It’s been a while! Since I have last written, I have spent time seeing a mixture of exotics and small animals, as well as horses – mostly horses.

During my exotics rotation, I got to spend time learning about bunnies, guinea pigs, lizards and a variety of birds (mostly parrots). I had the opportunity to help with their treatments and do physical examinations. I also saw many small animal cases (cats and dogs), which was wonderful in the middle of this horse-filled summer!

Don’t get me wrong, horses are wonderful creatures. However, they are dangerous, and performing medical procedures on them is not my passion. Thankfully, I made it through two weeks of equine lameness (think poking needles into joints to remove feeling in them, using a freezing agent) and two weeks on internal medicine (think passing stomach tubes in through the noses of sick horses) without getting injured.

I don’t regret my decision to pursue such a large volume of equine cases. If anything, it has made me a better (future) small animal veterinarian having seen a large breadth of species and cases. Not to mention, this has been mentally challenging. Horses scare me a bit, at least their hooves do. This summer has been an opportunity to push myself through things that I am fearful of, thus building my character and my confidence in the process.

Currently, I am in the midst of a diagnostics rotation – where we have been looking at x-ray and ultrasound images. At the end of the month I will be headed to my surgery externship (a rotation I set up myself, my school did not offer it) in the US.

In addition to all of these clinical rotations, I have begun studying for the big licensing examination at the end of November – 6+ hours long with 360 questions. Wish me luck!