She had me at "Hello"

Renee Poche, Louisiana State University

Life as a Vet Student, Honorable Mention

From an early age, I knew that I wanted to become a veterinarian.  While my friends were playing with Barbie dolls, I was crawling under the house to help a mother cat move her kittens.  When visiting my grandmother in the country, I easily scooped up one of her chickens and sang to it (while rocking like a baby).  I told squirrels that I loved them and wanted to take them home with me.  My love of animals led me to be serious about my studies and dedicated to a career path in veterinary medicine. 

While I was in my undergraduate studies, I worked at a veterinary clinic. On occasion, someone would drop off a stray with the hope that we could find a foster home.  It was during the summer when a litter of puppies were dropped off to the clinic.  They had been abandoned near a camp in the swamps of Louisiana.   The puppies had just opened their eyes and they were virtually hairless with infestation of scabies.  They were in a horrible health condition.  As well as being underfed, they had intestinal worms and their bellies were swollen.

The vet decided to treat them and find homes for the five puppies (one had already died).  They were kept in quarantine so that the other animals (or humans) would not run the risk of being infected.

They were a breed called “Catahoula Leopard Dog”, which is the Louisiana State Dog.  This is recognized as the only native domesticated North American breed of dogs and were developed for herding cattle and hogs by Native Americans and early settlers in North Louisiana.

The Catahoulas are a beautiful dog with short coats, sometimes spotted, in a variety of colors like blue, yellow, chocolate, or red.  They also have haunting or “glass” eyes in distinctive colors of blue, brown, or amber.  Some of them come with odd eyes – each one is a different color, or two-colored “cracked eyes”.

Although I already had a dog (actually a quirky Jack Russell terrier), I became attached to “Abigal” who is a red Catahoula with amber eyes, because I was so involved in the care of these special puppies. With the proper care and medicine, I saw the puppies grow and become healthy.

She had me at “Hello” because Abigal was a very sweet puppy, though timid.  As she would cling to me, I became equally attached to her and decided to take her home and introduce her to the head of my household – Moby, my Jack Russell, who was not impressed.  Once it was bedtime, I set up separate bedding, one for each of the dogs.  There was some confusion and switching around as Abigal ended up sleeping on the smaller bed while Moby stretched out on the larger bed. 

There were early challenges with Abigal’s health as she had a urinary tract infection—which meant lots of accidents and clean up!  When she was six months old, I brought her to be spayed and there were complications as she was actually in heat.  It seemed as though there was always something going wrong with her—not to mention having to give her daily anxiety medication because of her serious fear of separation.

Although this lovely Catahoula has been a challenge because of her anxious moments, she is a blessing to me, for she is such a gentle dog.  I nicknamed her “Sister” because she is Moby’s playmate (no one believes me when I proclaim that the two mismatched dogs are siblings).  Although Abigal is still timid, she enjoys shaking hands and  playing with her toys.   A clap of thunder will send Abigal squeezing behind me on the sofa or hiding under a table. 

It is great to see her venture out at the dog park and run with other dogs.  But she always keeps her eyes searching for me and approaches any blonde girl for comfort.

Abigal has made many visits to LSU Vet School as a practice dog in the lab for eye and ear exams.    She is now four years old and a healthy and happy dog.  My time with her has been very rewarding and I have learned a lot from her, including patience and hands-on experience in working with a challenged dog. 

Although I give a lot to her, she gives me even more.  Going through my first year of vet school, I have had stress like never before!  Coming home to this silly, smiling dog, day after day, brings me joy while giving me the encouragement I need to keep up the hard work.

I couldn’t imagine life without my nervous girl.