Western Veterinary Conference

Hello hello, I am back from Vegas and I survived!
Why was I in Vegas over my reading week you may ask?
Learning... of course... what else would I do in Las Vegas?!
Seriously tho, I attended the WVC with some fellow student veterinarians from my school and I had a blast!

Flew in Sunday so I missed the Sunday lectures and new attendee lunch :(
Monday was Dairy in the AM then I wandered about half of the exhibit hall. Order the new Large Animal Internal Medicine textbook at a sweet student discount and conference special was free shipping to Canada! Also had the Student and International banquets that evening! Met some students from California and Saskatchewan!
Tuesday was Beef in the AM and I got to see the infamous Dr. Sophia Yin (http://drsophiayin.com/ --- her blog has free downloadable posters! http://drsophiayin.com/blog) in the afternoon. She writes the Nerdbook and is HUGE in the dog behaviour world. In the evening the ladies went to see Thunder from Down Under ;)
Wednesday was more free exhibit hall swag and Small Ruminant in the PM
Thursday I didn't manage to wake up early enough to make the classes I wanted so we walked the strip instead! Caught the Bellagio fountain show twice and got 45 oz margaritas! The conference ended but we stayed an extra day.
Friday we tried the pool but it was too cool so we went to Freemont (Old Vegas)

What I learned:
- Higher planes of nutrition make better growth and milk production for heifers (from 1 L of milk replacer a day to 2.5 L!!)
- In the States they have Heifer facilities - so after calving the heifers go to a separate facility to wean, grow, and get bred, then they return to their home barns!!
- Goat pregnancy ketosis is a man-made disease due to selecting for larger litter sizes
- Tapered needles are nothing to be afraid of! And should be used for everything except strictly skin suturing
- That hospital pens are often missed when cleaning in large ranch operations
- That panting and licking of the lips are signs of fear and anxiety in dogs
- That you can just walk around Vegas with open alcohol
- 45 oz is too much fluid for one person to consume....
+ much more... my brain is a little tired from all the laundry I have had to do today and all the travelling!

There were LOTS of sponsors at the conference! A couple that I was pleased to have were Elanco, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Merial. Thanks!

I recommend going if you have a chance in 2015! Even as a student, I feel like I got a fun vacation and some interesting points of view. Can't wait til next year!

https://www.facebook.com/WesternVeterinaryConf

Example of Dr. Yin's posters

Margarita!!! As big as my face!

;)

New Textbook coming in the mail in May!

Endless

Third year has been royally kicking my ass. Seriously, I have no idea how I have made it through this year without failing something or bursting into tears in class (There have been major tears at home, but I have held it together in public). Advice: Stay organized. As someone who is TERRIBLY unorganized, I am really struggling managing classes, labs, tests, assignments, surgeries, extracurricular's, family, work, and friends.

I think another factor of stress is that we have started to think about rotations. After our third year exams we do an 8 week externship at a mixed animal clinic then head into 30 ish weeks of clinical rotations in our stream. OVC offers Small Animal, Equine, Food Animal, and Rural Community (Mixed) streams. For each there are "core" rotations that HAVE to be fulfilled, stream priority internal electives, and external electives. It is a bit more complicated than this, but I will try to keep it simple.

My plan is to stream food animal. My cores include anatomical pathology, primary care (communications), food animal therio, diagnostic pathology, ruminant farm service, swine health, and 6 weeks of approved external large animal practice at local clinics.

I have to rank the following by priority. These are my stream priority electives. We will get 4 out of the 11. Fish health, poultry health, beef health, small ruminant health, swine industry, swine production dairy nutrition, problem solving in dairy, Heartland dairy practice, and ruminant surgery. We do not get guaranteed our top picks but the computer does its best to schedule us in the highest rated possible. There are limited spots in these so its tough. I could rank something number one, but if four other students may get it. As a rough idea, my following rankings are going to be:

1 - Dairy Health
2 - Ruminant Surgery
3 - Problem Solving in Dairy
4 - Small Ruminant Health
5 - Poultry Health
6 - Heartland
7 - Dairy Nutrition
8 - Beef Health
9 - Fish Health
10 - Swine Production
11 - Swine Industry

Swine is last, not because I don't like it, but because I did not take the prereq so I am not eligible to take it. I took the poultry prereq instead. This may change asI think about it... not sure. Small ruminant and beef require letters of application. I didn't get my beef one in because I am more interested in dairy at the moment, but I will be handing in my small ruminant application.

As far as electives go, we have some OVC ones that we can choose, as well as being able to pick our own. I can go to a clinic, university, shelter, zoo, anywhere really, so long as there is a vet that will mentor me for 40 hours minimum per week. I have been looking into some places in Michigan and around Guelph. I haven't had time to firm anything up yet, with the endless class, but it is on my to do list. The OVC ones I am interested in are Green Meadows at Michigan State, large animal medicine, large animal surgery, another dairy health, another small ruminant health, mixed animal anesthesia, equine primary care, and vet business management. We will be ranking them in March so I have some time. My schedule won't be released until April.

We also recently got approached about NAVLE prep courses. North American Veterinary Licensing Exam - our boards. We will write in Nov/Dec. There are two main prep companies. VetPrep and Zuku Review. Both offer 6 months of access, practice questions, review material, and justifications for questions. Both are about $300. It is HIGHLY recommended that we take one of them. I am leaning towards VetPrep. But I have until May to decide. The NAVLE website will also sell practice tests, which again are recommended, for $50 each. The test is around $1200. This is not going to be cheap. But at least I will be working this summer.... NOPE! I will be doing my externship. Hello student debt shovel, let me dig this hole a little deeper!

And my final mind burden has bee housing. I want to move into a different apartment with the boyf but it is a little complicated. The apartment landlord can't tell me sooner than 60 days before if I get accepted for the place. I applied in October and have spoken with her, but she won't know if she has availability until May. I need to give my landlord 60 days notice. I plan on living at home for my 8 week externship so I do not need my apartment. The boy's lease is up beginning of May and is a year contract, so he won't be signing it and will need to move his stuff out. So I have a choice. Move out May 1st, put our stuff in a storage bin for May/June, get the apartment July or Aug 1st, move in. OR Keep my room until the end of june even though I won't be living there, store his stuff in it, and move in to the apartment July or Aug 1st. The problem is, what if there is not an apartment available... Then I will be homeless. And I will have to be apartment hunting in the beginning of July, when my rotations start. So you see the dilemma. The boy wants me to keep my room just in case. My parents do not want me spending this crazy amount of money and want me to move out ASAP. I am not sure what I want. I just want to have some certainty in my near future.

Hopefully everything will figure itself out. Sometimes it actually does.But until then I am going to lose sleep over it, stress eat, and drink wine. Sounds like a plan.

MMI's

This post will roughly describe what an MMI is and how to survive it. As you know, OVC changed their interview process 4 years ago from a standard 30 min, 2 person classic interview to an 80 min, 16 person, station based interview. This was to minimize bias by individual interviewers. Sometimes you are just having a bad day and someimes people just rub you the wrong way. Now instead of that one person counting as 50% of your admission, it is 1/16th. It also allows the interviewee a chance to restart at each station, even if you bombed the pervious station, the next people have no idea, and do not ever know, giving you a fresh start.

There is HUGE confidentiality issues around this so I cannot give specific examples. I will give you the general idea.

The admissions committee has seen your lovely reference letters, your outstanding marks, your inspirational experience form, and your heart warming essays, now they need to see you. Please do not under estimate how important first impressions are. So let's start with what to wear.

What to Wear:
Girls:
- If you do not wear heels everyday, do not wear heels, no matter how short you are, wear comfortable shoes that you can walk in.
- If you do not wear a necklace or ring or dangly earrings everyday, do not wear them. they distract you A LOT! Stick with jewellery that you wear everyday that you are used to wearing! (This goes with scarves as well! I nearly choked to death on mine that day!!)
- If you do not wear your hair up/down, do not try to do this on this day. same as the jewellery, it is distracting if you always wear your hair up, but today it is in your face. In fact, I highly recommend pulling it out of your face. You will be flustered enough, and it is hot in the rooms.
- Do not try and get your hair died that morning, no matter what time the interview is at and how much you trust your hair dresser... I did my interview with red dye on my forehead and it was so embarrassing, do it the day before at least!
- Do not wear strong perfume, but do wear deodorant. These interviews are in small rooms in the middle of summer, so strong smells will linger.
- Dress business casual, so a dress or skirt is fine, but to your knees, this isn't Trappers. Dress pants are a great option, try and avoid jeans. A nice blouse or sweater is good, no tank tops, at least have a short sleeve.

Guys:
- Similar rules as above
- You do not need a blazer, again due to heat, but wear a dress shirt and dress pants, tuck your shirt in, wear a belt, wear nice but comfortable shoes, if you can handle a tie, that would be lovely, but if you fidget or are uncomfortable in ties, maybe skip the tie.
- Deodorant, but light on the cologne, and no axe body spray, please. Actually just stop wearing that stuff all together! hahah
- Hair, get a hair cut 5-6 days before the interview so it is neat but not too short. Do your hair the way you normally do, so if you are not a gel kind of guy, do not all of a sudden become one.

What to bring:
Seriously, nothing except a form of *ID* - drivers license will do great
BUT I HAVE TO BRING SOMETHING!!!!
Ok, ok, you can bring a water bottle, and a pen. Maybe your ID card. But you can't bring paper in with you from home, they provide paper outside of each station and it has to be discarded before leaving the room. And they will have pens to borrow. Be careful with the water bottle. DO NOT scrunch it or peel the label. Place it on the table to your side so you do not touch it while you are talking. You do not want to distract the interviewers, you want them focused on your words! Try and leave your purse and backpacks at home or in your car. You can leave your keys with the sign in student, you do not want to lug a purse around or have jangly keys in your pocket.

Day of Interview:
- Arrive 30 min early
- If you do not know Guelph campus, take a look at the campus maps to figure out where free parking is and where the building is.
- If you have a chance to visit the campus a couple days before, that would be a great idea (45 min from Hamilton, Toronto, 30 min from Milton, Waterloo) There is usually construction on campus in the summer which may change the doors you can enter to get to the interviews.
- Usually, the interviews are held in Mackinnon on the 2nd or 3rd floors.
- Eat about an hour before hand, and then bring gum or a toothbrush. Obviously spit the gum out before you start the interview.
- There are 8 stations (one in each room), 7 with a question on the door and on the table in the room. You have 2 minutes to read the question, Then you have 8 minutes to enter the room, give your answer, and leave. you may leave earlier than 8 minutes but you cannot return once you have left. There is one rest station.
- Shake each interviewers hand, or at least offer. Say hello, state your name, say nice to meet you, and offer them both your name and ID sticker. After, say thank you. These polite gestures can honestly be forgotten in high stress situations. (if you need to practice shaking hands like an adult, do so, no limp noodles!)
- Breathe and take your time with your answers. Go slowly and do not ramble. If you need a moment to organize your thoughts, take it. You do not need to be afraid of silence! They will not be allowed to speak to you or give you any encouragement so embrace the silence!
- Afterwards, do not harp on what you said. It is over and you did the best you could. Now enjoy the rest of your summer. It could take a month to hear back from the school, so don't log onto the computer every hour, it will make you crazy.

Ok with that superficial stuff out of the way,
How do I prepare?
The questions are meant to challenge your ethics and communication skills. There are no right answers, honestly. They are really just looking for red flags. Example, you saying you don't think animals deserve pain management. Or that you think that cows are stupid. You get the gist.

To prepare, I suggest researching some common welfare topics. These won't exactly pop up, but it will help you think about your opinions. You DO NOT need to know ANY medicine. Zero. But you do need to know the stakeholders in each situation. Example, tail docking in piglets - You do not need to know the procedure, but know that the producer, the piglet, the vet, and the consumers would be effected by the procedure.

If you do not have an opinion, or you can see both sides of the story, explain this but strongly. Give pros and cons. Do not fence sit the whole time. Play devil's advocate with yourself.

Practice by talking about a topic, in front of a mirror, video camera, your friends and family. Learn what your quirks are and if they need to be reined in. Example, hand talking, can be used to be emphasize a point, but shouldn't be used to distract the interviewer from your words. Parctice folding your hands neatly in your lap for as long s you can. (I am a huge hand talker! I know this is hard!) Also your verbal ticks, such as "you know", "like", "umm", "and so on", "totally", "obviously". These are nervous ticks, so the more you have people pointing them out to you, the more aware you will be! You want to look at both of the interviewers in the eyes for equal amounts of time. One may not be looking at you or even seem to be listening, but you should be talking to them either way. A strong voice should be used, don't be meek or shout. If the interviewer has to strain to hear you, they will stop listening.

The interviewers are a mix of alumni, professors, and students. You do not know if they have done extensive research on the topic you are talking about so DO NOT make shit up. If you are unsure of a fact, state that you are unsure and say that if you had to make an educated guess you would think, etc. Example, if you are sitting in front of the swine prof and you say that pigs can fly, she is going to think you are an idiot. Another example, you are in front of the prof that designed the Canadian parasite management amendum, and you tell him that deworming puppies should be done a different way, you will sound silly. But if you say "I am not sure if pigs can fly" or "I am not familiar with deworming protocols in Canada" but if you had to comment on it you would say ....

It also may be valuable to research the governing bodies and laws in ON for vets, especially the CVO.

I used an animal welfare textbook that had opinions on some basic topics to "study". Again I was not making notes, just reviewing stakeholders and reading about procedures I knew little about. They aren't JUST about animals, sometimes it is about the client asking you to do something you don't want to or can't because it is illegal. Or telling someone you screwed up. These are important to have thought about before hand! Just go to your campus library and spend a couple hours reading. Another student has informed me that he looked up the Canadian Veterinary Journal "Ethical Question of the Month" and practiced responding to them. Archives can be found online as well as all of their position statements (http://www.canadianveterinarians.net/resources/statements.aspx#.Uxy15PSwJU0).(Important to note: They are not looking for PETA members. You are allowed to say that you agree with elective surgeries, but you have to have thought about the position and seen it from other peoples perspective!).

Simple really! Hahhaha

Any questions, just leave me a comment or email me!

Bulls, bulls, bulls

Hello!

I wanted to share my experience at a Local Simmental farm recently. I was invited by a friend to help test some young bulls before their December auction.

This farm runs a bull test every year in order to select their top bulls for their bull sale in December. The bull test consists of a feed trial and then a series of measurements (including ultrasound (US) to measure carcass traits) used for genetic and phenotypic evaluation of these bulls.

Measurements include:
- US of rump to measure fat cover of carcass (at site of bicep femoris inserts)
- US of ribeye size (latissimus dorsi over the 12th and 13th rib)
- US of marbling and fat cover over ribs (11th, 12th, 13th ribs)
- Hip height in cm
- Scrotal circumference in cm
- Weigh in lbs and kg
- Aesthetics - manliness, uniqueness, gait, etc.

There were about 30 bulls about 18 moa. Herded them into a head gait, US then into another shoot to weigh and measure. Then after they were all done, having them walk around a concrete pen with hay and just taking a look and comparing them.

:)

Getting good at measuring the scrotal circumference

US probe

I am pretty inexperienced with beef and ESPECIALLY bulls so this was a great learning experience. I also have very little experience with the US. It is definitely a learned skill that takes a long time to master.

We are looking at fat cover, marbling, and ribeye sizes because this is genetic and a good breeding bull should have complimenting genetics to their prospective cows.

This breed has a direct relationship between scrotal circumference and fertility. 35 cm is poor and 42 is excellent. The more you know!

There is such a thing as a "girly" looking bull. It takes a practiced eye to see but I did start to see what they were taking about. Similar to tom cats. They just look manly...

I encourage questions and comments.
I did see there was a request for more prevet school material. I will see what i can do!

Marketplace response

As i am sure most of you heard, CBC Marketplace did a "review" (I use this word loosely) of veterinary costs in Toronto last week and it got a LOT of people's hackles up, including me.

First, This is media. So of course is bias. Second, people have a right to their opinions about it.

I am sure if you read this blog, it is because you have an interest in veterinary medicine. So you probably found this show complete bullshit. But I am mostly worried for those viewers that do not have an interest in vet med; similar to the clients that rant and rave about an exam fee while holding a Starbucks latte and the new iPhone 5 and then leave in their BMW with their $1000 purebred animal. These are the people I fear will listen to marketplace.

Some people can straight up not afford vet med for their animal that they love dearly. I know that I get edgey when I have to take my reptiles in or my parent's animals. I am a student. I would much rather buy new shoes or go out for dinner, or buy beer with this money, but my animal needs it. I hate paying for meds and my car and gas, and all sorts of things, so TRUTHFULLY I get that the vet's office seems like a money grab. And the biggest thing that is lacking is communication. If I knew WHY gas prices went up the hour before I needed to fill up, or WHY the car needed to have a part replaced, maybe I would respect the cost more. I think that if clients knew WHY we heartworm test, WHY we vaccinate, what those disease treatments would cost and the amount of pain and suffering the animal would go through, they would be more willing to pay the bill.

Communication, communication, communication! Most important part of our job!

There was an article in the OVMA magazine a while back about getting clients to understand the VALUE of what you are doing. I really am on board with this. Show them what you are doing! Show them your clinic! Introduce them to your "behind the scenes" staff!

Anyway, there are enough ACTUAL vets posting their opinions online, and as upset as I was about the out of context bashing this woman did on vets, I would much rather offer you some things to read so you can formulate your own opinions.

First:
The episode if you have not seen it.
http://www.cbc.ca/marketplace/episodes/2013-2014/barking-mad

And some Twitter responses! Definitely good to read for a chuckle!
https://twitter.com/SnarkyKellie

Second:
A vet from Quebec
http://www.montrealdogblog.com/18019/trustinyourvet/

Third:
A vet from Toronto
http://barkingmadatcbc.tumblr.com/?og=1

EDIT:
3 1/2:
A response from a client.
http://raynecanada.ca/the-value-of-the-veterinarian-the-cbc-marketplace-dilemma/

Fourth:
A blog about the darker side of vet med
http://hstdvm.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/the-thing-i-hate-about-being-a-veterinarian/

Fifth:
A blog from a silly vet
http://vetsbehavingbadly.blogspot.ca/

Ethics

Today we had an interesting lecture on ethics in AVM. It was interesting because it had us start to dissect right and wrong into sub categories. Why is this event wrong? Because it is illegal? Or because as a veterinarian, that is poor care/treatment? Or is it just not good for the societies view on vets?

Example:
Examining a horse, you forget your hoof testers. you decide to make a diagnosis without them. Turns out you were wrong and the testers would have helped you make a correct diagnosis. Horse misses a year of racing while recovering.

Technically, you did nothing illegal. This is bad business, in that the CVO can fine you, you could get fired, and/or the client finds a new clinic and you lose the client. But because we are still a semi-service industry, it is a "buyer beware" situation. The client should have questioned the absence of testers or found a more experienced vet.

I would have always considered this an un-moral (if that is a word) act, but professionalism, laws, and medicine have fine lines between them.

Another Example:
You admit a spay which has to stay overnight at the clinic, as per clinic policy. The dog eats it's stitches overnight and is a gross mess of infection in the morning. It now has to stay for a couple more days to be monitored on fluids and antibiotics. The client is charged for the extra hospitalization time. Owner wants you to take the extra time off saying that it is your fault for not having a cone of shame on the dog.

Again, nothing illegal. In fact, not poor care either. You did not know the dog was going to eat it's stitches, because 99% of the time when a spay stays overnight at the clinic, they do not! And this is how "most vets" do things. Second, informed consent should cover this. Properly worded, the owner signed a paper after a vet or tech explained that post-spay infections can occur as a risk of the procedure. So you are fully morally allowed to keep those charges.

Now, the PR on this sort of thing may cause some clinics to just eat some of the cost, but the "relationship" of the owner to the clinic is the only factor that would change this.

I do not have a lot of business background, so I find all this very interesting!

Pretty much the following is what counts as morally wrong on all fronts:

• Fraud – charging with no deliverables (no service provided or object obtained)
• Deception and Misrepresentation – lying about qualifications/deliverables (ex. saying you are board certified and you are not)
• Manipulating for financial gain at the expense of others
• Profit at the expense of society, be it individuals or the environment 

Do as you wish with this info. And remember, laws in Canada are different than other countries. But ethics, legality, professionalism, and morality have to all be taken into consideration in every case that we handle. 

Fun stuff.

Ending Summer - Looking Forward to Phase Three

As August chugs along here, colder than normal for Southern Ontario, I realize that school is fast approaching and I am NO WHERE near ready! Due to all the dogsitting I have done this summer, I have spent little time in my room/house so things are a little messy. When I say little, I mean a lot.

I have been thinking about the last two years of vet school and how disorganized I have been. I really am struggling with how best to study. Unfortunately, each course and professor is different so there is no set formula. Maybe I can explain myself better.

I am not worried about the cost of ink or paper, but I find printing notes before class not as useful as in undergrad. I much prefer writing notes on paper in class, but profs do not post them ahead of time with enough notice to print them out the night before. And if we get ahead (or behind) in a lecture, there is no set protocol. Some profs, just open the next lecture and keep going, some let us out early or ask questions, some will repost the next lectures slides with the changes (but this means I print slides a couple times, wasting a lot of ink). Then studying comes and I find it hard to read off the screen and memorize. I need to write down words to understand them. If the prof was organized, i could print before lecture, take notes, then read and write on the lecture slides again to study, but that is so rarely the case. I usually make a condensed version of the material as like a study package... But I never get to the very end of the covered material and go into the test not having reviewed a concept or two. This doesn't feel right. I know it is part procrastination of studying, but I get discouraged when I am flipping through pages and have no idea which order all of the lectures came in because I printed the same slides twice or even three times, plus extra slides he "forgot" and had us print as a separate pdf.

It is also hard to "find" a specific concept if it is written. Or even added as a sticky note to a pdf document for that matter. If I wanted to look up the premeds and induction drugs of a cow RIGHT NOW, it would take me 20 minutes and 50 files opened and I would probably just google it. How is this helpful? I had it memorized once, but summer is like a brain wash, it gets rid of the important stuff and just leaves sunny skies and glowing bottles of beer dancing in my brain. I should be able to just look it up in my notes, but I get discouraged when I think about how disorganized my notes are.

Labs are even worse. And it is partly my inability to participate in, let alone go to labs. This is a whole separate issue that I need to deal with. I really have poor attendance.

Some people I know use OneNote and I have considered that as an option. I think it also allows a better print option, but I am not sure. Also not available for Mac users. So I just downloaded the next best option (according to internet reviews) which is Circus Ponies Notebook. It is difficult to navigate so I need to spend some time with it. I hope it will provide a decent alternative as well as help me out a bit here.

All right, now that I have bummed my self out let's talk about something more exciting.

I visited the Fergus Highland Games this weekend. Had fun watching all the pipe bands, heavy event contestants, dancers, and folk bands perform. Got some fun souvenirs, felt proud to be of Scottish decent, drank some beer, and got some sun!

7 more shifts at the clinic and Friday I get to perform an immature cat neuter with supervision. Should be a good time!

Planned events include going to Wonderland (as the boyf has NEVER gone! wtf!?) and Ribfest.

Also hopefully get to the barn once more and play with the bow again.

Lookin good in those socks and burks!