November Feral Cat Clinic

The November Feral Cat Clinic was exciting.

I got there early and helped draw the three in one vaccines before the clinic started. The three in ones had to be done differently then the rabies. The sterile dilutent was drawn into the syringe and then squirted into the powdered vaccine before being drawn back into the syringe.

Annika was involuntarily volunteered to be the one to sedate the cats. It was amusing to watch her because everytime a cat moved, she would almost shriek. It was entertaining. Kim got there later to give the anesthesia.

I opted to be the one who transferred them from the sedation room into the room where everything was going on. I think I like that area the most because I can see the cat's personalities. Some come in scared stiff to the point where injecting the anesthesia is incredibly easy. Others come in angry at the world and angry at us for taking them from their angry world. Others come in as stray pets that simply miss being loved and rub against fingers and syringes. Two came in with collars but no name tags. One had a microchip but it hadn't been registered. We checked for ear tips to show that some cats had already been through this trauma once already.

This time there were really little babies. They looked so tiny in the feral cat traps. Their personalities were so different from the adults. They seemed scared but inquisitive, as if they hadn't learned not to trust humans yet. They accepted it as an adventure.

Three had been sedated and surgery performed on but it was difficult bringing them out. So three others about the same side weren't done. It was risky. Because we couldn't guarantee that they would be caught to have a second chance.

It was an extremely long clinic. Last month, we did four hundred and nine cats over both Saturday and Sunday. But this time, we had four hundred and eleven dropped off. And we were doing them all in one day.

There weren't as many veterinarians as there were last month. For most of the day there were four but at one time there were only three. It was definitely daunting because last month there were like six. Dr. Henderson, Dr. Lalor, Dr. Wagner, and Dr. Goodman were performing the surgeries.

Most of the other volunteers and Kim left at four but I had decided that I would see it through to the end. I took over the bookkeeping aspect, logging down the genders of each of the remaining hundred or more cats, writing down which vet performed the spay on the females, and any medical conditions.

The genders were being shouted out by two other volunteers, Debbie and Rich, once the cats were sedated enough to be removed from the cage. Some had already been fixed.

Males were able to be done quickly because neutering is almost completely non-invasive. The scrotum was slit open and the testicle was squeezed out. Knots were tied in the tube and then the tube was cut. The knots were tucked back into the empty scrotum and stitches were done. Ocassionally there were some interesting neuters like undescended testicles which the doctors refered to as high flanking.

Females weren't as easy or quick. The surgery was delicate. An inch long slit was placed through the skin and abdominal wall. A hook was used to withdraw the fallopian tubes and ovaries. The pedicel was tied off and cut first. The uterus was drawn out and a knot was placed around the cervix. Once knotted, the entire uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries were removed. Stitches were placed in the abdominal wall followed by subcutaneous stitches. A small line of Vetbond was glued over the stitches. One female had a torn pedical. Another female had something called uteran unicornus which meant that the female only had one ovary.

Once down with the respective surgeries temperatures, breathing rates, and membrane colors were checked. The vaccines were distributed. Females and males with undescended testicles were given Buprenorphine for the pain post-op. Medical conditions were looked for and noted during that stage. Ears were tipped to show that they had been surgically sterilized to reduce the feral cat population's growth.

It is a myth that fleas can't occur in Vegas. But for some reason, they aren't seen in the pet population only the feral population. One of the kittens that I was warming back up after coming out of surgery had a flea on her.

Fleas were treated with Frontline, ear mites were treated with Ivermectin, and if they needed to be reversed out of anesthesia it was done withe Yobine.

The cats were then taken to another room where they were bathed and brushed. Some required some extra attention as they woke up. Ideally, they should be twitching their ears, blinking, or licking at their lips when placed back in the traps. But then again with so many cats, it was hard. So some volunteers watched them while they woke up in their traps to ensure everything was going okay.

It was alot of fun and exciting.

My Mission

A lot of my thoughts really don't make sense in this. I understand that. My train of thought is more like a train wreck. So I think I need to blatantly share my mission.

I want to change the world. The world of animals.

I want...

...To stop pain and suffering
...To end animal abuse so that no animal is ever touched in a cruel way.
...To end neglect and ensure that every pet will be fed and watered, granted access to a warm bed, and lots of love.
...Educate people on the proper care of their animals.
...Find a way to make veterinary medicine affordable so that no one will allow their animal to suffer on the
...Every stray and homeless pet to find homes so that feral cat clinics and animal shelters no longer need to exist.
...Make sure that the animal shelters that must remain have enough funding to find every dog a home.
...To end kill shelters.
...To bring animals back from the edge of death when no one else thought they would survive.
...To give every animal a chance to survive, no matter how big or small it is.
...To breed endangered species and bring those species back from the edge of extinction.
...To stop the illegal poaching
...To stop the destruction of natural land

I really don't want that much. Hahaha.

I don't know how I'll accomplish all of it but I'm gonna try.

Veterinary Medicine...

Last week, I went to a vet school presentation by a speaker from Cornell Vet School in New York. It was an informal presentation but it kinda got me thinking...

HOW CAN WE BE SO CONCEITED?

How the hell did I come away with that conclusion from a vet school presentation? Let me ask you this, what do you feel is the primary goal of a veterinarian?

This speaker continually refered to veterinary medicine as helping animals in order to better the lives of humans. Horse health became important when they were needed for transportation and work. Livestock health became important in order to create better quality food. Small animal medicine became important when pets came into our homes.

Why can't animals be cared about just because they exist? They have every right to live that we do yet we constantly threaten that right. So instead of taking care of animals so that they may better our lives, can we just better their lives? Without some human-related end goal.

The One Health Initiative was also mentioned by the speaker. One Health is a program that looks to combine all angles of medicine. Because everything is linked together. Humans rely on the animals for food while animals rely on the environment. It makes sense that in order to get a smooth stable world, each aspect needs to be worked with.

I just wish that humans weren't always the top priority. I want to do veterinary medicine because I want to change the lives of animals. Not just so that the animals can benefit the humans.

The Rat Pack

I was never a big fan of rats. Don't get me wrong I have a reason. And I think it's a really good reason.

At Petco, I would come in to see a rat lifting it's head out of the ribcage of a partially devoured dead rat. That image was forever implanted in my mind.

It didn't help that I was bitten by a Rex Rat when I worked at my current pet store. Rex is not short for T-Rex. But it would have fit considering how much blood he managed to draw. My manager thought I had murdered something. Rex Rats are known for their curly rough coat and curly whiskers.

After a while, I began to warm up to them. They weren't evil, gross, or carrying the Black Plague. But I still wasn't going to consider keeping one as a pet.

Until I met Six. Six came to me after killing a snake. The owner of the snake then wanted to kill him. So I took him. He was a mess. Covered in scratches and blood. The vet at Banfeild told me it was a neurological issue. But then Melissa taught me about rat mites. After treating him with ivermectin every three days and cleaning his cage every day, he was better. The name Six came about when Mom suggested Subject Six, the surviving rat from I Am Legend. He was a blue and white fancy rat. He was my grumpy old man but he rocked.




Six after taking a bath


Dopey was the second rat. He was also used at snake bait but surviving by killing the snake. I fell in love with his big Dumbo ears that moved as he ate and would pout with him if I passed the cage without giving him a treat. He was a gray Dumbo rat.

Black Rat was the third. He was actually Dopeys brother. But he had been isolated for what looked like blood coming from his eye. Rat tears are actually pigmented with red so it wasn't blood. Just a really teary eye. He went to the vet once in the five months that he was in isolation for some antibiotics that had no effect. When it got to the point that it was euthanization, I decided to bring him home. We had a lot of trouble with his name. I considered Sewer Rat, Bilge Rat, Scabbers, etc. But while I considered names we just called him Black Rat and it stuck.

Dizzy came next. He was a special one with that definitely had some neurological issues. He walked in circles and swayed his head back and forth. His name was pretty easy to think of.

Sadly, Rats only live a couple years so all four of the originals have passed.

I have two at the moment. The brothers that were dropped off at my doorstep in a bank box. At least I think they were brother because they were the same age and had very similar markings.

Weasley is a gray and white chunk of a Dumbo rat with a white stripe down his face. He is a greedy gut with a lot of spunk. He likes to chase the dogs and tease the cats.

Potter is another problem child. The black and white Dumbo rat has a white lightning stripe down his forehead earning him the Harry Potter name. But he never got chunky like his brother. Because his bottom incisors are growing too long and stabbing into the roof of his mouth. Causing infection and definitely making it painful for him to eat. My mom and I have been trimming his teeth frequently. In theory, if I kept his bottom teeth short, his upper teeth would come back in. But they haven't yet. I'm beginning to wonder if he even has upper teeth. So I'm hoping to save up some money to get him x-rayed to find out.

Puppy Mills Leave dogs with long term psychological damage in addition to physical

We all know about the deplorable conditions at puppy mills, where puppies are mass-produced for sale in retail pet stores or online. The breeding dogs are confined in small cages or enclosures for their whole lives, get virtually no exercise or kind human contact, and usually sleep in their own excrement and urine.

Sadly, on the occasion that these breeding dogs make it out of the mill and into foster or adoptive homes, life doesn’t just automatically turn around for them. According to a study of 1,169 dogs formerly used as breeders in puppy mills, the psychological damage can be long-lasting — or even lifelong.

It’s something those who work with puppy mill rescues have seen for years. But this large-scale study, by the Best Friends Animal Society and the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School, is the first of its kind, showing that even those mills approved by the government can be extremely damaging.

“The results of the study indicate it really doesn’t matter if the breeding operation claims to be shiny and clean, abiding by the laws, or even whether or not they are licensed by the USDA,” says Frank McMillan, lead researcher of the study and director of well-being studies for Best Friends. “This study gives us strong evidence that the dogs kept in these large-scale breeding facilities don’t just suffer while they’re confined there, but carry the emotional scars out with them for years even when they’re placed in loving homes. Many of the dogs show difficulty in simply coping successfully with normal day-to-day life.”

The cages were approx 1.5 feet high and 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide. The cage floors were of approx. 1.5″ x 1.5″ coated wire. No solid surface for support — just look at this poor Mama’s splayed paws, and long, untrimmed nails curling around the wire. And can you imagine how uncomfortable it must be for her to lie down? The piles in the foreground are feces.

The buildup of feces and urine were beyond comprehension … the urine puddle beneath the Mama Doxie was cheeselike in consistency. The collection tray was full of mold. … The foul odor and flies were beyond comprehension. I could not fathom this as being an acceptable, much less humane, way to raise man’s best friend. It made me sick to hear her whimpering as she looked at me … like what did I do to deserve this?

The study shows that former breeding dogs have greatly elevated levels of fears and phobias, strong compulsive and repetitive behaviors like pacing, increased sensitivity to being touched and picked up, and problems with house soiling.

Fortunately, many such dogs are able to overcome the damage with a lot of love and patience. But not all can.

“The saddest stories are those from the kindhearted people who adopt these dogs and work hard for years to give them love and acceptance. They’ll sometimes report that even after several years the dog will simply sit and stare blankly into space,” McMillan says. “They tell me that it’s like ‘he’s not really there,’ or that the little dog is reminiscent of a severely autistic child.”

The word “heartbreaking” does not come close to describing the damages inflicted by these places …

Disgust with Pet Stores... A certain one.

For Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy, I am dissecting three lizards to compare and contrast the digestive tract of herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores. My specimens are an Iguana, Bearded Dragon, and Savannah Monitor.

Now this wasn't my original intended dissection. Originally I wanted to do a dissection of a reptile with Metabolic Bone Disease to show how the disease affected the skeleton of the reptile.

But finding dead reptiles is surprisingly difficult expecially when wanting such a specific specimen. Vets didn't keep bodies.

So I began to get a little desperate. I decided that I would secure some reptilian specimens and then build a project based on what specimen or specimens I could get. I tried pet stores. And one came through for me. Exotic Pets. Yes, it was beneficial to me but it also disgusted me to know how many dead animals were in their freezer. Two hedgehogs, an anaconda, a ball python, an iguana, a bearded dragon, a skink, and an ornate uromastyx. I found it a little disgruntling. But I needed specimens and now I had them.

I decided to use the Bearded Dragon and Iguana to compare the digestive tracts. Then I came across the monitor completing the three types of digestion.

But out of curiosity, I dissected them all.

The bearded dragon most likely died of an upper respiratory infection because it's lungs were filled with mucus. The lungs had a volume of 50 cc. Thirty of that was the mucus which I squeezed out. If he was that bad internally, then there were obvious visible symptoms that had to have been ignored. Upper respiratory presents with labored bearthing (often audible), mucus (from nose and mouth), and general lethergy.

The skink was a questionable species. I was told it was a schneider's skink. But from references, schnieder's skinks were supposed to be extremely tubular with short legs. The specimen on the table, was extremely thin and legs looked too long. When he was cut open, I released why he was so anorexic. His abdomen was filled with worms. Parastic worms were along the intestine, inside the stomach, and inside the lungs.

Now I know that I probably wasn't getting healthy specimens. Healthy specimens wouldn't have died. But at the same time, these animals didn't have to die either. Both conditions were treatable had the symptoms been noticed. Or worse, maybe they were noticed but ignored.

Now besides their dead animals, they have a lot of audacity.

Every time that I've stepped into their store, there has been something dead. Turtles, snakes, lizards, insects. And they'll insist that it's not dead but it is. Because it's not breathing, it's liver is black from decomp, and it smells something awful.

Then, they'll sell animals close to death. They've sold someone a snake that died within twenty four hours of leaving the store. But that's probably why they don't have a health quarantee on their animals. Because they know it's sick and dying.

What I don't understand it why Ken Foose is so respected by the herpetological world when his store is such a shame. He has an article in every Reptiles USA magazine describing the care of different herp species. Why would someone trust his word when there are so many things dying in his store.

I have stopped going there.

Why I'm doing this....

Not the blog. The blog is for fun.

Why am I swimming upstream?

Why am I knowingly going to school for fourteen hours a day, struggling in math classes that I know I can't get more than a passing grade in, dissecting animals to compare digestive tracts, and researching animals?

Because I need to be a vet. More specifically, I need to be an exotics vet.

There are plenty of vets available to treat your dogs and cats. But there aren't many to turn to when your reptile, small animal, or bird gets sick. I have so many horror stories of vets that will not admit their incompetence but it becomes evident.

...Googling treatments for a hamster with wet tail. Seriously, Google.
...Prescribing Ivermectin to a leopard gecko as a precaution when the medication could potentially kill it.
...Mistaking fecal matter as eggs in a snake that never met a male.
...Mistaking rat mites for a neurological disorder.
...Ordering the euthanization of a rat with red tears.
...Ignoring overgrown teeth as a reason of weight loss.
...Mistaking the hairless spot behind the ear of a guinea pig for ringworm.
...Rather than giving a longshot animal a chance, they immediately want to euthanize it.

Not only are there issues with the diagnoses and treatments but the prices. For an exotic animal consultation, it tends to be fifty dollars. Fifty dollars just to be in the same room as a vet. That doesn't include any testing or treatments.

...Fifty dollars to trim overgrown teeth.
...Twenty dollars to clip bird wings.
...Eight hundred dollars to let a frog sit in warm water til he pooped.

There is also the vet that looks at you and pegs you for a sucker and tries to milk you dry by running up the costs of tests and treatments that may not even be necessary.

Then there is my ultimate favorite. The vet who is seemingly trying to be nice by saving you money. But asks you... "Why not just buy another one."

Why would I rather take my animals to the vet and spend large amounts of money when I could by a new one for a fraction of the consultation price?

Because these are my pets. They are just as much of a family member as a dog or cat. And they deserve just as much love and care.