It has been an exciting start at Black Horse Animal Hospital! My first two weeks have really captured the mixed animal clinic I was looking for. Typically, I ride along with one of the five large animal veterinarians at the clinic.

We spend most of the day on the road doing farm calls that range from dairy herd health checks to colicing horses and even white tail deer. Each doctor has a set schedule that is made in the morning. If calls come in during the day, whoever is closer will pick them up.

Some days tend to be slower on the road then others, especially when farmers are out in the fields. On those days after farm calls we head back to the clinic and I will spend time in the small animal hospital. The small animal clinic is full of puppy appointments and emergencies. Everyone always joked with me that being a vet I will get to play with puppies and kittens all day and at this clinic it is very true! Our puppy exams include a full physical exam and look for any abnormalities such as luxating patella’s (knee caps) or hernias.

For the emergency cases, the clinic has a fully equipped lab that includes blood work machines that can run complete blood counts, biochemistries and even a progesterone levels for pregnant dogs. The clinic has a digital x-ray machine that is used frequently as a mainstay to diagnostics.

I have had the chance to tag along on after hour emergency calls as well. My first on-call night included a beef cow calving. It was her first time calving and we were there to give a helping hand. The clinic also sees canine C-section emergencies until 8 p.m. every night. My hands-on learning and experiences have be great. All the doctors are so patient and very eager to teach different techniques to me. I can already see my skills improving in the field. During my 4 weeks of large animal medicine I wanted to focus on my bovine palpation skills; since starting at Black Horse Animal Hospital I have already improved tremendously in that skill. I look forward to the next 6 weeks and hope you continue to follow along!

My first on-call night and my first calving! Here is the proud mom and baby boy!

Answer to last week’s blog post: A. Lilies!