Vet stuff

Friday, I went to French and then took my exam.  It had 8 or 9 short answer questions and one essay response.  I didn’t think it was too bad and felt comfortable with all the questions.  I was again the first one to finish.  The professor gave me this surprised look like… oh you’re already done??  I take tests extremely fast.  Not sure why.  It’s been working for me though, so I’m sticking to it. 

 

Right after my test I headed to the vet clinic.  I arrived around 11:30 and was just in time to see the vet check a duck before lunch.  I went to lunch with one of the vet students shadowing at the clinic for two weeks. We ate at pie city in main mall.  It was pretty good. I enjoyed being able to talk to her and her friends. After lunch, I headed to the grocery store to get bananas and peanut butter, my two essentials!  I spent the rest of lunch reading the Ireland veterinary journals.  I love those things!  

The vet was 40 minutes late getting back to lunch (African time)  and so when she returned there was quite a lot to do and the time flew by.  I was able to see my first case of distemper (but unfortunately not my last).  A dog came in lethargic, with a high fever, and discharge from the eyes and nose.  It had never been vaccinated and was not doing well.  The vet did a distemper test and it was positive.  There is no cure for distemper so unfortunately the dog had to be put down.  Distemper is a big problem here.  There is a push for people to get their pets vaccinated to try and slow the spread of the disease.   In this case, as in many others, money was an issue.  People do not have the money or do not want to spend the money for vet care.  In this particular case the owners had to face the expenses because the dog had a highly contagious disease.  Another problem common here is tick born diseases.  I have seen many dogs come in with tick born babesiosis who are anemic and lethargic. Thankfully, each dog has had a positive outcome.  Almost every dog that comes in has ticks!  Dipping/tick treating your dog is a must around here.

Friday night, I scarfed down a peanut butter and banana sandwich and took a shower before grabbing a quick nap.  I then went to another international student’s room and hung out with a big group of people.  We listened to music from Finland, Sweden, and America and had sing a longs.  It was a bunch of fun.  I love that this experience gives me the opportunity to meet people from all over the world.  

I was up early this morning to meet Nora to walk to the vet clinic.  We decided to go in on Saturday because there were several patients there and one particular duck we were interested in.  We stayed until they closed at 12:30.  It was quite a morning.  It served as a reminder that vet work can be tough, discouraging, and can make you cold if your aren’t careful.  I know that sounds depressing but it’s the truth.  A puppy in really bad shape (that should have been brought in a week earlier) came in and was diagnosed with distemper.  It had to be euthanized.  Distemper is a nasty thing around here.  I’m glad that it isn’t as prevalent in the US.   The duck was also euthanized and a postmortem was done.  Euthanizing avians can be tricky and for this poor duck it wasn’t an easy process.  This experience just made me that much more thankful for my time at CROW.  The postmortem was interesting because I got to see the soft eggs still in the bird and the eggs that were developing.  Calcium is an important part of a layers diet people!!!    I left a bit discouraged but all the wiser.  The people at the vet hospital really are quite wonderful and I’m so glad that I am able to get a glimpse of veterinary medicine in Botswana.   I have a whole new appreciation for the US.   I’m all the more motivated to start vet school so that I am better able to make decisions and form opinions! 

Now, I’m sitting in my room drinking tea and eating a rusk.  Yes, I made the mistake of buying a box of rusks.  I’m really going to try to limit my daily intake on these babies.  My plans for this afternoon are to run and work on the vet school application.  I realized that I need to submit my application before I leave for break.  That means I need to submit it before Sunday.  OH MY!  I have less than a week!!!! Luckily everything is pretty much done but I need to go run through everything again… and again.