Final Report

Just after completing final examinations of my second year of veterinary school at the end of May, 2013, I set off on a plane headed to Botswana, where I would be staying for 8 weeks and working with a private mixed animal veterinarian, Dr. Mark Bing.  Having traveled to many countries before in my life, I was used to plane rides and different cultures.  Having also traveled alone to South Africa a few years before to work with lions and tigers, I felt comfortable returning to Southern Africa alone.  I was excited to travel to a new country and completely immerse myself in a different culture while learning about veterinary medicine in a developing country.

I should mention that my career goal is to work abroad, providing veterinary care to food animals in impoverished countries.  So when I heard of the opportunity to travel to Botswana, a developing country in Africa, and to work with a veterinarian there for 8 weeks, I jumped at the opportunity.  I had a feeling that traveling to Botswana and working with a veterinarian there would provide me with an invaluable learning experience that would prove incredibly useful in my future career overseas.  Little did I know, it would be one of the best learning experiences of my life.

When I arrived in Botswana, Mark met me at the airport, and so began what Mark had rightfully said in an earlier e-mail would be a “whirlwind of traveling all across the country”.  We traveled all over the country performing veterinary work; up to Francistown, over to Ghanzi, and even into the Khutse Game Reserve.  In our travels, we treated all different kinds of animals, including cattle, goats, horses, pigs, lions, a leopard, a cheetah, and your basic cats and dogs.  I kept this daily blog with photographs, detailing all of my veterinary (and some non-veterinary) experiences.  It took a lot of effort and the little free time that I had to maintain a blog while working nearly every day, traveling all over the country, and having very limited internet access.  However, keeping a detailed daily blog was incredibly useful and rewarding, as it helped reinforce all of the veterinary work I was involved with.

My goal was to learn as much practical veterinary medicine as I could while in Botswana, and I greatly looked up to Mark, a private veterinarian who started his own practice in Lobatse, Botswana.  Mark is an incredibly smart veterinarian with a strong work ethic.  Although he sometimes had a bit of a self-admitted temper, he always kept an awesome sense of humor and told wonderful stories.  Not only that, he took the time to teach me about everything under the sun, from pregnancy diagnoses, to the main causes of abortion in cattle, to helping me with my independent research on cattle body condition scores and pregnancy here in Botswana.  But in my time with Mark, I not only learned about veterinary medicine.  I learned to think outside the box when it came to veterinary medicine, as Mark quizzed me on many different veterinary techniques and treatments.  He kept me thinking and learning something new at all times.  I learned to be open to new ways of thinking and to different cultures.  Most importantly, I learned how to keep an open mind, and a sense of humor, in all situations.

I can confidently say that I have never learned as much in a summer as I have this summer, spending over 8 weeks here in Botswana shadowing Mark and the new veterinarian he has hired, Janine.  It is one thing to learn information in a classroom, and entirely different to see and apply this information in practice.  I have finally taken the information we have been learning in the classroom for the last two years of veterinary school, and applied it successfully in real-life cases and situations.  Working with Mark and Janine all summer has helped me tremendously on my way towards my goal of practicing veterinary medicine one day as a veterinarian.

Through all of my education and experiences thus far, I have developed a passion for veterinary medicine, and I hope to expand this passion into a career.  I have come to understand that there is a shortage of veterinarians in areas of the world where veterinarians could really make a difference in the lives of both animals and people; such as in Botswana.  I want to use the knowledge and skills I have acquired at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in areas like Botswana where people and animals could really benefit from them.  It is my dream to work abroad, providing care to food animals in impoverished countries, where an entire family’s livelihood may depend upon these animals.  I plan to work hard towards achieving my goals of providing veterinary care in developing countries.  My lifelong commitment and objective as a veterinarian will be to use my skills and knowledge to improve animal, as well as human, health and wellbeing, and I intend to do whatever it takes to make this dream a reality.

I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to travel to Botswana this summer.  I have had a wonderful time, and have made friends here that I am sure will last for a lifetime.  I am most grateful for the invaluable learning experiences the trip has provided me.  Although I am excited to go home to the US today and see my family and friends again after 8 weeks of working abroad, I will definitely miss this place.  I will take with me not only the knowledge I have gained, but also wonderful memories, and a new outlook on the field of veterinary medicine.  I could not have asked for a better way to spend my summer.

I hope you all have enjoyed reading my blog, and I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the summer!

Last day in Botswana

Today was a busy morning and day!  I took a picture of my last sunrise here – sad!

I had finished packing up my suitcase last night, and was ready to fly back to Johannesburg, then on to NYC today.  Little did I know that we would be working all morning today before I got on the airplane!  Mark has definitely taught me how to maintain a strong work ethic this summer!

We saw about 5 eland on the way in to the clinic – they were quick to run, though, so I could not snap a picture in time.  We also saw some baboons on the way in, which I did manage to take a picture of!

Once Janine and I arrived at the clinic, Mark explained that he, Anthony, and I would be driving in to Gaborone to drop me off at the airport, but that we had a few things to do on the way so we needed to leave soon.  Janine would be covering the Lobatse practice today, so I had to say my goodbyes to Janine.  I will really miss working with her!  She is an awesome person and veterinarian, and we had a great summer.  We said our goodbyes, and we will definitely stay in touch!

Mark, Anthony, and I were then on our way to Gaborone, with a few stops to make on the way.  We stopped to perform two cat castrations, as well as to vaccinate three dogs.

Just your average veterinary house calls here in Botswana!

Once we had finished with the veterinary house calls, we drove to Botswana Craft to have lunch with Nikki, the current UPenn-Botswana Partnership in-country coordinator.  We all had a great lunch and chatted about the internship program, my experiences this summer, blogging, and so on.  It was great to finally meet Nikki, as I hadn’t met her yet!  The lunch was also a nice way to wrap up my experiences in Botswana.

Once we had finished with lunch, we said our goodbyes, and then it was on to the airport for me.  Mark and Anthony walked me in to the airport to pick up my boarding pass and check my bag.  Once I had done so, it was time to say our goodbyes.

I said my goodbyes to Anthony, but I really didn’t know what to say to Mark – there was so much I wanted to thank him for.  I thanked him as best as I could.  I hope he knows how wonderful of a learning experience this trip was, and how thankful I am to have been able to work with him and Janine for 9 weeks this summer.  Words really can’t express my gratitude for such an awesome summer veterinary experience.  Mark and Janine are wonderful teachers, veterinarians, and most importantly, friends!  I will definitely be staying in touch with both of them.

I wrote a small piece summarizing my experiences here in Botswana, and will post this as my last and final blog entry.  When I go back to the US, I will not only take with me new knowledge that I hope to be able to apply in the future, but also memories of a wonderful summer.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to work abroad with a veterinarian in a developing country this summer.  I am lucky to have had the experience of a lifetime, and I know I will always look back on it and smile.  My work abroad this summer has only reinforced my dream to continue working abroad in a developing country someday.

My hope is that you have enjoyed reading my blog!  It was my goal to make this blog educational, informative, and interesting, while also being a “light read” (mainly because I am not the best writer!).  I hope that this blog has proven helpful, informative, or at least interesting to you.  If you have been a loyal follower, thank you for reading all of this way!  🙂  I hope you all have a wonderful rest of your summers, and sala sentle, or “stay well” in Tswana!

Feedlots and a Farewell Dinner

Today we visited two feedlots.  At the first feedlot, we performed three postmortem examinations on cows – all had frothy bloat again.  It was at the same feedlot that has been having the frothy bloat issue.  We walked around the feedlot and inspected their feed troughs and feed storage shed.  The feed troughs all appeared to have some feed left in them, as did the feed storage sheds, although they could both certainly do with more.

The feed appeared to be of a fairly good consistency, but perhaps had too much concentrate in it which could be causing the frothy bloat.

In any case, once we had finished our walk around at the first feedlot, we made our way to the second feedlot.  We performed another postmortem examination on a cow at this feedlot, and deduced that this cow had died from acidosis.  We then took a walk around this feedlot.  We were shocked to realize that most of the feed troughs here were completely empty.

The feedlot owner explained that the mixer had broken, and they were trying to get it fixed, but there is just no excuse for not feeding these cows.  Mark explained that they won’t achieve adequate growth rates if they are not fed properly.  I personally got a little upset at seeing all of these hungry cows waiting by the feed troughs, and started taking some handfuls of the feed that had fallen outside of the feed troughs and throwing it into the feed troughs for the cows to eat.  It wasn’t much, but it was the little I could do for the hungry cows.

I always remember this short story about a bunch of starfish stranded on the beach.  There was a little girl throwing them one at a time back into the water.  A man came up to her and said that she couldn’t save all of these starfish or begin to make a difference, as there were so many starfish stranded.  The girl then threw another starfish into the ocean and said, “Well, I made a difference to that one!”  This is how I felt today, throwing in handfuls of feed into the empty feed troughs.

Unfortunately, we also discovered that in some of the pens, the cows were fighting one another to get to an empty water trough.  This should never be happening in a feedlot setting – it is inhumane for cows to be deprived of water; Mark will have to report them for this offense.  We turned on the water hoses for the cows so they could drink.  We just hope this hadn’t been going on for too long.  It is really upsetting to see food and water deprivation to this many cows.  Today was definitely a sad day in that sense.

In any case, once we had finished walking through the second feedlot and telling the owner that not having any food or water for the cows is completely unacceptable, we were on our way back to the practice.  Mark made a phone call to the proper authorities to report this feedlot.  It is too bad that this feedlot needs to be reported, but they aren’t treating their cattle humanely.

After visiting the two feedlots, we drove back to the practice, and I was able to write up a summary of my trip and experiences, which I will share on here as a closing blog entry for tomorrow.  Janine and I then went home and got ready, as this evening we all went out to the Crumbledown Restaurant (AKA the “Cumberland” Restaurant, but Mark calls it the Crumbledown, haha).  There was yet another beautiful sunset.  I will miss these!

We drove to the Crumbledown, and Janine and I had a couple of Springbokkies (shots made with Amarula and peppermint liqueur) this evening along with dinner.  The food there is actually pretty great!  We all chatted, joked, laughed, and had a wonderful evening; it was a great way to spend my last night in Botswana.  Eventually, it was time to head home, so we said our goodbyes, and Janine and I drove back to her place.

I’m now heading to bed, but I’ll be sure to write my final blog entry tomorrow!  Goodnight and more tomorrow!

More PDs, an abscess, and a blocked cat

Janine and I started off our Tuesday morning by heading over to open up the practice up for the day.  Upon arrival at the practice, we opened up the practice for the day so that the two workers there, Lady Lulla and Sena (spelling may not be correct here; I am not the best at spelling!), could manage it.  Janine and I then drove over to meet Mark, Jane, and Anthony at Mark and Jane’s farm in Lobatse so that we could perform pregnancy diagnoses on around 100 cows.

Today would be a “practice pregnancy diagnosis” day for Janine, Anthony, and I.  We would each be palpating every cow and taking our time to make sure we could have a good feel and understanding of the different stages of pregnancy in cows (as well as nonpregnant uteruses).  I explained in an earlier blog entry what you normally feel for when performing the palpations – feel free to read back if you are interested!

We performed the 100 or so pregnancy diagnoses, and finished around noontime.

I was also able to examine some of the ticks on the cows today, including the Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus species of ticks.  Mark also pointed out some udder conformational abnormalities, and explained that you should not seek to breed cows with poor udder conformations.

All in all, today was a wonderful way to sum up the pregnancy diagnosis skills I have learned while working with Mark this summer.  It was also a lovely day out today!  After today’s pregnancy diagnoses, I feel pretty confident in my abilities to accurately diagnose and stage pregnancy in cows – except when the cow is earlier than 8 weeks pregnant (Mark explained that this will take a lot of practice).  I am so thankful for all of the learning opportunities Mark has provided to me in my stay here.  Working with cows in Botswana this summer has only reinforced my passion to work with food animals in a developing country someday.

After we finished with the pregnancy diagnoses, and had examined enough ticks and udder malformations for the day, we all headed back to the practice.

On the drive over to the practice, we drove by the High Court of Botswana, and I took a picture of it for my boyfriend who is in law school!

When we arrived back at the practice, a little puppy had been dropped off this morning for his second series of vaccinations.  The owner would be picking up the puppy later.  This puppy was SO CUTE!

I had to take a few pictures with him, and gently give him his second series of vaccinations.  🙂

A little while later, a Doberman came in with uncropped ears.  I didn’t realize this dog was a Doberman at first, as in the US, most Dobermans have characteristically cropped ears.  It was nice to see a Doberman without cropped ears, as I am personally not a proponent of ear cropping (as it is an aesthetic and elective surgical procedure).

This Doberman had an abscess on its left hind end that had apparently already burst.  Mark gently shaved and scrubbed the area thoroughly.

Mark then put a glove on and gently rectally palpated this dog with one finger, to make sure that this was not an anal gland abscess.  Mark explained that the abscess was not associated with the anal glands.  This dog was apparently also diabetic and on regular insulin injections, so we performed an ear prick to test this dog’s blood glucose levels, which turned out to be normal.

This dog was placed onto Ranclav (containing the antibiotic amoxicillin and potassium clavulanate) and metronidazole (another antibiotic that will help fight off any infection with anaerobic bacteria in this instance).  The Doberman and his owner were then on their way.

A cat later came in that was straining to urinate, but had a very small bladder.  Janine explained that the straining may be due to a urinary tract infection (UTI) or feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD).  The owner had limited funds to treat the cat, so this cat was given some penicillin (antibiotic) and Rimadyl (containing carprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).  Janine instructed the owner to make sure the cat is urinating, and to bring the cat back in if the straining continues.  After the cat and the cat’s owner left, Janine explained to me that if it is just a UTI, the penicillin should sort it out.  Hopefully that is all it is, as I know with cats, blockage of the urinary tract can cause the buildup of toxins in the blood (namely the electrolyte, potassium) and in some cases renal failure.

After this cat left, Mark went over some of the dips you can use on cattle for ticks, mange, mites, and lice with Janine, Anthony, and I.  Of the various dips that Mark mentioned, Mark asked us which one you cannot use on bulls in the breeding season.  We did not know the answer to this, but apparently synthetic pyrethrins are spermicidal, so you don’t want to use synthetic pyrethrins on bulls in the breeding season.  Interesting – and good to know!

Once the day winded to an end, Janine and I headed out to finish our day with another couple of postmortem examinations.  On the drive over to the feedlot, we saw a football (AKA soccer in the US) game going on near the road.

It is a pretty popular sport here!

We arrived at the feedlot and got started on the two cow postmortem examinations.

The postmortem examinations both again revealed frothy bloat.  This feedlot is definitely having an issue with their feed which is causing the frothy bloat.  We did a walkthrough this evening of their feed troughs and feed storage sheds to make sure that there were adequate amounts of hay, concentrate, molasses, and mineral supplements for feed mixing.

This feedlot could definitely do with some more feed in their storage shed, and may be a contributing factor to the frothy bloat issue at hand here.

After our walkthrough of this feedlot’s troughs and storage shed, and after Janine gave the feedlot workers recommendations as far as feed supplies and mixing are concerned, we were on our way home for the night.  There was another nice sunset tonight that lit up the sky with beautiful hues of red, orange, and yellow.

Janine and I finished season 1 of Game of Thrones this evening.  I am already becoming pretty addicted to this show, and will have to continue watching when I get back to the US!  I still can’t believe tomorrow will be my last day of work here in Botswana!  I guess I am excited to go home and see my family, boyfriend, and friends, but I will definitely miss this place and the great people I’ve met here.  I’ll try not to be so sappy!  I’m off to bed now, and will write again tomorrow!

Dairy Farm and Feedlots

Janine and I began our day with a beautiful sunrise and drive to the practice in Lobatse to meet up with Mark and Anthony.

 

 

 

 

We started off our day by driving out to a dairy farm.  Apparently, two of the cows had been injured upon transport, and the farm owner wanted us to take a look at the injuries.

On the drive over, I took a picture of a firetruck here for my mom (she is a firefighter!).

We arrived at the dairy farm, which had a strong characteristic dairy farm smell (namely cow manure), and were greeted by the farm owner, as well as a couple of chickens!

We were then shown over to three Holstein breed dairy cows that were in a nearby crush.

The first two cows in the crush were the ones that had been injured upon transport.

Mark first asked the farm owner how long it had been since the cows had been injured.  The farm owner explained that it had happened probably around a month ago, and that the farm owner had been trying to treat the wounds with a “silver spray that kills maggots” and with terramycin (an antibiotic).  Upon inspection of the cows, what we saw was shocking.

One of the cows had a huge open wound over her back withers, all the way down to the bone (WARNING: pictures of the wound to follow!).

 

 

 

The other cow had a large open lesion over its right hind hip, again all the way down to the bone.

These cows were going to need a lot of veterinary treatment, which hopefully would help these severe wounds heal.  I had never seen such severe injuries in cows before, and I guess I was a little appalled that the farm owner had chosen to wait 1 month before calling a veterinarian in.  I guess this farmer chooses to treat things himself, and only if his treatments aren’t working will he call a veterinarian in.  Perhaps it is for economical reasons, but I felt bad for these poor cows.  At least we would be able to treat these cows properly now, a month later!

Mark put a pair of gloves on and gently peeled off the silver spray on the one cow’s back.

The spray had congealed, and was evidently not helping the wound healing process at all.  Mark explained that the thoracic vertebrae of the spine here were dying on their dorsal aspect, and that they could be cut off at a later time when they died.  Mark also gently debrided any obvious necrotic tissue.  Mark then thoroughly rinsed the wound with water, and applied some acriflavine in glycerine ointment lavishly over the wound (which will act as an antiseptic and encourage wound healing).

 

Mark then inspected the other cow with the open wound on her right hip.  Mark palpated below the wound, and upon pressing below the wound, there was an outpouring of pus from the wound.  The wound had become infected, and in doing so, had also created some dead space (namely via an abscess) below the skin.  Mark washed this wound out and also applied acriflavine in glycerine ointment to it.

We gave both of these two cows penicillin and Pyroflam (containing flunixin meglumine, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).  We instructed the farm owner to continue giving penicillin and Pyroflam injections to these cows every 3 days for at least 3 doses.  We also gave the farm owner a bottle of acriflavine in glycerine ointment that he could apply to the wounds daily after washing them.

The farm owner also wanted to know if there was anything he could do to keep crows from bothering the wounds.  Mark explained that there wasn’t really much the farmer could do to prevent the crows from bothering the wounds, except to make sure to clean and apply the acriflavine in glycerine ointment to the wounds daily.

Mark asked why the third cow was in the crush.

The farm owner explained that he didn’t know what was wrong with this cow, but she was lethargic and not producing a lot of milk.

Upon physical examination of this cow, we noticed that her elbows were a bit abducted, likely indicating discomfort in this cow’s chest.  Upon auscultation of this cow’s heart and lungs, we found that this cow had a high heart rate and some crackles in her right lung.  Mark then took a metal pole and slid it across the crush under the cow’s abdomen.  With Mark on one side of the crush and Anthony on the other, they both lifted up on the pole to see if the cow arched its back, indicating possible abdominal discomfort.  When they did this, the cow quickly reacted by arching her back, showing that this cow was likely uncomfortable in its abdominal area.

Mark explained that this cow had suspect hardware disease (AKA bovine traumatic reticuloperitonitis).  Hardware disease is when the cow ingests a sharp piece of metal (such as a wire), and this piece of metal settles in the reticulum and can irritate the lining.  Hardware disease can be difficult to diagnose, but the decreased milk production, lethargy, and painful abdomen in this case all point towards possible hardware disease.  We gave this cow penicillin and Pyroflam (containing flunixin meglumine, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug).  This cow would be given penicillin and pyroflam every 2 days for at least 3 doses.

We also noticed that off in the distance, there was a cow that was giving birth.

You could see her placenta hanging out of her vagina (not so well in this picture, I apologize!).  There were also some crows circling this cow, evidently interested in this placenta, so the cow was busy chasing them away.  We could also see that there were two white hooves sticking out of this cow.  I have never seen a cow give birth before, so to see a placenta and hooves sticking out of a cow’s vagina was pretty exciting for me.  The farm owner explained that this cow was a heifer, and thus this cow “doesn’t know what to do, she lies down and then gets back up”, which accurately describes this cow’s behavior.  Eventually, she lay down, but we packed up and left before she gave birth.

I should also mention that before we left this dairy farm, we stopped to take a look at the adorable calves here.

 

 

They were incredibly cute, and appeared to be pretty healthy.  They also suckled on our fingers!

 

So cute!

After looking at the calves, we said our goodbyes to the farmer, and were on our way back to the practice.  On the car ride back to the practice, we discussed bovine malignant catarrhal fever (BMCF), which is a group of gamma herpes viruses that cause fatal disease in cows.  These viruses are wildebeest-associated here in Botswana, as wildebeests act as reservoir hosts, showing no apparent clinical signs of infection.  Mark explained that there is a man here in Botswana who shoots wildebeests to try and prevent his cattle from becoming infected with BMCF.  Interestingly, the incidence of BMCF is actually higher at this man’s farm than at other farms where they don’t shoot the wildebeests.  Mark postulates that he thinks the stress hunting puts on the wildebeests maybe causes them to shed the virus.

We also named all of the different arboviruses we could collectively come up with – blue tongue, African horse sickness, Rift Valley Fever, lumpy skin and pseudo lumpy skin, bovine ephemeral fever, and ORF.   Bovine ephemeral fever is a Rhabdovirus that causes a 3-day stiff sickness.  The vaccine for bovine ephemeral fever is expensive, and is not always effective in preventing infection.  Orf is a zoonotic parapox virus that causes mouth, foot, and teat lesions in sheep and goats.  It is kind of like the sheep and goat version of Foot and Mouth Disease, if you will.  Also, unlike Foot and Mouth Disease, Orf is zoonotic, and Mark explained that you should not mess with it if you can avoid it!  Orf can be treated with antibiotics.  Mark also added as an aside that Chlamydia is the biggest cause of abortion in sheep and goats here in Botswana.

After we arrived back at the practice, we got a call out from a feedlot that wanted us to take a look at one of their cows that apparently had a broken leg.  It was a feedlot we hadn’t been to before, so while we were there, we would do a “walk around” informal inspection.

Janine, Anthony, and I got in Janine’s truck and drove out to the feedlot.

On the way over, we drove by a big stadium here, which is likely where they host the big football (AKA soccer in the US) games.

We also drove by the firehouse here, and I had to get a picture for my mom again!

When we finally arrived at the feedlot, the feedlot owner greeted us and showed us over to the sick pen where the cow with the broken leg was.

After looking at this cow closely, Janine explained that it looked like this cow had sustained a transverse femoral fracture of its left hind leg, and should be emergency slaughtered right away, as this is obviously very painful for the cow (the cow could barely walk).

We then also did a walk through of the sick pens at this feedlot.  One of the cows was lying down and breathing heavily.

The owner explained that this cow had somehow gotten its head stuck in the water trough and had nearly drowned a couple of days ago.  Janine explained to the owner that this cow would likely have a pneumonia and abscesses in its lungs, and could be treated with alamycin (an antibiotic).  However, Janine explained that at this stage, the alamycin may or may not help.  Janine also explained that with the water in this cow’s lungs, this cow is likely very uncomfortable and may not want to eat.  Janine told the owner to treat this cow with the alamycin, and to monitor the cow closely, as it may need to go for emergency slaughter if its breathing does not improve.

There were also a few cows with alopecia around the stumps of their tails, as well as some alopecia in patches along their bodies.

 

Janine and I deduced that the alopecia was likely infectious, as multiple cows were affected.  Mark later explained that this was probably mange causing the alopecia, and could be treated by using “Triatix” dip, containing the active ingredient “amitraz” (effective against ticks, mange, mites, and lice).

There were also three cows with papillomas that were far past their slaughter date.

 

 

Janine said that these cows should go for emergency slaughter, so we recorded their bolus numbers and ear tag information.

We continued our walk through this feedlot – it was a beautiful day for a walk through this wide open feedlot, with sunshine and blue skies.

 

There actually weren’t that many cows at this feedlot to examine.  There were lots of “ox peckers”, which are little birds that pick ticks off of the cattle.

Janine explained to me that Mark actually uses an ox-pecker-friendly cattle dip for ticks, mites, mange, and lice called “Triatix” (containing the active ingredient “amitraz”).  I thought this was really nice – it’s nice to be as wildlife-friendly as you can in practice!

As we were finishing up our walk through the feedlot, we noticed another cow with a wound on the cranial surface of its right hind leg.

It was an open laceration, and the owner explained that he had given this cow alamycin for it.  The cow was weight bearing, and didn’t seem to be in severe pain, so Janine recommended that the farmer continue with the alamycin and give this cow some more time to potentially heal.

We also saw a cow with a large abscess in front of its left shoulder.

Janine recommended that the owner lance this abscess as soon as possible to relieve any discomfort the cow may be having.

Once we were done with our walkthrough of the feedlot, the owner thanked us, and we were on our way back to the practice.  We saw a train on the train tracks on the way back into the town of Lobatse.

I have a little bit of a fascination with the trains here, ever since I read about them in Alexander McCall Smith’s book, “The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency”, which takes place in Botswana.

When we arrived back at the clinic, it was already very late in the day, but Mark explained that there was a feedlot that wanted us to do a postmortem examination on one of their cows that had passed away earlier today.  Janine and I drove out to that feedlot, since it was somewhat on the way back to her place.

Janine and I arrived at the feedlot and were greeted by clouds of dust over the many cattle pens.

As we drove closer, we realized that the cattle were running around and playing with each other!  It was really adorable – unfortunately, the pictures did not come out so great.

Janine and I performed the postmortem examination on the cow in the last hours of daylight that we had.  We soon discovered that it was another case of frothy bloat.  We finished the postmortem examination just as darkness fell.  There was a huge and beautiful moon tonight, as we made our way back to Janine’s house.

We were pretty exhausted tonight from a long day today, so we made a quick dinner, watched an episode of Game of Thrones, and then went to bed.  I am now heading to sleep, I’ll write more tomorrow!  Sweet dreams!

Sunday Off!

I slept in until 10:30 AM this morning, which was great!  I took a couple of my herbal sleeping pills last night, which apparently knocked me out pretty well!  I woke up very well rested, though.  Janine and I were both happy to have an entire day off today.

I got up and made some more sorghum porridge, which I love, and was able to catch up on some more blog posts.  Janine and I spent the late morning and afternoon tanning outside in our bikinis – the first time I have worn my bikini here in Botswana (and probably the only time I will)!

After tanning for a while, I packed my suitcase up, as I’ll be leaving to go back to the US this Thursday – so soon!  I still can’t believe it has already been 8 weeks.  I picked out my outfits for the week so that I could enjoy my last few days here in Botswana, without having to worry about packing, unpacking, and packing again.

I also went for another run late this afternoon, and did some workouts in Janine’s yard.

It was another lovely day for a run, and I will miss running here!  I have a feeling that when I get back to Boston, MA, it will be a little too hot to run outside like I can here in Botswana.  I love running outside much more than running in a gym.

After running and working out, I took a bath, then Janine and I made dinner.  I continued catching up on my blog posts – it’s hard to keep up when we’ve been so busy every day!  After blogging for a while, Janine and I watched more Game of Thrones.  I am definitely addicted now to this show, and will be sure to continue watching it when I get back to the US! Apparently, Game of Thrones is on to its 3^rd season now.  Anyway, it was nice to have a relaxing day today.  I will write more tomorrow, goodnight!

Climbing the Tallest Peak in Botswana, Kwahu Hill!

Janine and I slept in this morning, which was awesome and much needed!  I had some sorghum porridge this morning, then started packing up my suitcase and writing up some more blog posts.  I can’t believe I’ll be leaving Botswana this Thursday.  I am really excited to see my family, boyfriend and friends for the first time in 8 weeks, but will be sad to leave!  Just when I start to feel really comfortable and happy here, it’s time to go!

Janine and I headed out to climb Kwahu Hill around 1 PM.  We drove down a winding dirt road as close as we could to the mountain, then parked Janine’s truck off the road near some bushes.  I should mention that there is no trail up the mountain (at least that we knew of), so we would be paving our own way.  It was an adventure that Janine and I were excited to embark on!

We first made our way through a thicket of bushes at the base of the mountain.  Our legs and arms got fairly scratched up in the process, but we expected they would.  Once we had made it through the bushes, we began our climb up the smaller and less steep mountain adjacent to Kwahu Hill.  We planned to climb this mountain first, then make our way over to Kwahu Hill.

 

 

The upwards climb proved difficult at times, especially when it was steep and the small rocks eroded away from under our hiking boots.  Luckily, I brought an awesome pair of hiking boots with me!  Janine and I split up partway up to take two parallel paths up the mountain.  I opted for a less steep and more roundabout path, while Janine went straight for the Kwahu Hill cliffs.  After much climbing, and reaching numerous ledges that looked like they would be the top of Kwahu Hill but actually weren’t, both Janine and I finally reached the top of the mountain.  We were so elated, and the view was absolutely spectacular!

We took tons of pictures up here by the marker post.

 

 

 

Tons of people carved their names on this marker post (Janine and I were going to do this as well, but we forgot).  After taking some awesome panorama pictures by the marker post, we soon looked to our left and realized that we were not actually at the highest point in Botswana!  The hill to our left was a bit higher than the marker post we were standing at, and there were what looked like a couple of cement houses on top of it.

Janine and I decided we’d climb up there next, but first we took a break for lunch.  We sat down on a couple of rocks overlooking the road and village far, far below us!  We got some awesome pictures sitting here, as we ate our sandwiches and drank lots of water.

 

There was a breathtaking view up here, and it was such a relief to have made it (almost) to the top, after an hour and a half of climbing!

After we ate lunch, we made our way over to the “real” highest point in Botswana.  After a bit of climbing, we were finally on top of the highest point in Botswana for sure.  There were a couple of cement shacks up here, which Janine postulated could be some sort of a memorial.  These cement shacks were fenced in with barbed wire on the top, but there was an area where the barbed wire had been cut away.  We ventured over the fence and looked around inside – there was not too much to see here except a couple of run-down shacks.

 

We then realized that there was a big rock outside of this fenced-in area that looked to be the highest point in Botswana (not counting the shacks, which Janine and I agreed were manmade and didn’t count).  Janine and I decided we needed to stand on this rock to officially be on top of the highest peak of the highest mountain Botswana!  We stood on the rock and got some awesome pictures there.

 

 

 

 

Again, the view was phenomenal.  We also took some pictures standing on another nearby rock, with an awesome view in the background.

 

 

Once we were done taking pictures and exploring, Janine and I began our descent down the rocky mountain.

 

 

The descent was actually much more difficult than the climb up the mountain, as it was pretty steep and each step required a lot of concentration.

 

 

 

After an hour and a half or so, Janine and I made it down the mountain, through the thorn bushes, and back to Janine’s truck.  We were very happy that aside from some scratches on our arms and legs, neither of us had been injured today, and it had been an awesome hike and adventure!

By the time we were at the bottom of the mountain, it was 5:30 PM or so.  We changed into some everyday clothes, and then drove over to check out the campsite of a big bike race that took place today between Gaborone and Lobatse called the “Kalahari Challenge”.

 

After some driving, we eventually arrived at the Kalahari Challenge campsite, where there were lots of families around fires.  Janine and I each bought a beer, stood around a fire, and chatted with some people that had competed in the bike race today.  It was nice to get out and socialize a bit, as social life in Lobatse is fairly nonexistent!  After the sun set, it was also pretty cold out, so the fire was nice to stand by.

After some chatting by the fire, Janine and I decided to drive to Gaborone to get dinner and see a movie.  I have to say that driving at night here in Botswana can be very dangerous not only because of numerous drunk drivers (especially on the weekends), but also because of cows on the road that can prove very difficult to see.  We had a close call this evening with a black cow on the black tar road, that neither Janine nor I saw until it was pretty close to the vehicle.  Luckily, this cow was on the other side of the road, but the cows do not move out of the way or even look up when you are coming at them in your vehicle!  It’s definitely dangerous, and after this close encounter, we drove at a much slower pace!

By the time we arrived in Gaborone, it was already 8 PM, so we went straight to the movies.  We bought tickets to the movie, “White House Down” starring Channing Tatum (one of my favorite male actors) and Jamie Foxx.  We also each got popcorn, which unfortunately (but better for our health), they don’t drench with tons of butter the way they do in the US.  We topped our popcorn with all of the spices they had available as toppings, then made our way into the theater.  The movie was pretty good and definitely kept you on the edge of your seat at all times, but I have to admit that I mostly enjoyed watching Channing Tatum on the big screen!

Once the movie was over, Janine and I stopped at the KFC on our way out of the mall, as we hadn’t eaten dinner this evening.  As a vegetarian, I opted for French fries, only I forgot that French fries are called “chips” here in Botswana.  When I asked the woman behind the counter for French fries, she gave me a funny look and asked me if I meant “chips”.  Oops!

I also got another green cream soda at KFC.  I am still fascinated that cream soda here is green, and I looked up more information on cream soda colorings.  I had no idea that in so many different countries, cream soda comes in so many different colors!  For instance, in Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America, cream soda is usually red, while in New Zealand it is usually bright yellow.  In Australia, it is often pink, red, or brown.  In the US, I know it is usually light brown or clear.  Whereas here in Southern Africa, it is green!  I had no idea!

Once Janine and I got our unhealthy food of the week from KFC, we drove back to Janine’s place in Lobatse.  Janine has a bunch of her mom’s old CDs in her truck, so we listened to some good old Bruce Springsteen, AKA The Boss, on our drive back.  Janine and I are getting to know her mom’s CDs very well by now!  We eventually arrived back at Janine’s place, and both went straight to bed.

It’s been a long but amazing day off, and I’m going to sleep now!  I’m greatly looking forward to sleeping in again and having the entire day off tomorrow!  Goodnight!

Puppies, cows, and horses

Today we were going to be heading to Mark and Jane’s farm to perform pregnancy diagnoses on their 100 or so cows just after we opened the clinic in the morning.  Janine and I first drove into the clinic, and when we arrived, there was a man waiting outside.  He asked us if we could take a look at his four puppies, which were (unfortunately) in the trunk of his car.  The man opened the trunk of his car, and we did a quick examination of the puppies; they looked pretty healthy.  The man said he just wanted them to get their first vaccinations.

We brought the four puppies into the clinic and vaccinated them with their first vaccines (the “Vanguard Plus 5″ vaccines, protecting them against Canine Distemper, Adenovirus Type 2, Parainfluenza, and Parvovirus).  The owner paid for the vaccines, and then was on his way with his puppies in the trunk of his car again.  I guess I am still a little shocked when owners put their animals in the trunk!  Luckily, it was early morning, so it wasn’t too hot out yet.

After opening the clinic up for the two workers there, Janine and I then drove to Mark and Jane’s farm to meet Mark and Anthony and perform the pregnancy diagnoses.  We drove out to their farm, which was pretty far off the main road, but was absolutely beautiful and surrounded by mountains (as is most of Lobatse).

Jane arrived at the farm shortly after Mark, Anthony, Janine, and I arrived.  We then got to work performing around 100 pregnancy diagnoses at Mark and Jane’s farm.

Today was a learning day for Anthony, Janine, and I, so we took our time, asked questions, and made sure to carefully palpate any stages of pregnancy we had difficulty with.  For me, this was great practice palpating uteruses in heat, as well as pregnancies earlier than 8 weeks old.  I was definitely able to tell if a cow was pregnant or not this time, except sometimes when earlier than 8 weeks old.  It’s awesome to be able to practice pregnancy diagnoses on so many cattle here in Botswana!  I am pretty confident in my cattle pregnancy diagnoses now, and am very thankful for all of the opportunities Mark has given me to palpate cattle while here.

I also gave my best efforts at trimming a cow’s overgrown horns using Gigli wire.

It’s pretty gross when a cow’s horns grow too long and start curling and growing inwards into the cow’s skull, which is what was happening with this cow.  I didn’t realize how much muscle it requires to trim a cow’s horns using Gigli wire!  The farm workers make it look so easy to do, but it is definitely a workout.  After much effort at the trimming, and pulling my arms back and forth with the Gigli wire for what seemed like ages, my arms got pretty tired.  I eventually handed over the Gigli wire to the farm workers to finish the job.  As usual, they made the trimming look easy!

Once we were finished with the cattle pregnancy diagnoses, we drove back to the practice and ate a quick lunch.  We then got to work brainstorming what affects conception rates in cattle – including everything from nutrition, to the bull, to abortion, and so on.  Similar to my research on body condition scores in relation to conception, Mark has decided he will be creating a survey to send to the farmers up in Ghanzi, asking them specifics about their farming and management practices, so that he can get an idea of what techniques are working best for conception.  He has decided he will then hold a meeting with all of the farmers to go over all of this with them.  I think it will be really interesting to see the results, and I hope my research will prove beneficial to this meeting, as well!

We then received an emergency call out for a cow and calf that had apparently been attacked by some sort of wild animal.  The cow had just given birth, and according to the owner, the calf’s tail had been eaten.  Additionally, both the cow’s and the calf’s perianal area was apparently pretty torn up and swollen.  The farm owner apparently also needed 7 of his horses vaccinated with the Prequenza-TE vaccine (which is a vaccine against equine influenza and tetanus).  It was at the farm next door to Janine’s place, so Janine and I packed up her truck, as we planned to go straight home afterwards.

Mark, Anthony, Janine, and I drove out to the farm, greeted the farm owner, and he showed us to the cow and calf.  The mother cow was a large white Brahman cow, and her vagina was incredibly swollen and edematous.

The entire vagina looked like it had been attacked, and had open and bloody lacerations on it.  Upon closer inspection, Mark explained that the vulvar lips had been eaten off of this cow.  We gave the cow 5 mLs of lignocaine as an epidural so Mark could gently palpate the rectum and vagina of this cow.  Once the epidural had taken effect, Mark put on a rectal palpation sleeve and gently palpated the cow’s rectum, making sure there were no tears between the rectum and vagina.

Mark did not palpate any rectal tears, which was a relief, as a rectal tear would mean the cow would probably need to be culled.  Mark emphasized that when other animals attack animals like this, you should always make sure to feel that the bladder is intact.  In this case, the bladder of the cow was intact, which was also a relief, as a ruptured bladder would also mean that this cow would probably need to be culled.

Mark put on a new glove, then very gently palpated this cow’s vagina.

Mark explained that there were wounds about a hand’s length deep within the cow’s vagina.  Mark said that this resembled a characteristic attack by a jackal.  Jackals are medium sized members of the dog family, and kind of look like foxes.  The farm owner suggested that maybe crows could have also done this, but Mark explained that they wouldn’t create wounds this deep in the vagina.  We gave this cow penicillin and Pyroflam (containing flunixin meglumine, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory) intramuscularly.

We then examined the calf.

The calf’s perianal area was all torn up, and its tail was missing, but Mark showed us that the calf’s vagina and rectum were both still intact.  We gave the calf 2 mLs of a lignocaine epidural so that we could clean the calf’s perianal area.  There was a lot of maggots and dead tissue to debride from the area.  Mark washed the area with chlorhexidine mixed with water, and gently debrided and lavaged the wound.  Mark and Janine agreed that because there were maggots, this injury happened at least a few days ago.  We also gave the calf penicillin and Pyroflam intramuscularly.

After cleaning the calf’s wound, we applied acriflavine in glycerine all over the cow’s vagina and the calf’s perianal open wound, which will act as an antiseptic and help the wound heal better.

In addition, we also sprayed the wound down with an antiseptic wound spray.

Mark explained that the cow should be able to calf again, as this was one of the farmer’s concerns.  Mark also explained that the calf’s wound should heal by secondary intention, as it should fill in with granulation tissue.

Once we were done assessing and treating this cow and calf, we drove over to the horse enclosure so that we could vaccinate the 7 horses.

They were beautiful horses, but were a little wild, so we had to be careful.  The vaccinations (Prequenza-TE which vaccinates against equine influenza and tetanus) were given intramuscularly, as they contain the tetanus vaccine (which can create lumps if it goes subcutaneously).  It’s good practice for me giving injections to cows and horses while here!

Once we were done vaccinating all 7 horses, we took a look at one of their white Arab horses that had run into a fence and had a small laceration on the front of its left front leg.

The horse was being treated with penicillin that Janine had given the farm owners.  Additionally, the farm owners had been cleaning the wound with Betadine, which is great.  The horse was apparently still limping on the limb, but starting to bear more weight on it.  Janine explained to the farm owners that it may take some time to heal.

I took a few lovely pictures of the horses here – they are such beautiful creatures!

After we finished looking at these horses, Mark, Anthony, Janine, the farm owner, the farm owner’s son, and I all drove over to Janine’s place to sit and have a beer (although I opted for a Coke tonight) and chat for a bit.  I brought out some peanuts and popcorn for us all to munch on, and we sat outside in Janine’s backyard and talked and joked until the sun set.  I should also mention that there was a stunning sunset this evening.

Eventually, Mark and Anthony said their goodbyes, as did the farm owner and his son, and they were on their way home.  Janine and I decided to make a fire in the fire pit in her backyard tonight and have a braai (barbecue).

We cooked up some sausages (in my case, fake sausages), sat by the fire, drank some wine, and chatted for a while as we ate.  It was awesome to sit outside by a warm fire, with a lovely moon overhead (that is almost full now!).  After sitting by the fire for a while, we each took baths, and watched some more episodes of Game of Thrones.  I have to say, I am pretty addicted to this show now!

Janine and I are both really excited because tomorrow we plan to climb the highest peak in Botswana – Kwahu Hill!  We have been planning to climb this hill for a long time now, since we first heard from Mark that it was the highest mountain in Botswana and was very close to Lobatse.  Janine and I are also really excited because tomorrow morning we will not be setting any alarms to wake up!  Not to mention that we also have all of Sunday off from work!  I have a feeling it will be an awesome and relaxing weekend, and I look forward to it!  I’ll write more tomorrow, goodnight!  🙂

Boerboels, leprosy, and papillomas

I took a bath this morning, and unfortunately, one of those huge spiders decided to join me!  Even knowing these spiders were harmless, I was out of that bath in a second and a splash, having not washed my hair or anything.  By the time I mustered the courage to help the spider out of the bath, the spider had already drowned.  I’m sorry, big spider, rest in peace.

We drove to the practice today, and I was able to blog for a bit, which was nice.  We also looked at some of the sperm slides we made under the microscope.  On one of the slides, from one of the bulls that had failed the semen motility test, we could see that a lot of the sperm had their heads chopped off and there was a lot of smegma mixed with the sperm.

Janine, Anthony, and I then drove out to vaccinate and deworm two dogs – one was a Dalmation and one was a “little rat dog”, for lack of a specific breed!

We then drove to the house next door to vaccinate 3 Boerboels.

Additionally, two of these Boerboels had gotten into a fight and one of them had a laceration on his head and ear.

We flushed the lacerations gently with a Betadine solution mixed with water.  We also applied some acriflavine paste, which is bright orange and an antiseptic paste.  There was a pocket of air under the laceration on the Boerboel’s head as well as some pus, but we will put the Boerboel on antibiotics for this.  We gave this dog 3 mLs of penicillin, which will last for 3 days.  We also gave him a prescription for Ranclav (containing the antibiotic amoxicillin along with potassium clavulanate).  We also gave the other dog, which had a laceration on her ear from the fight, 6 mLs of penicillin (she was a larger dog).

We then drove back to the practice, and I continued blogging for a bit, before we went out for lunch at the nearby restaurant that Mark and Jane frequent.  Sadly, we were again the only customers in the restaurant.  I ordered a salad and chips (which is what they call French fries here), and was very full at the end of the meal!  Mark was incredibly kind and paid for all of our meals.  Thanks, Mark!  I also took a picture of Mark’s green cream soda – it fascinates me that cream soda here is green!

After lunch, we went back and opened up the clinic for the workers there, then we drove out to two of the feedlots for unannounced inspections and to take a look at their sick pens.  On the drive, we saw that Mark has an awesome textbook in his truck, detailing the capture and care of African wildlife.  I skimmed through it, and it is a really useful book.

The first feedlot we visited, there was a pigeon on the ground that couldn’t fly and was fluttering around.  Mark put his foot on the pigeon so he could pick it up.  Upon examination of the pigeon, we could see that one of its legs was missing all of its toes and was just a stump.  Mark said that this bird had leprosy, and wrung its neck right then and there.  I had to turn my head away for this part.  I just really didn’t feel like watching.  Mark then put the bird on the ground and continued walking through the feedlot.

Janine later explained that leprosy causes birds’ limbs to fall off, and is a horrible death.  I later looked up leprosy, as I don’t remember much about this from class.  Leprosy is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium, and can cause damage to skin, nerves, limbs, and eyes.  It is actually secondary infections that can cause tissue loss with leprosy, and even limb loss, as we were likely seeing with this bird.  I now understand that the bird needed to be put out of its misery, and that it would have proven very difficult to euthanize it.  I just don’t think I would be able to wring a bird’s neck like that!  So sad.

We then walked over to the sick pen and saw a few cows with acidosis, and some of these with concurrent lameness (as chronic acidosis can cause lameness).

Unfortunately, the cows in the sick pen had absolutely no water in their trough!  The farm workers brought over a hose and all of the cows were pushing and shoving their way to the water trough – it was terrible.  After having a look over their sick pen, and recommending to the farm workers that they make sure the cattle always have water, and treat the acidosis with Magnesium Oxide, we were on our way to the next feedlot.

The next feedlot was a very nicely managed feedlot with a ton of feed in their storage shed.  We had a walkthrough of their feedlot and all of the cows looked happy and most of them were comfortably chewing their cud (which is where they regurgitate rumenal contents and chew them into smaller pieces).

We saw some cows that apparently had been on that feedlot for 8 months now, as opposed to the normal 2 months.  The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) wouldn’t accept them because they all had papilloma virus lesions on their skin.  The farm owner wanted to cull these cows now, as the cows weren’t making him any money and wouldn’t be accepted by the BMC.  We took the bolus numbers and ear tags of these cows so that they could go for emergency slaughter.  Janine later explained to me that treating papilloma virus can be done by taking a portion of the lesion and creating your own vaccine with saline that you can inject subcutaneously; as Mark had explained to me a while back.  However, Janine said that this treatment is often “hit or miss”, and doesn’t always work.

We then drove back to the practice, unpacked the truck, and Janine and I drove back to her place on the farm.  I took another bath this evening so I could actually wash my hair – no spiders joined me in my bath this evening, thank goodness!

I was just about to cook us a stir-fry dinner and Janine was just about to take a bath when we received an emergency call out.  Apparently, the Boerboel we had treated earlier today for dog fight wounds had been attacked by the other dog again and was “bleeding out”.  Poor Janine, she was just about to take a bath when we got this call!

We quickly got dressed and drove to the practice.  We had no idea what to expect.  When we arrived at the practice, there were a few men there surrounding the dog, which was in the bed of their truck.  Janine and I took a quick look at the dog, and determined that it was not bleeding profusely, which was good.  The men there carried the dog into the practice so that we could assess its wounds.

The owner had washed the dog down, so it was wet when it arrived.  Upon physical examination of the dog, we saw that it had 3 puncture wounds on its left hind leg, as well as numerous other graze wounds.  We gave this dog 1 mL of morphine (a full mu opioid agonist analgesic) for the pain, and 1.5 mLs of acepromazine (an alpha-1 blocker sedative) to sedate him.

We then gently cleaned his wounds using some Betadine solution mixed with water.  We also applied some acriflavine ointment to the wounds, which should act as an antiseptic.  Once we were done cleaning his leg, we gently used a towel to dry him, as he was still wet from when his owner washed him down.  Once he was dry, we sent him home with some Rimadyl (containing carprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) and Nutradyl (a joint supplement).  The owner already has the Ranclav (antibiotic) for him that we prescribed earlier in the day.

Once we were done treating this dog, it was 8 PM, and we headed back to Janine’s place for the night.  Luckily, no one else called us out for an emergency this evening, so Janine was able to finally take a bath while I cooked us a nice stir-fry dinner.  It’s off to bed now, as tomorrow we’ll be up to do about 100 pregnancy diagnoses at Mark’s farm here in Lobatse.  More tomorrow, goodnight!

Surgery Day

Janine and I began today by driving back to Zeerust to get the Toyota receipt.  There was an awesome sunrise over the mountains on our drive this morning.

We arrived at the border and luckily, the receipt was still there where Janine left it!

We then drove to the practice in Lobatse.  I should also mention that another vet student, Anthony, is spending two weeks at Mark’s practice, and this was his first day here today.  We all met and welcomed Anthony this morning, and then got started preparing for the surgery day today.

Janine first performed a cat spay.  Ketamine (an NMDA receptor antagonist dissociative anesthetic drug) and Domitor (containing medetomidine, an alpha-2 agonist anesthetic drug) given intramuscularly were used to anesthetize the cat.  The cat’s abdomen was then shaved and scrubbed with Chlorhexidine.  Mark also pointed out the landmarks for the incision line – he says it should be halfway between the pubis and the sternum.  They teach us in vet school to incise two centimeters caudal to the umbilicus, but Mark claims that this is a more useful method of deciding where to make your incision line.

We started a pulse oximeter to monitor the cat’s SpO2 (percent hemoglobin saturated with oxygen) and heart rate.  The cat was also given subcutaneous Rimadyl (containing carprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory) and penicillin.

Janine then performed the spay surgery.

In an earlier blog entry, I went through how the spay surgery is performed here.  Everything in this surgery was done in the same fashion, except this cat had a very small uterus!  This cat also had a mild umbilical hernia, which is a congenital malformation of the umbilicus in which the abdominal lining and/or abdominal organs bulge out through the hole in the umbilicus.  The umbilical hernia was repaired by scraping it gently off of the linea alba.  The linea alba was then closed, as was the subcuticular layer, and eventually a few loose simple interrupted skin sutures were placed.  This cat was given a prescription of Rimadyl to help with the pain and inflammation from the surgery.

Once the spay surgery was complete, a vet consult came in, so Janine went to see the consult while Mark got to work performing the dog castration on a black Staffordshire Terrier dog.  Mark asked me if I wanted to place the catheter in this dog’s leg for the surgery.  I said I would love to.  We shaved this dog’s right front leg so his cephalic vein was visible.  I placed my left thumb to the left of the dog’s right front cephalic vein to stabilize the vein.  With the catheter in my right hand, I gently went into the vein, drew back, and I was in – first try!  I pushed the catheter forward over the stylet, held the catheter in place, then taped around the catheter.  I haven’t set a catheter since last summer, so I’m glad that I was still able to!  We then injected morphine and thiopental anesthetic intravenously, and the dog slowly drooped to the floor.

We carried the dog over to the surgery table, then shaved and scrubbed its testicles and abdominal area.  Once the pulse oximeter had been set up and attached to the dog’s tongue, and everything was prepared, Mark got started with the castration.

I assisted with anesthesia for this surgery.  Mark made a small incision just above the testicles on the midline of the abdomen, slipped one testicle at a time into the incision, did an open castration on each testicle (where the tunica vaginalis is incised), then tied the vessels supplying the testicles off.

The small incision was then closed, and the surgery was complete.  Castrations are much quicker procedures than spays!

After the castration was complete, Janine returned to the operating room and explained that the vet consult was two dogs with suspected parvovirus.

These dogs were vaccinated, given penicillin, and Clopram.  Clopram contains metoclopramide, which is an antiemetic and stimulates gastric motility; it is used to treat the nausea and vomiting associated with parvovirus infection.  The dogs were also given some A/D dog food mixed with activated charcoal, which will help coat the stomach.

We then got started preparing for the lateral ear canal resection surgery on the Boerboel, which I was looking forward to seeing.  We gave the dog an intramuscular dose of acepromazine to sedate him, then after 15 minutes, set a catheter and injected morphine and thiopental intravenously to anesthetize him.  Once the large Boerboel had been anesthetized, 3 of us carried him to the operating table – he was heavy!

Once the pulse oximeter had been set, Mark got to work preparing the dog’s right ear first for the surgery.  Mark would be performing the lateral ear canal resection surgery (also known as a “Zep” procedure) on both of the dog’s ears, starting with the right ear.  It is a partial ear canal ablation, and a more conservative procedure than doing a total ear canal ablation (or TECA surgery, as it is abbreviated).  Mark first shaved the external surface of the ear down to where the vertical ear canal ended.  He then scrubbed the area with chlorhexidine, and flushed the ear with a Betadine and water solution.

Mark then draped the ear, secured the drape with two towel clamps, and was ready to get to work performing the surgery.

Mark first inserted a pair of closed hemostats down the vertical ear canal to the point where the vertical ear canal ended and the horizontal ear canal began.  Mark explained that essentially, he would be cutting open the vertical ear canal to where the horizontal ear canal began.  The hope was that this procedure would open up the horizontal ear canal to allow for more efficient cleaning and better ear canal ventilation.

Mark first incised a wedge down the middle of the tragus to the point where the vertical ear canal ended.

In doing so, Mark carefully dissected out the vertical ear canal, then cut it off at the point where the horizontal ear canal began.  Mark then pointed out that the horizontal ear canal was somewhat deformed, and very stenotic.  Mark then carefully stitched the opening of the horizontal ear canal to the outside skin (stitching to the skin from the wedge shape he had cut out) using 2-0 Vicryl all the way around the opening.

This would help pull the horizontal ear canal into a more open position.  Mark explained that he used Vicryl as his suture material of choice here because it is absorbable, and thus you don’t have to remove these stitches later on.  Mark also explained that he made sure to stitch through both skin and cartilage because with cartilage, you can make tight stitches and it won’t swell as much.  As a side note, Mark also said that Shihtzus and Sharpeis (two breeds of dog) often have stenotic ear canals.

Once the dog’s right horizontal ear canal had been stitched open, we gently turned the dog over into right lateral recumbency, and Mark got to work performing the same surgery on the dog’s left ear.  I was so fascinated by this ear canal surgery, as I had never observed surgery on a dog’s ear before today!  We had been taught the basics of this surgery in our Medicine and Surgery class, and even watched a video of it, but it wasn’t the same as watching it in person!

Once the lateral ear canal resection surgery was complete on both of the Boerboel’s ears, we wrote him out a cephalexin prescription for a week, as well as a Rimadyl prescription (which contains carprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) to help with the pain and inflammation of the surgery.  The poor dog had to have a gigantic orange bucket as an E-Collar, to keep him from scratching at his ears until they are fully healed and the sutures are absorbed.

Mark then devised a new plan to treat the Anatolian Shepherd we had seen with sarcoptic mange that also had ivermectin sensitivity.  Mark would give the dog acepromazine (an alpha-1 blocker sedative drug) at 2 mg/kg to sedate the dog so that he could be dipped every week for 6 weeks.  The acepromazine should be given 20 minutes before dipping the dog, and should also be mixed with food, as apparently it tastes terrible!  The dog should be dipped with Ectodex (which contains the active ingredient amitraz, effective against demodectic mange, sarcoptic mange, ticks, and lice on dogs), and the sheep and goats should also be dipped with Triatix (which also contains the active ingredient amitraz, and is recommended for use on cattle, sheep, and goats).  As a side note, Mark also mentioned that in collies with ivermectin sensitivity, the ivermectin often causes massive liver necrosis and liver failure.

Once the treatment plan for the Anatolian Shepherd was devised, we received a call from a feedlot that they had a postmortem examination for us to perform.  This was the feedlot that was having a lot of cow deaths from frothy bloat, likely as a result of its new feed.  Janine, Anthony, and I all drove out to the feedlot.

We saw that the deceased cow was incredibly bloated.  We carefully cut open the cow and released a lot of gas that the microbes had released in the cow’s rumen during the day today (which is often a normal postmortem event).  After cutting open the cow’s abdomen, we saw that its rumen was huge.  After incising the rumen, a huge amount of frothy feed material poured out.  We saw that the cow’s lungs were also somewhat collapsed as a result of this huge distended rumen.  We determined the cause of death to be frothy bloat, signed off on their paperwork, and then were on our way back to the practice.

We unloaded the postmortem supplies from the truck, and Anthony left with Mark.  Anthony will be staying at Mark’s place for the two weeks he is here.  Janine and I then drove back to Janine’s place.  I was able to go for another run and do some workouts this evening just before the sun set.

It was a beautiful evening.

Janine and I watched some more episodes of Game of Thrones this evening, and I am becoming pretty addicted to the show!  I also tried my first “Springbokkie” drink this evening – Amarula and peppermint liqueur.  It was absolutely delicious, and I’ll have to bring some home for my family, boyfriend, and friends!  I have been taking a couple of herbal sleeping pills, containing valerian root, lately before bed to help me stay asleep all night.  For a while, I was waking up in the middle of the night, paranoid that there was another bug in my ear!  The sleeping pills have been helping tremendously, and I’m off to sleep now!  I’ll write again tomorrow, goodnight!