Done with Vet School!

Yesterday was my official last day of school ever! Now I have 2 weeks and then exams and THEN I'm really done (assuming no resits!) Its weird to think that I'll never be in school again and this last rotation has gone by really fast. Looking forward to turning in my portfolio and just being done!

Done with anaesthesia!

I'm done with my 2 weeks of anaesthesia and now onto 2 weeks of diagnostic imaging. These 2 weeks have been fun, its been a nice rotation and made me less fearful of doing anaesthesia, which is always useful! I'm also sick, so excuse if this post is erratic, I cant really breathe properly! Only 2 more weeks of rotation ever! well assuming I pass 5th year, then 2 weeks and exams, yikes!

Anaesthesia and Diagnostic Imaging

I'm now onto my ANDI block, and my very last rotation! Anaesthesia isn't as terrifying as I would have thought, but I'm only 3 days in so things can change! Today we're anaesthetising a horse so that should be interesting, its been a while since I've had to do it but we volunteered because it is a pretty slow day today, so at least its something to do! I leave for the BSAVA Congress tomorrow so that should be a good time, the last time I went it was really fun. Hopefully these next 2 weeks go smoothly, then on to diagnostic imaging, 2 weeks then exams, yikes! Things are moving too fast now!!

Back in joburg!

After a 10 he bus ride from maun to gabs and then a 7 he bus from gabs to joburg we're back at the old hostel! I feels like we never left even though we've been gone for 2 weeks! Now just 2 more flights and an 8 hr layover until I'm back in Glasgow! Also the hostel has a puppy now 

No internet

I briefly have Internet so I'm alive but still very disconnected! We have 4 more days to go here! Can't believe it's almost over! Looking forward to telling everyone about it!!

Heading to Gabs!

After a great time in joberg it's finally time to head

To Gaborone!! We had a bit of a lie in since we were up kind of late last night, had breakfast and went to the shop really fast to get supplies for our 7hr bus ride to gabs. We tried to pay the bill but apparently this hostel only takes cash, so the guy from the hostel had to drive us all to a cash machine so we could pay them. It was fine though and we arrived at the bus terminal with plenty of time. The bus is pretty nice and has a bathroom fortunately since that was all our main concern! I did a little work while also doing some sight seeing. There were some Brahman cattle!! And some goats I think, we moved past them pretty fast.

We got to gabs easy enough and our professor met us at the bus station to take us to theirs for dinner before taking us to our hotel. It's amazing and super tacky and great! Looking forward to getting do PD some cows tomorrow and do bull fertility testing!!

Full day in Joberg

Today was our first full day in Johannesburg and it was so fun! We woke up and enjoyed our coffee in the warm sun in the veranda while we waited for the last student in our crew to arrive. It was seriously so lovely to just chill outside. After the last person got here we had the hostel driver take us to where the hop on hop off bus tour bus and got on it. We first stopped at the tallest building in South Africa and got a guided tour of the sight seeing level. It was a little hazy but a really nice view of the city and the surrounding area. Then we hopped back on the bus and drove around some more. We stopped at the world of beer brewery and it actually was so much fun! There were little replicas of houses and old cars and then we got 2 and a half pints for less than £5, which is Robert sweet. We also had lunch there and then caught the bus back to the start where the guy from the hostel picked us up again and we stopped at the store before heading back to the hostel. We hung out in the room a bit and now we're having beer and playing more card games.

Heading to Joberg!!

Today's he day we're finally heading to Africa!!! I can't believe this trip is finally here, it's crazy! We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare so we all had a Wee airport pint and then boarded out flight to Dubai. We hung around the airport for a while and even got a free meal voucher since we were there for 4 hours, and then on to the next flight! I didn't sleep much on that flight really, but before we knew it we were in Africa! A guy from our hostel met us at the airport and drove us to the hostel. It's really cute and seems like a nice place to stay. After we got a bit settled we decided to go to the apartheid museum and he hostel guy drove us there too which was really nice. It was a really interesting museum, though we were getting a bit tired, but still glad we went. Then we walked across the street to the casino to walk around and have dinner. We had

Pizza, not very authentic African but actually it was delicious! Now we're just chilling in the hostel and having a beer enjoying this lovely weather!  

Leaving for Bots TOMORROW!!!!

We leave for Botswana tomorrow! I'll try to blog as phone charge and internet allows, super excited!! All packed and ready to goooooo!

Getting ready for Bots!

This week has been pretty chill, we have the week off to sort everything out for Bots and do a bunch of reading so we're prepared for our time there! Last week I gave my presentation for the tier 1 bit and I think it went really well, I was pretty pleased with the way it all turned out. I've started studying for exams since the thought of them totally freaks me out and since I have nothing to do this week it seems like a good time to get started with that shenanigans. Also we just found out that our visa got approved!!!!!!! So thats a HUGE relief, especially since if there was a problem and I was away in Bots there's not much I can do about it! Phew!! Other than that just packing and getting the last little bits to leave, can't wait!!

SSPCA

Yesterday we went to the SSPCA and got a tour of their facilities. They were really nice and it was interesting to learn about their rehabilitation process and veterinary care. The SSPCA is the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and this particular place was where they do wild animal rehbilitation and release. It was nice to go to a real rehab place, where they try their best to limit human contact with the animals in order to release them back into the wild. There were 30 seals there and they were super cute! We got to see them being fed and given oral fluids, so that was interesting. There were birds, a peregrine falcon, pigeons, and some hedgehogs and otter, though we didn't see the later two because they want to limit human contact with the otters and the hedgehogs were hibernating. It was a fun and chill day, and it made me miss having all those wild animals back in long beach that we used to rehab, nostalgia! Other than that its been pretty boring. We got loads of cool pictures with our trail camera so that was really fun, now we're just putting our final presentation together to present on Thursday, and tomorrow we're going to the zoo! And last night we had a fun girls night to celebrate leap day and watched spice world, and it was nice to see everyone before a bunch of us leave for Africa!

Blair Drummond Safari Park

Today again proved to be an excellent day on this rotation! We got to go to the Blair Drummond Safari Park for the day! It was seriously so much fun, and we had great weather again
(touch wood it lasts). Its closed at the moment for the winter, so we basically got a private tour around some of the animal habitats, speaking with the keepers and learning how they keep the animals healthy, how they train them for vets to check them, and how they are used for breeding to keep captive populations for some that are endangered. We started off with the sea lions and got to see how they train them to be still for their examinations by the vets, how they check their teeth, and a few random tricks just for fun. They were really fun to watch and so well behaved! Then we went to go see the giraffes which was a surprise, and got to get really close to them while we learned about keeping them and some of the problems they have there keeping them. They were so tall so close up it was amazing. Then we went to the elephant enclosure and learned about the elephants they have there. They have had a really tough life before they came there from the sound of it, so they are working with them a lot to get them to be happy and healthy despite coming from places that didn't treat them very well. It was interesting to learn the different ways they have to work with the animals to keep them happy and where they were planning on going with their training once the elephants got more accustomed to vet training. We even got to see ones feet inspected and teeth for an oral examination. Then we went to the raptor enclosure and saw one fly for an audience for the first time, he did a good job so the keeper was pleased. We then went to the rhinos where we saw them being fed and then got to pet them! So now I can saw I've touched 2 white rhinos, and there are only about 20,000 in the world, so these are part of a breeding programme to ensure that there is a strong captive population. Then we went to the tiger enclosure and got to help the keeper put out meat in the trees for the tigers to go find so that feeding is exercise and enrichment. We also got to see one do its veterinary training and got to see her massive claws. All in all it was a super day!

Pheasant hunting!

Well,  not really. Today we went to a farm/pheasant shooting range/partridge restoration area of farmland by the Firth of Forth, about 2 hrs from Glasgow. It was a lovely day and we spent it mostly hiking around and looking at the habitat that they have created for both the pheasants to live in for the hunters and for the partridge to live in to increase their numbers. We also saw some roe deer and the biggest badger sett I have ever seen! Also some badger poop, so that was pretty cool! It was really interesting learning about how easy it is for farmers to use their land to not only remain a profitable business but also use their land to create area for wildlife to flourish.  And it was just really nice walking around the countryside in the glorious weather! And 2.5 weeks until BOTS!!!!!!!!

West Highland Way

Today we went for hike on the West Highland Way FINALLY! Not the entire thing, but a part of it and it was super fun! Everything was covered in snow and just beautiful! We talked about some ecology like species numbers estimations, different ways to manage land, and some diseases and how you could avoid then through livestock management. At first we almost didnt go because the weather forecast wasn't great, but we got back just as it was starting to rain so it worked out really well! So it was a lovely day outside again, with pretty favourable weather as well!

Week 2

Monday I didn't end up going in because I woke up with a killer sore throat and I think I was pretty feverish all day, so instead of walking around in the cold Scottish weather all day I figured it was probably best to stay in. Today I felt much better, though I had to be at school at 6am, to go to the Highland Wildlife Park! I was so excited to go there today, I've been wanting to go up there for ages! It was like a 3 hours drive but it actually wasnt too bad a ride up there, and the weather (though cold) wasn't really rainy so it was a pretty nice day! We got to listen to my professors random taste in music the whole way up as well, always a treat! We had a little lecture when we got there, then grabbed lunch, and headed out for a tour of the park. We got to see so many animals and got a guided tour, not of the entire park but of a few cool ones for sure! We discussed a lot about building enclosures and management of zoo species and how they move them between zoos and some ethical considerations as well. Tough it wasn't as much 'learning' per se, it was still a really interesting day and I was just excited to go finally! But I'm definitely going to have to go again once the weather improves!

Wildlife

Today we got to do some wildlife PMs which were really fun! My partner and I got a young male roe deer who looked like he'd been hit by a car, but ended up having a really jacked up liver as well as potential HBC evidence. Not totally sure what ended up killing him, but it was an interesting case anyways. Other people got a fox with 3 legs, a hedgehog and another deer that definitely had been hit by a car. We were all going to do bird ones as well but by the time we were done there wasn't much time left and we were FREEZING from being in the PM room, so we took a break for lunch. Afterwards we all met up and discussed some more aspects of wildlife medicine and then worked on an exercise about the mass die off of the saiga antelope that happened last year. Kind of random but an interesting exercise as well! Now we have a three day weekend and got out trail cameras to fiddle around with! I may head up to the farm to try to see if I can strap it to a tree or something if I can get up there. Hopefully we see something cool!

And more badgers!

Today we were off again searching for badger setts and it was such a lovely day! We started out discussing the papers we'd read the previous day about the badger culls, what type of evidence they have, etc. It was actually really interesting to have a brief overview of the evidence they have at the moment and how varied it is. It was nice to critically look at papers again, something that'll come in handy in the future I think. Then we went off in search of more badger setts. This time we didn't already know where they were so it was basically us wandering around like trackers looking for signs. We were out pretty much the whole day and finally at the end we found some so that was really exciting. Regardless of it being a pretty random day it was so nice to get outside  and hike around for a while in the sun (while it lasts). So far our group is still pretty cool and we're all getting along really well.

Tier 1 Production and Wildlife

I finally started my selective block and let me say I am so glad I chose it! This is going to be such a fun month, I seriously am so excited for it. Yesterday we mostly got the run down on what to expect this month and also what to expect when we go to Bots. While I was already excited for the Botswana trip, this month actually looks like it's going to be a blast. We have a project that we're working on which will be a full ecological survey of an area and we get to put out motion sensitive cameras to capture wildlife images and videos! We were going to do a joint project  on foxes and otters on campus, but now we may try to do a survey of badgers, but we have to see what we find tomorrow when we wander around. Today we learned all about badgers and Tb and then went for a hike to look for badger sets and we found loads! Who knew wandering around and looking at holes in the ground could be so much fun! We also saw their scratch marks, snuff holes and even some poop in a latrine! This month sounds like mostly a bunch of really fun field trips and then time off to study and work on our projects and prep for the Bots trip. Can't wait to do more stuff!

Finished with SA Core!

Well, except for my tutorial tomorrow, but I'm finished with core! It's been a pretty chill month and I'm looking forward to my next block of my tier 1 elective. It looks like its gonna be a bit random, but should be fun an interested for sure! Hopefully I'll have a fair amount of free time to start studying for exams and doing portfolio stuff, etc. Today I got to do a cat spay which was pretty cool because I've never actually done one of those before, and totally forgot that its done flank here since i haven't seen a cat spay here in a while. But it went pretty well, very fiddly but I managed to find everything on my own which is really half the battle, the rest is just ligation and suturing everything back up! The weather seems to have calmed down so I don't feel like I'm going to get blown away anymore.  Pretty boring here now but the next rotation should have more exciting stuff to blog about!

Last Week of SA Core

This is my last week of small animal core so we're on afternoons doing ops. Its been slowish, but it makes it so we don't have to rush our ops, which is nice. I did a dog castrate today and it went pretty well so that was good, though I had a weird mind block when i was putting on my gloves for some reason, but no matter! We dont have to be in till 1 so I've been sleeping in which has been pretty nice, though this damn storm has been blowing wind all over the place and making all this free time slightly miserable since I dont want to do outside! Hopefully today was the last day and it'll be normal again, but for now my classmate has a car so it hasn't been terrible! Other than that just waiting on visa stuff and my flat mate gets back on Sat (I think) so it will be less creepy being in the flat!

Week 1 at the PDSA

This week I started my week at the PDSA. We're seeing consults from 9-12, so is a week of half days which is pretty nice for me, though now with the NAVLE over theres less studying to fill my time! But we have little assignments and stuff that is keeping me busy. Its a shame that that NY storm has come over here and now its just so windy and rainy going outside is less fun! So far its been a good week, seeing some good first opinion cases and seeing what shelter medicine is really like, except that their computer system is kind of confusing because its so old. Other than that nothing terribly exciting, I'm having people over this weekend to that'll be fun!

Dogs Trust

This week I'm at the Dogs Trust, which is dog charity here in the UK. We're getting to do ops which is really fun, but it hasn't been super busy. Tje first day we got there and I got to do a cryptorchid castration and it actually went really well! Tues we were supposed to do a bitch spay and a castrate but the spay was still in season and the dog got diarrhoea! So we got a day off to do work, which actually was really nice so we could catch up on stuff. Last night I went out to dinner with my Weipers group which was really fun. Today is another day off to do SDL work, so I'm running errands and finishing everything up! Hopefully no more of our ops for the week cancel so I can do my DOPS!

First week done!

I'm done with all the optho and derm

I'm ever going to have, which is super weird but it's been nice having a light week! Optho was surprisingly interesting and I feel a lot more comfortable with eyes than I did before which I think will be really helpful once I get into practice. Dermatology was interesting though a bit repetitive, but I suppose that's the nature of it. The animals were all really nice though which was a plus! On the flip side I've been ill so that's been a bit of a pain, but having a 4 days week was a blessing so I could lay on the couch and recover all day. Other than that nothing particularly interesting, did one of my DOPS so that's good and browsing jobs online to see if anything exciting comes up. And the weather has been freezing, it snowed the other day! 

Back on rotations

This block I'm on small animal core, so this week I'm on dermatology and opthamology. I started optho today and though we were quizzed mercilessly it actually was really fun in a weird way. The vet who runs it is really funny and really wants to teach us things, even when we're being quizzed about physics! Tomorrow I have dermatology so hopefully that goes well. Also I passed the NAVLE so thats exciting! Now to try to find a job!

Back in Glasgow!

After a nice long break at home I'm finally back in Glasgow! My flight was pretty uneventful, no one was sitting next to me so I got to lay down in the seats and attempt to sleep, which was nice. Once I got to Heathrow they were asking pele to gate check their bags, so I offered to do it but once I got to Glasgow I found out that somehow they had left my bag in Heathrow! So now I'm waiting around my flat all day for my bag to be delivered, which is super boring since my computer charger was in said bag and it's not like they can just leave it on the porch. So that's been fun, at least my checked bag from sfo made it through! This weekend I'm pretty much just getting ready to start rotations again, I read the schedule wrong and just found out that I have optho and dermatology this first eek so I need to prepare for that. And I need to grocery shop etc, so nothing terribly exciting here. It's 1C and raining o I'm definitely back in Scotland!