Well, the title says it all really! I’ll start with last week – I loved my work experience at the RSPCA centre. I spent most of my time in the rehoming cattery (which I have the scratches to prove!) and kennels, and also a day on the isolation unit, and a day with the small and wild animals. Although the majority of my time was spent cleaning (I had expected this – there are over 20 dogs in one section, and it’s important to keep the kennels clean and tidy, not just for the public but for the health of the dogs, and the staff), I still managed to get a lot of animal handling experience, which I was really pleased about. After my first couple of days I realised that I needed the practise – while I’m mostly fine with handling animals, there were a few moments where I was unsure how to hold them, or was nervous of some of the larger dogs. This disconcerted me a little, as it’s obviously important for a vet to be confident with handling all animals! Although I also think that a healthy dose of respect for the fact that animals can often be unpredictable - and have sharp teeth and claws – is definitely not a bad thing! But by the end of the week I had learnt a lot about confidence with them, which was shown on Friday when I successfully managed to catch two extremely lively, and not entirely friendly chinchillas and put them in a carry cage!
I was really looking forward to working with the dogs, as I’m definitely more of a dog than a cat person, and I really enjoyed working in the kennels (despite the noise and smell!), but I think I’ve also found a new love for cats. I was particularly taken with one of the kittens who had to be put into isolation as he’d stopped eating and had bad diarrhoea for a couple of days. It looked like he might have gastro-enteritis, which is commonly fatal in young cats within 48 hours, but he’d been ill for longer than that, so it wasn’t clear if that’s what it was – it could even have been Lymes disease according to the vet, but even if it was enteritis, ‘not everything goes by the textbook’, and it could have been a longer bout. Anyway, after some rehydration and isolation from other boisterous kittens, he was looking perkier, although was still kept off food when I left in the evening, as they were just concerned about rehydrating him. And the next day he was looking much healthier, so fingers crossed he looked like he was on the mend.
I also really enjoyed the ‘smalls and wilds’ section – it was nice to work with some different animals, as a lot of small animal work is mainly cats and dogs. I got handling experience in everything from rats and the wriggly chinchillas, to budgies and a tortoise, so it was quite an insightful day. The tortoise was particularly interesting – I was talking to one of the volunteers who was telling me that her three tortoises are harder work than her 5 dogs, as she is constantly required to make sure they are at the right temperature, eating the right food etc. They need bathing three times a week and generally have very specific needs, but there are problems as many owners don’t have the correct knowledge or equipment to deal with them, particularly those that still own tortoises that were brought into the UK 50 years ago when they were first introduced as pets. This is going to make rehoming the tortoise more difficult, but I really admired the way the RSPCA only rehome animals if they are completely satisfied with the new owners and their home – they really are there for the animals, and there is no compromise or short-cut when it comes to their care.
So all in all, it was a very interesting and enjoyable experience. They have asked me if I would go back there to volunteer, which is something I would really like to do in September when things have settled down here and I get into the swing of working etc.
Unfortunately it wasn’t a smooth week in every respect, however. Dad was taken into hospital in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with the doctors suspecting he had had another stroke. Although there are still some questions, it looks like he did have another stroke, and is now back on the stroke unit. So my days consisted of getting up early, working during the days, going home and showering before going to the hospital for the evenings, then getting home and grabbing dinner before crashing into bed to do it all again the next day. Still, I suppose I’d better get used to that pace of living if I want to be a vet! Like human patients, animals don’t choose to need treatment at convenient times!
And finally, to end on a positive note, I am now officially a Zoology graduate! I had my graduation this week, which was great – so many mixed feelings, from being sad about leaving uni and my friends, to being proud of my achievements over the past few years, and excited about what’s next… And also being happy that now I can refer to myself as BSc (Hons). Oh yes.
I also have an exciting announcement about a new, four-legged addition to my family, but as this post has been long enough I’ll leave it for next time!
