I thought I would write a little bit about what kind of cases I have seen lately. People often ask me what it is like being a vet so every now and then I will post a little bit about my work.
I had some interesting surgeries this week.
On Tuesday I did a hind leg amputation for a poor little puppy who fell from a balcony and broke her leg in several places. She is doing very well and should have a completely normal life.
We had the usual amount of spays and neuters this week. One of the neutered dogs also had something called a cherry eye (prolapsed nictitating membrane). This is a condition where the third eyelid pops out. It looks something like this:
In some cases, when a dog gets a cherry eye it will pop back into place. (I saw a dog last week that would have her cherry eye pop out a few times a year and then we just gently replace it for her). However, most of the time these dogs need surgery to tack it into place and keep it there. Sometimes we get frustrating results with a surgery like this because the gland can sometimes work its way back out. If we have tried twice to keep it in and it keeps popping out then we consider removing it. However, this gland is really important for producing tears so we do all we can to avoid removing it!
Yesterday I did a surgery to take biopsies of a cat’s intestines. This poor little girl has had diarrhea for over a year and we just can’t figure out why. We have done loads of tests and trials of foods and medications, but have not had success in stopping her diarrhea. Hopefully the biopsies will tell us what is going on, and hopefully it is not something serious like intestinal cancer.
Care to share or comment about any of these cases? If so, leave a comment below!
If you have a question for me (Dr. Marie), you can click here to Ask A Vet Question.
It sound like you lead a very fulfilling and interesting life I am somewhat envious!!
I am aspiring to become a veterinarian myself, and am in the process of applying for university.. (hopefully I’m successful) anyway it’s really interesting reading your take on things and your articles. I’m inspired!!
Thanks Emily! Being a veterinarian can be challenging, but is usually quite a rewarding career. The best advice I can give is to try to get some experience volunteering in an animal hospital or shelter. One of the best ways to get in somewhere is to volunteer to clean cages and help out where necessary. I see too many volunteers these days who just want to come and watch the cool stuff but get offended if we ask them to do something! I cleaned about a million cages before I became a vet.