Hello, my name is Emily Grace Raphael and for my internship I was sent to Plainfield, New Hampshire to study small and large animal veterinary medicine at Riverbend Veterinary Clinic. I am housed by Kate Whybrow, the owner of Riverbend and a large and small animal DVM. At the house, there is a farm with dairy and beef cows, chickens, and kittens that were just rescued and near death.
I arrived in Boston, MA around 10:00 p.m. on Sunday where my aunt picked me up. The next day I got to spend some time with my aunt and grandma. We visited Salisbury and Hampton Beaches, had some delicious pizza, and road-tripped up to Plainfield, NH to drop me off. I got to Kate’s house by 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Immediately, I was put to work up at the barn.
The view from the barn.
Every morning and night there are chores to be done at the barn such as milking the cows and feeding all the animals. So far I’ve been given the task of feeding the calf “Smooch”, and taking care of the kitties. There’s another calf being raised named “Levi”. Levi recently got frightened by a chicken, hopped out of his pen, and broke his leg. Not only did he do it once, but he did it again and was moved into a stall next to the kittens.
“Levi” the calf and his broken leg.
The three sick kittens that were rescued.
I had to wake up early on Tuesday morning for my first day. We went to the barn and did the chores, had breakfast, made lunch, said bye to the animals, and headed out. When I arrived at the clinic, I was introduced to everybody and given a tour. At the clinic, there’s a cat who lives there named “Pepper”. Everyone loves her and she loves the attention. By the time the tour was over, there were already some animals starting to arrive. In the mornings, surgeries are executed and then appointments start at 2:00 p.m. The first patient was a little pup named “Fitz-William” He needed to be neutered, get a hernia repaired, and have a retained tooth get fixed. I got to observe every step of the process and the surgery as well. After Fitz-William was all set it was time for the next guy. “Job” (pronounced “Jobe”) needed some dental work. His teeth were covered in tartar and it was pretty disgusting. Luckily, he didn’t need any of them pulled. After the surgeries were complete, it was time for lunch and then appointments began at 2:00 p.m. I was able to go into the appointments and watch the vets give exams and shots. Appointments were finished around 5:30. We headed home, did the chores, had dinner, and went off to bed.
“Pepper” the clinic cat.
Fitz-William waking up from his surgery.
Job after getting his teeth cleaned.
Wednesday was roughly the same as Tuesday. When we arrived at the clinic there was only one surgery. A yellow lab named “Phoenix” needed some teeth to be pulled. She had four teeth extracted and the rest were cleaned. During appointments, “Forrest” an older dog had to be put down. I didn’t observe the euthanasia since it’s an emotional and difficult situation. I didn’t want anyone to feel crowded or disrespected. After Forrest was put down, I was able to help carry the body to the basement and see what happens after an animal is put down. It was very interesting but a little on the sensitive side of things.
On Thursdays, the clinic doesn’t perform surgeries due to being short-handed. Therefore, Thursday was more of a slow day. Appointments went on throughout the day. There was an adorable corgi named “Rosie” who came in and that was the highlight of the day.
Friday was a very exciting day at the clinic. In the morning, there were three surgeries. The first one was a neuter on a young pup named “Gunner” This was the second neuter I had seen this week. It was performed by Dr. Meghan Morrell, in fact, she completed all three of the surgeries. After Gunner was all finished up it was Pippa’s turn. Pippa was being neutered as well. Poor Pippa was mistaken for a girl. He has a cute pink collar to match his lovely name. Either way, Pippa was adorable and very well-behaved the entire time. For the final surgery, “Bailey” a yellow lab had a big lump on his side. This surgery was by far the most fascinating one I’ve seen so far. Dr. Morrell did a wonderful job removing it. Bailey ended up having three lumps removed in total: the large one on his side, a smaller wart-sized one right next to the other, and one in his mouth. The large lump was sent to the lab to see what kind it was. So far the doctors believe it was a big fatty lump, but they wanted to make sure. While all that was going on, some of the staff went and got ice cream for everyone. Apparently, it’s a Friday tradition. During the afternoon, there were three kittens brought in for a check-up and some shots. Friday was an excellent day for me.
“Gunner” getting prepped for his neuter.
“Pippa” the misunderstood cat.
Removing the large lump from Bailey.
Over the weekend, I mostly hung around the house and did some summer homework. Saturday morning I went to breakfast with two of the vet techs/assistants, Keegan and Erin. They’re super fun people to be around and certainly keep the clinic entertained.
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