Volunteering - Stories of lessons learned

I have not posted in a while, but I've been really busy with school, somewhat of a social life, and volunteering. 

I am very passionate about volunteering, and it's not unusual for me to spend about 12 hours a month or more giving back to my community. Last weekend I volunteered at the veterinary school with a high school program where I gave a presentation on "How to Think Like a Veterinary Doctor." I compared thinking like a vet to the "Scientific method" - something every high school student has learned before. I taught them how to think about what questions to ask the owner, since pets can't speak for themselves, it's often the owner that helps with the diagnosis. After I told them about Signalment, Physical exam, Diagnositics, Summary of findings, and the DAMNIT-V scheme, we worked through some cases to use their new skills in the "real" world. They seemed to enjoy it and were actively participating in coming up with a diagnosis.

This specially selected group of students are students that are in advanced high school courses and wanting to pursue a degree in veterinary medicine. They also represent groups of students that are under-represented in the veterinary community such as first generation students and different ethnic backgrounds. The program runs three Saturdays in a row and exposes the kids to our veterinary school and cool things vet students get to learn. Most importantly, the program emphsizes higher education and the betterment of oneself. 

Last Sunday, I volunteered at the feral cat clinic where we had approximately 48 cats that we spayed/neutered and vaccinated. It was a busy day and we didn't have the regular number of volunteers since two different vet school classes had midterm exams, but we did a great job and had a lot of fun. I was able to spay my second cat in preparation for being a spay surgeon all day at the next clinic in June. 

A Kitten brought to the Mercer Clinic

This Saturday, I spent the morning at the Mercer Clinic, which was bustling with news crews covering the story on how the clinic might get shut down. The warehouse we have been practicing in and running the clinic out of is being torn down mid-June and we have to raise at least $40,000 to remodel trailers that were purchased for a new clinic. The trailers are old classrooms and the hope is we can transform it into a functional veterinary clinic that can continue to provide quality care to pets of the homeless. To see some of the news coverage, check out the following links: 

http://fox40.com/2013/05/11/pet-clinic-that-serves-homeless-families-looking-to-move/ 

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2013/05/11/free-pet-clinic-for-homeless-needs-major-funding-to-continue/

To find out more about the Mercer Clinic: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/clubs/mercer/

To Donate to the Mercer Clinic to keep providing veterinary care to to pets of the homeless: http://www.youcaring.com/pet-expenses/mercer-veterinary-clinic-for-pets-of-the-homeless/52966

I had several interesting cases - as per usual at the Mercer clinic. My first patient was a very sweet dog with a bite would on his face that happened the day before when he was attacked by another dog and he also had a foxtail that had migrated through his foot pad and out the top of his paw. He was one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met and we were able to pull out the foxtail from the paw wound that was just sitting near the exit site. He was a trooper, as we didn't need any sedation or muzzle. Then I flushed and scrubbed his facial wound to remove the pepper the owner had put on there to stop the bleeding. Her motive was well intentioned, and pepper was all she had, but I imagined it hurt to have pepper in his wound and let alone let me scrub it out of his wound. But with a few treats, he allowed me to clean his wound. We put him on antibiotics and sent him home - but to complicate things he also had a diffuse follicular bacterial infection, so we put him on Cephalexin for 3 weeks.

My second set of patients were a family of two Chihuahuas and a lovely-eyed cat. The kitty was beautiful, some would say she looked like a Scotish fold. We hadn't seen her at the clinic in about 2 years and she was in good health despite having a history of a sensitive stomach. We gave her a full physical exam, FeLV/FIV combo test, and all her vaccinations. Upon taking the temperature, we also found she had tapeworms. She was quite complacent with all that and only complained vocally, but her owner was impressed that we handled her so well and calmly. I consulted with the vet about possible IBD and we decided to try a sensitive stomach formula for kitty and see if that helps. One of the chihuahua's was due for his DHPP vaccine, which I had given before examining the cat, about 15 minutes after the vaccine, he had a diffuse vaccine reaction. We immediately gave him a subQ injection of Dexamethasone and within 5 minutes the swelling had gone down. This was the first one I'd ever seen and it looked similar to the picture below. The owner was very understanding and they waited around to make sure the little guy would be ok.  Although vaccine reactions are uncommon it's important to know they occur and how to treat them.      

This is an example of a vaccine reaction from the internet.

After Mercer, I traveled back to vet school to help with the afternoon portion of the high school program. We gave the kids a tour of the vet school grounds, valley hall, blood donor animals, and arboretum. Then we had a Q&A session with the veterinary students and I was surprised and proud that one of the high school students asked about debt. Something anyone pursuing veterinary school should think about - although not let that stop them. They are a very mature group of students and seem passionate about veterinary medicine. They will be her next Saturday and I'll have one more opportunity to work with them.

On Sunday, I finished up some take home exams and relaxed by hanging out in the pool with my friend. I thought about all I had done in the past two weekends and how many animals I helped and people I had "touched" and it felt really good to finally get some of my own R&R. It's important to live self-lessly, but to enjoy doing it brings an even greater prize. 

For all you Prevets out there, their is a light at the end of the tunnel! An awsome PreVet Help website I just found: http://prevethelp.wordpress.com/     

395 Days until I graduate from Veterinary School!!!! 

*Before anyone goes crazy and blames me for violating patient privacy, I have verbal permission per the owners to use their animal's stories, of course leaving them and their pets anonymous. I also have permission to use the photo of the cat in the bike basket. The owners and I believe these stories and photos showcase what mercer is all about and how we help and care about the animals and their people. Hopefully they will bring others to care to volunteer and donate money to the Mercer clinic. The 2nd photo is from the internet and says so under the photo. Thanks to the person who read my blog and made me think twice about putting this disclaimer on here and NO...I do not think I am "above" the Mercer clinic. I volunteer there a lot because I care and think it is valuable experience as well as service to my community.