Well, my New Year has started out with a bang. About 10 of my co-workers went out to the Kendalia Dance Hall for New Year's Eve. It had barbecue, dancing, drinks, and as much country music as one can stand in a night. I learned to Two-Step and Line Dance, and was pulled out on the dance floor multiple times during the night. It as a blast and an awesome way to bring in the new year.
New Year's Day I was assigned a clinic shift that involved helping vet staff for most of the day. It was awesome and I felt like I was back in lab after a few months off! While me and Ryan switched on and off helping to monitor a cat that had been de-gloved (attacked by a dog so severely her skin was torn away exposing her organs) and running blood work and fecal samples. The cat is currently doing ok. She has a high fever but can still purr and eat. I had to sub cue fluids into her (inject the fluids just under her skin by her scruff) this morning. I'm getting better at identifying parasite eggs in fecal samples as well after examining at least 12 slides that day.
Today I had my first "real" clinic shift. We have been in charge of taking care of the sick animals in the clinic for a while now, but it's been pretty easy with 6 new people plus supervisors working at the same time instead of the 3 that are normally on at once. Today was more normal and I was the only intern on clinic duty with 2 staff members to help and supervise. I was kept busy all day taking care of 4 raccoons, 6 pigeons (3 of which needed to be tube fed), 3 squirrels with one needing to be bottle-fed, 4 turtles/tortoises, 12 opossums, 2 guinea hens, a rooster, a duck, and 2 blue jays. I think.
My duck was upgraded to an outdoor enclosure and a crazy buck in it that tried to gore me several times. He's getting super aggressive. My 12 opossums are set to be released in a few days, and a pigeon is going to be moved outside to test for flight capabilities. A good day! Check out my one new photo (more to come soon) of me and one of my baby raccoons I've been taking care of. Hope you're all doing well and love and miss you all!
