Production Medicine?

Vocab:
Pinkies- baby mice who have not grown any fur

Adrenal Disease- The most common ailment in domestic ferrets, adrenal disease produces cancerous growths and lesions on the ferret's adrenal glands. Symptoms of adrenal disease in ferrets include hair loss, open sores and lethargy.

Feb 28, 2011

My first day in production medicine turned out to be a wide variety of experiences. After finding out there were no more appointments or cases in this field I decided to roam the veterinary clinic instead of going back to my sponsor and bothering her. I watched an eye exam in a horse, a declaw on a cat in anesthisiology, and spent the rest of the day in a field I never even knew much about. One of the students I had been with in internal medicine was now in exotic and wildlife medicine. After asking the professors if I could be with them for that day I was with Kayla (the student) following her and helping her with patients. There was a rabbit that had gotten x-rays of its mouth because it was having problems chewing. I was able to help Kayla with a feret that came in to get her shot for the adrenal disease she has. While we went in search of the medicine throughout the entire hospital I was able to hold the tiny ferret. Unfortunately because its hair was not growing back it was a sign the medicine was not effective (D). Once the ferret left, our next patient was a baby bald python. Since I have never really had much experience with snakes, I did feel uncomfortable when it slithered near my arm (F). However, once I heard of it only eating pinkies the snake would not try anything. After Kayla had given the snake a physical and we were waiting for the other veterinarian, I held the baby python for the first time in my life! When we were done with this python we all had a very interesting conversation. Through this conversation I know understood that contrary to what people think there is no need to be scared of snakes because their bites are actually less harmful than a dog bite (A).