Large Animal Medicine

I traded in my white coat for my green coveralls during the past 4 weeks for my large animal medicine rotation. Large animal refers to Horses, Cattle, Llamas, Alpacas, Donkeys, Pigs, Sheep, Goats, and Ponies. I saw most of these species on my rotation but some more than others. I was worried about the rotation because I am not as comfortable around these types of animals as I have little background working with them prior to vet school. All of the clinicians and techs were very helpful and understanding and by the end of the rotation I felt more comfortable around these animals. 

Entrance to the Large Animal Hospital

Basically the whole process was similar to what I did on small animal medicine by acquiring a history, doing a physical exam, talking to a clinician about possible diagnostics and treatment options and coming up with a plan. Sometimes the patient was hospitalized for further care or diagnostics. I practiced skills such as drawing blood, giving medications, calculating fluid rates, etc. Different from the small animal side was the number of patients that I had over the four weeks. I only had 7 patients total but that was enough to keep me busy. 

Equine Treatment Area

Also during my rotation we took part in the "Alpacalypse" where approximately 175 alpacas which were seized by the state arrived in Corvallis. Some required medical attention as most of them were malnourished. The medicine students played a big role in caring for the hospitalized alpacas. We also learned how to wrangle alpacas out in the field to do brief physical exams, vaccinate, determine their body condition, listen for heart murmurs, and check for pregnancy by balloting their belly. It was a long process but I felt like I'd accomplished something when we were through. I got to castrate an alpaca, trim toe nails, and trim long incisors. It was a good learning experience and the baby alpacas, or crias were also very cute.Several news crews came through the hospital and I was in the background of several news reports.

Equine Row - where hospitalized horses are kept

In addition to the alpacalypse, this rotation was unique because we had another big snow storm that caused the school to shut down for 2 days. With patients still in the hospital and needing care we still came in for shifts to help care for them. The driving conditions were not ideal and I'm sure glad that my car has 4 wheel drive. The hours on this rotation were long, ranging from 50-73 hours/week. I was fortunate to never be called in while I was on call. 

Horse halters and lead ropes

I was able to do some cool things on this rotation such as belly taps, place IV jugular catheters, thoracocentesis (chest tap) on a horse to drain 9 L of fluid, ultrasound pregnant alpacas, bottle feed a baby alpaca, milk an alpaca, frolic with a 1 week old foal, and the list goes on. One thing about this rotation  for me was it helped solidify that I just want to be a small animal veterinarian. I did enjoy the experience however and I'm glad that I'm more comfortable around large animals now. 

The medicine crew after wrangling alpacas - Alison, Dr. Cebra, Jenni, Me, Kim, Robyn, & Lance

Currently I'm one week into the next rotation, RVP (Rural Veterinary Practice). This rotation consists of 1 week of theriogenology (reproduction), equine practice, food animal practice, and an extra week of one of the above. More info to come in my next post. 

The OSU resident cows C-cow and E-cow