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traveling_dogtor

Can’t wait until I can call Tampa my home in jus

Can’t wait until I can call Tampa my home in just a few months 😍
•
Cheers to beers and vacation coming in just over two weeks! Dr. Shelby Baden coming at you for all your emergency pet needs👩🏼‍⚕️

NEW on the blog: 6 Tips for New Puppy Owners! What

NEW on the blog: 6 Tips for New Puppy Owners! What I wish I would have known before getting a puppy 😱

Check it out at the link in my bio 🐕‍🦺

I originally started this Instagram to promote my blog, a place where I get to write more in depth about things. My intention for the summer is to devote more time to my love for writing, starting with this post for my new puppy parents.

Please share if you find it helpful or think these tips could help someone you know.

As always, I’d love to know... what tips would you also include?

Today, I start my very last rotation of veterinary

Today, I start my very last rotation of veterinary school 😱😱😱 For some reason, I barely slept last night. It felt like first day of school jitters.

Only three weeks left.

Three weeks of none other than... DERMATOLOGY 🐶🐱 let’s go!!! Ready to get educated for all the dermergencies I will see at @veterinary_emergency_group next year! If you don’t believe me, check out @vetgirlontherun’s podcast with Dr. Andrew Rosenberg on atopic dermatitis 🤓 (side note: I am obsessed with her podcast. Highly recommend if you don’t already listen - I seriously learn so much).

Photo posted with owner permission of one of my favorite ortho patients, Finn 😍

A haiku: Vet school takes four years barely pract

A haiku:

Vet school takes four years
barely practicing medicine.
Then you’re a doctor.

Inspired by the incredible @vet.lauren. Let’s ta

Inspired by the incredible @vet.lauren. Let’s take a #walkinmyshoes, #vetstudent style.

I am taking it back a few months to large animal internal medicine.

Prior to the start of this rotation, I had been in the hospital 40 days in a row. It’s 4 am and I am awake. I go into the hospital at 5 am to start my treatments. I have four in-patients after all. I have to get all their treatments done by 7 am when the residents come in, and I am somehow supposed to finish SOAPs before 8 am. One horse needs 20 tablets of metronidazole up its rectum. Another needs Baytril pushed IV over 30 minutes. A goat with mastitis needs to be milked but she is in pain and won’t stay still. They all need to be walked. Most of them need bloodwork, at least a PCV/TS.

We round. Appointments come in. There is a neuro case and the owners don’t want to move forward with additional diagnostics. They opt for euthanasia. I steal apples from another horse to give to my patient. We take a walk outside and feel the sunshine. Then we walk into the hospital and the process begins. He is scared. No one he knows is there. I have never seen a horse euthanized. The resident asks me if I am ok, but I am really not ok because I thought this was my easy case of the day. I start crying. At this point, it is time for PM treatments. I walk up to the isolation barn and I see the sunset. It’s beautiful.

I come home and I am exhausted. NAVLE is coming up in two weeks and I have to study. But I also have to write a discharge for my patient that is leaving the next day. What is balance again? I can’t remember the last time I worked out, or did yoga, or even went to the grocery store.

Clinics are brutal. Everyone tells you that. But it is only when you are finally in it that you comprehend how hard it can be. And then it’s over and you are expected to be a doctor.

Am I ready? I guess we will see. Burn out and self-doubt cast a large shadow. One thing is certain, you may never know what another person is experiencing. But you can listen, you can #walkinmyshoes for a brief moment in time, and see that sometimes a smiling face is, in fact, just a mask.

It’s been 5 weeks without my dog, Apollo. And i

It’s been 5 weeks without my dog, Apollo.

And it’s been hard! Traveling and externships sound amazing but the reality is that I have a dog who depends on me. I couldn’t survive without a support system to help me watch him when I can’t have him with me.

However, getting a dog totally changed my life. He has been there for me throughout all of vet school. Through every exam, every heartbreak, every good memory. He is always there to cuddle or encourage me to get outside. He needs me and I need him.

Getting Apollo totally changed my life for the better. He taught me how to be responsible. He taught me what it means to love unconditionally. And I couldn’t be more grateful for him. He is my heart dog forever ❤️

Do you have a pet that has changed your life?

#dogmomma #vetschool #vetmed #veterinarian #rescuedogmom #rescuedogs #dogmom

I lost my dad almost 13 years ago. On February 27t

I lost my dad almost 13 years ago. On February 27th, he would have been 74 years old. He was an older dad, but I didn’t care. He was my best friend. He treated me like a little boy most of the time and I loved it. Because of him, I know how to fish, surf, ride a bike, and camp. He went to every sporting event I ever had. I played co-ed soccer as a kid and I ran straight into this really big boy and knocked him over. I was shocked and started crying. My dad ran over, extended his hand laughing and ecstatic. He said something along the lines of “YES!!! That was incredible!!! That’s my girl!” All of a sudden, it didn’t seem so bad that I was able to knock over a boy twice my size. He did this with a lot of things... like my height for example. I was always taller than everyone else in my class. I might have been insecure about it except for the fact that he always praised me for being so tall. “You’re going to be 6ft tall! You could be a model like Elle Macpherson!” I didn’t know who that was really except I knew she was beautiful. It’s memories like these that stick out in my mind so strongly when I think of my dad.

And then I think of how much he missed. My high school, college and now veterinary school graduations. He missed me travel the world, he missed me falling in love, he missed my heartbreaks. He missed me following my dreams and becoming a woman.

Pain. It sits with me. The darkness is always there. The void his death left behind. And over the last year I have stopped trying to fill the void. I have just let it be. I guess it is truly another phase of healing. It may be hard to understand how one person can impact another. And everyone has a different story.

We all carry variations of pain with us throughout our lives. Mistakes. Failures. Loss. Rejection. Guilt. Sometimes, I think it’s ok to just sit with it. To recognize that it is always with you, but you are so much more because of it. Because there can’t be light without darkness. Without night, we wouldn’t appreciate the day. And today, on this rainy and gloomy afternoon in Atlanta, I am grateful.

🌟GIVEAWAY CLOSED🌟 Congratulations to @rosie.

🌟GIVEAWAY CLOSED🌟 Congratulations to @rosie.vetstudent ❤️❤️ Huge thank you to everyone who entered!
_________________________________________
I am beyond excited to have partnered with @vetsontherise to give away their new book, “New Vet Jumpstart Guide”! I read this book cover to cover and 100% believe this should be every new grad’s required reading. In the book, they tackle the most common cases we will see in GP and ER practice including differentials, treatments, and more. My favorite part of the book is the client communication tips, ensuring that we don’t miss any aspect of communication that might come back to haunt us.

This week, @vetsontherise is also donating 20% of their book sales to NOMV (Not One More Vet). If you don’t know, this is an organization focused on well being, mental health, and crisis intervention in the veterinary community.

All you need to do to enter is:

1️⃣ Follow:
@traveling_dogtor
@vetsontherise
@seniordogdoc
@southernpetvet

2️⃣ Like this post.

3️⃣ Tag a friends in the comments (1 friend per comment = 1 entry, tag as many as you would like)! You can enter as many times as you’d like.

4️⃣ Share to your story and tag us to get extra entries.

Giveaway ends 3/18 at noon. Winners will be chosen at random and announced later that evening on this post and via DM.

This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram. Good luck 👍🏼🤩

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY! I may be one da

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY! I may be one day late, but that’s ok. Shouldn’t we celebrate women every day?

Cheers to my soul sisters in life. My mom. My aunts and cousins. My best friends. The badass women who have supported me in every opportunity. I wouldn’t be where I am without you.

Do what you love. Love what you do. Take no shit. Be a boss lady. There will always be haters out there. Let them hate and shine on. ☀️☀️

Sending a healthy dog home is one of the best part

Sending a healthy dog home is one of the best parts of my job. This weekend, I said goodbye to my favorite patient of all time. He had a TPLO (tibial plateau leveling osteotomy) for a torn cranial cruciate ligament and was hospitalized for 10 days due to a possible surgical site infection. Some of you might remember that my own dog, Apollo, had orthopedic surgery at UGA for his hip dysplasia. I decided to take orthopedic surgery over neurology (we get the option in our small animal track program at UGA) because I wanted to provide the care I hoped Apollo received while he was hospitalized. I was able to do that and more for Henry.

On days when we weren’t receiving patients and I wasn’t in surgery, I made it my mission to spend at least an hour each day with Henry in his run. We would FaceTime my friends and family to pass the time. He LOVED FaceTiming! Most of the time he would sit in my lap and give me kisses. We really bonded over the 10 days he was my patient. I almost cried sending him home because I knew how much I’d miss him. But I was SO happy he could finally go home as a healthy dog. It’s amazing how much joy and fulfillment you can feel by providing good patient care. I will never forget Henry, or my orthopedic surgery rotation. I set a goal to care for my patients like they were Apollo, and Henry allowed me to achieve that goal.

➡️ Swipe right to see a true love story ❤️ So thankful for this experience. Posted with permission.

Do you have a patient you will never forget?

Today marks the last full day of my orthopedic sur

Today marks the last full day of my orthopedic surgery rotation. It is also my final inpatient rotation at UGA. This means no more weekends, no more on-call, no more early mornings or late nights. It’s hard to imagine that this crazy, hectic, and incredibly influential part of my life is over.

Rewind to one year ago today… I had my orientation to clinics with my entire vet school class. We were all so anxious to start. And now, so many of us have jobs. We are moving on. We are doctors.

We made it. Despite COVID, despite online rotations, despite numerous obstacles in our paths. We are almost at the finish line.

Am I nervous? Absolutely. Am I ready to be a doctor? Well, are we ever truly ready? Time will tell. But for now, I am enjoying the moment.

📸 @laniv 💗

“Shelby, you are so optimistic.” “Why do you

“Shelby, you are so optimistic.” “Why do you smile all the time?” “It’s too early, why are you happy?” “Look Shelby, it’s sunny outside, it’s a Shelby day.”
•
So I get it. I’m a happy person and I constantly get comments about it. I try to make everyone feel good when they’re with me. But my truth is that it took a very long time for me to actually feel happy. It took hard work and perseverance. It took a lot of failures, heartbreaks, and tragedy. Nothing about the person you see on a daily basis was created without a ton of hard work.
•
It’s the small steps that matter. That 10 pages you read daily. The 5 minutes of meditation here and there. The 30 minutes of yoga. The 10 minute runs. The walks with your dog. The 15 minutes of journaling...
•
It’s the little things I do daily that make me a positive person. I don’t think it’s a natural trait. I think it came from many years of training my brain to think good thoughts.
•
Just because someone is happy, does not mean for a second that they don’t suffer. There have been times over the last four years of vet school that I have suffered daily. But I stuck to my practices. I made it to the other side better than I was before. And the confidence that comes from overcoming failure or pain and then rising even stronger can never be taken away from you.
•
Sending you lots of love. 💗

🌟GIVEAWAY CLOSED🌟 And the winner is... @fut

🌟GIVEAWAY CLOSED🌟

And the winner is... @future_doctortori 🎉🎉🎉🎉 Congratulations!!

Thank you to everyone who entered! So grateful for you all!
_____________________________________
In honor of some of you who will be starting clinics in the next few weeks, I have paired up with @drwoofapparel to give away two scrub caps of your choice (one for you and a friend)! I get so many compliments every time I wear one of their scrub caps into surgery and love the diversity of patterns (especially the seals 🦭).

All you need to do to enter is:

1️⃣ Follow:
@traveling_dogtor
@drwoofapparel

2️⃣ Like this post.

3️⃣ Tag a friend in the comments (1 friend per comment = 1 entry, tag as many as you would like)! Share the love and tell them why are you grateful for them! You can enter as many times as you’d like.

4️⃣ Share to your story and tag us to get extra entries.

Giveaway ends 2/19 at noon. Winners will be chosen at random and announced later that evening on this post and via DM.

This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram. Good luck 👍🏼🤩

🌟NEW BLOG POST: VEG Application - 5 Tips to Sta

🌟NEW BLOG POST: VEG Application - 5 Tips to Stand Out as a New Grad Applicant!🌟

Over the past few months, I have had the privilege of connecting with so many future and aspiring VEGgies in this community! Lately, I have been getting tons of questions about @veterinary_emergency_group’s Early Entry Track (EET) program. The most common question I get by far is “How do I stand out when applying to VEG?” To help, I made a list of 5 tips that I believe helped me during my application process (see link in bio ⬆️).

This is not an exhaustive list, and for full visibility I am not involved in the hiring process for VEG. These tips are solely based on my personal experiences. However, I truly believe these tips will benefit anyone who is considering applying to VEG (or any emergency veterinary hospital for that matter).

But what I really want to know is… Who of you is considering applying to VEG? Drop your favorite veggie in the comments.🥕🥦🫒🥒🫑🌽

Pictured is my vet school bestie @dhwan_therock who will be doing EET with me next year in Tampa!

CLINIC SERIES: How to respond on clinics when you

CLINIC SERIES: How to respond on clinics when you don’t know the answer…

How many of you relate to this scenario? You are in morning rounds. You are rounding on your patient when a clinician asks you a question. You stumble through trying to decipher what the answer is they are looking for. You metaphorically face plant while responding. You are totally wrong. Now you are flustered and you are worried everyone thinks you don’t have your shi* together. In reality, you maybe knew the answer but you slept five hours the night before and got to the hospital at 5:30 am to make sure you got morning treatments done on time. You are stressed because your boards exam is coming up and now you are spiraling because you feel like you know nothing.

Yeah… I’ve been there. Many times.

One of my faculty for Large Animal Medicine once gave me some incredible advice. If you are asked a question on clinics, and you are unsure of the answer, respond with this statement: “Would you mind if I look it up and get back to you?” She told me that I often knew the answer when she asked me one-on-one but she recognized how much I struggled in front of a group. Since that rotation, I have used this response SO many times. And it is incredible the difference it has made. Not only do I impress my clinicians when I come back with an answer but I also learn the information better myself.

My ultimate goal with this series on clinical rotations is not just to talk about my lived experience over the past year. I seek to provide resources to make the transition just a bit easier for those moving into clinics. I challenge you to use this suggestion over the next few weeks and see how people respond.

What do you do when you don’t know the answer right away? Let me know in the comments below ⬇️

CLINICS SERIES: COVID, quarantine, and a cancelled

CLINICS SERIES: COVID, quarantine, and a cancelled externship?! 😱

One of the great things about the veterinary profession is that people are always willing to help you out. For my second rotation, I was supposed to do an externship in Phoenix, Arizona for two weeks in between my two best friends’ bachelorette parties (both were planned for Scottsdale). I knew I couldn’t afford to rent a place in Phoenix for two weeks, so I reached out to people through social media to help me. I ended up meeting the incredible @nikgoed, a fourth year veterinary student at Midwestern who kindly offered me a place to stay. Unfortunately, my first night in town I received news that schools across the country were shutting down. I remember Nikki and I both sitting on her couch waiting for the emails from our respective veterinary schools to roll in. I wasn’t sure if I should change my flight and go home, or wait to see if I could still do my externship. While I was deciding, Nikki and I would binge watch Love Island in between watching the news. In the end, I had to cancel my externship and fly home early. Honestly, the best part of my experience in Phoenix was getting to know Nikki and her friends. Even though COVID changed my plans for my second rotation, I gained an incredible new friend out of it… Someone who will actually be with me when I celebrate my 30th birthday next month In Florida! Almost one year later!

Not the typical externship experience but this series is about documenting my journey through my clinical year. I had planned my clinical schedule perfectly, and COVID changed everything. To be honest, I don’t look back and think “How could this have been different?” Mostly, I am thankful for the time I had to work on myself and my relationships with people as quarantine hit in full force.

Did you have to cancel plans because of COVID? How did this experience impact you?

A NEW SERIES - What to expect on clinics 🎉 Ov

A NEW SERIES - What to expect on clinics 🎉

Over the next few weeks, I will break down what clinics looked like for me over the past year. I started clinics at the end of February and finished my first rotation right before COVID put a halt to our education. My first rotation was Community Practice Clinic (CPC). A lot of teaching hospitals offer a rotation similar to this and it is the one rotation that is most similar to what you will experience in General Practice.

The most common things I saw during my general practice rotation were:
• Endocrine disorders, namely Cushing’s disease, Diabetes, and Chronic Kidney Disease
• Overweight cats and dogs
• Periodontal disease
• Dermatology cases: Otitis externa, pruritus, hot spots, etc.
• Spay/neuters/dentals

Some helpful resources for this rotation are:
• New Vet Jumpstart Guide by @vetsontherise
• University of Illinois Dentistry Course
• IRIS staging of CKD (website with everything you need to know about kidney disease)
• Spay/neuter notes and/or videos from your surgery course

This rotation was all about communication. Since it was pre-COVID, it was my only rotation with face to face interaction with clients. This is also one of the only rotations where you can get hands-on surgical experience. An added bonus at UGA is that we give nutrition recommendations to every client. We were taught how to create a diet plan for patients to reach their ideal body condition.

Clinics can be daunting and a huge transition. I remember how nervous I was to begin, and it is hard to believe I am almost done. Overall, this is a great rotation to start with because the hours are steady (8-5ish) and most veterinary students are pretty comfortable in the GP setting.

What was your General Practice rotation like?

Crazy to think I have one week left of ECC and the

Crazy to think I have one week left of ECC and then just two more rotations at UGA 😳

It hasn’t been an easy ride. I have changed in so many ways, and so many of you have been an integral part of the best changes of my life. But as I enter into the final pages of this chapter called vet school, here are some things I have learned along the way.

1️⃣ Love yourself through your failures. You won’t always get things right. You’ll fail. You’ll make mistakes. And you will 100% look like you know nothing on clinics especially while not sleeping and studying for NAVLE. And that’s ok. Remember, we have ALL been there. Even the smartest people in your class will get things wrong. That’s part of the practice of medicine.

2️⃣ Stay in touch with the things that make you happy. I always feel most productive when I am doing things that I love outside of vet med. Yoga, writing, reading, hanging out with my friends, to name a few. Don’t get lost in the chaos that is professional school. And if you feel lost, reach out for help to get to the other side.

3️⃣ You won’t remember the grades you made. But you will remember the people who impacted you along the way. Be kind to those people. Find commonalities amongst even the most dreaded resident or clinician. If someone is treating you poorly, it has absolutely nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.

And always remember: “Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.”
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love ❤️

It’s official. I have found the cutest gift for

It’s official. I have found the cutest gift for every child who wants to grow up to be a veterinarian, courtesy of @doggydoctorstories . 🌟Swipe right to see a sneak peak of the beautiful art on the inside.

This book tells the story of a dog who goes to the veterinarian for eating something he shouldn’t have🐶🥺. It is a super cute story and brings awareness to the diagnostics and surgery that are often required following foreign body ingestion. It’s honestly precious and something I would have loved as a kid.

I haven’t seen many children’s books that talk about veterinarians but I absolutely love the idea. Maybe I am just out of the loop? 🌟Do you know of any books that feature veterinarians? I would love to hear from you.

🌟NEW on the BLOG - 5 Things to Look for as New

🌟NEW on the BLOG - 5 Things to Look for as New Grad Vets on the Job Hunt! (Link in Bio)🌟

There are so many factors to take into consideration when searching for your first ever job as a veterinarian. In this post, I streamlined the five things that were most important to me when beginning my job search. I also talk about why I decided to join @veterinary_emergency_group and how this opportunity aligned with my values and needs as a new grad veterinarian.

My hope is that this post can help those are who currently either searching for a job or in contract negotiations. ✨If you already have a job, what things were most important to you when you started your search? Do you agree with the list I created in this blog post? I would love to hear from you!✨

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