Robin, Criation, and Wrestling calves

Yesterday we had a three year old Holstein dairy cow named Robin come in because she was ADR (ain't doing right). The previous week she'd had twin calves--one of which was born dead--and there had been a lot of trauma during calving. I think I'd be a little ADR myself. We flushed out her uterus and put her on some antibiotics, pain meds, and some dextrose as a pick-me-up. This morning she was looking much better and was interested in eating again. Things are looking up for this girl and hopefully next time she gets bred she's not unlucky enough to have twins again.

This morning when we came in we got to see an alpaca give birth. I felt like I was watching something out of Jurassic Park. Here's a picture of a newborn cria: http://www.swalpacas.com/images/Diana2.jpg . At the very least I imagine that is what baby giraffes look like at birth. The baby cria had a neck that was almost as long as his skinny legs and he made sounds that reminded me of a Velociraptor. The rest of the morning we did breeding soundness exams on four rams and we finally sent Green and Lime home.

This afternoon we had a calf come in for an umbilical hernia. She was short, squat, and all muscle, weighing in at 470 pounds. She was feisty and stinkin' cute with a bald face, four socks, and a white tipped tail. As the students on the case were wrapping things up with the owner, the tech asked me if felt comfortable taking the calf back to a stall. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of the guys on my rotation head our direction and I quickly said yes and took the lead rope from the tech. I admit it, I have my pride. And I certainly wasn't going to let a boy do what I knew I was capable of. So Shade and I made our way down the hallway with Caleb following us to open the stall door, though I think he really followed us to make sure the calf didn't run away with me... She tried to take off a few times, but years of working with horses has taught me how to use what little weight I have to my advantage and every time that sucker took off she just found herself going in a circle. We made it down to her stall with minimal excitement and as I shut the gate behind her I wanted to dust off my hands and say "so there". Brute strength doesn't always win. Sometimes it helps to have leverage on your side. That and determination not to be one-upped by a boy :)

Green, Lime, and Clover

Wow. So I hadn't realized how behind I am. A lot can happen in six days. Last Thursday we had a Holstein bull come in from Select Sires and he was the most massive animal I have ever seen in the hospital. At 2,600 pounds, he was at least 5 feet from the top of his withers to the floor of his chest. He was giant. We also had a large Boer buck named Golgotha who presented for lameness in his stifle. The name peaked my interest and I had a conversation with the owner about it. Apparently they try to name all of their goats after people, places, or verses in the Bible as a conversation starter at shows which I think is really cool. He mentioned another buck they had named Crown of Thorns and a doe named Esther 2:15.

So Green, Lime, and Clover are three of our patients right now, which I find amusing. Granted, green and lime are the color of their ear tags and not their actual names (these sheep have no names), but I find it comical that we have a color theme going. Green came in for lameness and Lime had a rectal prolapse that we fixed last week. Clover is the mother of a baby alpaca that had a fractured tibia that we fixed yesterday. Oh yes, yesterday...

So Sunday I was on call starting at 8:00 am. I got a phone call at 9:45 am to come in for emergency surgeries. Our first surgery was a goat with a broken cannon bone. Clover's baby was our second surgery. And then our third surgery was a fair hog with a rectal prolapse. By the time it was all said and done, we left the clinic at 7:45 pm. It made for a very long day, but overall it was rewarding.

Today we had treatments on our patients in the hospital and then we saw a Brown Swiss dairy cow with enlarged lymph nodes. On rectal palpation, it was amazing to feel the huge football sized lymph nodes inside her body. Definitely abnormal. On our physical exam, I also got to hear a "ping" due to the amount of gas in the rumen. That was pretty cool too. We did a biopsy which sadly confirmed our suspicion of lymphoma. Unfortunately it's the end of the line for this cow.

One kid, Two kid, Red kid, or Blue kid?

So I got called in last night at 12:30 am for a goat that was having trouble giving birth. When they arrived at the hospital at 1:00, it was easy to see why. The kid was very large and there wasn't much room for it to fit through the birth canal. It took the vet awhile to get the kid out, and honestly, I didn't think she was going to be able to do it. I thought we were going to be doing a C-section. But the little baby goat was born alive and well and we sent them both home at 2:30. That made for a tired day today at the clinic, but it was still a cool one because our group got to do surgery on a heifer calf with an umbilical abscess. We all helped in the procedure and got to cut, snip, cauterize, and suture our way through the surgery. It was pretty cool. I can now say that I've sewed up a cow. And it wasn't too shabby of a job either; even the vet said so. I guess all those years of sewing in 4-H paid off!

Chicken With Its Head Cut Off

So, in my mind, this morning was supposed to be predictable and easy. Reality was more like "oh....crap".

What was supposed to happen: Get to school at 7:00 am and do physical exams on 7 horses with another student, then write up the exams and print them out. No big deal. That should certainly take less than 2 hours. Go change and get to next rotation at 9:00.

What really happened:  Get to school at 6:50 am. Yay! I'm early. Start physical exams. Oh hey, there's 8 horses, not 7. No biggie. Get physicals done on 6 horses. It's 8:00. We're cruising. Seventh horse turns out to be a stallion who "kicks, bites, and rears unless you feed him carrots during your physical exam". Awesome. Let's skip him for now until we can get a technician to help us. Eighth horse's turn. Do physical exam. Wait, where are the drugs for his treatment? They aren't in his box. They aren't in the fridge. I don't know where they went. The techs don't know where they went. What do we do? I don't know. Who will tell us what to do? No one? Awesome. Let's go back and do the stallion. After spending ten minutes doing a careful exam so as to not get my head bashed in, the vet shows up and says, "Oh you don't have to do a full exam. It's not worth dying over. Just get his heart rate." Oh. Great. After I already did the whole exam... Finish paperwork with a frenzy. It's 8:45. Print. Print. Print. Whew. Ready to head out. Vet shows up. "Did you guys do that horse in Ward 4?" Awkward silence. "What horse?" "The one that is going to surgery in fifteen minutes." Panic ensues. Rush to stall. Thank you Lord, it's a cooperative horse. Do exam. Run back to computer. Type. Type. Type. Print. RUN! Downstairs to change clothes and then back up stairs to be in the food animal ward at 9:01 am. And that was my morning...

...So I started my food animal medicine and surgery rotation today, lol. First patient was a steer with a skin problem. Second patient was a miniature pig (adorable!) with stress diarrhea. Third patient was a dairy cow that had a decrease in milk production. And the last patient of the day was a beef cow that had shattered her cannon bone and had to be euthanized. I tell you what, if every day is this busy, this rotation is going to be over before I can blink. I think I'm going to go sleep now...

Little Miss Pixie

Today, my patient (a tiny 5 year old Arabian mare named Pixie) had surgery to remove a bone fragment from a joint in her fetlock (ankle). For the surgery, all they did was make two tiny incisions. A camera went in one incision and instruments went in the other. At the end of the surgery after they had removed the bone chips, I got to use the camera to look around in the joint, which was really cool! Because our patient was so small, they couldn’t prop her leg up like a normal sized horse so I got stuck holding her foot in an extended position during surgery. I didn’t mind too much. It was a good workout for my arms. But the kicker came when I had to suture up the small incisions at the end. My hands were so fatigued from holding the hoof in place for a half hour. They shook so badly I could hardly grab the needle with my forceps. Talk about feeling like a pansy. I wasn’t nervous or anything—it was only two incisions and neither was even an inch long. But for the life of me I couldn’t make my hands stop violently shaking. But I smashed them against the horse’s leg enough to slow the shaking and got the job done. Little Miss Pixie is now short a few pieces of bone, but hopefully it will serve her better in the long run.

Update

This week has gotten off to a slow start compared to last week. Here's an update on what's been happening on Equine Surgery.
1. On Monday we ended up euthanizing PJ. She'd had a difficult and painful weekend, and everyone was in agreement that she shouldn't have to suffer anymore. I know it was a difficult decision for the owner to make, but now that sweet mare isn't in pain anymore. My heart aches for the owner as I know that 18 years together will be hard to get over.
2. Right now we have a three year old filly who ran through a wooden fence and subsequently obtained multiple lacerations on her neck, chest, and legs. She came in over the weekend and will be going home tomorrow.
3. We also have our rotation's long term patient "Poppy" who came in over a week ago for castration, lameness exam, atrial fibrillation (irregular heartbeat), and a dental exam. When we obtained Poppy, he had already been castrated and his a-fib had been converted to a normal rhythm. Today he went in for surgery to remove bone fragments from three of his joints. Poppy appears to be very disease prone as he has also come down with a fungal dermatitis and thrush while he's been here. And while he was in surgery, his heart converted back to a-fib. This horse just has no luck.

We've also had a horse with a fracture in his knee, a foal with a turned out leg, and a horse with a swollen fetlock. Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a slow day, but who knows. Maybe we will finally get to see a colic surgery!

Plain Jane

Yesterday we did a lot of odds and ends. I got to watch a neurologic horse exam, help the farrier put shoes on an uncooperative mare, and practice my suturing. This morning I watched a bilateral hock arthroscopy surgery, and in the afternoon I met Plain Jane, or PJ as her owner calls her. She is a 20 year old Quarter horse mare with laminitis in both of her front legs. I posted pictures in a previous blog that showed what a normal hoof should look like and what a laminitic hoof can look like http://suchatimeasthis-rachel.blogspot.com/2012/05/laminitic-horse-and-mysterious-bull.html . Poor PJ is very uncomfortable and we are doing the best that we can to try to treat this difficult disease. We put foam padding on all four of her feet and she is getting her front feet iced 24/7 for the next 2-3 days, which is an intensive treatment as the ice often needs to be changed every hour. She is also on pain medications. I wish we were allowed to take pictures of patients in the hospital. She is such a sweetheart and has stood still for everything I've needed to do--a rare patient indeed. I was at the hospital until 7:00 tonight taking care of her and I'll be back in at 7:00 tomorrow morning. I would love to see this mare pull through. Her owner has had her for 18 years and adores her, and rightfully so. I don't think you will find a more docile horse anywhere. Keep your fingers crossed for PJ! Hopefully we can turn her around.

Stallions and Dwarfs

I am now on Equine Surgery for two weeks. Today I had a 2 year old cryptorchid Appaloosa who was getting gelded. I got to scrub in and assist with the surgery. It was a very cool experience and now there is one less stallion in the world. Definitely not a bad thing! We also had a miniature dwarf come in to have her feet trimmed and teeth floated. Cosette was so small that her back only came up to my knee. Dwarf minis are uncommon and usually don’t live very long because they often have numerous health problems. Below is a picture of a mini dwarf so you can get an idea of just how tiny they are!