Shadowing and Job Applications

The last few weeks have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs. Since it has calmed down enough at work where I get 2 full days off a week without being on call or having to do the produce run, I've taken to shadowing. This means I follow Dr. Nichols and his vet tech Kara on their out-calls for the Kendall County Equine Center. I've helped out with floats, lameness checks, routine vaccinations, a horse who contracted tetanus, and a colicked horse. It's been such a great experience and I feel I'm learning tons. Hopefully this week I can assist in darting a pig and trimming his hooves.

I don't know how, but we're getting the most unusual animals in the clinic. The species themselves are not unusual, only their timing. We got a hatchling nighthawk in the other night, and it's November. This should not be happening until April! We also got in 3 baby rats and several neonatal opossums. It's crazy. I'm not sure if it's the drought that's affecting the animals or maybe they know something that we can't possibly predict weather-wise. Cross your fingers for us to have rain. They've predicted storms on Monday night and we desperately need them.

Down-side, it seems every primate on property has gone crazy as well. Dee and I had 3 back to back days of primate emergencies. We had a long-tail macaque climb over his enclosure into another troop's enclosure. They proceeded to beat him up and we had to go in, dart him, and address his wounds. Easier said than done. He decided to climb the highest tree to get away from us, we finally managed to get a dart into him, and then he fell 20 feet. Thankfully he didn't break anything in the process. We sutured many layers of muscle and ligaments in his arm, and lacerations to his tail and skull. The next day we had a ruffed lemur escape his enclosure. The next day an introduction went badly and a very large pig-tail macaque ripped off the tail of a very tiny ex-pet rhesus macaque. We had to amputate a good portion and suture her back up.

Crazy! I hope you are all well and having fun with your autumns. It feels like summer in Minnesota today, 80s and breezy. Here's a few pictures for you to enjoy as well. Love and miss you all.