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VSN Team

Going to make it a quick post.  I’ve been having trouble with my computer, so I’m sorry that this is a little late.  But a couple of quick things.  Did another spay day today.  I neutered a cat for the first time today.  Did so well that I did 4!  And not just big cats, but smaller juvenile sized ones too! 

Word on the street is that there is a new Mike tiger cub that has been found.  I really want to get a picture with the little tike.  How do I talk Dr Baker into that? 

Work has been kind of slow what with Dr Gaunt being gone.  Still don’t have all the stuff that we need to start the flow cytometry, but the PCRs that we did last week look very promising.  They worked out for the samples that we ran, proving that we could do the technique.  Now we are going to run them on buffy coat samples of our Ehrlichia dog blood. 

And lastly, I have a summer cold, so I am going to bed…

I just got back from spay day.  And its just like it sounds.  We spay and neuter, as well as vaccinate, cats for catch and release programs or for families that can’t afford the care, and all at a significantly reduced cost.  Today we did 62 cats in total.  Most of which were probably feral.  There were a few really sweet guys that definitely were owned.  Its such a great idea and I really wish that we had started this program earlier.  I believe that this is the first year that its been done at LSU, but I suppose its always better to be late than never.  Students get to practice their clinical skills at the same time we are helping the community and the feral cat population.  Most of our supplies that we used are donated, and even our breakfast and lunch was donated and it wasn’t just donuts and pizza, it was nice sandwiches.  It just goes to show you that there are a lot of people that really believe in doing this.

 I started my job in Dr Gaunt’s lab this week.  So far its been pretty interesting.  He is doing research on Ehrlichia canis and Anaplasma Platys.  I didn’t know it until I started the job, but apparently they have found that humans can indeed become infected with E canis, so I can see an even greater importance in the research.  But mostly what I have been doing this week has been collecting blood samples, processing those samples, looking at blood smears and analyzing the data.  Doesn’t sound like a lot, but with 42 dogs, it really is time consuming.  And I have to say that it has been a real eye opener on the life of a lab dog.  They get to hang out in an airconditioned kennel with all of their buddies and do nothing but play with each other, all their toys, eat a quality food, have veterinary care daily, and only get blood samples taken every other week.  I’m almost jealous!  And after our study is done, they get treated with doxycycline, in other words, NOT a terminal study.  In fact that is part of the research to see how long they test “positive” after being treated.

The other big news is that Mike the Tiger, the LSU mascot, passed away on Friday.  We were all very surprised and saddened by the news, but he was pretty old for a tiger, seventeen.  One of the electives I took was with the doctor in charge of his care and he told us that Mike was getting pretty old and been slowly losing weight.  Apparently they live about as long as a house cat and have similar diseases to them as well.  From what I’ve been told, he was found late Thursday with fluid on the lungs that they latered decided was idiopathic chylothorax.  And since he is still a wild animal all procedures, no matter how minor, must be done under anesthesia.  He just never woke from it.  So he did die peacefully in the early morning hours on Friday.  I feel very sorry for the main campus students who graduated later that very same morning.  But like I said, he died very peacefully.

Checking to make sure this works. Edit: Yup it does.

You know you are a vet student if you have at least three pets and they spend more time at the teaching hospital than you do.

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