Shelter Medicine

Almost always, the first thing I ask when meeting a new animal, is "What's your name?" Even in a shelter where there can be a high volume of animals at once, everyone has their own name and are not referred to as a number. There are numbers that we do use, like their shelter ID and microchip number, but for the most part when we see an animal, we know them by name. The first thing we do in the medical lab in the morning is administer medication that any animal might need that day. A sheet gets printed out daily for each room in the shelter. Under the room, there is the name of the pet, the shelter ID, type of animal, breed, color and sex listed for everyone that needs medication/supplements. 

A med sheet with doses/medications needed.

I like to lay it out like this when gathering what I need. That way I can check, double-check, and re-check that I have the right doses for the right animal. On occassion, we might have two pets with the same name. This sheet gives me information on how to tell which animal is which, including the shelter ID and fur coloring. There are also boxes for me to put a line through as I go so I don't give anyone a double dose or anything like that. There is a definite emphasis on attention to detail when doing this because some animals come in with no prior veterinary care or medical assistance and we want to make sure they get the best health care that we can provide. Making sure that each and every pet gets what they need is something that I take very seriously and care about. Taking my sheet and my organized syringes of medicine/supplements with me, I headed over to Catmandu and got started with my day! 

Shelter medicine is different than a private practice in many ways, including population disease control. At a private vet clinic, pets go in and out of the clinic, rarely having extended stays. At a shelter, it is different in the fact that there are lots of animals in the building at once. It is absolutely imperative to practice sterile and sanitary techniques as well as being extra careful to change gloves between each and every animal. Following cleaning and sanitizing protocols at the shelter keep the communicable sicknesses down to a minimum. Every day there are constantly people doing laundry, washing food bowls, emptying litter boxes, changing cat cages, changing critter habitat bedding, and cleaning dog kennels. Aside from keeping areas that animals come in contact with clean, we are always washing our hands and changing gloves between interactions in the medical lab. These are only a few of the things that we do in order to eliminate the spread of disease. 

As a pre-vet student, I find great joy in working with animals, but I also find great interest in medicine and how it works. One thing I look forward to during this internship is learning about the medicine iself and through which mechanisms they work!