Exploring veterinary medicine from a global perspective

Posted June 20, 2018

Hey everyone! My name is Kristen and I am going into my fourth year of vet school at the OVC. I’m originally from Ajax, Ontario which is a suburban town about 45 minutes east of Toronto. I did three years of Animal Biology at the University of Guelph before starting the DVM program in 2015. My time here has flown by - I can’t believe my final clinical year of vet school is coming up so soon. I’m really looking forward to leaving the classroom behind and getting some hands-on experience during my...

Somebody pinch me, I can’t believe my externship is finally here!

Posted June 18, 2018

Growing up in the suburbs of Oakville, Ontario I was always the animal-crazed child begging my parents to take me to the farm so I could play with all of the animals. When I was four years old I told myself that I either wanted to be a dog or a veterinarian when I grew up. Since the first option did not pan out as well as I had hoped, I focused all of my efforts on becoming a veterinarian. Even at the age of eight I remember parking myself on the couch every Saturday morning watching Campus Vets and Zoo Diaries on...

Work to Live, Don’t Live to Work

Posted September 22, 2017

If there is one thing I have confirmed during my time on Vancouver Island at my externship, it is the importance of work-life balance. Of course, working hard and being committed to my career is extremely important to me, as I have always been a success-driven individual. However, during my time here, surrounded by the beauties of the natural world that Vancouver Island has to offer, it would be difficult to not want to spend time outdoors, enjoying the hobbies that keep my work...

An Important Life Lesson

Posted September 20, 2017

It’s important to keep an open mind, in the way that you view the world and in the varying ideals that come along with it. I’ve always tried living that way, that’s how I was raised. Since coming to the Manly Road Veterinary Hospital, I’ve learned an important lesson: to be flexible in your expectations for yourself. It’s a hard concept for us vet students to understand. We are a different breed of people. We are the type A’s. We set high expectations for ourselves, and we expect ourselves to succeed (or at the very least achieve the necessary steps to bring us closer to achieving that goal...

Goodbye and Good Luck!

Posted September 19, 2017

I can’t believe how quickly these 8 awesome weeks have flown by. My experience at Milverton-Wellesley Veterinary Clinic has been everything I hoped for. It really felt like we were part of a family, and both Amy and I are so grateful for the time we got to spend with this awesome team.

I wanted to thank the food animal vets, Drs...

Has it really been 8 weeks already? Time for some 'Thank You’s'

Posted September 18, 2017

I can’t believe I’ve finished my last week at Troy Veterinary Services. In the past eight weeks I have felt part of the Troy family, I have learned from them so much!

Dr. Paula was an incredible mentor from the very first moment; every minute I spent with her was a new opportunity to learn. She could make a learning experience from every appointment, even from those that seemed to be pretty straightforward...

Say “teeth”!

Posted September 15, 2017

As the weeks continue to fly by at my externship placement, one of the biggest things I have come to notice is the need to gain hands-on experience in a wide variety of areas we only have time to briefly cover while at OVC. Given the jam packed curriculum, it is next to impossible to fit in all of the information about the wide array of things we will see in everyday general practice. One specific area which I have taken a keen interest over the past few weeks is veterinary dentistry. This is a critical discipline in veterinary medicine and not only in the small animal world! A healthy mouth is a major factor in any animal’s life, and performing dental procedures is...

A profession of constant learning

Posted September 13, 2017

This week, I spent time reflecting on some of the amazing things I have learned during my externship here on Vancouver Island. It brought me to thinking about just how lucky we are to be in a profession where we are constantly challenged; constantly faced with changing science and a new standard of doing things. And, with this reflection, I began to see that those who accept the ever-progressing field of medicine and work towards always improving their skills, learning from challenging cases, or recognizing where they have made mistakes to do better in the future, are the practitioners who have the most satisfying...

Say Cheese!

Posted September 12, 2017

People usually brush their teeth twice a day (and floss when they remember to), but what about our pets? Dental disease in our pets is much more common than we might think.  Just like people, dogs and cats get tartar, gingivitis, cavities, and periodontal disease. Last week, a little poodle came to us with some pretty severe dental...

As the world changes so do the conversations we have with owners

Posted September 11, 2017

Humans have an incredible ability to change their surroundings and their environment (albeit not always in a good way). We have taken lands, forests, wetlands and converted them into jungles of concrete with new subdivisions, houses, manufacturing plants, etc. As we displace animals by taking their habitats we come more and more in contact with wildlife; now we can probably all agree that there is nothing cuter than seeing a doe with her fawn walking across our backyard, mom raccoon walking around with her pups. We tend to run for a camera so we can...