Life and Veterinary Adventures

I've been at my job for one year now. I've learned so much in that year that I didn't learn in school. I've become much more confident in my technical skills as well. Everything really just takes time, patience, and practice. I'm not afraid to try to place a catheter in a dehydrated kitten anymore. I'm not too much of a wimp to place a muzzle on an aggressive dog (within reason, of course) and surgery isn't nearly as scary as it once was. I've been lucky enough to work with some really amazing vets, techs, and kennel staff, who have made the transition from school to work not so bad. Don't get me wrong, there are days that are really difficult and make me question my career choice. Sometimes I just have too much on my plate and get overwhelmed. Sometimes I feel like I just don't make enough money for the things I have to put up with. At the end of the day, I just have to remind myself that it's not always about the money and that I...

Since my last post, I spent about a month searching for a job. After a few interviews (and job offers) I settled on what happens to be my favorite practice in Chicago. It's a new non-appointment practice in the West Loop. I've shadowed at this practice while still in school, and I knew I really wanted to work here. They weren't hiring until I stumbled upon a Craigslist ad they had posted. I obviously applied right away! I've been working here for about 3 weeks now. At first, it was really stressful learning the ropes and being efficient at the same time. Everything is paperless, so if we do anything, we have to make sure to log it into the computer and put in the charges. I'm also responsible for calculating and prescribing out medications (usually for parasites) which is something I haven't had much practice at since Pharmacology class. I'm also new to digital x-ray, ultrasound, and laser therapy. I've thankfully had some practice with Cornerstone ...

This winter has been pretty weird. We've had hardly any snow and the temperatures have been fairly warm for the midwest with a few below freezing days scattered in there. Last Friday was exceptionally snowy, however, and I was stuck driving in it. It usually takes me 45 minutes to 1 hour to/from school, but last Friday it took me over 4 hours to get home. It was awful. When I finally got home, I ran to the bathroom and then got ready to meet up with Tristan, Ninna, and Sean for a movie date. At least four people ditched their kennel duty that night at school, and a few people from my cohort who weren't scheduled decided to stay and help out. I'm glad my cohort actually cares about the well-being of our animals, unlike the newbies. (But I won't get into that.) This past week at school we were able to perform ultrasounds and we got to see the reptile show.  Ultrasounds are more complicated than one might think. There's a lot that goes into getting ...

I am now halfway done with school! I'm still constantly stressed out and sleep deprived, but knowing I've made it this far is a pretty good feeling. As I said before, I'm a kennel leader now. I shared my first day with Kyal, and things went pretty smoothly (aside from me being extremely tired.) I had my first day on my own this Monday with the newbies and it went really well! It wasn't my normal group because I was covering for someone, but I was so glad nothing crazy happened. That being said, one of the black scrubs (we identify each cohort by which color scrubs they wear and the black scrubs are right below us greenies) mentioned that their normal leader wasn't going to return from her trip until 6 am the next day. Knowing that there was no way she'd make it to kennels on time, I decided the right thing to do was to tell the kennel manager. Sure enough, the girl didn't show up the next day and made up an excuse. But now, my friend Gina is their leader, ...

I recently took on the responsibility of managing the adoptions to the public at my school, with the help of 2 of my classmates. I've made some major changes to the Facebook page and I also made a Tumblr page . (Please like and follow them!) Our school is only allowed to have the animals for a certain amount of time. Once they're spayed/neutered, they usually go up for adoption to the students. If none of the students can take them, they go up for adoption to the public. My job is to try to get the word out to as many people as I can about these animals looking for homes so that they don't have to go back to the shelter we got them from. Dutchess needs a home as soon as possible, because her allotted time at the college is almost up. Nona has a little more time, but still needs a home ASAP! Nona is one of my favorite dogs. I would take her home in a heartbeat, if I could. In other news, I'm going to be a Kennel Supervisor next term! I'm really ex...