Classes:
Anatomy: small animal anatomy. This takes up most of our week. We have lectures on Monday for two hours and dissection every morning for the rest of the week. We are slowly dissecting the muscles of a dog. We have to know the bones, muscles, bumps and ridges on bones, the location of the muscle attachments to the bone, the origin and insertion of each muscle, and the function of each individual muscle.
Embryology: this class is actually associated with our anatomy grade. We started with the egg and sperm, all of the reactions that must occur for proper fertilization, the growth of the single-cell organism into a multi-cell embryo ready for implantation into the uterine wall. That's all we have studied so far and we have a quiz tomorrow.
Cell Physiology: this class is a lot like cell biology at BYU. In fact, its almost exactly the same. We use the same book. We are studying the transcription and translation of mRNA and DNA replication. We had a quiz last week, a quiz tomorrow, and a test on Friday.
Micro Anatomy/Histology: we are studying the cells of tissues. We have looked at epithelial cells (cells on the surfaces of organs or ducts), cartilage, connective tissue, and more. We have pictures on a powerpoint presentation and slides to look at with a microscope.
Principles of Surgery: This past week we started learning all of the tools used in surgery, how to tie a one-handed and two-handed square knot to close off tube (each half of a square knot is called a throw). We also learned how to properly scrub our hands (five minutes, only in one direction to not contaminate washed areas) and put on the gown and gloves while maintaining sterility. Later we will get surgery kits to practice our throws and sutures.
Agriculture Animal Orientation and Animal Handling: this is a long name for animal restraint. Obviously vets need to know how to properly handle animals in a manner that is safe for everyone and the animal involved, so we learn in vet school. It is a great way for the small animal people to get to know large animals and how to handle them correctly and to force people to restrain cats (which have five very dangerous parts of their body that can strike out almost instantaneously--I hate restraining cats).
Animals, Society, and Vets: in this class we sit and talk about our feelings. Yes, the teacher is a psychologist. I hate this class-as does almost everyone in my class.
Colic Team: we study the cause and solution to colic (horse abdominal pain). We may be able to see a colic case this semester if the hospital gets one and we get called in.
Clubs:
I joined the theriogenology club, American Association of Equine Practioners (AAEP) club, and ag animal club. For $10 dues to each club, I can get invited to club activities and have more live animal experiences before third and fourth year.
Rounds:
Small animal rounds are on Tuesday and large animal rounds are on Thursday at noon. Clinicians and fourth year students present cases they have seen recently. The rounds are optional, but quite fun. I get to learn how the doctors and students tried to discover the problem, the tests that they ran, what the problem was, and how they solved it. Sometimes they don't know or can't figure out the problem and sometimes their isn't a good solution to the problem. Sadly, some cases can't be solved with the current knowledge available.
Dairy Trip:
I got an email about a field trip on Saturday. So I went yesterday. I learned how to draw blood from a calf's jugular vein assisted (with someone restraining the calf) and unassisted (me holding the calf and hitting the vein at the same time. This was hard to do and I only got it once, but with help repositioning the needle). I watched five calves born (none of the cows I saw needed assistance although I wished I could go help pull so they didn't have to work so hard). After lunch, we necropsied calves that died to practice necropsying and to try to discover what killed them. We also toured the dairy and looked at the feed they used. It was a very long, but enjoyable day!
Assisted blood draw.
Working on restraining calf, holding off jugular, and getting the blood. More difficult than it looks.Picture coming up: Cow calving. (Don't be too grossed out.)
