onward

(this is a red-breasted grosbeak who came into the wildlife center not able to use its legs...we suspected it had west nile virus:( )

After finals and going home for a few days, I went to volunteer a different wildlife rehabilitation center I hadn't been to before. It was amazing!! I was only there for 4 days, but it was such a well-run and well-established center, and I had the opportunity to manage cases. I learned a ton and came back with some great ideas for the wildlife center i've been working with for the past two years.

After that, I drove back and officially started my fourth year of veterinary school. Fourth year of vet school consists of "rotations" which are two week blocks spent in various areas of the vet school (ie large animal surgery, radiology, internal medicine, etc) or at other veterinary clinics. My first "rotation" was clinical pathology and parasitology didactics, which essentially means i was in class/lab for two weeks. Surprisingly, I learned a ton and had a great time. It was a great review and a good way to start the year.

My second rotation was in the special species service of the vet school. Special species means anything that isn't a cat, dog, cow or horse, such as rabbits, birds, lizards, etc. This is my FAVORITE service in the vet school and had an AWESOME time!

During my time in special species, I castrated a rabbit, trimmed rabbit teeth, did surgery on 4 snakes (placed and took out transmitters so grad students could stomp through the woods trying to find these snakes), got to see/work-up some awesome ferret, monkey, rabbit and bird cases, as well as refined my skills in bird nail/beak trimming. I wish i had room in my schedule to take it again!

Ok, enough babbling. Here is the one message i want to impart to everyone from this rotation--monkeys make HORRIBLE pets! the picture is of a person who was bitten by their pet monkey. A lot of people get pet monkeys when they are babies b/c they are cute and cuddly; however, there is a 100% chance that monkey will bite you when it gets to be 3-4 years of age.

you'd be amazed at the people who don't understand was "100% chance" means and will expose their children to that danger.

Oh, and monkeys can carry a virus that causes no signs in the monkey, but is fatal to humans. lovely, huh?

Just so i don't end on a depressing note, here is a cute picture of a pig in boots. The link to its story is below; it's kind of hard to believe, but cute pictures are always awesome

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/north_yorkshire/7448006.stm

The end of 3rd year...

holy crap...3rd year was hell.

so many credits forcing you to learn things at break-neck speed, only to regurgitate them for the exam and then immediately forget it all so you can start cramming for the next exam. Never have i been so afraid of failing (well, i actually did fail a class, but b/c most of the class failed, i passed--it's that grand?).

On top of horrible school, i had to euthanize my three rats, Tot, Whiskey and Tony, within two months of each other during the last part of the semester. It was very hard for me and i miss them terribly--they were incredible animals:) I've posted pictures...Tot is thumbnail to the right, and the white/brown one posted below, Tony is the beige one and has droopy ears (story at the bottom), and whiskey is the smaller beige one below.














but enough of that depressing crap--it's over and here i am in fourth year!!! WOO HOO!!!

p.s. I NEED to tell this awesome story about tony....

Tony had horrible pneumonia and was pretty much dying for two weeks (the week before and the week of my finals), but he was still eating and interactive and wasn't ready to go yet. So one day during finals week, I'm studying for my large animal surgery final. You have to understand this class--this is the class i failed--it had a cumulative final over 600 pages of notes and each exam was more impossible than the next. To top that off, the professor had just been an asshole to me--so I'm not having a good couple of weeks. So i'm studying and i have Tony set up on my desk with his houses and everything so he can visit while i study.

All of a sudden, Tony violently grabs my notes from my desk and drags them back to his house and beings to shred them for a nest. Tony has never once "nested" in his life (i always had to make him a comfy house with blankets or he would freeze at night!) and now he suddenly started destroying my notes ot make a nest---nothing could have cheered me up more:)