Today me and Katrine visited the Triangle Veterinary Referral Hospital in Durham. When I got there Katrine was watching the amputation of a Cat’s hind leg. Many animals who get cancer in a leg get their legs amputated because that can be easier than treating the Cancer with chemotherapy or other methods. We then shadowed one of the head surgeons as he talked to at least two different patients. We learned that the diet and exercise play a big role in the health of a pet. We also learned how because of some dogs pushed in face they have trouble breathing because of a two large soft palette blocking there airway. Another thing we learned was about animal knees. Because animals are on all fours, if they tear an tendon that is holding the knee in place, it can displace the entire knee. There are three types of surgeries to correct this in dogs. First if the angle of the Tibia is slanted to far and not flat, then the surgeon will take a slice out of the top of the fiber and move that into a flat table like position. Then they insert a metal brace to keep that bone in place. This surgery is more commonly used in larger dogs. The other one is where a hole is drilled in the Tibia, and a suture is stretched to the front of the Femur to hold it in place. This allows for the build up of scar tissue to keep the Femur and Tibia aligned. This surgery is more commonly used in smaller dogs. We also learned how to tell differences on an ultrasound. We sam it done on both dogs and cats. On an ultrasound the bladder usually shows up as a giant black splotch. This is because liquid shows up as black on the ultrasound. I was also able to spot a cats kidney on the ultrasound. We also helped muzzle a grumpy ER patient, and help another one be led out to their family. We learned how to tell if a dog is lame, and which paw it is lame in. The back is usually pretty easy to tell if they are lame on a leg. The way you tell if they are lame on a front leg is when you walk them, as they step onto the lame leg their head bobs up, and then when they step onto the other leg their head bobs down. We also saw a lot of problems with overweight or just older animals. It was a fun day. One of the Veterinarian Technicians had her birthday today so we celebrated some during lunch. The room that seemed to get the most patients was the ultrasound room. It was used by both the cardiovascular and oncology departments. The day was very busy in the morning and slowed down in the afternoon. The afternoon is about the time when the influx of patients slow down and everyone starts to fill out paperwork on patients. It was over all a fun day at the Hospital.
