I guess not all days at the veterinary hospital can be buzzing with energy and constant incoming patients. Today was a very slow day at the hospital, with only a couple of admittances and no surgeries at all while we were there. Since there wasn’t anything for us to watch, Adrienne and I decided to read up on some stuff using the staff’s books and also ask the staff certain questions. Today we learned a lot about parvo or parvovirus. This is a highly contagious disease which when elicited cause bloody, very liquid diarrhea and vomiting. This virus lives in the soil and can also be spread by the excretions of a patient that has the illness. If not treated soon enough, the patient will die, like a Labrador puppy that we saw a couple days back. Vets have to take extra precautions when treating these animals because it is so contagious. They even have a separate room for these animals.
This is the machine used to administer anesthesia before surgery. The white rocks that are in a container not visible in this picture is propofol which causes the animal to fall asleep. The gas used is isoflurane and this is a general anesthetic.