This past weekend was the Students of the Central Veterinary Medical Association Symposium and OVC got to host it which was great because I didn't have to pay for a plane ticket :) (shout out to our wonderful executive committee who made the weekend go seamlessly despite running on no sleep!)
The first day started with lectures. I chose the following:
- Minimally Invasive Surgery: how laparoscopic surgical techniques are being used in vet medicine to do procedures such as spays, gastropexies and biopsies. The benefits include smaller incisions and therefore faster healing time, as well as less tissue damage. Starting the day with a video of a laparoscopic instrument suctioning bladder stones out of a bladder was awesome!
- Obesity: such a huge problem in pets nowadays, this lecture was sponsored by Royal Canin and taught us how to discuss obesity with owners and let them know that a 9/9 is not a good thig when it comes to a Body Condition Score. We also got free digital gram scales for accurate pet food measurements :)
- Dentistry: for whatever reason, OVC doesn't have many dentistry lectures so I chose this one to get some extra exposure. It's crazy (and some would say disgusting) how mild dental disease can quickly turn ugly. Free gift = pet toothbrushes (which Daisy will be using because yes I brush her teeth)
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| Free things!! |
Then the afternoon consisted of 2 wet labs, I did basic surgery skills and emergency procedures and got to practice things that I had never done before and probably won't get a chance to for who knows how long! Those procedures included:
- Mass biopsy and suturing
- Chest tube placement: for long term fluid drainage
- Esophogastric tube placement: aka a feeding tube
- Thoracocentesis: quickly draining the chest in an emergency situation
- Urinary catheter placement
- Tracheostomy tube placement (the coolest one!): creating an airway in an emergency situation when intubation isn't possible.
..needless to say my spellcheck is going crazy right now. I swear they're all real words!
The day ended with a country-style dinner and social night at the country bar in Guelph - I despise country music soo I had to drown it out with some vodka-cranberries ;)
Saturday was the best day ever because I chose a tour of the Donkey Sanctuary which rescues abused and unwanted donkeys and mules. I've always had a thing for donkeys and seeing 80 of them in one day just made that obsession grow - I'll try not to overload this post with pictures of them but I can't make any guarantees ;) That evening we had a semi formal banquet dinner to end the weekend.
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| Seriously. |
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| SERIOUSLY. |
Overall the weekend was super tiring but also totally worth it. I'll let you all know when I adopt my first donkey! (only half joking). Daisy and Matt came down on Sunday and unfortunately only one of them stayed. So I'm back to early morning walks and no more lunch talks but I wouldn't have it any other way!
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| -10 deg out? No biggie! |
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| Back to begging for snacks |
That's all for now :)
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