My Life as a Veterinary Technician

Starting a new blog. This one will be about my job at the Clarks Grove Veterinary Clinic. I've been working here almost 6 years as a veterinary technician and manager of their boarding kennel. Some days are exciting, some are boring so you may not hear from me all the time. And sometimes I fall asleep on the sofa at night because I'm so tired! I'll try to highlight the most interesting ones. Oh, probably no pictures on this one. Client privacy and all that...
Friday I got to watch and help with something new. We did semen collection and evaluation as well as scrotal measurements on two Lowline Angus Bulls. These are a miniature breed of Angus that were bred for the hobby farmers. Many families now a days are smaller and don't need a full size steer to put in the freezer. Also smaller livestock are easier to handle. These two bulls, although very powerful, came about up to my waist. I still didn't want to be clobbered by one but they weren't as intimidating as the larger breed of Angus.

We had the chute in the horse barn so there wouldn't be total chaos. The owner of these bulls was checking the semen count and motility for breeding purposes. He was trying to sell them and needed this information for the potential buyer to make an informed decision. These bulls were semi-halter broke and that helped. But to convince them to just walk into the chute was asking too much! I let the owner do the tugging and pulling and before long Terrelli was locked in. Jen (the vet) went behind him and measured his scrotal sac with the same kind of tape measure we use on us! The bull didn't like it too much but fortunately he didn't kick and things went quickly. Next Jen stuck her arm in his anus and checked out the seminal vesicles to see if they were the same size. Finally she put the ejaculator in his anus. This is connected to an electrical stimulator. Jen would press the button and the ejaculator would stimulate the bull. He would gradually "get excited" and his penis would come out. Eventually he would ejaculate and Jen would collect the semen. From there the semen was taken to the microscope where Jen checked the number and motility (how fast they were swimming and how many were swimming). My job was to hand things to Jen, hold the semen in my hands so it wouldn't chill before she checked it, clean off the ejaculator, lower and raise parts of the chute.

We went through this with both bulls. One was a year older than the other and more massive in the neck. Also we had to keep them out of sight of each other because they would start to fight! It turned out the older bull had fantastic sperm - both motility and numbers - so the prospective buyer decided (over the phone) that he would buy the older one. Then we had to get a health paper ready. Jen did most of it but I had to get the number for the Illinois Dept for a livestock permit number.
 There's a few hoops you have to jump through to move horses, dogs, cattle, pigs, sheep , goats, llamas ...between states. Each state has different requirements and they can change those requirements each time you make out a health paper. It can also depend on the state you are sending them from. Minnesota had positive Tuberculosis in cattle in the northwest corner of the state. But to send any livestock out of Minnesota - for sale or show - sometimes you couldn't bring any into certain states, or the owner had to do whole herd tests - which can amount to many animals and many dollars- just to show 4 animals at a county fair. For a couple of years, Emma and I didn't take goats to shows in Wisconsin or South Dakota because of that. Now I believe the state is split in requirements so we don't have all those rules to take animals out of state but I, and other techs, have to constantly check the states' requirements.

That appointment lasted after 5:00 so I was cleaning up and getting ready to go home when Jen, who was the doctor on call, got an emergency call. A friend of mine came home to one of her dogs bleeding profusely from a cut on his foot. I stayed to help Jen because things usually go quicker with help. "Mac, an English Setter, had a cut on the back of his foot that had to have nicked the vein. It was pulsing blood and Mac had blood over most of his body. Really, a case of 'it looks worse than it is'. After muzzling Mac (he doesn't like us) I tried to clean off some of the blood just to find out where the cut was. The owners left Mac with us to sedate and stitch him up while they went home to clean the blood off of everything in the house.

 

Once Mac was sedated, we put a catheter in him to give him fluids since he had lost quite a bit of blood. Jen quickly stitched up the area and bandaged the whole foot while I rinsed off the parts that I could. It took him a while to wake up enough to pull the endotracheal tube. He is an older dog and sometimes that makes a difference. We couldn't go home until Mac was awake. They can get into trouble if their swallowing reflex isn't back yet. Dogs and cats can literally choke to death on their own tongues. So you have to make sure they can swallow on their own before you pull the tube out.
Finally left at ten to seven. A long day since I had started at 7 in the morning doing the boarding kennels. 8 dogs boarding with more that came in today. It can take a while to do that too if you do it right. My favorites there right now are Sophie, a black standard poodle, and her sister Emmy Sue, a black and white cockapoo. The Saint Bernard, Bella, is a terror - just big and no manners, jumping on you all the time. 2 older golden retrievers Jackson and Oscar, 1 border collie Issac, 1 chow mix Rex, a wirehaired pointer Coco, a miniature pinscher Skitter...a lot of noisy dogs. Some days I really want ear protectors!
Well, most of those dogs will go home on Monday. I start at 7 again to get them taken care of. Lets see what Monday brings in the clinic!