Only Just the Beginning

Being at the shelter this semester, working alongside people who share the same passion as I do, has been an experience that I will always treasure! I was honored to have the privilege of learning so much in my field of interest. I think what I value most from this experience is the medical knowledge I acquired by working in the lab on a regular basis. I learned all about different medications to use in certain situations as well as new terminology that I wasn't familiar with before. I'm sad to see the semester end, but happy at the same time that I got to not only be apart of volunteering at the humane society to help with whatever I could but I also gained a tremendous amount of experience. I will 100% most definitely return to the shelter this summer doing anything I can. Even if it isn't an internship or everyday scheduled things, I want to stay involved. 

I learned a little bit of everything from everyone. The veterinarian was very good at involving me, even if it were little jobs (like stretching out the vet-wrap!) or shaving a cat for spaying. The lab manager was always able to clear up any questions I had about medicine and taught me all about different procedures to take in different situations. For example, we recently looked at a dogs eye because it was really gooey and she explained to me that the dog was probably having difficulty producing natural tears so the eye would have an excess of discharge that was unable to be washed away. Because of this, we used eye irrigator to rinse out his eye, and started him on artificial tear-drops monitoring daily for improvement. Staff members were probably the best at showing me techniques. Finding a good spot to hear the lungs through a stethescope, how to make a vein not roll when drawing blood, how to make a cat stop purring... all these things were shown to me by experienced staff members! Most recently, I helped to bottle feed kittens! They taught me how to use a warm, wet cotton ball to stimulate the kitten to urinate and defecate before and after feedings. Even though it wasn't all that glamorous, it was something that I had never done before! Even peforming wellness exams with my fellow interns was beneficial because we were able to share what we knew and offer our own techniques and assistance to each other.

This internship couldn't have gone better. Every weekend I woke up ready and excited to go in and see what was in store. It's a great feeling to know that I will love what I do after vet school and I have the humane society to thank for that!