Gong Yuqin - Pet Hospital Internship Summary
- Internship Summary by: Gong Yuqin, Class 07101, Department of Animal Science
I worked from the beginning of July to the end of August 2010, October From March 24th to the end of November, I conducted an animal production internship at Changde Chengxi Pet Hospital.
Changde Chengxi Pet Hospital is a relatively large pet hospital in Changde City. It integrates pet medicine, pet supplies and pet grooming. The infrastructure in the pet hospital is relatively complete, with all necessary operating rooms, beauty rooms, and infectious disease isolation rooms. This pet hospital is very busy in normal times, and the people in the hospital are often overwhelmed. If any pet feels a little uncomfortable, it will first go to this hospital to see what's wrong. It has a relatively good reputation. On the one hand, this pet hospital is relatively well-equipped and incorporates many technological products into diagnosis, such as microscopes for skin disease diagnosis. On the other hand, the doctors in this hospital are very good, sincere and friendly. Therefore, there is very little free time here on weekdays, and you have to start working again as soon as you sit down. The daily flow of customers is relatively large. Our main job there every day is to clean the place, receive the small pets who come for treatment, do some simple grooming for the small pets, give the pets injections, regularly disinfect the hospital, etc. Relatively simple work. The pets that come to this pet hospital for treatment are mainly dogs, among which the majority are Poodles, Pomeranians, Golden Retrievers, Shepherds, and Keeshonds. During the internship, the cases I came into contact with were mainly: infectious diseases (such as canine distemper, parvovirus), parasitic diseases (such as mites, fungi, etc.), surgical diseases (such as wounds, abscesses), internal medicine diseases (such as Stomatitis, pneumonia), toxic diseases (organophosphorus compound poisoning) and other diseases, and also learned and basically mastered some surgical procedures, such as ligating male and female dogs, plastering on broken bones, and suturing skin wounds on sick dogs, etc. . In addition, I also collected information during my internship and completed my graduation thesis excellently.
The boss who runs this hospital is an experienced doctor. He has strict requirements on us at work and is very concerned about us in life. We have learned a lot about being a human being from him and other pet doctors. , work, and entrepreneurship, and made me deeply realize that being a qualified pet doctor not only requires skilled operating skills, but also requires excellent professional qualities.
During the four months of internship, I learned a lot of knowledge that we usually cannot learn in the classroom. The work of a pet hospital is actually very simple. As long as you diagnose your pet's disease, you can prescribe the right medicine for treatment. But seemingly simple things involve a lot of knowledge and require sufficient knowledge to back them up.
I remember when I first saw a puppy receiving an intravenous drip during my summer internship, I was extremely surprised. I felt that there was actually no difference between this dog and us humans. Whenever the puppies are receiving intravenous drips, their owners always stay with them gently, caressing them gently and coaxing them in a low voice, just like treating their own children. Every time I see such a scene, I always feel particularly warm. Puppies are indeed the most loyal partners of us humans.
After observing and studying for a few days, Dr. Hong asked me to give the puppy an injection myself. However, at that time, injections were usually given to puppies who were hospitalized, because many customers brought their own puppies to see the doctor, and they were generally reluctant to let interns do it for fear of hurting the puppies. So for the first period of time, I just watched from the sidelines, and then was responsible for taking the pet's temperature. This was a relatively simple task.
The first time I gave a puppy an acupuncture, I was very panicked and my hands were shaking a little. Thanks to Dr. Hong’s patient guidance, and the puppy was so good that he didn’t resist no matter how much I stabbed him. With everyone's joint efforts, I finally got the small needle inserted during the second injection and successfully completed my first intravenous drip for a pet.
In fact, this acupuncture seems to be very easy, and it seems that I can learn it as soon as possible, but in fact, when I actually did it, I realized how much knowledge there is in this acupuncture. First of all, you must tie the cuff to the puppy tightly, and it must be tied above the puppy's joints. Then you need to find the blood vessels and wipe them with iodine cotton to expose the blood vessels. Finding blood vessels is a key step. The first injection I gave to my puppy failed because I did not find the blood vessels correctly. In fact, as long as you tighten the cuff and wipe it with iodine cotton in one direction of the puppy's leg, even if the blood vessels are covered by the hair, you can clearly identify which part is the blood vessel you want to insert the needle into. You can also use your hands. Feel it out. Start inserting the needle from the distal end to prevent the previous needle from piercing the blood vessel. You can also continue inserting the needle toward the proximal end without affecting the infusion.
When I usually see myself getting an intravenous drip in the hospital when I am sick, the nurses will do it all at once. It is only when I do it myself that I realize that there is a big deal involved in this small matter. From preparation, tying the tourniquet, applying iodine cotton to find blood vessels, inserting the needle, fixing it, adjusting the drip speed, changing the dressing, and removing the needle, these simple steps contained a lot of knowledge that I needed to learn.
During infusion, one of the most common problems is needle movement.
Puppies are like children, and they are not as obedient and easy to coax as children. It is also difficult to get them to stay there and get an infusion. They are naughty and like children with ADHD, they like to move around, so we always ask our owners to stay with them and comfort them. Of course, generally acupuncture is better, and the needle will not go out if the puppy moves casually. However, if the pets are too active or the needle is not inserted properly, the needle will often go out. Once the needle is removed, the first reaction is that the medicine in the infusion tube stops dripping down. At this time, touch the pet's leg. If it is swollen, it is definitely because the needle has been removed. When encountering such a situation, we mostly treat it flexibly. Sometimes it is enough to pull the needle out a little. But sometimes we have to pull out the needle and insert it again. This has happened to me several times, mostly because I didn't tie it properly and the pets were very uncooperative. However, after almost two months of acupuncture practice during the summer vacation, I was able to successfully perform acupuncture every time during this internship.
In the pet hospital, I have so much to learn. I read, learn, and memorize every day, and I feel that I gain a lot every day. During my summer internship, I was most exposed to gastroenteritis in dogs. There are two types of this disease, one is common and less harmful. The other type is viral gastroenteritis. This type is more serious and has a higher mortality rate. It mostly occurs in puppies. The main symptom of gastroenteritis is vomiting and diarrhea. Viral cases tend to contain blood clots in the vomit and excrement. In severe cases, the vomit and excrement are filled with blood and salivation. Viral gastroenteritis is a contagious disease, so when treating this disease in pets, disinfection and isolation must be done to prevent it from being transmitted to other healthy pets.
Because it is the cold season and the temperature changes rapidly, a common disease is the cold. This cold is most likely due to the pet's poor immunity, poor physical condition, and inability to adapt to the mutated environment in time. This often causes colds, fever, runny nose, etc.
In addition, I also learned about a disease that is very harmful and has a high mortality rate. For example, canine distemper in dogs. It has similarities to viral gastroenteritis, but is not identical. Dogs suffering from canine distemper have a lot of eye mucus, nasal discharge, high body temperature, and the body temperature continues to rise and is difficult to cool down. The cure rate of this disease is not very high. Most of the time, Dr. Hong will inject canine distemper serum into dogs suffering from this disease, and then prescribe traditional Chinese medicine, and ask the dog owner to go back and prepare the medicine for treatment.
For viral gastroenteritis, also known as canine parvovirus disease, we commonly use CPV rapid detection test strips in hospitals to take feces from the dog’s anus for testing. For canine distemper, we use CDV rapid detection test strips to take the dog’s eye secretions and nasal mucus for testing.
One thing I feel proud of at the pet hospital is that I am responsible for the hospital’s microscope detection of skin diseases. Dr. Hong told me that in general, if pets are not losing hair normally, it is mostly due to skin diseases. Skin diseases are relatively stubborn diseases that are easy to recur, difficult to consolidate, and require a long treatment period. We often scrape the red or ulcerated skin of the dog to make a slide, add skin diagnostic fluid to make a sample and observe it under a microscope to confirm the nature of the skin disease. Common skin diseases are mostly caused by mites and fungi. However, there are many kinds of mites, so only by careful observation under a microscope can we diagnose which kind of mite it is and then prescribe the right medicine. Because the two masters working in the pharmacy had never used a microscope before, this glorious task was given to me, which also made me make great progress in using a microscope.
In this internship, I learned more things than during my summer vacation, and I recorded them all in detail. What makes me most happy is that I have become an excellent assistant to the doctor, and can complete minor operations on my own, such as suturing the skin of sick dogs, and being a good assistant when the doctor performs operations.
Changde Chengxi Pet Hospital is a "small sparrow with all five internal organs" type. Not only can pets be given injections and medications there, but surgeries can also be performed. The first operation I learned when I went there was to sterilize a female dog that had just gone into heat. This is a relatively minor operation. After we disinfected the operating table and completed some other preparations, the operation officially started. The puppies were first given general anesthesia based on body weight. Dr. Hong performed an incision two fingers down from the puppy's umbilical cord to the penultimate pair of breasts. This area is almost where the puppy's uterus is. During the operation, attention must be paid to hemostasis, and the rest of us have also been busy working on it. I'm usually afraid of seeing blood, but that time I didn't even blink my eyelids. I watched the whole process in my eyes and remembered it in my mind. Neutering a female dog mainly involves ligating the fallopian tubes and removing the ovaries. For male dogs, the dog's testicles are removed. The castration surgery for male dogs is simpler than that for female dogs.
There are also uncomfortable moments in the pet hospital. The vomit and excrement of some sick dogs are very dirty and smell bad, so I am responsible for cleaning them up. But I think this is also a kind of exercise. You have to endure hardships in order to become a master.
In addition, during this internship, I started to get in touch with pet grooming, and I have become proficient in bathing, combing, and doing simple pet grooming.
In the pet hospital, I always encounter many new things that I have never seen before, which makes me full of expectations every day. The little pets in the pet hospital bring me different happiness every day.
But there were times when I felt uncomfortable, not because the doctors and masters were not nice to me, but because some pets were hospitalized in the hospital and failed to survive due to their serious illness and poor physical condition. Every time I see their owners crying at their dead pets, I feel sad. After all, I was hospitalized for so long, and I took care of them for so long, and I was very emotional, and such a cute little life was gone like this. , really sad.
I have learned a lot at the pet hospital, and I feel that I am making progress every day. Now, if someone comes to the pet hospital with their little cutie, I can calmly ask about the symptoms, take the temperature, and then make a preliminary diagnosis, which is similar to Dr. Hong’s diagnosis. But there is still a lot of knowledge that has not been learned because of time. I have taken what I learned to heart and will not write it all down here. What I have not learned yet, I will learn again. During this internship, I mainly studied and observed, and then took care of sick dogs, cleaned, etc. Although the work was very simple, the happiness of work was something I couldn't feel in school.
After the internship, I said goodbye to those lovely masters and the cute little friends I had been with for four months. I was really reluctant to leave, but I believe I will come back. I am really grateful to the doctors at the pet hospital for their guidance. I will keep what they taught me in mind.
After experiencing this internship, I was delighted to find that I had gained double benefits - the consolidation of professional knowledge and the maturity and transformation of my soul. This internship allowed me to apply the book theories I learned into practice, making it more difficult for me to become familiar with my major, understand social reality, strengthen my own sense of competition, and at the same time discover my own shortcomings. This is just a preliminary attempt, but it is indeed a great fortune for me. It teaches me how to face actual work and society maturely in the future, and also points out the direction of my future path.
Time: December 1, 2010