Honorable Mention, Life as a Vet Student
Amanda Fischer, Cornell

My first year of veterinary school I never would have guessed that I would be writing an article for the Vet Gazette, let alone from a lab bench (when I should be in clinics).  The tale of my love affair with bench work started when I was an undergraduate at Cornell. In my manic attempts to diversify my resume for veterinary school, I applied for an undergraduate research assistant position.  I interviewed with John Parker, BVMS, PhD for the chance to work at the Baker Institute for Animal Health.  He told me there were other applicants, so when I was hired I felt like I’d won something.  It was the first job I’d applied for on my own.  Once I started, most of my time was spent predictably re-stocking laboratory supplies, but my project is what kept me interested in research.

If anyone reading has done immunofluorescent staining you know how infuriating and rewarding the process can be.  The first time I looked at feline cells that I had successfully stained for feline calicivirus protein, I was enthralled.  I could have stared at those cells forever. I was looking at virus infected cells and was looking at the virus! In the cells! I was seriously impressed with myself.  I tried to continue working in the lab, but there wasn’t funding for me to stay because he had a veterinary student working during that summer.

Fast forward to veterinary school, where I assume it’s common knowledge that the best way to make money over the summer is to conduct research.  With our level of debt, it’s hard to say no to stable income and housing you’ve already paid for.  I participated in Cornell’s Veterinary Investigator Program (VIP) my first summer.  I actually got paired up with Dr. Parker, which was great because I could pretend like I already had an idea about what I was doing.  I greatly enjoyed my incredibly frustrating project where I made no significant findings after 2 months.  The fact that this didn’t deter me from continuing to go to lab and find projects to work on speaks volumes about my personality.  I hope that my persistence will come in handy as a doctor.  But for now it’s serving me well in terms of keeping me gainfully employed as a student.  I also spent my second summer in the Parker lab, as a second year VIP participant.  It was around that time that I learned about an interesting opportunity to take a year off from veterinary school to do research full time...

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Sense of Humerus

Honorable Mention, Foot in Mouth
Charlie Cosimini, University of Minnesota

A drawing by Charlie Cosimini. The bones are, from left to right; dog, horse, bear, tiger

Getting the word out: How practitioners can integrate

Honorable Mention, Experiences
Sally Moseley, St. Matthew's University

“Okay,” a fellow vet student sighed in relief after her kitten slipped off the stairs and landed with an unpleasant thud onto the hard floor.  “I think she’s okay; she doesn’t seem as though she’s bleeding internally or anything.”

“Does that happen to animals?”

Our glares told the outnumbered med student that, yes, animals can have internal bleeding just as humans can.

The medical community has many divisions; some physicians are divided by specialty, some by species, and some by geography.  It is easy for us to get wrapped up in our own experiences and forget to open our mind to other possibilities.  However, this is a modern age that is only growing more modern, and I believe that this will aid the medical community in combating any prejudices resulting from ignorance; the modern age has opportunities for communication that have never been accessed before.

I am sorry that I had to pick on the aforementioned med student.  I find it disconcerting that it is so easy to pick on people for saying similar things.  My schoolmates and I have often discussed instances of people’s ignorance of animals.  Med students are easy targets because, let’s face it, there is a small rivalry between human physicians and multi-species physicians.

Instead of rivalries, why not use the modern age of communication to foster…communication?

 At a South African seabird rehabilitation center, I had the opportunity to help give African Penguin #234 (AP 234) a bath.  This was no ordinary, fun-loving procedure; the rehabilitation center often treated victims of oil spills.  Oiled-birds were typically weak and, to put it simply, sad-looking.  Animal-lovers are no strangers to the look of an animal who just does not look “right”.  They are not strangers to the apprehensive feeling in their guts that tells them that, darn it, that animal is in pain. 

AP 234 stood in the pen with his fellow sad-looking oiled-birds.  I took my charge and prepared myself for the next delicate task.  If the oiled-birds come in sad-looking, the bathing process can be even worse; the task is stressful for birds who have no idea of the humans’ good intentions.

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"The Wonder of Dog Dreams"

Winner, Creative Corner
Laura Clay, University of Georgia

Chronic Quadriceps Contracture in an Adult Cat

Winner, Cases/Abstracts
Ashley Nichols, Ross

Cloe is my three-year-old, spayed, Domestic Short Hair, feline that was adopted in 2010 at the age of one. When Cloe was adopted from the shelter, she displayed a hind limb deformity. The right hind limb deformity resulted in a permanent extension of the right hind limb (Figure 1). It was suggested by the shelter that the “cat was abused or hit by a car prior to arrival.” Subsequently, I have not seen nor taken any radiographs of the right hind limb. Since 2010, there have been no clinically observable changes in the condition of the right hind limb and Cloe has been up to date on all medications, and vaccines. On December 17^th, 2012, Dr Paula A. Schuerer DVM saw Cloe as a new patient. She was seen for a physical exam and baseline radiographs.

Physical Examination

Cloe’s weight, 9 lbs, and body condition score (3.5/5) put her in the overweight category.  Nevertheless, with exception to abnormalities being in the muscular skeletal system, the rest of physical exam findings were within normal limits. Examination of Cloe’s movement demonstrated an abnormal gait. Yet, she had no difficulty in moving around the exam room, including an attempt to jump off the exam table. When in a sitting position, it was observed that Cloe’s right hind limb was in a fixed position and abnormally protruded from the body.

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