Horses and Dogs and Cows, Oh My
We've officially survived our first week of vet school! It's been a long but eventful and exciting week. Even though I don't exactly know where everything is or what all of the protocols are yet, I already feel like I've been here for a long time. I'm so happy to be here. Here's a breakdown of what happened this week:
Monday:
This was the longest day of the week. We had lecture from 8 AM to 4:50 PM, with a one-hour break for lunch. The lectures varied from Cellular Structure & Function to the Behavior/Handling of Equine, Bovine, and Small Animals. This week is meant to be a review and to level the playing field for everyone. We did get our dissection kits though!
Tuesday:
We had lectures in the morning, which started to go into Anatomy. The first lab happened this afternoon. The class of 128 is split into three lab sections that rotate depending on the day. My team and I had Equine lab for two hours. This was my first experience truly working with horses, and it went pretty well! We split into groups of ten, and each group had a vet lead them through activities. We practiced haltering from and releasing back into a pen, walking, squaring feet, approaching, and lifting up the feet/legs of a horse. The vet was very patient with everyone and gave each person individual advice. The school wants students to learn a specific way to perform each task, so even the lifelong "horse people" had to be instructed to unlearn bad habits. I guess that's the upside to not having any horse experience - not having to unlearn muscle memory! I ended the day by getting my second rabies vaccine.
Wednesday:
This was another long day of lectures. All of the professors so far are great though. You can tell that they really love what they teach. The best part of this day was the SAVMA chapter meeting in the afternoon. SAVMA is essentially the umbrella organization for all of the clubs at school, so each club introduced itself, and many of them sold merchandise with the school logo afterward! There was so much awesome stuff, like duffel bags, vests, polos, shirts, decals, thermoses, mugs, and much more. I got a few things, of course. I also signed up for the Surgery Club, Radiology Club, and Companion Animal Club. I'm also interested in FAPC (Food Animal Practitioners Club) and a few others. The day definitely ended on a high note.
Thursday:
This was a cool day. We had one lecture and two labs in the morning. One lab was about how to use the microscope. The other was Anatomy Lab. When we walked in, the tables had dog and cat cadavers on them. Each team is responsible for two dogs and a cat. After a short demo by the professor, we began dissecting our cadavers! We cut and reflected the skin on the left ventral side of the body. The afternoon was another lab session, and my team had Dog lab. Our teaching dogs are beagle puppies of 6-8 months of age. In groups of four, we practiced restraints and TPR on the dogs. Later in the day was a FAPC meeting. I signed up, so hopefully I'll get to participate in wet labs sometime soon!
Friday:
One of the best things about the new curriculum is the integrative sessions. Most Fridays, we'll work in our teams to apply the material from earlier in the week to case studies. Half of the class meets at 9 AM, the other half at 10 AM, and everyone comes together at 11 AM with the professor to discuss. It was an awesome feeling to be able to connect information from different lectures. We also saw sheep, cat, horse, and bovine fetuses, which was also cool. The last afternoon lab session for the week was Bovine. We drove about 25 minutes away to Kentland Farms, which has Holstein and Jersey cows. We only have Holsteins at Rutgers, so I was really excited to work with Jerseys! First the professor had a few students help him demo how to cast a cow and tie knots. Then in groups of three, we practiced haltering, tying a quick release knot, applying a nasal restraint, tying a tail tie, applying a tail restraint, and tying a tom fools knot. We even finished early. It was a great end to the week.
Overall this week was great. There's a lot of material, but luckily a lot of it is review from undergrad classes. I also like my seat in the lecture hall. I'm excited to see what will happen next week!
Outside of VMCVM on the first day of classes.
Our dissection kits.
With the cows at Kentland Farms.
View from my seat in the first-year classroom.
Monday:
This was the longest day of the week. We had lecture from 8 AM to 4:50 PM, with a one-hour break for lunch. The lectures varied from Cellular Structure & Function to the Behavior/Handling of Equine, Bovine, and Small Animals. This week is meant to be a review and to level the playing field for everyone. We did get our dissection kits though!
Tuesday:
We had lectures in the morning, which started to go into Anatomy. The first lab happened this afternoon. The class of 128 is split into three lab sections that rotate depending on the day. My team and I had Equine lab for two hours. This was my first experience truly working with horses, and it went pretty well! We split into groups of ten, and each group had a vet lead them through activities. We practiced haltering from and releasing back into a pen, walking, squaring feet, approaching, and lifting up the feet/legs of a horse. The vet was very patient with everyone and gave each person individual advice. The school wants students to learn a specific way to perform each task, so even the lifelong "horse people" had to be instructed to unlearn bad habits. I guess that's the upside to not having any horse experience - not having to unlearn muscle memory! I ended the day by getting my second rabies vaccine.
Wednesday:
This was another long day of lectures. All of the professors so far are great though. You can tell that they really love what they teach. The best part of this day was the SAVMA chapter meeting in the afternoon. SAVMA is essentially the umbrella organization for all of the clubs at school, so each club introduced itself, and many of them sold merchandise with the school logo afterward! There was so much awesome stuff, like duffel bags, vests, polos, shirts, decals, thermoses, mugs, and much more. I got a few things, of course. I also signed up for the Surgery Club, Radiology Club, and Companion Animal Club. I'm also interested in FAPC (Food Animal Practitioners Club) and a few others. The day definitely ended on a high note.
Thursday:
This was a cool day. We had one lecture and two labs in the morning. One lab was about how to use the microscope. The other was Anatomy Lab. When we walked in, the tables had dog and cat cadavers on them. Each team is responsible for two dogs and a cat. After a short demo by the professor, we began dissecting our cadavers! We cut and reflected the skin on the left ventral side of the body. The afternoon was another lab session, and my team had Dog lab. Our teaching dogs are beagle puppies of 6-8 months of age. In groups of four, we practiced restraints and TPR on the dogs. Later in the day was a FAPC meeting. I signed up, so hopefully I'll get to participate in wet labs sometime soon!
Friday:
One of the best things about the new curriculum is the integrative sessions. Most Fridays, we'll work in our teams to apply the material from earlier in the week to case studies. Half of the class meets at 9 AM, the other half at 10 AM, and everyone comes together at 11 AM with the professor to discuss. It was an awesome feeling to be able to connect information from different lectures. We also saw sheep, cat, horse, and bovine fetuses, which was also cool. The last afternoon lab session for the week was Bovine. We drove about 25 minutes away to Kentland Farms, which has Holstein and Jersey cows. We only have Holsteins at Rutgers, so I was really excited to work with Jerseys! First the professor had a few students help him demo how to cast a cow and tie knots. Then in groups of three, we practiced haltering, tying a quick release knot, applying a nasal restraint, tying a tail tie, applying a tail restraint, and tying a tom fools knot. We even finished early. It was a great end to the week.
Overall this week was great. There's a lot of material, but luckily a lot of it is review from undergrad classes. I also like my seat in the lecture hall. I'm excited to see what will happen next week!
Outside of VMCVM on the first day of classes.
Our dissection kits.
With the cows at Kentland Farms.
View from my seat in the first-year classroom.
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