I got to shadow in the UT College of Veterinary Medicine today!

Hey guys, I know I'm kind of not around much, but I just wanted to share of my experience today.

I'm part of UT's Pre-Vet Association, and a few weeks ago we all signed up for shadowing positions at the Vet school. I've been super excited and super nervous about it since I got the email on Monday telling us that shadowing starts this week, but I started today and it was AMAZING!

On Fridays I shadow surgery for two hours, and then I head on over to community practice (which is basic vet things, like shots, heartworm/flea prevention, bloodwork, urine samples, etc.).

Surgery was really, really cool. I observed a knee surgery. The dog had a knee injury previously and had to have a plate placed on her knee, but apparently the plate was causing her problems so they had to remove it today. She also had a LOT of damage to her meniscus (the muscle behind the knee) and they were getting rid of some of the damaged cartilage in there. They used an endoscopy (I think?) to go in there and remove the damage tissue, and that was an interesting thing to watch on the monitor.

In community practice, they weren't busy at all (though I'm hoping this will change next Friday when I go back) but I saw them take a urine sample and a blood sample as well and then I went and listened to a lecture about fleas and worms. I learned a lot of things about fleas that I never really wanted to know, but it was kind of interesting.

I learned a lot more in the vet school today that I've really learned in my animal science classes so far, so I'm really excited to see what next week has in store!

On Monday I go to Neurology/Dermatology/Ophthalmology so I'll report back on how that goes then :D

How completely cool! Thanks for letting us share this with you!

That must have been really interesting. Good luck next week! :)

:) Sounds so Very Interesting.. Now are you already a Vet Tech?? Even at my age I am getting pretty serious of getting out of Aviation & going into Vet Tech School..

Definitely glad to share it! It was an exciting day :).

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Originally Posted by lvpets2002

:) Sounds so Very Interesting.. Now are you already a Vet Tech?? Even at my age I am getting pretty serious of getting out of Aviation & going into Vet Tech School..

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Nope, I'm just an undergraduate student right now majoring in Animal Science with a Pre-Veterinary Concentration :). I'll hopefully be in Vet school and on my way to being a vet in 3.5 years though.

You should go to vet tech school, I've heard it's awesome! :D

Bri, this is a wonderful opportunity, and your excitement it just bursting off of my screen! How wonderful that you get this insight now, so early on in the program.

And, as I have just finished my supper, thanks for not sharing the details from the flea lecture. :D

I'm a jealous (:p) old poop! If I knew THEN what I know NOW I would have done what you're doing! How amazingly wonderful, fascinating and interesting! I'm proud of you and just as excitied!! Keep on sharing! I'll be waiting! :love::love::love:

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Originally Posted by Freedom

Bri, this is a wonderful opportunity, and your excitement it just bursting off of my screen! How wonderful that you get this insight now, so early on in the program.

And, as I have just finished my supper, thanks for not sharing the details from the flea lecture. :D

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Thanks! And LOL! We were all in the middle of eating lunch while listening to the lecture :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by K9karen

I'm a jealous (:p) old poop! If I knew THEN what I know NOW I would have done what you're doing! How amazingly wonderful, fascinating and interesting! I'm proud of you and just as excitied!! Keep on sharing! I'll be waiting! :love::love::love:

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Hehehe. Thanks! I'll have lots more to talk about on Monday I hope!

That sounds really interesting! (But since I'm not overly fond of seeing people or animal's insides, in more of an abstract way for me, haha).

It is great you are so enthusiastic about what you are learning. I know you will do well!

How exciting and inspiring!

That kind of medicine FASCINATES me!!!!! You're going to do very well!!! You and Zara blow me away!

Thank you all!

Today I shadowed Neurology/Ophthalmology/Dermatology. There really wasn't a lot going on in Neuro and Derm (which was kind of disappointing, especially about Neuro because Neuro is one of the fields I'm considering!) but I got to see an appointment for Ophtho and help them check a dog into the vet school. She has to have eye surgery tomorrow. I believe her eyelid is growing into her eyeball or something like that and they have to tack it to prevent it from causing damage to her eye. She was a Rotti and her name was Smoki :).

After that, things kind of died down, I couldn't really go into anymore exam rooms because they are tiny and they are already crowded with the vets and vet students. But anyway, a very nice lady was talking to me and this other girl from one of my Animal Science classes that was also shadowing, and she was explaining all things Ophthalmology to us and showing us pictures of eye cases that they had previously had.

All 3 of these services perform exams and surgeries on all species of animals including large, small, and exotics!

Ophtho has had things like zebras, penguins, horses, baby calves, and every other sort of species come in, which I found pretty awesome! :D

I absolutely LOVE the vet school and I can't wait to be there. I'll try and update this thread periodically with all the things I see on Mondays and Fridays :)!

I'm so happy for you Bri, especially that you are so excited and know that this IS what you want to do. :) Sounds like a lot of fun... I still wonder if I'm making a mistake going into nursing instead of Vet school!

Unfortunately I don't get any shadow type things for nursing until I'm actually in nursing school, my third year. I think actually shadowing and seeing what you'll do makes you so excited for it... helping you through school when days are just so stressful! I think we get to shadow in all different things like emergency, OB, neonatal, and all other aspects of nursing, which is nice.

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Originally Posted by Roxyluvsme13

Thanks! And LOL! We were all in the middle of eating lunch while listening to the lecture :rolleyes:

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Nurses do that too! We talk about the strangest things over food.

What a great experience! I hope your next one goes just as well!

What a great day. So happy for you.:D

Thanks guys!

I had to drop out of surgery and community practice. The vet school only wants 2 people shadowing at one time in each service, and both had conflicts with people so I dropped both of those and will be shadowing in Internal Medicine from 10am-12pm tomorrow :). I'm completely fine with that, hopefully there will be a lot going on.

I'll let you all know how that goes tomorrow! :D

I forgot to update this on Friday :o.

Internal medicine was WONDERFUL. I got to actually interact with animals and everyone in there was super nice. I got to look at a dog's urine concentration and walk a dog outside :). They also offered to let me look at a cat's optic nerve, but I declined as I was nervous :p.

Yesterday I was in neurology, and I was considering neurology as a specialty, but now I'm not so sure, haha. A dog came in with a head trauma (after being attacked by an Australian Shepherd :() and she was a little Jack Russel Terrier. She had no movement on the left side of her face, and I'm not sure what they were going to do for her but they were about to go take X-rays when I had to leave.

So many exciting things happening, can't wait for Friday :D

:( for the JRT and the Aussie

:D that you had a great experience, though!

A dog died on us today :(. Her name was Sandy and she was a MinPin. She was only four.

I think I handled it pretty well though, but I almost cried. I know I can't save them all, but it's still tough.

I'm keeping her family in my thoughts, as I know it's not easy to lose a furry friend you love :love:

Awww, that must be the hardest part. I only breifly ever considered being a vet, as I knew as a kid it would bother me too much to not be able to explain things to an animal. A human doc was on my list of 6 possible careers I narrowed it down to*, but I knew I couldn't be a vet!


*By 5th grade or so I figured if I could be 6 people, I could pursue most of my career interests.