2 Down, 3 To Go – Years that is!

Judy travels round the farm in this environmentally friendly truck door!

I can’t quite believe that I have successfully completed 2 years of the course already! Yes that does mean that I passed those dreaded end of year summer exams. Let me tell you - they don’t get any easier. In fact this year was probably worse than last year as we had done so many subjects that I, personally, find very hard to understand and remember – parasitology, endocrinology, pharmacology the list goes on!

We only had 2 weeks of proper teaching and lectures this term. The last 3 weeks were what are termed Integrated Concepts (IC) weeks. This is a relatively new idea in the curriculum but I feel a very valuable one. The idea behind IC is that, in small groups, we can research and delve a little deeper into a chosen subject area. We had to present a 10 minute PowerPoint presentation on a specific subject within a larger topic. There were 3 different topics each week and in our Directed Learning groups we had to prioritise them and then enter out choices into a bit of a lottery to see which topic we ‘won’. Well I have to say that my group was incredibly lucky as we got our first choice every week!

You can look but don't touch

Week one’s overall topic was Environmental and Genetic Birth Defects. Within this my group were asked to do a presentation on Syndactyly. Syndactyly is a genetic birth defect whereby digits of a limb are fused e.g. a cow may be born with only a single toe instead of the usual 2 toes on each limb. Week two’s overall topic was The Post Partum Dairy Cow – A Challenge to the Industry. For this we were asked to look at the role genetics plays in this. Week three was all about welfare (my favourite subject – ever!), we were asked to look at pet rabbit welfare. Believe it or not there is NO legislation specifically aimed at pet rabbits in the UK! That means NO licences for rabbit breeders, NO compulsory inspections for rabbit breeders and NO official education on rabbit care for pet owners.

Dan the man.

I found this surprising and disturbing. Given that rabbits are the third most popular pets after dogs and cats and that most rabbits seen by vets in practice have problems that could be prevented by owners being educated about their rabbits’ needs, you would think the government would issue some guidelines about their care and welfare. Instead it is left to organisations such as the Rabbit Welfare Association and Fund (http://www.rabbitwelfare.co.uk/rwf/index.php). I know that Emma did a great article on rabbits not so long ago so I won’t harp on about this but suffice to say that rabbits are not the best pets for small children and are certainly not happy simply stuck in a hutch their entire lives, please do your research thoroughly before getting your children a pet rabbit.
So, rant over, let’s move on to other things. I did some more farm placements at the end of this term. I went back to the same dairy farm as last year for a week except this time a friend from college came too. We had a great time and you can see us larking about in the pictures. I also went to another mixed farm that had cows, sheep, pigs and chickens – crazily busy!

Suzie and Maude want to see whats going on out there.

Although a bit depressing I feel I should tell you about 2 traumatic things that happened this term too. Firstly, I was out walking my dog 3 days before my exams started and whilst busily trying to revise cardiology my beautiful girl Kess was attacked by another dog! A chocolate Labrador of all things! This, incidentally, is exactly why I say Deed Not Breed – ANY dog can be dangerous not just the archetypical Staffy!

I am now introducing a new piece to my articles entitled – This Term’s Pet Hate! Yes you guessed it This Term’s Pet Hate is people letting their dangerous dog off the lead! If your dog can be aggressive toward other living creatures (dogs or humans) then you MUST keep it on a lead preferably muzzled but always under control. I am a firm believer that 99% of aggressive dogs can be helped with the correct guidance from a qualified professional. Please, for others safety and your dog’s sanity, find a dog behaviourist that can help you and your dog. It is the height of irresponsible dog ownership to know your dog can be aggressive and still let it off the lead on walks! Kess sustained an inch wide tooth puncture wound to her left skin flank, which has, thankfully all healed now without complication but the emotional damage is sometimes worse than the physical!

Judy and Lauren make sure the heifers are getting their hay.

The second traumatic event to occur this term was when my friend’s dog Charlie went to investigate a swimming pool in someone’s garden. He walked up to the edge and assumed the cover was a continuation of the ground. Yup you’ve guessed it he fell straight in but also UNDER the cover and couldn’t push it up to get his head above the water! I have never run so fast in my entire life, I threw myself onto the ground and hanging over the edge, shoved my arms into the water and grabbed his collar and yanked him out! I have not been that scared in a long time! He went for a nice long walk after that and he was absolutely fine – luckily! Note for all – put a locked fence around outdoor swimming pools, they can be death traps!

Judy, Lauren and Pippit.

So come September I will be a THIRD year vet student – I can’t believe it! The RVC’s course is split in 2 with the first 2 years being called the preclinical years and based in London, the last 3 years are the clinical years and are based in Potter’s Bar in Hertfordshire. So it’s a big change from September as we will effectively be going to a ‘new’ college. We’ll all have to learn the campus layout and all the new staff! However, these issues are outweighed by the fact that we will finally feel like proper vet students as we will be going off to vet practices to ‘see practice’ or as it’s officially called Extra Mural Studies or EMS. This is the part of the course I have been looking forward to since day 1, I have always learnt better through doing and seeing than reading and so I should ‘come into my own’, as they say, for the next 3 years. I still stand by what I said last year though, that each year just gets harder and harder and I am hoping I don’t find it too hard to work whilst I have everything crossed!

Judy with Lauren, Ryan and Diana, 4 potentially Very Dangerous vets!

Anyhoo, until next time take care of yourselves and your animals.

Judy

More soon

Don't Miss...

So You Want to be a Vet?

Our page for aspiring vets.

I Want to be a Vet...