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Syngamus Trachea: Eternally Copulating
2008-06-06 15:00:00
 There’s a funny little parasite that’s found in Australia that spends its entire adult life copulating. You will never find a Syngamus trachea on it’s own. Whenever they are found, the male and female are always joined in a ‘Y’ shape, the male being the shorter one. You might think ‘that’s one heck of a life’ those worms have there. Syngamus trachea,also known as the ‘Gape Worm’, lives in the trachea(windpipe) of birds in Australia. They’re more common in ravens and magpies, but chooks can pick them up too. They make infected birds gasp for air, hence the name. (more…)

A Neurology Challenge for you
2008-06-04 15:20:00
 Alright, for all those out there reading this with some veterinary skills (there’s at least two of you out there), allow me to present Moki, an odd little tabby cat with an interesting, currently unsolved, condition. This kitty is fascinating to watch from a clinical perspective, especially when studying for a neuro exam! You can read some of the history here, as well as view some videos of him here and at his blog. When you first see a video of grown-up Moki trying to walk, the first thing you think of is spinal trauma from a car crash or something similar, but the earlier videos of kitten hood show that it was something altogether different (probably) and that Moki has learnt to adapt to his neurological problem, masking some of his clinical signs. (more…)
More About: Challenge , Neurology

Mystery Specimen#1
2008-06-02 17:01:00
Do you know what this picture is of? Guess! Look really closely, it’s got teeth. (more…)
More About: Mystery

Sheep are Funny
2008-06-01 05:06:00
Sheep are funny critters to work with. We are largely taught to deal with them as little cows with woolly coats. But unlike cows, when it comes to handling them we take many less precautions. Cattle get locked into a cattle crush where they can’t hurt us (much), when it comes to sheep all we do is tip them over. In many ways, sheep are laughable creatures. They’re small, soft fluffy things that have limited defenses. If a sheep is in trouble, this is what it does: Stamp foot so that the damgerous thing knows you don’t like it. If you are a ram, run towards it. If you are not a ram, run away a short distance, then stamp again. (more…)
More About: Funny , Sheep

Fish Week
2008-05-28 12:48:00
 Once a year, the University arranges a few fishy-vets to come along and attempt to teach us everything they think we should know about fish in less than five hours. Personally, I quite enjoy Fish Week because I’m something of a fish keeper myself, and this year was quite relieved to find that we were finally starting to learn something useful about these aquatic critters that I couldn’t have taught myself from reading one of the many aquarium books I have on my shelf. So far, the Fish Weeks have run like this: 1st year: “Being a fish vet can earn you lots of money and take you to interesting places, like Canada” 2nd year: “Fish live in water and the quality of that water is important. Here are some photos and stories about raising fish in Canada.” 3rd year: “Here’s how to post mortem a fish, I did lots of these in Canada. And here’s another fish vet, who will teach you how to take samples from aquarium fish without killing the...

Pet Contest Finalists: Start Voting!
2008-05-25 14:16:00
Righty-O People! We have a bunch of nice entries and now you have a chance to vote for the one you think should be the winners of $35 and 8000 Entrecard credits in the Pet Photo contest. In case you can’t remember, here is the breakdown of the prizes: $15 from me via paypal. (If you don’t have paypal, you can donate it to a paypal-enabled charity if you like) 3000 Entrecard credits from me. A permanent link in my sidebar if you have a website. 2500 Entrecard credits from One Million Pet Pics $20 via paypal from One Million Pet Pics 2500 Entrecard credits from Bloggeries Blog Forum A photo-manipulation of your pet. An example is Crumbs & the Mousie: Also, EACH ENTRY  will be featured individually on One Million Pet Pics. and, KatalinaMau.com will award 500 Entrecard Credits to the most exotic pet, and provide a review. You have two votes per IP address, one for the overall winner and one for the ‘most exotic pet’. This equates to two votes per person, one ...
More About: Contest , Finalists , Start , Voting

Stress time again
2008-05-24 02:45:00
It’s that time of year again. Exams are creeping up suddenly and the amount of stuff I still have to get done seems enormous. Essays, quizzes, practical exams, and that’s before we get to the real, written and oral exams that determine exactly what we’re going to be doing next semester. I generally have mixed feelings about exam time. I know they’re a lot of stress and a big challenge, but at the same time there’s a small element of fun to them (if you think you’re doing okay) and the occasional sleep it is just great. But that will leave me a little short of time for a while, although this blog will still be updated regularly as I tend to procrastinate. Finalists in the Pet Photo Contest will be published for voting on Monday. This is your last chance to send any in, remember there’s $35 and a bunch of Entrecard credits up for grabs!
More About: Time , Stress

X-Ray Challenge #3
2008-05-21 02:30:00
For those of you who have been keeping up with the X-Ray challenges, you should have a rough idea of what’s normal for a thorax and what’s not. Here’s the next challenge: If you want a comparison, you can check X-Ray challenges #1 and #2. Again, you may want to copy the picture into paint or a graphics program to adjust contrast, brightness, or just put it onto a black background if it makes it clearer for you to see. Had a good look? Ready to find out what you could have seen? (more…)
More About: Challenge

Holding A Heart
2008-05-18 13:35:00
 On Friday morning I was lucky enough to be assistant surgeon in a terminal surgery thoracotomy prac class. In short: I Held a Living, Beating Heart ! Oh my God you cannot believe the buzz that causes, or how sick of you people become when you mention that fact three times in five minutes. I just cannot adequately explain the feeling you get when holding a beating heart. There are certain parts of animals that I feel represent their spirit, their essence of life. As such, those parts deserve a special kind of respect, particularly when you start to think of animals as being parts to approach systematically. The brain is one of them, but I tend to feel that the brain should never, ever see daylight. Eyes are another, full of mystery and meaning, and fascinating when you manage to look into the back of them at the retina. But it is the heart which has a special significance for me. I know it’s traditionally associated with emotion and soul, but really it is little more than a ...
More About: Holding

In the Horse Wards
2008-05-16 12:17:00
I sometimes get the feeling that the people who run the horse wards at Uni think of horses as some kind of mini-gods. They certainly consider horses to be far above all other species that those other vets treat. So I find it quite  amusing to see non-horses in the sacred grounds of the horse wards, such as the calf that was mentioned previously. (more…)
More About: Horse

Have we desexed too many cats?
2008-05-13 15:00:00
 There is a huge amount of pressure placed on cat owners to lock their felines up and stop them from breeding. We are constantly told about the thousands of cats and kittens put to sleep in shelters each year, and how cats damage our native wildlife populations. As a result, many councils in Australia have enforced mandatory desexing and banned cats being from being allowed outside. The politicians that create that legislation then feel very good about themselves, thinking that they have solved the cat problem: cats won’t breed as much, population will decrease, less kitties in shelters, less damage to wildlife. They put all the responsibility onto the cat owners and avoid tackling the big half of the issue. Australia has a domestic cat population which is on the decrease. 98.5% of female domestic cats have been spayed, which actually makes the remaining cat population unsustainable long term. We may well have desexed too many of our domestic cats. The cat problem we have, wh...
More About: Cats

Keep sending in those photos!
2008-05-13 02:39:00
Reember to keep sending in those pet photos for the contest! There’s still $35 and 8000 Entrecard credits up for grabs.
More About: Photos , Sending

Doing Autopsies
2008-05-12 00:15:00
 I had three autopsy prac classes over the last week and a bit. I have to say that they’re hard work, make a huge amount of mess and don’t end up looking like anything you might have imagined from watching some crime show on TV where dead humans are lying around. We make a huge mess when doing an autopsy. It’s a bit like taking the dead animal, and pulling it apart into it’s separate components, as though it was made of lego. I realise the thought of such things disturbs some people, so there are no photos of the process for you. But I will tell you a bit about it if you’re still interested. (more…)

The Chronic Cat Problem
2008-05-08 23:59:00
 Cats have something of a reputation if you ever talk to a veterinary surgeon about them. “Oh, you just throw the pieces of a cat into the same room and it will put itself together again,” is what our surgery lecturer has told us. But there is one notable exception. Chronic Axilla (armpit) Wounds in cats don’t look like much, just an open wound in the cat’s armpit. The problem is that if you treat it like any other wound and stitch it up, the cat’s phenomenal ability to heal just doesn’t work, and the wound breaks down and opens up a few weeks later. This is bad for the cat, frustrating for the owner and extremely frustrating for the vet, because it makes them look incompetent when really it is the cat’s fault. The owner also doesn’t trust you when you try to explain the only way these chronic wounds are known to heal, because it is quite bizarre. (more…)
More About: Problem

X-Ray Challenge #2
2008-05-07 11:30:00
Since some people seemed to quite enjoy the last X-Ray Challenge , here’s another one for you! This one is a cat, so things are a little different, but not by much. I will admit it is harder though. And for those of you who would rather have something relatively ‘normal’ to compare X-Rays too, here is a link to a ‘normal cat‘ (<– click it). As with the previous challenge, you may find it easier to see things if you copy the images into paint and surround them with black, after all X-rays are read in darkened rooms for a reason. Ready to discover what was there to be seen? (more…)

Pet Photo Contest!
2008-05-05 03:00:00
I’ve been amusing myself taking photos of Moo and Crumbs, the Kendal Hall unofficial resident kittens, so I decided why not share some of the fun and have a pet photo contest! I’m looking for a pet or animal photo to use in a new header for this blog, alongside Moo & Crumbs. Dogs, Cats, Canaries, Ferrets, Horses, Fish or any other photogenic pet you may have near your camera can enter. Entries will be judged on the clarity of the photo, and suitability for use in a header. Those that pass will then be posted on this blog for people to vote But what is a contest without any prizes? Here they are: $15 from me via paypal. (If you don’t have paypal, you can donate it to a paypal-enabled charity if you like) 3000 Entrecard credits from me. A permanent link in my sidebar if you have a website. 2500 Entrecard credits from One Million Pet Pics $20 via paypal from One Million Pet Pics 2500 Entrecard credits from Bloggeries Blog Forum A photo-manipulation of your pet...
More About: Contest , Photo , Photo Contest

Vets & Drug Company ‘Bribes’
2008-05-03 05:50:00
Thursday the 1st of May was Industry Night at Kendal Hall. It’s an opportunity for big players and drug companies that supply the Veterinary Industry in Australia to set up a display, tell us about themselves and give us poor veterinary students free stuff! There’s been a bit of concern about doctors pushing unnecessary drugs onto patients because they get bonuses, rewards or holidays from drug companies. This doesn’t happen much in the Australian Veterinary Industry, so in the interest of transparency I’m going to show you what I got, and elaborate on what veterinary professionals get from the big drug companies too. Yes indeed, I got a bagful of free stuff. (more…)
More About: Company , Drug

The Unmentionable Class
2008-05-01 01:00:00
There is one particular practical class that we Veterinary Students are aware of from our early days, and think of it with a mixture of laughter and dread. It is known by many names: Reproduction 3 The dog repro prac The ‘Circle of Love’ and Dog Wanking 101 You read that right, and I don’t mean to be crass, but that particular class is very, shall we say, straight forward. There’s a reason I don’t have any photos of this practical class, so you will just have to use your imagination on this one. (more…)
More About: Class

X-ray challenge #1
2008-04-29 01:02:00
Want to challenge your brain and your eyes and find out how talented you are at reading X-rays? Here’s your chance! Carefully examine the photo above. You may want to copy it into paint and expand the black background to make it easier on your eyes. What do you notice about this dog? There are a few easy things to notice, and a few hard things to notice. When you’re ready, read the rest of this article to find out how observant you are. (more…)
More About: Challenge

Cyclopia
2008-04-27 01:08:00
We get to see some wierd things in Veterinary Science. Exhibit A: This head belonged to a calf that suffered from cyclopia. It’s pretty cool to look at, don’t you think? The name is pretty descriptive, ‘cyclopia’ will make you think that this poor creature has only one, central eye. In fact, the main problem is not with the eye itself, but with the development of the brain and nose. Cyclopia is infact the most severe expression of holoprosencephaly. (more…)

Calf Foetotomy
2008-04-25 01:00:00
Obstetrics are fun. It’s a lot like a spacial reasoning puzzle; you have to find a way to make the neonate (soon-to-be born) animal fit through the birth canal, otherwise it doesn’t matter how strong you are, it either wont fit or will damage the mother coming out. That’s when the veterinarian considered either a cesarean, or a foetotomy. For those that don’t know, a foetotomy involves cutting bits off the foetus because it is stuck in the birth canal. It’s a bit gruesome when you think about it, but the alternative is having a dead, possibly rotting calf stuck half in it’s mother until the cow is dead too. I videoed some practice foetotomy cuts from a practical class last week, which are below if you feel like viewing them. If you don’t want to watch, it’s okay. I realise that I become quite desensitised to ‘icky’ things, so it doesn’t bother me, but may bother you. (more…)

More awards
2008-04-23 01:00:00
Somebody out there must like me, because I seem to keep winning these things. Maybe there just aren’t a lot of other blogging4life blogs to compete with. Who knows? And just as a reminder, I had also been nominated by allbutonespecies for the best animal blogger in the blogger’s choice awards. I would love any support I can get, specially as I hadn’t nominated myself for this, unlike most other entries.  
More About: Awards

Moo the Kitten
2008-04-21 01:07:00
Hello! My name is Moo and I’m one of the Kendal Hall kittens. You might have seen me in other posts, but I decided that I wanted more attention, so here I am! (more…)
More About: Kitten

Textbook Review: Color Atlas of Clinincal Anatomy of the Dog and Cat
2008-04-19 08:20:00
I thought it might be helpful to someone out there if I wrote about the books I use most often when studying. It can be very temping when you first learn that you’ve been accepted into a Veterinary Course to go out and get your hands on any textbook you can. However, it’s not worth buying any text book you’re not going to use. I bought the Color Atlas of Clinical Anatomy of the Dog and Cat  early on in first year, because I found it so useful. It’s full of color pictures which is exactly what a student needs before a practical class, whether that class is anatomy or surgery. Diagrams are only so useful when you need to see what the animal is really going to look like. (more…)
More About: Review

The Endoscope
2008-04-17 14:01:00
I never would have thought that my days of youth wasted on video games would ever have provided me with useful skills in a Veterinary career. But as it turns out, the hours I spend playing Lylat Wars have actually made it easier for me to get the hang of driving an Endoscope. For those that don’t know, an Endoscope is basically a camera on the end of a long tube that you can put through the mouth, nose, ear, anus or any other orifice large enough to accommodate it. You get to see the video on your computer screen, and you can thread sampling pieces through the endoscope if you need to grab a chunk of anything inside the animal. It’s a team effort. One of you drives the head of the endoscope up/down and left/right, and the other person pushes the tube deeper or pulls it back out. The trick, as the driver, is to keep your target in the centre of the screen, and not compromise on camera angles, which is a lot like playing a video game. (more…)

Twin Foals
2008-04-16 03:37:00
You don’t hear much about twin foals, and you nearly never see them. This is because even though up to 10% of horse pregnancies may be twins, they are usually aborted very early on because of the great difficulty in getting both twins to survive. If the twin foals do survive, they’re usually runts and don’t thrive. There just isn’t that much room inside the mare for two growing foals, and in most cases the weaker twin dies and is reabsorbed early in the pregnancy. (more…)
More About: Twin , Foals

The Herald Sun’s Propaganda and our Education
2008-04-14 03:59:00
The Herald Sun, probably the trashiest newspaper in Australia, published an Article on the 13th of April called ‘Dogs Operated on, then Killed.‘ It made me sick. This highly biased piece of ‘journalism’ distorts the truth with the writer’s own opinion without giving full consideration to the ethics behind these decision. Worse, they also used emotive words to suggest that what goes on is actually much worse than it really is. The article has angered many vet students with it’s one sided story, including myself. You want to know some facts and reasons behind why we use real live dogs for terminal surgery? Let me explain it to you. (more…)
More About: Education , Propaganda

Look what I found!
2008-04-12 09:45:00
7pm on my 21st birthday, I was just about to shut my car door and drive home, when I notices something moving and geting closer. Lucky things happen to you on your birthday, and it turns out I had been discovered by a stray dog wandering through the grounds of the vet school. I took him into the after-hours clinic, and was happy to learn that he had a microchip. So he’s almost certainly back with his family now. That’s birthday luck.

There’s a Cow in the Horse Wards?
2008-04-08 09:26:00
Usually it seems like cattle vets and equine vets have very different views on life and would rather see each other as little as possible. As such, it was quite surprising for me to learn that there was a calf hidden in the horse wards that had undergone treatment for an umbilical abscess. I found out about the calf from listening to gossip in the line for dinner. Apparently the horse people haven’t told the cattle people that they have it, and apparently there is some disagreement as to whether the calf should have any roughage to eat at the moment. What’s also interesting is that this calf is a Friesian bull, and apparently he is a clone, which is why all this money and extra care has been devoted to him. It’s just the rumours I heard though. It’s kind of funny hearing the horse specialists bumble along trying to manage a calf. I’m inclined to believe that he probably is a clone though, because I have heard of other highly valuable stud cattle being c...
More About: Horse

Dental Health for Dogs and Cats
2008-04-06 14:12:00
So many animals that walk into small animal practice suffer from dental problems, and most of those are due to a build up of plaque on the teeth, which then becomes mineralised and forms calculus. This can cause problems and discomfort for the animal, as gums become inflamed (gingivitis) and the bone around the teeth may resorb (peridontal disease), causing the teeth to fall out. We get taught about dental health my a man who is a human dentist four days per week, and a veterinary dentist the rest of the time. He has a very devoted perspective on teeth, and I have to say that when we were shown the human photos of dental disease, every student in the lecture felt compelled to go brush their teeth. So, what do you need to know about your pets teeth and what can you do to keep them in good health? (more…)
More About: Health , Dental Health , Dogs , Cats , Dental