Taped Shoes and Superpowers

Gabrielle Woo, Cornell University

Experiences, Winner

I landed in Pearson International Airport last night after a week of surgery and wellness clinics in Spirit Lake, North Dakota. The last time I was in Toronto, the temperature outside was well below zero and a good portion of the city’s residential blocks were still reeling from the Christmas ice storm. Now with summer approaching, I am glad to see buds on the trees and smell fresh mud on nearby running trails.

The past week with RAVS is already beginning to blur in my memory. It takes a certain level of exhaustion to enable fifty people to sleep soundly on a hard gymnasium floor through a nightly chorus of yelping dogs and angry meowling cats. It was a tiring, incredible, sometimes stressful but extremely rewarding six days of hard work and learning. As a team of students and veterinary professionals we shared knowledge and expertise as well as bathroom space, cars, meals and various external parasites (that last one occurred unintentionally). By Friday we had examined, vaccinated, medicated and sterilized 340 dogs and cats from the native American reservation.

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My friend "Carmella"

Christina Scudder, University of Missouri

Foot In Mouth Disease, Winner

I have a dear friend--I'll call her Carmella--who is an endless source of amusement. Despite being an intelligent individual and a dedicated student, Carmella has a bit of difficulty with, well, words. Thus, the medical terminology of veterinary school has proven to be problematic for her. 

Once, Carmella announced to us that a friend of hers had scabies and was suffering badly. We questioned her friend's hygiene, whereupon she corrected herself and said that her friend actually had scrapie. This was hardly a relief! Before we could contact the CDC, however, Carmella--seeing the bafflement on our faces--finally admitted that her friend's affliction was actually shingles. 

On another occasion, we were dissecting horses in Large Animal Anatomy, and happened to uncover the superficial thoracic vein, otherwise known as the spur vein (for its propensity towards being damaged when kicked by a rider). Carmella referenced a story told earlier by the professor about how hematomas have been known to form alongside this vein following trauma from vigorous spurring. "Can you believe that?" she asked, sincerely. "Have you ever kicked your horse so hard you gave him hemorrhoids?" 

Perhaps my favorite Carmella story relates to the time a group of us were discussing a case in the hospital: an animal with an extreme inflammatory response that had resulted in massive thrombosis, resulting in the death of extremities from ischemia, subsequently followed by unchecked bleeding. Know what it is yet? Carmella did, too, and pulled out the three-letter acronym for the condition: "COD!" No, we explained--this was DIC, or disseminated intravascular coagulation. This did not satisfy Carmella, who wanted more information. "All over the body?" she asked. Exasperated, another friend clarified: "DISSEMINATED." 

(submitted with permission of the story's real protagonist)

"Creative Corner" - Overall Award Winner for Best Submission

Maxbetter Vizelberg - Tufts

Overall Winner, Creative Corner Winner

"Creative Corner"

"Horse ECG" & "Endoscope" - Overall Award Winner for Best Submission

Phoenix Watt - Western University

Overall Winner, Creative Corner Winner

"Horse ECG" set to the tune of The Little Mermaid's "Under the Sea"

"Endoscope" set to the tune of Frozen's "Let it Go"

50th Edition, Issue 2 Winners!!!!

We're excited to announced the winners of The Vet Gazette - 50th Edition, Issue 2!!!!

We had 220 submissions from 28 different schools - the most submissions we've ever seen!!

The school with the most submissions was Western!!

Overall Winners for Best Submission:

(Tie) Maxbetter Vizelberg - Tufts

(Tie) Phoenix Watt - Western

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