1 Month to go!

Sorry I have been woefully bad at keeping up with this blog, but really you aren't missing much, my life is pretty boring at the moment. Highlights since I last posted:
There is a celebrity (I use that term loosely) at my school at the moment filming a show for channel 4 I think about vet cases, we chatted with him at lunch, so that happened.
I went to my first football game since I've moved here, it was USA vs Scotland, but alas no one scored, but it was still fun.
Exams are in 3 weeks, so we're all pretty much freaking out about that, so hopefully eveything works out ok with those.
Other than that nothing much to report, or if there was I've forgotten it which probably means it wasn't really that interesting. Anywho back to analgesics!
Also the celeb is tom barrowman

3 day weekend!

We actually had a day off this week! It was for AVS weekend, which I didn't go to but it was nice to have an extra day. I did a bunch of work yesterday, but today we went to the Edinburgh Zoo! Then to dinner at Brew Dog and then to see Thor in IMAX, which was really cool. It was nice to have a day with absolutely no studying, hopefully it helps get me through this last month until exams!

Drugs!

Still not a whole lot going on here. The leaves are all changing, so the city is becoming simultaneously more lovely and treacherous. I keep wanting to go for outdoor runs, but the though of slipping on all those leaves makes me think twice, plus I dont want to get caught in the rain! Mostly today I'm working on pharmacology, which is getting really interesting. We're learning how to do a whole peri-operative cocktail. It's certainly challenging but so practical and interactive that its fun to pour over our powerpoints trying to find the right drugs. Wee had an interactive session yesterday and I got most of the answers right, so I'm one step closer to not killing all my patients! Also we had a field trip to a research institute on Wed and got to look at some live liver fluke that had been taken out of a lamb earlier that day, so that was pretty cool, and some live L1s under the scope too! Can't believe Oct is almost over, and soon it'll be exam time! Crazy!

Analgesia

Today we started the lectures for anaesthetics and analgesia which is pretty interested! Its a nice break from straight legislation, which was getting a bit tedious. Now we're actually learning about drugs! Also this morning I stapled my finger this morning, so that happened. Now just typing up lectures, the fun never ends!

What's up your nose?

Today in micro lab we looked at cultures we did yesterday when grown on medium that had antibiotic discs in them, we flubs that a friend if ours had some antibiotic resistant coined that grew and when we did a quick gram stain (because we're nerds and wanted to see what was there) we saw some crazy looking bacteria! It made our prof pretty excited and it was cool to look at. Turns out because they had taken the colony near the disc the bacteria were dividing but bit really separating so they looked filamentous. Pretty neat. Other than that not much going on. I'm currently waiting for my gym class to start and it's sunny!

More EMS!

Nothing particularly interesting happening here. I went to yoga with a few of my friends yesterday at a new place and it was pretty fun! It may need to be a regular thing, so we'll see. Mostly just been working. I booked 1 week of EMS in the PM room on campus for spring break, so that will be really helpful with the Path exam, plus it gives me more weeks off! Other than that nothing much to report. Its starting to get really cold, so hopefully that doesn't last. Arthur is still super cute and a pain, but we love the little monster!

4 weeks in!

Its been a month now and I guess things are progressing well? Its kind of hard to tell in these classes since all we've really done is the baseline and lots and lots of legistation (for pharm) something to look forward to when we're in practice, though there are a lot of hoops for large animal, so you have to be careful. Haven't really been up to much, really just studying a lot trying to stay moderately on top of all of my stuff! School has also been playing fast and loose with our schedules, which has been a joy, so now I may not be coming home for Xmas until really late (if at all), so that sort of threw the whole school for a loop, so we've been a bit annoyed so far this week. But the rest of the week looks pretty empty class wise, lots of labs, so I'll have some time to do some work which will be nice. And now I'm not sick anymore, though I do have a buildup of mucus behind my ears, so I'm on a nasal corticosteroid, score! It already seems to be helping, so kudos to my doc, its been a while since I had to see someone with something I hadn't already self diagnosed! Plus it was free which I'm getting more used to. Arthur is being a total butt, but we love him, and he seems very happy with his change of scenery, he is climbing on all the windowsills and getting stuck, and being a general jerk. Well got to get back to large animal parasites! Fun times

The Rainy Season

Well the rainy season started with a vengeance today, and we were having such lovely weather. Today we went into the histopath lab and learned how they make tissue slides to send off or read which was really interesting! I even got to dip my finger into the tub of paraffin wax! Arthur is doing well, he's taken over the flat and does his cat rounds while we're all studying, its amazing how quickly he warmed up, so thats good. I also got some more EMS today, so I have a total of 8 weeks this summer! Which is working out perfectly, though it is a little large animal heavy, so I might have to look into padding it with some small animal or even a bit of equine, or maybe I'll wait until next year for that one! But it's all during possible re-sit season, so fingers crossed for no re-sits! Other than that really just doing work and I was a little ill lately, so a lot of sleep, but I haven't caught the full plague yet, so fingers crossed for that too!

Our new addition!

We've added a new flatmate to Cumberbitch manor! His name is Arthur and we're pet sitting him for a while! I think he's warming up to us, he seems much more comfortable with us than he was when he first arrived, so thats a plus!

2 weeks in

I can't believe its only been 2 weeks, it seems like its been forever! This year is certainly giving us all a run for our money! Its been fun since we are doing a lot of active things, we were in the PM room and our dog had a myxoma! It was the 3rd that the vet had seen in his life, so that was pretty cool! We grew some bacterial cultures, did some drug calculations, just lots of class and really fast lectures, I feel like I barely have time to type up all my lectures before its time for bed. This is going to be a very busy term. But I just booked another chunk of EMS for this summer! Now I just need 6 more, though hopefully more, though I dont where I'll find the time!

http://4yearsofvetschool.tumblr.com/

The dreaded pharm

We started pharm today and it was bananas, and that was just the intro! Certainly very interesting, but its going to be a complicated class, they;re really just plowing through things! So hopefully that goes well! and heres my room not just pictures of wall, since apparently thats boring :P

Half way done!

Well with the first week, which looks like its going to be the only week where we have a bit of free time, because labs start next week! So far I've had path and parasitology. Parasitology seems like its going to be fun, path sounds interesting but tough, and I'm already feeling behind in pharm and we don't even start it till tomorrow! VPCS is the same as ever (kind of useless but also important simultaneously). It feels like we never left class, except that we're in a terrible lecture theater this whole year, so thats going to be a pain, not even the profs like it. Other than that nothing particularly interesting happening! Also today we went to whole foods (my friend has a car now) and I found ARTICHOKES! They may be available at waitrose eventually, but every time I look for them I can't find them, so I was pretty excited! Below are new additions to my room, fulling hanging and everything!

First day back!

Today was the first day back! We had no micro since our prof torn his achilles, so we have to figure out some bacteriology ourselves, but it doesn't seem too bad. Then we had parasitology, which was really fun, so I think that class will at least be an enjoyable one! Hopefully the rest go as well! Then we went out to dinner to celebrate our first day back. Today I also decorated some more of my room since there is a lot of bare walls in here. It looks a bit more colourful!

Couting Down the Days

It's almost time to start school! After much waiting and confusion we FINALLY got our schedule for the semester today! So that was exciting. My friend was in town the past few days so I showed her around Glasgow and we were going to go to Edinburgh, but she was feeling ill after so much travel, so we ended up just chilling in the flat. I dont think either of us minded as the weather was absolute shite all day, not a bad day to be inside all day. It cleared up enough in the evening for us to go to pub quiz which was really fun. Really we haven't been doing much, just getting ready for school to start, finish putting things away and writing up class schedules. This is our last free weekend so we're trying to make it count!

One More Week!

Only 1 more week until school starts! Crazy that the summer is almost over. Yesterday I went to see In Time with my flatmate. It was a really really sweet movie, I highly recommend it if it's playing anywhere (it's hard to tell whats out other places since we usually get movies way later than everyone else). Then we went to our friends a few blocks over to watch football and tennis. There were so many games on I kept missing things, but I got to see a bit of the niner's game, so that was fun! Also yesterday I did a gym class for the first time in forever! It was an instructor I'm not particularly fond of, but a friend of mine was there who I hadn't seen in a while and I went with my other friend, so it was still fun, though I am a bit sore today!

Cornetto

Yesterday was another pretty chill day (sensing a theme yet?). I went to my first doctors appointment at my new doctor! She was really nice, basically all she did was draw some bloods, so I'll cell them next week to see my results. Hopefully all systems running smoothly!. Then I went into town briefly to get some stuff and then went home and was crafty (the fruits of which you'll see later) and went through my closet to get rid of some more stuff that I dont wear anymore. I reorganized some shelves and whatnot in my room since I have the new bookcase now so my desk is less cluttered. Then my flatmates and some of our friends and I watched 2 of the cornetto trilogy movies, specifically Hot Fuzz and End of the World. It was a nice relaxing night. Almost everyone is back now, next week will be freshers week so almost everyone should be back and there'll be more stuff to do. At this point just trying to fill up the days!

rosh hashanah

The other night was rosh hashanah, Jewish new year, and so my friend made a huge dinner for us! It was so much fun seeing everyone and hanging out, plus the food was amazing! Earlier that day I went to IKEA and got a new bookcase because I'm running out of room on my current one. Then we went to WHOLE FOODS! It was lovely, and I got some kombucha for my flatmate since she has Crohns and it helps with her digestion. Yesterday I didn't do much of anything and it was very nice, I think the jetlag caught up to me a bit and then I went to dinner and a movie with a friend of mine. Nothing particularly interesting happening in Glasgow, but school starts soon so thats exciting!

Viva Glasvegas!

Well I'm officially back in Glasgow! The flight wasn't terrible, though I was next to a couple with a baby and because they had a baby they decided that they could take my seat, so I sat in the window seat. I pretty much watched movies and napped a bit and then we touched down, we even arrived early! Normally that would be a good thing, but since it was 6:50am, to me, it was just more time I had to stay awake before I could sleep! I spent the first day hanging out with my flatmates. We went to lunch and registered for new doctors, since the ones from school aren't all that great, and walked around downtown when my other friend came in from France. Then we came home and watched movies while I attempted to stay awake, it was getting tough at this point. Then I put away my clothes, though when I opened my bag I was shocked to find that one of the pickle jars had shattered! So some of my clothes smelled a little pickley. Then I took some nyquil and passed out unitl morning. The next day I did some work that I needed to do, and cleaned a bit, and then went into city centre with my flatmate to get some stuff. Then I cleaned/watched movies a bit and we all headed to a pub quiz down the road. It was a new one and pretty fun! We came in 3rd, which was surprising since we rarely place so highly! And that's been pretty much it, trying to enjoy the last bit of summer before school starts and we never leave the flat again!

Smooth landing

I'm officially leaving sunny CA for (most likely) rainy Glasgow! I got to the airport ridiculously early, but as the bay bridge was closed we didn't want to take any risks with traffic. Though once we got inside I was very glad that I did get tere early because the check in line was crazy long! It moved quickly enough and they actually had a good amount of people behind the counter, so that was good. Security was uneventful, a pretty fast line as well. So I had some time to kill. Since I knew they weren't going to feed me on the plane (damn domestic flights!) I had some breakfast and then waited for the plane. This one didn't even have TVs in the seats! Good thing I brought 2 books to read, so I was daily well occupied during the flight. I don't know if I was overly preoccupied with my book or they made a very smooth descent (most likely both) but we touched down the softest I think I ever have, I didn't even feel it! So now I'm just killing time in Newark waiting for my next flight! 

Back in the LBC!

Well really more HB, but in the same area! I had a pretty uneventful drive up here, though I left a bit later than I had intended since my friend and I hung out in the jacuzzi longer than we planned! When I got in I went to see my friends parents and all their dogs! My friend also has a puppy and she's super cute and we're best buds now! Then I met their new golden called Ellie and she's super sweet! And they were pet sitting ANOTHER golden for a grand total of 3! Ollie is a giant monster dog and so silly. It was great to catch up with everyone and see all the pups! Then we went to George's for dinner and it was so good! Saganaki, nuff said! Then we walked around 2nd st for a bit and headed home. The next day I had lunch with my friend and then visited work for a bit which was really fun! I knew everyone there which was great since last time I visited the people up front were all strangers and I was like ah crap! So it was great seeing everyone and the hospital. Then I headed into Hollywood to visit with my little and ended up staying over there for the night. It was great catching up with her and seeing some more of Hollywood, though I certainly do not miss all of the LA traffic!

Chill out

TThis morning we woke up super early to go to this really good breakfast place that doesn't take reservations. It was really small, but man were the portions big! We split a pancake that was bigger than my head! Needless to say we had leftovers, so afterwards we went on a search for someone to give them to, but to no avail. So we went home and pretty much just kicked it on the couch all day. It was nice and relaxing. 

Then we went to dinner and went shopping a bit and then went bar hopping with my friends friend done in the gaslamp district. It was really fun and we went to a lot of cool places!

Look what I found!

Museum hopping

Today I got up bright and early again. I watched a bit of tv while I decided what to do for the day. Then I went to a place for breakfast, but it was closed! So I walked to a bagel place and had a bagel there, quite good! Then I walked through balboa park to the area where there's a lot of museums. It was so cool! I walked practically to the zoo! If I had had time I would have totally gone to the zoo. I went into the museum of man, which was really fun. There were exhibits on rites of passage, Mayan culture, and a bunch of evolution. There was a beer exhibit, but it wasn't open yet, alas. Then I kept waking and got to the museum of natural history, where I really wanted to go. It was so fun! A bunch of animatronic dinosaurs and skulls and skeletons and a whole bunch of other stuff. Then I decide to head home for lunch and to meet up with my friend since she's working a half day. I had a crazy good sandwich from deli llama and hung at home a bit. Then I watched some tv and had a nap, which was glorious! Then my friend came home and we went to dinner across the street at a Mexican place, yum!, then came home and chilled for the rest of the night.

Wales past this this morning, only in SD

Sunny day in SD

 Today I woke up pretty early but layed in bed for a bit before finally getting up. I watched a little tv to decide what to do today and then headed out! Primarily I wanted breakfast, like a real good sit down one. My friends working today so it's just me for today, but that's fine it's fun to explore a new area! I found a place online that looked good, but when I got to the address it was nowhere to be found! So I started back the other way when I spied a 50s style diner. For sure they have breakfast! And I was right! Also it's been on diners, drive ins and dives! Breakfast was so good, and you have no idea how I've missed bottomless coffee! It's worth it just for that!

After breakfast I walked around town. It's a real cute part of SD, with a bunch of fu shops and cool stuff! I got a dress, some books from a used book shop and a shirt from buffalo exchange. It was fun waking around and exploring the area. Then I went back to the flat to drop off my bags so I didn't have to carry them around anymore. 

Afterwards I walked around the other end of the street, eventually ending up in balboa park. I found a nice sunny spot read for a while. Then I went home and watched a little tv to wait for my friend to come home. For dinner we went to this really good pizza place where

You make your own pizza. Then we went to another part of SD to meet up with her BF and do trivia! It was really fun, though we were terrible, but it was fun nonetheless. Her

BF owns te Trivia company, but he still wouldn't let us cheat! We did surprisingly well considering. All in all a fun day!

Heading down south!

I'm heading to LA for the week to visit people from school and I'm super excited! Yesterday I drove the 8.5 hour drive to San Diego, whoch didn't take as long as I thought I would, so that was nice! Though I did get stuck in the dreaded LA traffic, definitely don't miss that. I arrived in SD and snagged a parking place! Score! So the car won't be moving of I can help it! My friend and I caught up a bit, I showered since I was gross from travel, and she gave me a tour of the area. Then we went to this amazing retardant for dinner and it was so good! Amazing mac n cheese I must say, and good drinks too. Then we went to rite aid to pick up some face wash for me and headed home to chill. My friend has work in the morning so she went to bed frailty early, but I was right behind her! Long day of travel!

My last day!!

Today was my last day equine EMS, and all of my summer EMS! Crazy to think that I'm done for the summer and school is just around the corner. It was a fairly busy day. First we scanned the mare from yesterday to see if she had ovulated. Nothing happened, so they're going to keep scanning her to make sure they don't miss it. Then a horse came in that had fractured its jaw, so we took a bunch of radiographs. It turns out its pretty hard to get a good radiograph of a horses jaw, so we all had a good laugh trying to rotate the machine, the horse, the cassette, and at one point the vet held the cassette between the machine and the horse, so we all laughed about that. It turned out to have a slight fracture, but didn't need setting. Then we scoped a horse that had suspected narcolepsy. It was a pretty weird case, but the horse falls a couple of times and looks like it was loosing weight, so we scoped down into its stomach right done to its pylorus! But barely, since this horse was huge and the scope wasn't quite long enough. But it was really cool to see the inside of the stomach in situ and the different tissue. There were no ulcers, so they can rule that out. Then they took a belly tap to check if there is anything unusual in the abdominal fluid. It was kind of a weird case since the vet was just told to do these procedures and was a little confused and to what and why. It would be interesting to see the ultimate diagnosis, but i won't be there. Then we re-examined the lameness case from yesterday. He was much lamer than after we blocked him, and then we blocked his fetlock joint and he improved, though was still lame. So they're going to treat his joint, and give him medication for arthritis to see if it helps him. Then j sort of waited around for a bit and went out on a call to see another lame horse. He had a wonky leg, but the vet seemed to think he was doing better. Then I got dropped at the train station and now am heading back for the last time! At least for a while, then packing tomorrow and heading back to sunny CA Sun! Can't wait!

Cinderella horse

Today was yet another busy day. First thing when I get there we medicated a lane pony from yesterday so he could go home today. Then we waited around for a little bit because there was a mare that needed to be scanned so she could eventually get AI. They are keeping her for the weekend, jabbing her tonight to have her ovulate sun for insemination. Then we saw another lameness case. This was the first case I've seen that's been really obviously lame, a 5-6/10, so it was helpful to see a horse that was so clearly lame. We did the full work up for him, nothing too exciting there. Then a horse came in that had had a swollen leg and when we removed the bandage and pushed on the wound a bunch of pus came out, which I was really excited for since I haven't really seen anything gross and dischargey since I've been there, so that was exciting. We did an ultrasound and took some radiographs to see if there was a foreign body in the leg, since that was what most likely had caused the lesion in the first place. We didn't see anything, but the bone looked a bit affected by the swelling, so the horse was put on some stronger antibiotics. The next case was a racehorse that was doing ok in training, but then when you worked her hard she would plateau and white discharge would come out of her nose. So we did an endoscopy, and it was so cool. Not only did I see the epiglottis and vocal folds, but we actually went past them into the trachea and to the start of the lungs! There was some white mucous that we could see, and I also saw up into the nasal conchae, also cool. The vet said he thought that the horse had allergies so he put him on prednazone. The only thing that the owner needs to be careful of is that pred is detectable in racing tests, so the horse needs to stop it 2-3 days prior to the race to be clean. It's interesting that you still need to keep withdrawal periods in mind with horses, just for different reasons. In cows and sheep it's because they're going into the food chain, while with horses it's so they can race clean. Then a horse came in with a bunch of sarcoids to be frozen off. That was really cool to see. They had a little canister thing with a big cotton bud looking thing on the end and you pumped the liquid nitrogen through the cotton bud and froze off these sarcoids. This was apparently the 3rd round of this treatment, I'm not sure how many times it needs doing, but I imagine you do it until they go away. Then the ferrier came and put a heartbar shoe on the horse that had the quitter removed so the hoof would be supported during the healing process. Also I leaned that the hoof doesn't close up, the laminae will heal like a skin wound and then the hoof just grows out. Which totally makes sense, I just never really put that together. Tomorrow is my last day, so hopefully ill get to see something extra cool!

Busy busy

Today was another full speed day. Before I even had a chance to be bored in the morning I was grabbed by one of the vets to come out on a call, which I was excited about because its nice to leave the hospital for a bit and get out! It turns out that I wasn't really needed, but it was a nice change of pace. First we saw a foot abscess and rebandaged it. Then we went to do a suture removal on a yearling, nothing particularly exciting. Though yesterday there was a shooting at a livery yard that we see, and the vet I was with today was there Friday. So it's all anyone was talking about. And the fact that it was a shooting was crazy because guns are so hard to get here. So that was weird. Then we went back to the hospital and saw a bunch of lameness cases for the rest of the day. Really more of the same, though one is going to get a bone scan, though I won't be here to see it, alas.  Also I forgot to say yesterday that I got to be in the knock out box! It went surprisingly smoothly and the horse went down very well.

Technical difficulties

Today was another busy day. It started off slow enough but then we started and never stopped! First I helped one of the vets flush out the horses head that had the sinus infection. She's looking a lot better, and we put in this crazy play dough plug thing into where her tooth was removed. So that was pretty cool. Then I helped hold for the wee pony who had choke so they could endoscope her oesophagus to see of the the obstruction had passed. Fortunately it had! But the tissue looks pretty angry all around where it was, but it was really cool to see the inside of the oesophagus! They really are into the

Gadgets with equine medicine. I felt really bad for the wee pony since she had such small sinuses she had a crazy nose bleed and was looking absolutely miserable. Also to test that you are in the stomach you suck in the tube and if there's negative pressure then you aren't in the trachea, but when the vet sucked in the tube all this nasty fluid came up into her mouth! It was pretty gross smelling, I can only imagine what it tasted like! Then we had another lameness assessment, shocking! It was hindlimb lame, and quite a large horse so the lameness was really obvious, which was helpful since hindlimb lameness is a lot harder to spot, at least for me. So we blocked the stifle and it then became a little right hind lame, so clearly there was some sort of problem. We radiographed the joint, and it showed evidence of arthritis. Then we did an ultrasound, and all the structures of the joint were intact, there was just a haematoma that had formed as a result of the stifle block, so instead of injecting into the joint today we are going to wait and do it tomorrow. Then we had a mate come in with her foal to have AI done. After we scanned her we found that she had already ovulated and had a CH, so hopefully it wasn't too late, and after we called the owner, decided to go ahead and inseminate her anyway. So hopefully she gets pregnant. Then we had a stifle arthroscopy, so that was really cool. And I got to scrub in! So now I know how to do closed gloving! After I scrubbed in we went in and explored the stifle joint. It was really interesting to see all te structures in there, but there were some problems with the camera and we ended up needing to plug in the old spare camera so the image wasn't the best. It turned out that the horse had OCD, really bad arthritis, and a torn meniscus, so

A pretty poor prognosis in terms of working again. Also I was kind of

Bummed that last night there was an emergency colic surgery and I missed it, though the thought of doing surgery at 3 am is a bit daunting. Still it would have been good to see an actual crazy colic, oh well! Then the last appointment was a horse that had had a really bad foot abscess, but was starting to clear up a bit. I got to see the series of radiographs that they had taken, so that was really interesting. It's been cool being at the hospital all day, but I miss going out on calls, so hopefully we have stuff like that to do tomorrow!

A bit of normality

Today was another busy day, I didn't leave the hospital until 6, and ye we only saw 3 cases! It's crazy when each case takes you 2-3 hours, but it makes the day go quickly so that's nice. They were all lameness assessments. The first was a horse that had mild lameness in all of its feet, but was exacerbated when the owners took off his hind shoes. There was evidence of white line disease, which is also a problem, but the biggest problem is the lack of shoes. When we knocked out the front feet the rear ones became much worse, so tomorrow morning the ferrier is coming to do an emergency shoeing so hopefully that helps. He also may have some sub-clinical laminitis, so they're going to take faster blood tomorrow to test for cushings and equine metabolic disease, which is like type 2 diabetes. The next horse that came in had had a 4/10 lameness when it was checked by another vet and then sent here. After running the gambit of lameness tests there was no obvious lameness in any feet. It's always confusing when that happened because I can't tell if I'm

Just not seeing a mild lameness or if in fact the horse is not lame. So we did an ultrasound, which was cool since I actually knew all of the structures that we saw! So that was reassuring. There were no obvious problems with the tendons. The vet thought maybe there was a problem with the superficial digital flexor tendon, because there was mild swelling but it could have been from the bandages that the owners were putting on the horse. The ultrasound showed us no obvious problems, but if there is some oedema the pressure of the U/S scanner will compress it so you don't always see it. We took some radiographs just to cover all the bases since it seems that this horse wasn't lame after all. And no diagnosis is almost more concerning that an actual one! The horse had some small bone scars but they were one both sides so they didn't seem to be relevant. All in all there was nothing wrong that we could find, so we sent the horse home and told them to just monitor it to make sure it didn't go lame again! Though I was kind of bummed that I didn't get to see anything cool, it is nice to get a patient that's normal since you can run into the problem of only ever having seen things that are wrong you don't get to see what things should look like! The next case was another lameness case. We didn't do the whole battery of lameness tests and just dove into doing and ultrasound. There turned out to be a calcification along the tendon sheath that cast a pretty big shadow over the tendons and as a result of this calcification the deep digital flexor tendon had torn, which is bad news because its pretty much the most important tendon in the horse. So he's going to need lots of rest, and will most likely have to retire, though he's 20 so not terribly surprising in a horse of that age. After that I helped clean the exam room and then an 'emergency' came in that one of the vets had been seeing all day that had choke, an oesophageal impaction. So we have her some drugs and IV fluids. You basically wait for it to clear on its own, she was hacking some stuff up so hopefully in the morning shell be clear. She also kindly used my shirt and trousers as a tissue and wiped her bloody nose all over me. So much for today being a clean day!

No Quitter!

Today was really cool since I got to see hoof surgery! we dug into the side of the hoof the remove a quitter, only it wasn't a real quitter (though i'm still not 100% on what it is exactly, but this wasn't one) and once we got into the hoof laminae there was a keratoma, so we dug that out. then the vet drilled into the side of the hoof and braced it with wires that he threaded through and tied together in the middle. it was really interesting to see hoof surgery, for some reason it just seems crazy to me to open it up and that it will heal. I know its like ripping off a toe nail, it does grow back and its weird but possible, but still mind boggling. anyway after that i got grabbed to go on a call for a weird lameness test. basically this horse after being ridden from a walk would sort of extend his feet out back like he was taking a pee. i ran him up and down a bit for the vet to look at, then he got his tack on and the owner rode him a bit. we were worried when we got there since he wasn't doing it lately, and this has been an ongoing problem so if it wasn't presenting then there's not much we can do about it. but he started doing it pretty consistently, it was a really weird thing that was happening. so we did a nerve block on his hock joint, which was cool because i've only seen a forelimb nerveblock and not one in the joint. after the block we rode him again and still the same thing happened, so its reall perplexing as to whats going on. the vet was going to block a bit further up the leg but she decided to not make him totally hate us and do the block in a few weeks time. then we quickly stopped at a yard to take a blood sample and weigh a few pony's and a donkey, and i got to take the blood sample! so now i've taken blood on everyone! the pony has cushings so they're monitoring it to see how he's coming along. after that we did a quick dental, but nothing really needed to be done, though it was nice to have a feel of what 'normal' looks and feels like, so that was helpful.

A lame day!

This morning I hitched a ride with a Glasgow student who was also seeing practice, and we got to sit in on a presentation by one of the vets on extradurals (epidurals are for humans and laymans) so that was interesting! Then one of the vets caught me in the hall and said that she had a present for me in the fridge. Well I knew it could only be 1 thing. Poop! I got to do a faecal egg count, and now I know how to do it! Very exciting. Also it solved a mystery as to why these 2 horses were wasting away, so that's good! Then we saw a 3 year old filly who was bucking and rearing and not riding well, so she came in for a lameness test. We trotted her around and the vet suspected that she had kissing spine because she was bilaterally lame and had fairly severe back pain in her lumbar spine. But it still could have been other things, so we took some radiographs, which was so much easier at the hospital than it was in Spain with the portable unit! It turns out that the horse did have kissing spine, in a number of places, so it didn't look too good. They wanted to do something that wasn't expensive, so we did an intramuscular injection of steroids to help with the inflammation along the spine. Basically a glorified IM injection, but still cool. Also I got to do an IV injection! So tick that off my list! While we were doing this a horse that had surgery yesterday started having diarrhoea, which panicked one of the vets here since there is a horse in isolation that has salmonella, so they were afraid that it my have spread. Upon further investigation it seems more like some fort of impaction, and faecal matter is just bypassing it and getting runny. But it's still relatively isolated from the rest for now and being monitored. Then a horse

Came in that's going to have surgery tomorrow. It has a quitter, or not a true quitter but something like it. I'm not entirely sure what that is, but it's in the hoof and some kind of infection that needs to be scooped out, so hopefully ill see that tomorrow! Then another lameness case came in. I should mention that while I'm seeing these lameness cases another vet is also seeing lameness cases, there was a lot today. This horse presented with a mild head nod and left forelimb lameness, but like a 1 out of 8, so barely noticeable. We trotted him on hard ground, and did the lunge line on hard and soft ground. Then did a digital nerve block, and lunged him again. He had long toes and low heels so it was most likely some sort of foot problem, probably with the way his foot was loaded. So we took a bunch of radiographs. I got to process them! Which was fun, and there's a wee widow where they pass me the cassettes, so I got to see how they position the limb and also the radiograph once it was done. They determined that there was problem with the navicular bone, most likely because of the long toes and low heels, so they did an injection of depo into the coffin joint, and because the coffin joint communicates with the navicular bursa it will go in there and help with the inflammation. And hopefully that with corrective shoes will help stop the lameness before it becomes a real problem.  

Pregnancy and Passports

Today was a pretty busy day full of new things! It was the 2nd day of surgeries with the respiratory specialist who was here yesterday, but since there's another vet student from Glasgow here and she's watching the surgeries today, so I was on the road! I started the day by giving a mare that's been here a jag of oxytocin because we're trying to get her pregnant but she has some fluid in her uterus, so they're trying to flush it out. It seems to be working, and yesterday she was a real pain, but she seems to be improving since we're handling her more. Then I went out and did some dental work on a 3 year old. It was cool to see, and a good review since I saw all of those dentals on the donkeys in Spain. Then the vet that I was driving with needed to go to the dentist to have a tooth checked, so I went with her there. A minor detour, but I read a book about diagnostics in the car, so that was interesting. When we got back to the hospital we basically turned right around because an old pony needed to be PTS, so we went and did that. She was already laying flat out when we got there, so it wasn't particularly eventful in terms of learned how to PTS a horse, but she certainly wasn't doing to well so it was good that we could help her. Then we went back to the hospital, had a quick lunch, an then went out to do a microchip, vaccination, and a passport. Considering we were never really taught how to do them I think I filled mine in pretty well! The vet gave me a blank to practice with. It was kind of a long one because it was a skewbald horse, so there were a lot of white markings that we had to fill in, plus a lot of whorls. But he was a particularly cute and well behaved foal, very friendly and curious, and his mom was really chill so I got to practice listening to her heart, since its kind of hit or miss for me when I ca hear them. Hopefully I'll get better at that soon! I also forgot to mention a cool technique I learned about the other day. So there's a horse that has joint pain, and so they took some of his blood, spun it with these beads that trap inflammatory proteins, leaving the anti-inflammatory proteins in the serum. Then they take the serum off after they spin the sample, and then inject it into the painful joint and it should (in theory) help. I though that was pretty cool! Though I may not be explaining it right. Anywho I got off early today and got dropped at a train station closer to Glasgow, or at least the train stopped less, so I got home early for a change! I love working, but sometimes its nice to be home before 9.

Surgery day!

Today was a crazy busy day. We had 4 surgeries, and it was so freaking cool! First I helped clean out a trephining wound on one of the horses staying at the hospital. I've never actual seen a trephining wound that wasn't on a skull, so it was interesting to see. Trephining is when the horse has an infection or mucus buildup in their sinus, and since hoses have terrible anatomy it's hard for their sinuses to drain properly, so you drill a hole in their head to get the mucus out. This one seems to be from a bad tooth, and it was ok for a while but then I guess the skin over it wasn't healing so they're going to extract the tooth possibly and maybe do some sort of skin graft over it, but it's healing we'll and doesn't smell too bad and the bacterial culture came back looking good, so I guess we'll see!

Then the surgeon came in and we were ready to go! Except apparently he didn't like by he just had the word of the trainers to go on for what was getting done for these horses, so there was a lot of calling the vet who told then to come I. And owners and back and forth, so that took up some time. Apparently 2 of the horses had endoscopy done while running to see the extent of the damage done, but the surgeon who came in didn't have the video he didn't just want to go on the word of someone else, so we ended up doing endoscopy on all of them! It was so cool seeing real video of the epiglottis and vocal folds! I was like I actually know what I'm looking at! So the vet seemed satisfied, though he would have rather had the one done while they were running but what can you do. 

So then it was time to start the surgeries! So doing equine surgery is bananas! First you take them into a room that is completely padded, like a mental asylum. Then you put on a special head collar  that is completely covered in vet wrap and is padded so they don't injur themselves when they are rolled on the ground. Then you close the doors and lock them from the outside whole the vet and nurse give the anaesthesia, and when you hear the THUMP, you can open the door and the horse is on the floor. Then you duct tape their hooves so the dont mess up the padding on the room and hurt themselves. Then you get these canvas hobbles and put them on, front feet together and rear together and tighten them. Then you get in a giant hook that's attached to a track on the ceiling and hook it to the hobbles and hoist the horse into the air! I was amazed! The track leads right over the surgery table and so the horse is brought to the surgery table and then lowered down onto it, and you unhook it and rest it's front legs on some metal hooks. So now the horse is laying on its back with its legs up in the air like a bug. The surgeon turned to me and said so how many times have you been in surgery? And I was like umm this is my first time, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this!! It was so amazingly cool! 

So the surgery we did is to help these horses attain a better airflow when they are running, since they are racehorses and that's their job. It's called either the 4 in 1 or 3 in 1. We only did the 3, but still cool. So first you put a gag in the mouth and visualise the soft palate. Then, using hot irons you cauterise the soft palate as far back as you can see. The goal of this is that when it heals it will be tighter so it's less likely to displace and cause breathing problems. Then you make an incision slightly caudal to the jaw, fin midline, and go between the muscles and cut through tendons until you can see the intubation tube. Then you displace the soft palate so visualise the epiglottis. Then do a sub-epiglottal recession, which basically means that you cut away at the lingual part of the epiglottis so it doesn't lay so flat down against the soft palate. Then you find the vocal cords and stick this mace looking thing in a pocket behind them and twirl to expose the ventricle, which you then cut out. Then you cut off the vocal cord to complete it. And that's it! You don't need to close the wound, you just leave it as is. The surgeon even did it without gloves! So it was all pretty cool to see and it takes less time then it takes for me to explain it. The surgeon was really nice and very informative, though I'm sure I explained something wrong, but I need to investigate this more. Apparently only a handful of people actually do this surgery so I'm glad that I got to see it! I hope tomorrow I see something else interesting!

Dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle

Today was my first day of equine EMS! So I'm back in Lanark where I was at the beginning of the summer with the cows. So I got up at 6, headed to the train station, and did my normal routine to get there. For a second I forgot exactly which bus to get, but figured it out and a nice woman on the bus told the driver to stop in front of the vet again, so I didn't have to walk! So nice! So I got there and pretty much didn't nothing until like 230. So I sat and read through some anatomy in prep for the surgeries tomorrow and the next day. Then finally we got a call and we went to see about A foal that was lame. We think its an abscess in the foot, so the vet put a poultice on it and someone's going to check to see if any things improved. Then I thought I was going to get off early since there didn't seem to be much else for me to do, but I got grabbed for another case and we headed out. The problem was this Clydesdale had had a castration a while ago and then it got a seroma and it went away but now it's infected again, so there's been a series of visits and this horse isn't getting better. So we saw it and it was pussy and infected. So we have him more antibiotics and flushed or out with a hose. So it turned out to be a good day, got my animal fix for the day and now some cool surgeries to look forward to! Now to go home and review horse respiratory surgeries! Yay!

Adios burritos!

DessertToday was our last day with the donkeys! Yesterday we didn't do too much, mostly packed and then had dinner out in a restaurant in Fuente de piedra. During the day we learned how to make meds, they put them in little sandwiches! And how to do extra feeds. 

Today was mostly helped clean the larger paddocks. Then we made meds and extra feeds and headed to the camper to finish up packing and clean. Lucky for us one of the grooms here was heading into Malaga to pick up his in laws from the airport, so we got A free ride in! I thought they were going to just drop me at the airport and I could take a train in then get to the hotel, but they were really nice And dropped me at the train station. So I said bye to my friend and headed to the train station to figure out how to get to the hotel. I have A fair amount of stuff, so I thought about taking a cab but there were a ton of them but none of them were moving, so I said stuff it ill just walk. It was only 12 min but it felt so long with all my stuff. When I got to the hotel it turns out that we drove more or less right by it! On well, a little exercise I suppose! The rooms so nice and having a hot shower was amazing! Now I'm just chillin for a bit, don't have anything to do till later tonight, so just enjoying a soft bed and some tv, even though its all in Spanish! Ill probably explore a wee bit when the temp goes down :)

Dessert from last night, they were like

Mini maxibon pops!

Sevilla!

The Since we have 2 days off this week we decided to make the most of our location and to seville for a night! We planned it, loosely, and set off early early Friday morning. We got up at 6, had breakfast, and headed out to the bus stop to catch the bus to Antequera. We wanted to he early to ensure that we didn't miss the bus, and also we weren't 100% site when the bus was coming (there were no posted times) and if it would come at all (the buses are not that reliable here) so we waited at the bus stop anxiously, and it came! We were very excited, and so we were off to Antequera! Then we walked

To the train station where we caught a train to seville. It was a little hard getting the ticket, only because my Spanish is so poor, but we got it and all was well! After a quick train rise we were there! Then we walked to the hostel that I had found online that was cheap and had good reviews, and got a room for the night. After checking in we caught a cab to the real reason we came to seville, la Isla magica theme park! It was so much fun! And we had a discount card from the hostel so it was even less expensive! It was great, and there was hardly anyone there so we were able to do the park a few times over in just a few hours. There was a really fun roller coaster that I got my friend to ride, and now she loves it! Also there were a bunch of water rides, one where I got absolutely soaked. But in the hot seville sun I dried off quickly enough and it was nice to cool down a bit. We attempted to watch a pirate show, but as it was in Spanish and my pirate Spanish vocabulary is lacking, it didn't make much sense so we didn't  finish it. Around 6 we hopped in a taxi back to the hostel to shower and change to go out. Once I figured out how to use the hostel shower it was so nice to have a hot shower after 2 weeks of cold ones. When we were done we took a quick siesta and headed out for the evening. The guy at the desk suggested a few places for us to have tapas, so we went there. After going the wrong way numerous times, neither of us have a good sense of direction, we found it! We got a jug of sangria and a bunch of tapas to split. They were amazing, definitely the right choice. Then we headed back to the square near the hostel and had some gelato, which was amazing, and we enjoyed it with a glass of wine from a nearby restaurant. Since it was starting to get a bit chilly we moved to another bar where we sat outside and watched bullfighting on tv. It looked like some sort of championship or something so there was a lot of bullfighting. Not the best thing to watch, but it was interesting so see how it worked, not much of a fan of it though. Then most people were staring to leave the bar and we were pretty sleepy so we went back to the hostel and slept. The beds are amazing!

Today (sat) we had a nice lie in, well we slept until 8am. But since we've been getting up at 6 everyday to donkey alarm clocks it felt nice to have lots of time. We had a nice little breakfast, checked out. And headed out. But first we stopped and had some churros and chocolate, which was amazing. The guy at the window was really nice, giving us free samples and a different kind of churro on top. They were so rich though that we couldn't even finish them. Afterwards we wandered around and shopped. Everything's on sale here so it was pretty cheap, plus it was fun to just try on a bunch of stuff. Then we had a quick lunch of paella, which was really good, and headed back towards to hostel since we were mostly wandering aimlessly. In a big plaza there was a big church that was open, so we decided that since we had some time to kill we'd head in there. It was spectacular! We had no idea what we were in for. The walls were covered with intricate religious carvings that reached to the ceilings, it was amazing. A lot of Jesus looking sad, lots of crucifixes since it was very catholic, but it was a very impressive church, certainly worth the 3€ to get in. Plus then we feel like we did something moderately cultural while we were here! After that we headed back to the hostel, sat for a min and used the last of the free wifi we had, and took our stuff and got a cab to the train station. 

We arrived at the bus station, after walking up a giant hill in the hot hot sun, and waited for another anxious hour for the bus to arrive. Fortunately the bus came and we made it home in one piece! It's was a great little break from work. Then 2 more days with Los burritos and then 1 week of holiday on Spain!

The 'pool' at the hostel

Hot hot hot!

Today was a lot of the same. Poop, the ferrier came today but we were cleaning so we left him to his business. We finished a wee but early so we had a longer coffee than normal, but it was nice since it was so hot. Then we groomed a bunch of shaggy donkeys and mules. I'm getting better at getting them to trust me so that's good, but some

Just like to be shits. Then we went to the pool as usual and planned out days off. We're aiming to go to seville for the night, but who knows if the bus will come, so well see how this all plays out tomorrow! Also my phone broke for a hot sec, it overheated so I could only call out and I ran out of data so I was a little concerned, mostly for not having data for the trip in case we get lost or something. But putting it in the fridge helped and it works now! Like I said it was hot! Now to bed, we gotta get up early tomorrow!

Found out!

Today was a pretty normal day. Woke up, scooped poop, raked hay, did some general chores and had breakfast. The we went on a grooming mission, and I made a few friends along the way ie: donkeys that wanted me to keep brushing them. Then we got changed and headed into town to look into the tourism office so we could figure out how to get to Malaga and what to do for our day off coming up. Alas it was closed, so we headed to the train station to find out,

Only to find out that apparently no trains stop here? So that made no sense but whatever, we're trapped in this town of cats for the time being. So we went to the pool as usual. So the thing about he pool is that you're supposed to pay of you're not staying at the camp site, but the first day we were guests of someone who was so we said we were camping and didn't get charged by the lifeguard. But he hasn't asked for money since then, but he seems to be getting more and more suspicious that we aren't campers, also it probably didn't help thy we saw him at the 10th anniversary celebration. So he's probably thinking these damn tourists are gouging me out of my money! When really he just needs to ask, which he finally did today. So hopefully at water under he bridge now, we gladly paid to use the pool, plus we know the Internet Password so we get free Internet which is always a plus. Then we walked home, first stopping at the produce store where the guy knows us now, he's very friendly. And then we got a ride back into the sanctuary! So thy was pretty sweet timing. Then we showered, and I washed my clothes in the shower. Then made burritos and watched passport to Paris! Now we're just relaxing, probably go feed some donkeys in a bit and leave some food for tallulah!

Vet day

Today was super busy! We did the normal cleans in the morning, picking up poop and feeding. Then we cleaned up a bunch of hay and straw that had come off the truck that delivered the new bales, so that took and bit of time. Then we went around and did the treatments on some of the animals, we split it up so it would go quicker. Then we had a quick break or breakfast and the vet arrives. First we had to PTS a mule that had really gone downhill since we got here, and even since last night she looked worse. Poor girl but she looked terrible and there want much else we could do for her at that point so PTS was really the best thing. I've never seen a horse PTS so it was interesting to see the differences in how you go about everything with large animal. Then we did checks on some animals we

We're doing treatments on to see how they were coming along. All seemed to be doing really well, so that's good. Ten we took radiographs on a miles legs and I got to hold the cassette! It's amazing that the be basically has a x-ray machine in his car and they were all digital. It took a while to get all the views right since the horse kept moving and I wasn't sure of the angle he wanted when she would, but

Eventually we got them all. After that we saw the tail end of weighing, the weighed all the donkeys today, so that was interesting to see. Also nice that they keep such good track of how everyone is progressing. Then we went to the pool and now to chill a bit before dinner and sleep.

First week down!

It's the beginning of our second week here, crazy how fast time has gone! We had a lovely day off yesterday but today it was time to get back to work. We scooped poop in differs paddocks this time, also with the help of another employee so we were done very quickly this morning. Then we raked some more, getting really good at that, and helped clean the isolation paddocks. Then it was breakfast and we headed out again and elbows print and fold pamphlets. Then we brushed out some scraggly looking donkeys and were done for the day! So we headed to the pool, read a bit there, then went I the store to get groceries and came back, showered and had dinner. I have forgotten to mention that the showers here have no hot water so they're been really cold, but since we're usually so hot they feel nice. Other than that its pretty chill here. The donkey hat the vet saw last night seems to he doing really well, so hopefully she pulls through alight. But there was another donkey who didn't look so hot today, so well see how that goes in the next couple of days.

The vets half wolf dog

Day off

Today was our day off, and it could not have been better timed, but more on that later. We slept in. And by slept in I mean we were woken up by the donkeys at 645 but didn't get out of bed till 9. It was glorious! Then we had a quick wee breakfast and headed into town. On the way we saw some people we had met last night and had a chat with them and their 2 super cute Rottweilers and they told us we could come over any time. People here are so nice! Then we saw one of the workers here driving into town so we had a chat with him as well. Then we got to our first destination: the churro stand. We were told about this place by a volunteer from last week who had just found out abut it but had never gone so we decided we had to go! They were super delicious and only .35€ each! Unfortunately there was no hot chocolate

Dipping sauce since its so hot here, bit they were good just the same. Then we headed towards the lagoon that made this place popular, but first we stopped at the train station to see if we could get a train to Malaga in case someone couldn't give us a lift back in. Then we headed to the lagoon that this town is named after. It's a nature preserve here flamingos come to nest apparently so we hiked around to see them. Unfortunately the path to a viewing area was basically covered by nettles and weeds so we were blocked unless we wanted to get scraped up, which we didn't, but we saw some kind of close to the path and its ampretty area to see. Then we went to the visitor centre where there's another viewing deck and can see from above. The flamingos are still far away but it was a nice view of the whole lagoon. After our hike we were pretty sweaty so we went to the pool and chilled there for a while, with lots of sun screen. Then we came back so my friend could do some work and I just read a bit, really just relaxed in the caravan. Then we made dinner and went up to feed some donkeys scraps and check on one who was feeling ill. It was a good thing we did because the eat was there treating her! At first we

Thought she only spoken Spanish so I was trying to figure out what she was doing to this donkey, not easy. But then we found out that she speaks perfect English, so much so that my friend thought she was from England! So we chatted a bit about what she did, it's probably a colic case, so they have her vits and fluids and she kept peeing, so that was a good sign and started eating a bit when we left so maybe she'll pull through, we'll have to wait and see how she does. And now it's bed time so not much else we're doing at the moment.

So why it was good that we took today off. First we ran into the main woman here and she showed us a bruise on her boob where a donkey bit her! Then she told us that in the morning she walked into the caravan where we all meet up in the morning and this creeper guy was apparently asleep and naked on the couch, so that happened. All in all it was a nice day off, but back to work tomorrow!

10th anniversary

Before grooming 

After grooming

Today was the 10th anniversary of the RDB! We did our usual routine in the morning, then got to help with treatments in the afternoon and then brushed out some donkeys that sorely needed a good grooming. Then we went to the pool and layed out a bit. I made sure I had on LOTS of sunscreen since I got a bit burned yesterday, for which I got 2 scoldings today, so I know! Then we got back, showered, made some signs for the party and then headed to it! Super convenient since its where we're staying! There was flamenco dancing, a wee play, food, drinks, the works! It was pretty fun, plus we got to see some people from the community that we've seen or met so far so that was cool! Hopefully well see them

More now! We worked a little, sold some raffle tickets, and hopefully helped out. Then they let us just chill and have some wine and food. It was a great time! Now for bed since tomorrow is out day off and we're heading to the lake!

Preparing for the big day!

So we woke up this morning and got out of the caravan extra early because we were going to help with the dentist since he had a bunch more donkeys and mules to see to today. When we got there though the manager, who is no longer the manager, told us that we were to go about our regular routine then help with the teeth since that's what this new manager wants us to do. She was complaining about it, but as long as we're helping its no bother, plus teeth raspings get a big boring after a while. So we zipped through our chores and went to go do more teeth, which took a good part of the day. Though we saw some supernumery teeth so that was really co! It's unusual and the vet even ran out to get his camera, so that was fun! Then we helped set up for the big day tomorrow! Hanging signs and helping to move stuff. We finished up at 2 so we headed to the pool to chill and tan, though I'm fairly sure I got burned, but hopefully it won't hurt too much tomorrow! Then we went shopping for groceries and on the way back this couple stopped and we asking is about the REN because they were volunteering tomorrow, I think. It was all in Spanish and I think I understood most of it but it mostly worked, though my Spanish is very rusty. Now we're showering and having fajitas for dinner! 

Burritos and siestas!

Today was our first day at el refugio del burrito! We started work at 8, met up with everyone and went to work shoveling poop! So much donkey poop, but it's pretty much what I expected we' be doing so no biggie, work those muscles! Then we breaker for breakfast at 11, and back to work at 1130. We wnt to the supermarket to get some food for the day and then came back and worked till 1 when we took a cake break because it was the last day of a girl volunteering here and an employees bday is tomorrow so we were celebrating. Then we brushed a bunch of donkeys till 2, at which point we were done for the day! We couldn't believe it! So we went to the pool with the girl who was volunteering and sunbathed until siesta was over. Then we went and got some produce and now we're showering and gonna have dinner in a wee bit. Though we got some pizza and just realised that we have no oven so that should be interesting! The vet comes tomorrow so

Maybe a bit longer day, and we just found out that we get 2 days off, possibly per week, so we might try to plan a wee tip somewhere!

Don't look a gift donkey in the mouth

Today was a full day! No more relaxation! At least for today, though everyone kept asking us why we weren't at the pool! We got up to the usual sounds of donkeys making crazy noise at precisely 6:45 like clockwork, and headed to the main caravan to find out our work schedule. Same as before, lots of poop shoveling and getting hay and straw for everyone. There was a bunch of extra cleaning so it took us till 11 to finish it all. We stopped briefly for breakfast, then went back out again to do some chores. We weeded a bit because they want to get the place looking nice sine sat is the 10th anniversary of the RDB so they're having a big party which sounds like lots of fun! So we're trying to make everything look nice. When we were going to take up a bunch of hay and straw, super fun, we found out that the dentist was here so we got to go see him work! It was really fun, we saw a donkey with really bad shear mouth so that was cool, and mostly saw some routine raspings. The donkeys were really good for their treatments, surprisingly so, and he's coming back tomorrow to finish the rest of them since we only had a few hours today. After all of that we finished at 5, and are quite tired! It's hot again today bit with a substantial wind so not as bad as yesterday and we figured out how to work the stove so we'll make some pasta tonight and probably head to town tomorrow. It's nice having a long day but we are tired! Now to chill and probably go to bed a bit early since we're gonna see the dentist at 7:30 tomorrow morning!

Muy caliente!

Today was hot! It started out well enough but soon picked up with a vengeance! We did the same thing as yesterday, went around with our wheelbarrow and shovelled poop! But this time we also got to feed them and had more pens assigned to us, so it filled up the morning well! We had some time after before our morning break so we helped pull weeds, he glamorous life of vet students. Then we broke for breakfast at 11, where we promptly put on more sun cream and snaked and then helped with some more weeding. Then the ferrier came! So we watched him fix a bunch of hooves. Some were really bad but some were good and we helped a bit with one particularly difficult one but mostly watched. Then the vet came and he was supposed to do a castration but it's too hot and they ate beforehand so we couldn't since he likes to do them fully sedated and not just standing. But we went around and did some standing sedation for some donkeys and miles that needed the ferrier, and the vet checked a few animals that had problems. One mule has a foreign body in his eye! So it was cool when he yanked it out. Once the vet was done one of the workers told us it was 1:30 and there wasn't much to do, so we could fanny about doing something or just be finished for the day. We picked the latter as its so hot and there really isn't much to do. So we came home and had a wee lunch and a much needed shower! Then I had a nice siesta and we hung out a bit more in our caravan before heading into town to have dinner. When we

Got there though we found out thatthe restaraunt   that we wanted to go to wasn't open till 730 so we sat at a bar and had some soda to beat the heat while we waited, and they gave us some free chips so that was good too! Then we went to dinner and it was really good! A lot of food and some amazing sangria and had a lovely time chilling outside and trying to use out limited Spanish, but I feel like we got by pretty well! We'll have to practice more with the people here who maybe won't judge us so much! Anywho it's almost

10 so well probably rinse off and head to bed!

Made it to Malaga!

We made it! After an Uneventful flight and an hourish long car drive we are at el refugio del burrito! The caravan is super cute and i think this will be a very pleasant experience! The donkeys even welcomed is with a couple hee-haws when we got here!

Spain bound!

I'm currently sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to Spain!! I'm pretty early but as it was a train ride to get here I'm glad that I have time to kill rather than being rushed, so that's good. Plus when I got her my boarding pass fell down behind the counter and they had to basically disassemble the conveyer belt to get to it, and I got pulled out of security for a bunch of checks, so it's good to have more time! Now I'm just chilling waiting for the flight! Can't wait to leave the rains of Glasgow for the sun of Spain! Plus till he nice to have to work to do, too much free time makes me bored! I'll try to post if I can but I have limited 3G and I'm pretty sure there's no wifi so we shall see!

Death awaits you with sharp pointy teeth

Well today was my last day of small animals clinical, Andrew every Friday at a small animal hospital it was bonkers! Lots of appointments, the dog from yesterday came in and she's doing well, so that's good! We had 3 surgeries; a cat castration, an aural harmatoma, and a mammary gland removal, so some cool ones! The mammary gland removal was cool, they also sent it to the lab to see if it was malignant. The aural harmatoma was cool because the way the vet did it was to make an incision in the ear, drain out any excess fluid and remove the weird scar tissue that was forming, and then take bits of rubber tuning from a fluid extension set cut in pieces and anchor them around the incision to prevent any more fluid building up. So that was cool since I've never seen one closed like that. After that the next noteworthy thing was a rabbit came in with 'behavioural problems.' Now what exactly means in a rabbit, we had no clue, but you see what comes in. Well this rabbit came out of its carrier, took one wee hop then literally leaped straight at me from the table, hit the wall, fell down, and hopped away like it was nothing. I'm standing here like WTF is wrong with this rabbit, brain tumour? Apparently it was coming into season, ie those crazy lady hormones were getting her crazy and attacking anything that comes close to her. Solution, get her

Speyed. Problem solved, hopefully! It was a very monty python moment for sure. I'm done now and everyone was super nice. The nurse said that the vet should give me lots of gold stars, so that was nice of her. It's been kind of a crazy week for them, so I felt a bit bad intruding but on the same hand I'm glad that I've had some small animal experience before so I could help them out, which thy seemed to appreciate. I didn't get to do as much hands on stuff as I perhaps would have liked, but I learned a lot, saw some new things, and have a placement to come back to when I've learned more stuff, so that's always good to have a place that's seen you multiple times for things like letters of rec, etc so I imagine I'll come back there either over the summer or maybe in march instead or lambing, shall see! But I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow! And start prepping for the next EMS!