A couple of weeks ago, I got to speak to the entire 5th grade at a local elementary school for 'career day.' They came in 25 or so at a time in 4 different groups over 3.5 hours. I have done some sort of career day almost every year I've been here in VA - but usually I'm talking to kindergarten or 1st graders. Or pre-schoolers.
5th grade was very different and very fun. They actually asked really good questions! (As opposed to first graders who raise their hands and say they have a question and then it goes something like "my dog is black and likes to eat mushrooms and this one time he got his head stuck in a bag and then my cat jumped on him and then..... and then..... and then....." :)
I still like 1st graders - but I think I like talking to 5th graders more. And just this past week I did what I think is my first ever speaking/teaching time with some high schoolers. They were especially fun. :)
I digress.
I always gave the 5th graders the opportunity to ask me questions. Without fail each group asked the same two: 1) what is the most dangerous animal I have ever worked on and 2) what is the hardest part of my job.
To digress a little farther, my favorite questions of the day were: 1)" If a lizard breaks it's leg, do you put a small cast on it?" and 2) "so, when people die, that's just it - they are dead. But when a cow dies or a goat dies - we can eat it. So why don't you get paid more than a real doctor since you can actually make money off your patients when they die. We don't eat people so they are no good once they are dead."
Bahaa haaaa haaaa! KIDS! How great is that question? I had to really concentrate to not bust out laughing (which I did not.)
I usually blasted their socks off when I told them the most dangerous animal I had ever worked on was a shark. Heh. :)
That's a small fib, though. I was not actually IN the water with the shark - just standing next to it. But the point was to let them know that there is a vet out there who works on ALL kinds of animals and fish and lizards and birds and bears and such.
In fact, one of the 5th grader's answer to my question "what does a veterinarian do?" was brilliant. He said that a veterinarian takes care of any kind of problem with any kind of animal. :) Smart kid.
In all actuality, the most dangerous animal I've ever gotten to put my hands on is the picture you see above. That's a cougar.
Cats send more veterinarians/veterinary staff to the hospital than any other animal. And that cougar up there is one big cat. :)
This was during my ROCKING Wildlife/Exotics rotation my senior year of vet school. There was a brief period of time in my life when I was younger that I wanted to be a zoo vet. I realized later the improbability of such a scenario, but those 2 weeks of school were simply awesome.
One of the things I got to do was go to a local big cat sanctuary and help with a root canal on this cougar. Dr. Jones is the guy in the picture and he is one cool dude. (He's also a big dude! Look how small I am next to him! And look at the size of the tail of that cat! Wow! ) He used a blow dart to sedate the cougar and once she was out, I intubated her to keep her on gas anesthesia during the procedure.
Talk about being nervous! I had to stick my hands inside the mouth of this cougar and hope she did not wake up and eat me. :)
She didn't.
And the entire day was fabulous.
The bottom picture is of me actually placing the tube in her mouth. It was awkward doing it with her laying on her side, but I got it done.
Can any of my vet school peeps tell me the name of the female doctor in the pic? She was our exotics Resident and she always said 'Aw PUMPKIN! Who did it? Who do it?' to her patients when they were squawking at her. I loved her. But I can't remember her name....
She was also very kind to me when I completely blew it and gave a screech owl a 25% dextrose solution SQ instead of a 2.5% solution. Ooops. Owl did fine, btw. No sloughing! :)
Yay, vet school memories.
