The Summer of Travel

Welcome back to the blog! It has been a while and I apologize for that. I have been a bit distracted with all of the traveling. If you are new to the blog, this summer I was a bit all over the place. It was a summer of diversity in species, to say the least.

Let’s recap:

• Small Animal:

  • I spent two and a half weeks back at the small animal clinic I worked in for two years. While there, I performed seven surgeries (all on strays) and absorbed tons of new information from my very well-read mentor (shout out Doc!).

• Wildlife/Zoo:

  • In June, I traveled to California to work in sea lion rehabilitation.  I interned at the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute (CIMWI) and lived on site in my trailer (click here to read my last blog post).  This opportunity allowed me to further enhance my parasitology techniques and get my “feet wet” in critical care of wildlife.  At one point, there were over 30 sea lions in rehabilitation.  I led shifts and strengthened my leadership skills by delegating tasks and stepping back to teach others important medical skills.  On one of my days off, I was even able to attend a sea lion release back into the wild!
  • I also had the opportunity to shadow at the Santa Barbara Zoo during a snow leopard surgery!  Talk about an amazing animal!

•   Purina:

  • Straight from California, I traveled to St. Louis to attend a Purina student representative training.  To be a student representative, you must interview and be chosen by your fellow representatives and the veterinarian who manages your university.  You receive a scholarship, along with four bags of pet food per month.  It is a really amazing program, especially since my dog will be on a joint food for the rest of his life (thanks hip dysplasia).  We were wined and dined at the Four Seasons and learned so much about nutrition and the whole pet food industry.  I absolutely love Purina as a company and had the best time with my fellow student representatives from all over the country.  It is amazing to see the huge strides we are taking in veterinary medicine towards curing and preventing diseases with nutrition.

• Exotics Private Practice:

  • I returned to Atlanta for a few days before making my way to New Orleans.  I externed at the Avian & Exotic Hospital of Louisiana for two weeks.  Working with these exotic species can be daunting, but Dr. Rich made it an experience I will never forget.  I learned so much while I was there and saw something new every single day.  And I guess that is the beauty of working in exotics.  You will never get bored.

• Large Animal:

  • After two weeks in New Orleans, I drove back to Athens, Georgia and have been on call for large animal emergency surgery.  I also took care of someone’s horses for a week, which was just what I needed to relax after so many weeks of traveling.  Over the past week, I have been called in almost every day for a colic surgery.  The resident said I am now like a well-oiled machine!  I have one more night on call, and to be honest I am going to miss it!  It has been great getting to know the residents and the new interns.
  • I also audited an equine ophthalmology CE for half the day on Saturday and really enjoyed that. Who knows, maybe I will go into equine after all lol.

With only a few weeks until the semester starts, I am trying to get back into the swing of things.  I deep-cleaned my apartment (still a work in progress), started to look for research opportunities, and have begun to seek out some shadowing before school starts back.

As always, let me know if you have any questions about any of my summer internships/externships.  I would be happy to go over them in more detail with you if you are interested.

Until next time!

SB