My third week consisted of mainly doing outside treatments. This week, three new externs have arrived from Puerto Rico and they have taken off the workload. However, I’m still doing 13-14 hour shifts but that’s ok! I’m glad that we have gotten more people to help care for the horses. These three weeks have honestly gone by so quickly and I can’t believe I’m almost done with this internship. I have become friends with one of the rehab interns from Australia and she’s been letting me ride with her to get groceries on my days off.
One of the Rehab students and I have been doing outside treatments together and we saw a pigeon abscess not stitched together and thought that something was wrong. However, Sarah (The ICU manager) said it was normal and that it was going to heal on its own. We have to hydro the wound which means hosing it down with water to clean out the pus, dirt, or blood. We then spray herbal spray on the wound to make sure the wound doesn’t get infected. A pigeon abscess is an infection caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis that typically causes large abscesses on the chest or under the belly. This horse had a large abscess on its chest and Dr. Harvey got rid of the stitches so it looks very grim, but it will heal on its own and is looking better.
Here is a photo of the pigeon abscess, it does look very grim but it’s looking great and is on its way to healing!
Here is a photo of inside the Rehab center! this is the free-style swimming pool for horses it can be used for laminitic horses to help stimulate blood flow and circulation to the muscles.
Sadly, we have had multiple horses get euthanized these past 2 weeks, Missy one of the miniature ponies had to get euthanized because her hoof fell off in her stall. Another case has been a colic horse that hadn’t even gotten into the ICU before it fell and broke its ribs and had to get euthanized right there. I’ve definitely learned and seen a lot throughout this internship even if some of it can be sad or stressful. I’ve learned that this is just a part of being an ICU technician or veterinarian. I’m excited for my last week of this internship and to keep moving forward in this journey of self-growth!
Here is a photo of the water walker for horses. It’s used to help treat injuries!
There are no comments published yet.