The Nacho Deer

Kate Connell - Penn

Foot in Mouth Disease - Winner

Best Overall Submission - Winner

         I’ve often found that the most interesting cases in the veterinary field appear on the necropsy table. Unlike human medicine, we can’t always afford to run all of the necessary diagnostics to find our disease. So the most baffling cases literally open up for exploration once the patient is deceased.

            The case that I’ll lay out for you today features a deer that was brought in to a wildlife clinic in Guatemala (yes, there are deer in in Central America). At first glance, he took your breath away. Magnificent twelve point buck, glistening coat, bright eyes, and…morbidly obese. We might be used to seeing overweight cats and dogs coming to our offices, but let me tell you, seeing a fat deer is something that makes you scratch your head. 

            The police confiscated the deer from a man keeping it in his backyard, where it had been raised on a diet of Frito Lays and Pringles (how the name “Nacho Deer” came about). Once he was with us, Nacho Deer acted like a typical only child that had been allowed to eat cookies for breakfast and stay up late watching TV in his room. When given his vegetables, he kicked them around his pen in a bitter rampage, and volunteers weren’t allowed in the enclosure with him after too many charging incidents. 

            Needless to say, no one shed a tear when Nacho Deer was found suddenly dead one evening. Because it was too late to investigate cause of death, we locked him in the office (no deer-sized refrigerator in the facility) so that scavengers wouldn’t pick at him overnight. We returned to do the necropsy the next morning, and I’ve never seen such a bizarre combination of pathologies.

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Congratulations to our V:50 I:3 Winners!!!

Please join us in congratulating our new winners for Volume 50: Issue 3!!!! We will starting publishing submissions ASAP so look out for them!!!

The school with the most overall submissions was.... Texas A&M!!!!!

Once again, we had too difficult of a time selecting the winner for best overall submission so we went with a tie!

Best overall submission:

Kate Connell - Penn - Foot in Mouth Disease
Michael McEntire - Texas A&M - Foot in Mouth Disease

Trivia (correct answer was: Peter Ostrum - winners were randomly selected):

Victoria Neff - Mizzou
Analisa Edell - Western

Creative Corner Winners:
Hannah Fearing - Georgia
Stacy Caffey - Texas A&M
Brooke Creech - Western
Andrew Tsai - Western
Laurel Eckstrand - VT-MD
Marc Silpa - Edinburgh

Life as a Vet Student:
Ava Kilburn - Ross - Winner
Patricia Wonder - Texas A&M - Honorable Mention 
Caitlyn Lennon - Western - Honorable Mention

Foot in Mouth Disease:
Michael McEntire - Texas A&M - Winner 
Kate Connell - Penn - Winner 
Morgan Jacobson - Western - Honorable Mention 
Chanel Baron - UC Davis - Honorable Mention

Experiences:
Anika Farina - Tufts - Winner 
Meaghan Ryan - Texas A&M - Winner 
Brian Tighe - Ross - Honorable Mention 
Stephanie Massey - Texas A&M - Honorable Mention 
Catherine Lang - Texas A&M - Honorable Mention

Abstracts/Cases:
Annette Louviere - Georgia - Winner 
Jessica Xu - Texas A&M - Honorable Mention 
Jennifer Storer - Tennessee - Honorable Mention

Reflections on Life in Vet School

Therese Gavin, Texas A&M

Life as A Vet Student, Entry

Not long ago, an old friend asked me what the theme of my life in veterinary school was. The question caught me by surprise, but what surprised me more was I honestly did not know the answer. So, I did what one typically does in such situations, and said something I knew wasn’t wrong, but also wasn’t quite right—“Contentment,” and hoped my answer wasn’t questioned. Yet, the question remained on my mind and I soon discovered why.

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Demodex...

Joyce Huang, UGA

Foot In Mouth, Entry

One day, I was talking to a non-vet school friend about what I learned at the vet hospital and I mentioned Demodex.  I thought nothing about it, until I saw her worried expression.

Me: "..so, this dog came in and it had Demodex. The doctors were showing me how to find it with a scrape."

Friend: "..."

*5 minutes into the conversation*

Friend: "Wait. Did you say Demon X?? What kind of bugs are there in the vet world???"

Me: "...Demodex? Though...Demon X sounds like a good name for it too..."

The Dog Who Did not Want a Bath

Alex King, Virginia-Maryland

Creative Corner, Entry

I needed no alarm clock or siren or bell

For I was awakened by a foul doggie smell

A wet nose in the morning is a pleasant enough thing

But not if your pup has just rolled in something

Some dogs take to water as a rule

But to mine you cannot be more cruel

Than to get her cold or make her wet

She’d rather endure a trip to the vet

Some might avoid the washing chore

And let her smell for a month or more

But on this truth we must conclude

that to stink and smell too much is rude

She ran, she hid, she barked and fled

I chased her round til my face turned red

I caught her, held her, sprayed the hose

She rolled and squirmed and clawed my nose

Battered and bruised, wet and dripping

She kept up the fight, yelping and kicking

At last it was over, my task was complete

My clothes were all soaked from my head to my feet

And why, you may ask, do I still love this cur?

She’s finally clean but I’m now covered in fur

And when I can take no more of it

To anger I could never commit

For one who can fetch and stay and sit

Filled with joy, and life, and wit

But maybe I spoke too soon a bit...

NO LILLIE! Please don’t roll in that poop!