using the hose and the intern who was restraining the horses head got splashed! I was lucky, i was out of the way at this time =P
I just observed!
Then I went to help the vet with the alpacas, but this time the vet restrained the animal and allowed me to do the warm compression on the mom alpaca for around 5-10 mins and then to try and milk out the coagulated milk form her udder. THis time she was alot calmer.
At this time the intern had to go to the lab and get a PCV and TPP of another horse, and so the vet told me to do a TPR on the cria and to feed her milk, this time she suckled and had the whole bottle!
Now it is around 3pm where we helped out with "winter" again to check her TPR, collect blood sample, and change her fluid bags again. Then we also checked on the horse that came in, did a TPR on her again, and this time we felt that he had alot of muscle twitching which is quite abnormal without the presence of flies, and the horse got a little irritated with the twitching as well. The vet is still unsure about what is going on with this horse, and wants to do blood work and stuff, however the lab for the other tests is only open tmr. So the owners will have to wait!
Alas, its 4 pm! Time for me to go home:) and it was raining...=/
Phew that was a longgg dayyy! But it was fun and very interesting!
I like how they let me do things too~
Also the intern i was working with, her shift was 24hrs! so she'd be done tmr morn at 7.30am! Crazy @_@
I then helped the intern to restrain a mom alpaca so she can do warm compression as she has mastitis. Then she milked out the coagulated milk. The mom alpaca was quite agitated and kept trying to run away. While i was restraining her, i can hear her getting ready to spit! but thank god, she didn't.
We then went to Gran alpaca (the mom's mom), she was in to keep the mom company but developed diarrhoea while she was in hospital. But all her vitals were normal. After we finished with her, we had to disinfect ourselves before doing anything else.
We then went to help the vets hold a mare while they checked on the foal with corneal ulcer. I was able to take a good look at the ulcer close up after the intern gave him a nerve block to prevent the eyelid from shutting. Later, the intern gave the foal meds through this flush through the eyelid. After that was done, we took the mare and foal back to their box. The mare was a little rowdy, and tries to bite and stuff especially when we are doing things with the foal. But this occurs to most mares with foals...
Around 10 am we took the cria (baby alpaca) out to have some fresh air, she wasn't doing so well. She would just lie there. It seems like she was very very weak. She was born 4 weeks premature and she is now 2 wks old. At first, she wouldnt drink the milk and seemed to have a head tilt. She also would'nt pee by herself! The intern stimulated her to pee, but whenever she stopped stimulating her, she would stop peeing! Also whenever we tried to make her stand up, she had a funny gait, but that could be because shes still a baby but she had some proprioceptive defects in the right hindleg (she actually stood on the top of her foot instead of the right way around). She would also hang her head down when she was standing. Hwever, when she is sititng down, she was able to lift her head up, so I'm not sure if shes just lazy or if it is weakness.
But since she was born premature and she was the first for her mom, her mom didn't let this poor baby suckle her so the cria had a failure of passive transfer (failure of transfer of maternal antibodies) thus she is weak. We finally got her to suckle and she ended up nearly finishing the bottle till she fell asleep.
Afterwards, a horse came in who seemed to have colicky signs, but the vet is not really convinced. Kept him in hospital to further monitor him. He pawed at the ground slightly, and also got down into sternal recumbancy but got up shortly after.
THis is when it was very busy possibly around 12- 1pm. We got alot of cases to follow up and to administer meds but now we got to take care of this case that just came in. So then I did a TPR (temp, pulse, respiration rate) and the intern took some blood and gave some flunixin (anti-inflammatory drug) to see how it goes.
We then changed bags of fluid for "winter" who has neurological signs which is suspected to have west nile which is not in australia and is transmitted by mosquitos. She liked to bite! I was holder her while the intern checked her TPR, and dring that time she will try and bite me! so i had to be aware of what she is doing with her head at all times.
By now, I have helped out with alot of blood work. Mainly spinning down blood and getting a PCV and TPP value for the horses and the cria (alpaca baby).
Now is around 2pm, so its time to do another round of TPRs with the above animals again, and this time King requires flushing of the sinuses. Quite messy job. It involves having the horse in a crush, and a small hose to run water through the holes into the sinuses to flush watever is in there such as pus or any material left inside the sinus. The water squirts everywhere, the vet who was using the hose and the intern who was restraining the horses head got splashed! I was lucky, i was out of the way at this time =P
I just observed!
Then I went to help the vet with the alpacas, but this time the vet restrained the animal and allowed me to do the warm compression on the mom alpaca for around 5-10 mins and then to try and milk out the coagulated milk form her udder. THis time she was alot calmer.
At this time the intern had to go to the lab and get a PCV and TPP of another horse, and so the vet told me to do a TPR on the cria and to feed her milk, this time she suckled and had the whole bottle!
Now it is around 3pm where we helped out with "winter" again to check her TPR, collect blood sample, and change her fluid bags again. Then we also checked on the horse that came in, did a TPR on her again, and this time we felt that he had alot of muscle twitching which is quite abnormal without the presence of flies, and the horse got a little irritated with the twitching as well. The vet is still unsure about what is going on with this horse, and wants to do blood work and stuff, however the lab for the other tests is only open tmr. So the owners will have to wait!
Alas, its 4 pm! Time for me to go home:) and it was raining...=/
Phew that was a longgg dayyy! But it was fun and very interesting!
I like how they let me do things too~
Also the intern i was working with, her shift was 24hrs! so she'd be done tmr morn at 7.30am! Crazy @_@
Thursday, March 31, 2011
First live surgery!
Today was my first time performing a live spey in a dog at the RSPCA clinic.
It felt great to do surgery and to know that it went smoothly with no complications.
I can't wait for more opportunities to do more surgery and to familiarise myself with the knowledge a vet is required to know.
I can't wait to finally come out of uni and start working.
Technically just 8 months left before internship! =)
It felt great to do surgery and to know that it went smoothly with no complications.
I can't wait for more opportunities to do more surgery and to familiarise myself with the knowledge a vet is required to know.
I can't wait to finally come out of uni and start working.
Technically just 8 months left before internship! =)
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Piggeries
I just got back form an awesome 5 day placement at a piggery near Corryong, VIC.
It was a fantastic experience. We got to do lots of different activities and learnt alot about the system. We even helped assist some sows and pulled out some piglets! They were sooo cute and adorable.
We also helped vaccinate them and move pigs around to different sheds. Doing rounds to make sure all piglets were healthy and treated for any problems they have. We did post mortem on some dead piggies to see what happened to them....
The whole experience felt more like a holiday than a placement! They even took us to the local Corryong cinema. It was very cute and 'high class' the chairs reclined, and we were served gourmet food with a bottle of wine. Yummy!
We then had a short tour around town before heading back home.
On the last day it rained which made working abit better as it was cooler. Better for the pigs as well so they don't over heat....
Our last dinner there was fantastic, we had fresh oysters with this amazing sauce that was made from grapefruits. Mind you i don't really like oysters but that might just convert me =0
We then had some glasses of wine and just chatted with the lovely family.
And of course i got to mention Cocoa, she is the most spoilt chocolate lab I've ever seen. But anybody who saw her would end up spoiling her!
I really miss staying up there in corryong, it definitely is a very nice town!
It was a fantastic experience. We got to do lots of different activities and learnt alot about the system. We even helped assist some sows and pulled out some piglets! They were sooo cute and adorable.
We also helped vaccinate them and move pigs around to different sheds. Doing rounds to make sure all piglets were healthy and treated for any problems they have. We did post mortem on some dead piggies to see what happened to them....
The whole experience felt more like a holiday than a placement! They even took us to the local Corryong cinema. It was very cute and 'high class' the chairs reclined, and we were served gourmet food with a bottle of wine. Yummy!
We then had a short tour around town before heading back home.
On the last day it rained which made working abit better as it was cooler. Better for the pigs as well so they don't over heat....
Our last dinner there was fantastic, we had fresh oysters with this amazing sauce that was made from grapefruits. Mind you i don't really like oysters but that might just convert me =0
We then had some glasses of wine and just chatted with the lovely family.
And of course i got to mention Cocoa, she is the most spoilt chocolate lab I've ever seen. But anybody who saw her would end up spoiling her!
I really miss staying up there in corryong, it definitely is a very nice town!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Birthday Dinner @ Lowenbrau
So finally i can celebrate my bday after the midterm. We went to Lowenbrau and had great food, it was sooo filling, we couldn't finish ours. I will post up some pics later...if i remember....
The actual dinner wasn't that eventful, i was worried ppl weren't having fun! we even paid the bill by now....then it all started....first they got the guys from Lowenbrau to sing happy birthday to me, so everybody in the restaurant knew who i was and some random ppl on the next table over shouted "sing a song!' - That was scary, but i didn't (phew).
They had a few entertainment numbers during this time, and they get customers to go up and perform....
As the Lowenbrau ppl already knew my name, i was an easy target!
They picked me out and a bunch of other girls to play "Edelweiss" on cow bells....and made us do a silly chicken dance....
After that, i thought i was through the "on stage" thing, but i was wrong, they got me to go do this beer drinking competition...with 2 other girls...but anyhow, everybody wins a prize and i guess we all got free beer!
But I must admit, it was actually quite fun~ I did dread it, but when it happened, it was quite fun especially the cow bells~
Thanks everybody who came!!!
The actual dinner wasn't that eventful, i was worried ppl weren't having fun! we even paid the bill by now....then it all started....first they got the guys from Lowenbrau to sing happy birthday to me, so everybody in the restaurant knew who i was and some random ppl on the next table over shouted "sing a song!' - That was scary, but i didn't (phew).
They had a few entertainment numbers during this time, and they get customers to go up and perform....
As the Lowenbrau ppl already knew my name, i was an easy target!
They picked me out and a bunch of other girls to play "Edelweiss" on cow bells....and made us do a silly chicken dance....
After that, i thought i was through the "on stage" thing, but i was wrong, they got me to go do this beer drinking competition...with 2 other girls...but anyhow, everybody wins a prize and i guess we all got free beer!
But I must admit, it was actually quite fun~ I did dread it, but when it happened, it was quite fun especially the cow bells~
Thanks everybody who came!!!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Cooking class~
Yesterday was my last day of school before my exams. I had a midterm in the morning which i think went quite well.
That afternoon, I went with my sister to our friend's dance studio to help out as it just opened. It's a very nice dance studio and theres free classes all week~ how exciting!
Afterwards, we walked down to Sydney Fish Market School where we had our coking class "What to cook and how to cook it'.
It was a great class, at the start, we were given a demonstration by the Jane Hornby of the 3 dishes we were going to make: Prawn & Mushroom Laksa, Steamed Salmon with Garlic, Ginger, greens & Rice, and Sticky Toffee Pudding.
Jane Hornby flew down from London just the day before!
The demonstrations took an hr where it was like a lecture room.
We were then taken to the kitchen where we grouped up into 5ppl per bench.
So my sister and I met some new ppl and worked together to make our 3 dishes. I was in charge of the sticky toffee pudding with this Scottish lady. The recipe was actually quite simple, we just needed to get it in the oven asap as it took awhile to bake. My sister worked with another lady to prepare the salmon and bok choy on a dish so that we can steam it, and the last person worked on the laksa.
As we got our dishes to cooking, we helped the last person with the laksa as there were more steps to do.
Here are our finished products!
We then set up our table in the dining room, and brought the food out to enjoy what we made with a glass of wine.
It was very good (not to brag or anything)! We then had a lovely dinner, chatting and having a great time.
At the end, the gave us all a goodies bag that included a can of coconut milk, sea salt flakes, chicken stock and a small recipe book for using the ingredients form the brand 'Ayam' and a cooler bag.
We also received Jane Hornby's new cookbook with lots and lots of recipes.
We tried to take a picture with her, but i only had my phone camera and the lighting was so dim, that you couldn't even see me.....=/
Anyhow, it was one great cooking class~ and definitely worth the money with all the goodies=)
LOVED it~
That afternoon, I went with my sister to our friend's dance studio to help out as it just opened. It's a very nice dance studio and theres free classes all week~ how exciting!
Afterwards, we walked down to Sydney Fish Market School where we had our coking class "What to cook and how to cook it'.
It was a great class, at the start, we were given a demonstration by the Jane Hornby of the 3 dishes we were going to make: Prawn & Mushroom Laksa, Steamed Salmon with Garlic, Ginger, greens & Rice, and Sticky Toffee Pudding.
Jane Hornby flew down from London just the day before!
The demonstrations took an hr where it was like a lecture room.
We were then taken to the kitchen where we grouped up into 5ppl per bench.
So my sister and I met some new ppl and worked together to make our 3 dishes. I was in charge of the sticky toffee pudding with this Scottish lady. The recipe was actually quite simple, we just needed to get it in the oven asap as it took awhile to bake. My sister worked with another lady to prepare the salmon and bok choy on a dish so that we can steam it, and the last person worked on the laksa.
As we got our dishes to cooking, we helped the last person with the laksa as there were more steps to do.
Here are our finished products!
 |
| Laksa |
 |
| Steamed Salmon |
 |
| Sticky Toffee Pudding - may not look so nice, but it was definitely delicious! |
We then set up our table in the dining room, and brought the food out to enjoy what we made with a glass of wine.
It was very good (not to brag or anything)! We then had a lovely dinner, chatting and having a great time.
At the end, the gave us all a goodies bag that included a can of coconut milk, sea salt flakes, chicken stock and a small recipe book for using the ingredients form the brand 'Ayam' and a cooler bag.
We also received Jane Hornby's new cookbook with lots and lots of recipes.
We tried to take a picture with her, but i only had my phone camera and the lighting was so dim, that you couldn't even see me.....=/
Anyhow, it was one great cooking class~ and definitely worth the money with all the goodies=)
LOVED it~
 |
| Me, Jane, Janet |
Monday, October 25, 2010
It's My Birthday!!!
I am finally up to date with my blogs!
phew...THis is big time procrastination...but hey, its my birthday!
So today wasn't too eventful...woke up for school, finsihed school around lunch time, went to the law library to check my email about my group assignment, but then no computers were free...it was very packed, i then went up stairs to microwave my lunch...but of course, the microwave was broken, so i gave up and went to Fisher Library, and decided to sit outside and eat my chicken and potatoes with rice cold....then it started drizzling a little and big gusts of wind made it quite impossible to eat outside...such a GREAT day...=/
so i went into Fisher library and decided to spend my birthday there and study....at the same time hide and eat my cold lunch...BUT my study was very productive there and i stayed till 5pm.
I then walked home and thought that i would treat myself to some Nandos for my birthday dinner=)
I then watched Gossip Girl as i ate my birthday dinner by myself...
Then later that evening, Amy comes and says theres something i want to show u..i was like huh? ok..so i followed her down the stairs, and i was totally clueless until i reached downstairs and it was alll dark!!
I knew something was up then...and ther eit was all my roomies and my sis with a yummy blueberry cheesecake and a nice Happy birthday song for MEEE=)
I feel so loved =D
it was awesome, that definitely made my dayyy~
Then i received the most awesome gift ever! I got this awesome salad container with its own ice pack to keep the salad fresh and it also has a dressing dispenser thingy. So now i can have fresh salads for lunch at school!!! YAY~
=)=)=)
Ok i think thats enough procrastination for one day, i have a midterm on the last day of school...weird huh?
phew...THis is big time procrastination...but hey, its my birthday!
So today wasn't too eventful...woke up for school, finsihed school around lunch time, went to the law library to check my email about my group assignment, but then no computers were free...it was very packed, i then went up stairs to microwave my lunch...but of course, the microwave was broken, so i gave up and went to Fisher Library, and decided to sit outside and eat my chicken and potatoes with rice cold....then it started drizzling a little and big gusts of wind made it quite impossible to eat outside...such a GREAT day...=/
so i went into Fisher library and decided to spend my birthday there and study....at the same time hide and eat my cold lunch...BUT my study was very productive there and i stayed till 5pm.
I then walked home and thought that i would treat myself to some Nandos for my birthday dinner=)
I then watched Gossip Girl as i ate my birthday dinner by myself...
Then later that evening, Amy comes and says theres something i want to show u..i was like huh? ok..so i followed her down the stairs, and i was totally clueless until i reached downstairs and it was alll dark!!
I knew something was up then...and ther eit was all my roomies and my sis with a yummy blueberry cheesecake and a nice Happy birthday song for MEEE=)
I feel so loved =D
it was awesome, that definitely made my dayyy~
Then i received the most awesome gift ever! I got this awesome salad container with its own ice pack to keep the salad fresh and it also has a dressing dispenser thingy. So now i can have fresh salads for lunch at school!!! YAY~
=)=)=)
Ok i think thats enough procrastination for one day, i have a midterm on the last day of school...weird huh?
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