Meadow Lane Veterinary Centre - Avian and Reptile Specialists
I heard about Meadow Lane Veterinary Centre at the ‘Vet-med Link’
conference at Nottingham University. One of their avian specialists gave a talk
about the Kakapo, a critically endangered Parrot from New Zealand that I had
recently studied as part of my Zoology degree. Unfortunately this particular Vet
was on leave during my placement with them but I still learnt an incredible
amount about the day to day running of a Veterinary Practise that deals with
exotics.
Almost immediately after arriving I was able to observe a Bitch
spay, which was quite an ordeal on a Monday morning for a person who’d only ever
seen post mortems on long dead animals. Fortunately, I am not at all squeamish
and after the initial shock at the amount of blood (caused by a small
complication with the operation) I was mesmerised by the work of the Vet and
before I knew it the bitch was sewn up and left to recover in a pen.
I was allowed to pick and choose the cases that I
saw and a woman with a one-legged cockatoo certainly grabbed my attention.
an aptly named pink and grey had been teasing the woman’s Chihuahua by
sticking its leg through the bottom of its cage. Unfortunately for the bird the
little dog had a big jump and managed to grab the bird’s leg. As the dog fell it
literally sliced the bird’s leg off as it got caught on the cage bars, and that
is what we found, a traumatised woman and a dazed bird wrapped in a towel. The
Vet decided to operate on him straight away to try and limit his stress
levels. The bird, it turned out was a very lucky Cockatoo, the Chihuahua had completely removed the leg from the
joint, not leaving any bone fragments behind and so it was a simple case of
sewing up the gaping hole in his side and hoping he recovered from the
anaesthetic. He of course made a full recovery and was sent home with a few
suggestions on how to alter the cage to better accommodate the now lopsided
cockatoo.
The next case came in the shape of a tiny Yorkshire terrier who
was in a bit of a state; her owner explained how they lived on a farm and how
she’d been having trouble with her eye since the previous evening. The fur
around the dogs eye was so matted together it was almost impossible for the Vet
to get a good look at it, so after a little persuasion she was left with us so
that we could shave around her eye to get a better look. After the dog’s eye
had been clipped the Vet was able to remove two enormous grass seeds from her
eye. She inserted some drops that illuminated any damage that had been caused to the
eye, which was quite extensive and prescribed some drops that would hopefully
allow it to heal.
The next patient I saw was, a male rabbit, who had been
brought in after a fight with his companion. The Vet examined him, let me examine him,
called for the other vet to examine him and the 3 of us stood in the
consultation room staring down on this poor little rabbit’s manly region,
except it was impossible to tell if he was a boy at all, or a girl for that
matter. The rabbits supposed friends had made such a mess of his genitalia that
there wasn’t much left to identify. They decided to keep him in overnight and
the following day attempted to reconstruct his dignity! I’ll admit that we
all had a bit of a giggle at Teddy’s expense; the vet was at a bit of a loss
trying to make sense of his genitalia. After about half an hour, when
neither the vet nor the nurses could identify the vestiges of either testicles
or penis we had to conclude that he was in fact a girl and the vet began to
reconstruct the area as best he could, given the extent of the damage. The rabbit
was returned, in all his/her womanly glory to her owners who were extremely
glad they hadn’t given the rabbit a manlier name . . .
like Dave.
A Staffordshire bull terrier, showed me just how
important it was to maintain regular check-ups for your animals. He was quite
an old dog and had come in the Centre for some booster jabs. The vet gave him a
thorough examination and discovered a small lump on one of his testicles and
immediately suggested he be castrated, before the lumps grew to be a problem
for the old dog, a simple procedure that will have prolonged his life but could
have gone unnoticed if he hadn’t been brought in.
Most of the animals that came into the centre were for straight
forward treatment, like vaccinations, boosters, de-matting and dental work, all
of which were quickly diagnosed and treated. When an Alsatian with a long term
mystery illness was brought in for his routine check-up it was like being in an
episode of ‘House’ with a list of unrelated symptoms and no real diagnosis. The
dog looked incredibly skinny and was losing fur but had apparently gained weight
and its blood test results had come back normal. The Vets were both stumped;
they put the weight gain down to a possible scale error and drew more blood for
further tests. Unfortunately only being at the practise for a week I wouldn’t be
around to find out the results of the tests, which I found incredibly
frustrating as I wanted to find out what was wrong with the
dog.
A little Black cat, showed me just how resilient animals
can be. He was bought in after falling off a garden fence and had been limping
ever since. I was not witness to the consultation with Buff and his owners, the
first I was aware of him was when the Vet presented us with a 6 inch garden cane
about the diameter of a one pence piece that he had removed from the side of the
cat. He had apparently impaled himself on the pole as he fell which had pierced
under his arm and travelled down along his ribcage. They were all amazed that
the cat had not punctured a lung or caused itself some more serious damage, but
perhaps black cats are lucky after all.
Doris was a very strange old lady, a tortoise that the surgery
had inherited after her owner was unable to pay for her veterinary care. She had
not eaten for about 6 months and was being tube fed by the staff every day. When
there was a quiet moment in the surgery one of the vets would take Doris and
carry out a few tests on her in an attempt to diagnose her. While I was there
they were able to x-ray her but found nothing of interest that would explain why
she wasn’t eating. The vet then wanted to carry out a blood test. Easier said
than done as I soon found out, tortoises are extremely thick skinned and so
trying to find a vain on one can be problematic, even more so when you do manage
to locate a vain in her neck and she instantly retracts her head back into her
shell in defiance. Then began a battle of wits and patience, we had to wait
until she decided to venture out again before scooping her up and holding onto
her head so she couldn’t pop back into her shell. I quickly discovered that
tortoises are extremely stubborn, very strong and incredibly grumpy. We managed
to get a tiny spot of blood from her which hopefully was enough to test before
she was returned to pen.
During my week at the practise, I became very
familiar with one cat and her owners, she had been hit by a car and
brought in on the Sunday night before I started my placement. She had a
fractured skull and a‘dead’ tail but was sent home on cage rest after a few
days. She was to come back in every day that I was there, initially because
her owners were worried that she hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since her
release. The vet saw that she had an extremely full bladder and her owners
mentioned that she hadn’t used her litter tray in the 2 days since she’d been
home. From then on every day at about half 4, the cat would arrive to have her
bladder manually emptied by the Vet. While he explained that her tail may need
to be amputated as it could be affecting the nerves that connected to her
bladder. As the week went on and
she was still not emptying her bladder by herself, talk turned to how long
they could keep this up and whether it would be kinder to put her down. They
decided to continue till the end of the week before making a final decision.
Unfortunately I had to leave before they decided what to do with her, but she
seemed to be on the mend and was eating and drinking a lot more, hopefully she
was able to use her litter box too.
The one aspect of working in a Veterinary practise I was not
looking forward witnessing an animal being put down as I had never seen it happen
before my first cat we found a few days after she’d been hit by a car and she just
looked like she was sleeping.
A couple brought in their cat who was about 14 years old, she had
lost the function of her back legs and could no longer groom herself, they
decided it would be kindest to put her down but didn’t want to stay to watch. So
I was left with the Vet as he injected the cat, I didn’t realise how upset I’d
be and was struggling not to cry but the Vet reassured me that it got easier and
you had to remember that it was kinder than letting the cat suffer the way it
was. After that I saw several animals that had to be put down and although I was
difficult to watch, it was a lot better than letting the animals live in the
condition they had been.
Other Interesting Patients:
Bearded Dragon with a Mouth Ulcer ·
A tortoise with an eye infection
A dog being treated with Chemotherapy
· Cat with cystitis
conference at Nottingham University. One of their avian specialists gave a talk
about the Kakapo, a critically endangered Parrot from New Zealand that I had
recently studied as part of my Zoology degree. Unfortunately this particular Vet
was on leave during my placement with them but I still learnt an incredible
amount about the day to day running of a Veterinary Practise that deals with
exotics.
Almost immediately after arriving I was able to observe a Bitch
spay, which was quite an ordeal on a Monday morning for a person who’d only ever
seen post mortems on long dead animals. Fortunately, I am not at all squeamish
and after the initial shock at the amount of blood (caused by a small
complication with the operation) I was mesmerised by the work of the Vet and
before I knew it the bitch was sewn up and left to recover in a pen.
I was allowed to pick and choose the cases that I
saw and a woman with a one-legged cockatoo certainly grabbed my attention.
an aptly named pink and grey had been teasing the woman’s Chihuahua by
sticking its leg through the bottom of its cage. Unfortunately for the bird the
little dog had a big jump and managed to grab the bird’s leg. As the dog fell it
literally sliced the bird’s leg off as it got caught on the cage bars, and that
is what we found, a traumatised woman and a dazed bird wrapped in a towel. The
Vet decided to operate on him straight away to try and limit his stress
levels. The bird, it turned out was a very lucky Cockatoo, the Chihuahua had completely removed the leg from the
joint, not leaving any bone fragments behind and so it was a simple case of
sewing up the gaping hole in his side and hoping he recovered from the
anaesthetic. He of course made a full recovery and was sent home with a few
suggestions on how to alter the cage to better accommodate the now lopsided
cockatoo.
The next case came in the shape of a tiny Yorkshire terrier who
was in a bit of a state; her owner explained how they lived on a farm and how
she’d been having trouble with her eye since the previous evening. The fur
around the dogs eye was so matted together it was almost impossible for the Vet
to get a good look at it, so after a little persuasion she was left with us so
that we could shave around her eye to get a better look. After the dog’s eye
had been clipped the Vet was able to remove two enormous grass seeds from her
eye. She inserted some drops that illuminated any damage that had been caused to the
eye, which was quite extensive and prescribed some drops that would hopefully
allow it to heal.
The next patient I saw was, a male rabbit, who had been
brought in after a fight with his companion. The Vet examined him, let me examine him,
called for the other vet to examine him and the 3 of us stood in the
consultation room staring down on this poor little rabbit’s manly region,
except it was impossible to tell if he was a boy at all, or a girl for that
matter. The rabbits supposed friends had made such a mess of his genitalia that
there wasn’t much left to identify. They decided to keep him in overnight and
the following day attempted to reconstruct his dignity! I’ll admit that we
all had a bit of a giggle at Teddy’s expense; the vet was at a bit of a loss
trying to make sense of his genitalia. After about half an hour, when
neither the vet nor the nurses could identify the vestiges of either testicles
or penis we had to conclude that he was in fact a girl and the vet began to
reconstruct the area as best he could, given the extent of the damage. The rabbit
was returned, in all his/her womanly glory to her owners who were extremely
glad they hadn’t given the rabbit a manlier name . . .
like Dave.
A Staffordshire bull terrier, showed me just how
important it was to maintain regular check-ups for your animals. He was quite
an old dog and had come in the Centre for some booster jabs. The vet gave him a
thorough examination and discovered a small lump on one of his testicles and
immediately suggested he be castrated, before the lumps grew to be a problem
for the old dog, a simple procedure that will have prolonged his life but could
have gone unnoticed if he hadn’t been brought in.
Most of the animals that came into the centre were for straight
forward treatment, like vaccinations, boosters, de-matting and dental work, all
of which were quickly diagnosed and treated. When an Alsatian with a long term
mystery illness was brought in for his routine check-up it was like being in an
episode of ‘House’ with a list of unrelated symptoms and no real diagnosis. The
dog looked incredibly skinny and was losing fur but had apparently gained weight
and its blood test results had come back normal. The Vets were both stumped;
they put the weight gain down to a possible scale error and drew more blood for
further tests. Unfortunately only being at the practise for a week I wouldn’t be
around to find out the results of the tests, which I found incredibly
frustrating as I wanted to find out what was wrong with the
dog.
A little Black cat, showed me just how resilient animals
can be. He was bought in after falling off a garden fence and had been limping
ever since. I was not witness to the consultation with Buff and his owners, the
first I was aware of him was when the Vet presented us with a 6 inch garden cane
about the diameter of a one pence piece that he had removed from the side of the
cat. He had apparently impaled himself on the pole as he fell which had pierced
under his arm and travelled down along his ribcage. They were all amazed that
the cat had not punctured a lung or caused itself some more serious damage, but
perhaps black cats are lucky after all.
Doris was a very strange old lady, a tortoise that the surgery
had inherited after her owner was unable to pay for her veterinary care. She had
not eaten for about 6 months and was being tube fed by the staff every day. When
there was a quiet moment in the surgery one of the vets would take Doris and
carry out a few tests on her in an attempt to diagnose her. While I was there
they were able to x-ray her but found nothing of interest that would explain why
she wasn’t eating. The vet then wanted to carry out a blood test. Easier said
than done as I soon found out, tortoises are extremely thick skinned and so
trying to find a vain on one can be problematic, even more so when you do manage
to locate a vain in her neck and she instantly retracts her head back into her
shell in defiance. Then began a battle of wits and patience, we had to wait
until she decided to venture out again before scooping her up and holding onto
her head so she couldn’t pop back into her shell. I quickly discovered that
tortoises are extremely stubborn, very strong and incredibly grumpy. We managed
to get a tiny spot of blood from her which hopefully was enough to test before
she was returned to pen.
During my week at the practise, I became very
familiar with one cat and her owners, she had been hit by a car and
brought in on the Sunday night before I started my placement. She had a
fractured skull and a‘dead’ tail but was sent home on cage rest after a few
days. She was to come back in every day that I was there, initially because
her owners were worried that she hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since her
release. The vet saw that she had an extremely full bladder and her owners
mentioned that she hadn’t used her litter tray in the 2 days since she’d been
home. From then on every day at about half 4, the cat would arrive to have her
bladder manually emptied by the Vet. While he explained that her tail may need
to be amputated as it could be affecting the nerves that connected to her
bladder. As the week went on and
she was still not emptying her bladder by herself, talk turned to how long
they could keep this up and whether it would be kinder to put her down. They
decided to continue till the end of the week before making a final decision.
Unfortunately I had to leave before they decided what to do with her, but she
seemed to be on the mend and was eating and drinking a lot more, hopefully she
was able to use her litter box too.
The one aspect of working in a Veterinary practise I was not
looking forward witnessing an animal being put down as I had never seen it happen
before my first cat we found a few days after she’d been hit by a car and she just
looked like she was sleeping.
A couple brought in their cat who was about 14 years old, she had
lost the function of her back legs and could no longer groom herself, they
decided it would be kindest to put her down but didn’t want to stay to watch. So
I was left with the Vet as he injected the cat, I didn’t realise how upset I’d
be and was struggling not to cry but the Vet reassured me that it got easier and
you had to remember that it was kinder than letting the cat suffer the way it
was. After that I saw several animals that had to be put down and although I was
difficult to watch, it was a lot better than letting the animals live in the
condition they had been.
Other Interesting Patients:
Bearded Dragon with a Mouth Ulcer ·
A tortoise with an eye infection
A dog being treated with Chemotherapy
· Cat with cystitis