Sunday, February 19, 2006

 
Last week we did a column on Greenies since the college received some questions about their safety--I guess a few dozen cases of them getting stuck in GI tract have been big news lately. Then this week CNN made Greenie HUGE news with this bit:
Click here to view article and video

(As much as I love animals and understand the strong bond owners have with them, a $5 million dollar lawsuit for losing a dog is ludicrous, I wouldn’t be surprised if the judge in that case said “get the hell out of my court!” before the trial even started.)

After that, a local television station interviewed the director of a local animal shelter, and a local paper contacted the college to get an interview with a university veterinarian on the topic. Poor Dr. Ridgeway did five media interviews in one week last month for her expertise on pet obesity, and now she’s getting called about this whole Greenies debacle.

Something that kind of gets my goat is that a representative from the company that makes Greenies (or at least someone who claims to represent them) has contacted the university asking that one of veterinarians tell the company’s side of the story, and tell the public that the product is safe.

The company already has their own highly paid spokesveterinarian saying that the product is absolutely safe, and the fact of the matter is, nobody knows for sure if they are safe. Sure, they may be no more dangerous that rawhide chews, but nobody knows for sure, because the research hasn’t been done.

The company is working with the FDA to figure out if there is a problem with the product or the way its processed that makes it more hazardous, but until that investigation is complete, the company’s veterinarian shouldn’t claim that the product is as safe as any other. They should emphasize that they are looking into it, and for now have no evidence that they are dangerous.

I’m also very disturbed by that fact that the product website addressed the product’s safety with links and FAQ link "Are Greenies digestible?" when I was doing research for the column a few weeks ago, and now that link is no longer. When the link existed, they answered that yes, the product is digestible. If their answer has changed since, they should address that on the site instead of removing the link altogether.

Bah, what do I know about PR? All I know is that we veterinarians-to-be need to bone up on our media skills. People really get worked up when their pets get sick or die, the media loves to dramatize these emotions, and we will be looked to as the experts with all the answers, even when we don’t have them.

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Monday, February 06, 2006

 

Hidden Among Us

I heard this on the radio today and sent it to Bryan (see "Rockin' Monster" below):

The Artistry in Hidden Talents by Mel Rusnov
(listen to it--it's only a couple minutes long)

It made me think of all the people who work seemingly technical jobs, and how we may disproportionately base our perception of others on only what we see at work or at school. But who are these people during the rest of their lives?

Then I thought of the people I go to school with now, the people I've worked with, and all the talent, creativity, passion and humanity that may lurk beneath the surface.

I've known bands made up of chemical engineers and microbiologists, a dentist who plays classical piano, a math professor who reads Greek and Russian literature (in Greek and Russian), a health food store clerk with a PhD in Chinese history, and an administrative assitant who sings arias and Motown, and it makes me curious about my classmates and professors.

Many of my classmates learned early on that I like to write goofy songs since I ususally share odes to cadavers and professors at the annual variety show, but I didn't know until last year that my friend and classmate Catherine played the piano. And I knew Molly plays guitar and sings, but I din't get to hear her sing until last year's show, and still haven't heard her play.

Last semester I found out who the two students with music degrees are, because they both happen to be my surgery partners, and they both happen to play the most difficult instrument in the orchestra--the French horn (waht are the odds?).

I didn't even know that (another) Catherine was a painter until last semester--when I saw her work, I was shocked that such a seemingly quiet person had such a passionate interpretive eye. One of her paintings looked very Impressionistic, and she explained that she used pointy Q-Tips (apparently the kind used for eye make-up) to achieve the effect.

Aside from artistic talents, this made me just wonder in general about all the interesting things people hide about themselves, or what they don't hide that we just don't bother to see.

Kurt raises enough chickens each year that he and his wife never buy chicken or eggs at the store.

Johanna loves reading Cervantes (she even named her dog Sancho) and The Economist.

For fun, Rebecca reads Anne Rice novels and classical plays in Latin.

Dr. Graves takes weekly tango lessons (yes, with a female dance partner) and Susan sometimes sees him out at the Regent's Salsa dancing night.

Susan and Steph are ballerinas and choreographers.

Dave plays bass and even has an upright bass taller than me.

Dr. Smith loves Harleys and is planning to celebrate his retirement with a road trio with his wife.

Katie is an EMT--in fact, she met her husband over a dead body.

Tamara is a physics T.A.

Allison is a chef. (cook for me, woman!)

What else? Who else? If any of my three readers out there knows something else about a classmate of ours, speak up!

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Sunday, February 05, 2006

 

UIUC CVM Third Year,
Second Semester Curriculum

A lot of the courses we’re taking this semester only run half the semester, and some are crammed into only four weeks. We should’ve been on quarters instead of semesters this year. If this post seems hurried, it’s because I really should be studying orthopedic surgery and what drilling techniques to use to close a fractures et cetera, but I’m briefly (okay, maybe not so briefly if you count the staring at the wall time, too) procrastinating.

Swine Medicine
Instructor: Dr. Clifford Shipley
We just finished this course on Friday. I don't plan on working directly with pig farmers, but I liked working with the piggies in lab and seeing the videos of cute piggies butts. But I don’t like the smell (pig poo smells the worst!) and I don't like seeing animals that are smarter than dogs living in pens so small they can't even turn around. Although I must say when we did our evaluation of our facility in lab, it was pretty clean and the pigs appeared healthy for the most part.

Poultry Medicine
We start this one tomorrow. I don’t know who the instructor is. The field of poultry "medicine" is incompetition with swine "medicine" as the top-paying filed for veterinarians.

Special Small Animal Surgery
Instructors: Dr. Ann Johnson (orthopedics), Dr. Sandra Manfra
Texbook: Small Animal Surgery by Theresa Fossum
Right now we’re doing orthopedic surgery, which I'm taking a break from studying for right now, and which I love because it involves power tools like saws and drills and screws and physics and biomechanics. Yay!

Special Large Animal Surgery
Instructor: Dr. Allison Stewart, Dr. Christopher Byron
We’re working more specifically with horse legs now (last year we focused on ruminants and horses and a lot of GI procedures) and learning how to diagnose lameness. Unlike small animals, horses need all four legs to function and live a normal life. Loss of use of a leg is pretty much fatal for a horse, so knowing the feet and legs is vital for horse vets.

Radiology and Diagnostic Imaging
Instructors: Dr. Stephen Kneller,
Fun! I love looking at pictures, so I really enjoy studying for this class. I can look at films on the light boxes for hours and it seems like minutes. No joke. But I heard the exams are a bitch. And by that I mean an intact female dog. But I don’t like trying to look at projection of the radiographs in LAC 100. I can just use that “lab” time as nappy time.

Nutrition
Instructors: Dr. Allen Paul, Dr. David Hammond from the Mark Morris Institute (which just happens to be funded by the Hills pet food company. . .hmmmmm.)
We just completed small animal nutrition, and food animal nutrition starts tomorrow. I considered taking food animal nutrition becaue I figured I should get to know ruminants since they make up wildlife, but then I realized the gosl for food animal nutrition are very different from the nutrition of wild bison. And I want to go home earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Ruminant Health
Enough already! This should really be an elective. We already had an entire semester of this, including the 50 types of diarrhea and mastitis that cattle get. Oh well, at least this time it only runs half the semester.

Cardiology and Critical Care
Instructors: Dr. Greg Marsolais (surgery), Dr. Marcella Ridgway (internal medicine), Dr. Tom Graves (internal medicine), someone from Purdue (cariology)
So far we’ve covered the basics of emergency and critical care and I think we start cardiology with a guest speaker from Purdue this week. So far it's been a very interesting class since emergencies are always exciting. There's also the fun of solving clinical pathology mysteries (but unlike on TV--House M.D., Quincy, ER, and so on--these mysteries are almost never solved in one episode, if ever).

Zoological Medicine
Instructors: Dr. Julia Whittington and guests
Text: Clinical Anatomy and Physiology of Exotic Species by Bairbre O’Malley
This is a great elective class (except for the fact that it meets on Friday afternoons) and every week we get a guest lecturer from a local zoo or wildlife clinic or private practice to talk about specific species and their anatomy, physiology, and common diseases. So far we've had lectures on invertebrates (including insects and clams and starfish), fish, amphibians and reptiles.

Advanced Ophthalmology
Instructor: Dr. Ralph Hamor
This is an elective that doesn't start until March, but I enjoyed the ophthalmology section of Companion Animal Medicine so much last year that I though I'd learn a litte more about it. And because Dr. Hamor is a hoot.


Electives I'm not taking:
Client Relations
Agribusiness
Advanced Soft Tissue Surgery (I tried to but I didn’t get a spot via lottery)
Advanced Clinical Pathology (another one I really wanted to take but didn’t make the lottery)

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We've Created a (Rockin') Monster!

Gregg's brother, Bryan (whom I've almost accidentally referred to as "my brother-in-law" more than once) has talked about guitarists and song writers he admires since I met him, and when he first heard me play guitar he kept telling me he'd like to play again (he tried when he was in junior high, I think) and so on. . . So, Christmas 2005 Gregg and I got him a Jasmine (although for some reason I get all the credit--but Gregg says he doesn't care. He also suspects I came up with the idea because I wanted Bryan to shut up and just start playing already. He may be right). Since, Bryan has enrolled in lessons at the Old Town School of Folk Music and has been practicing diligently. This past Christmas we both brought our guitars and swapped riffs. It's been about a year now, and the boy is a natural.

The music school is on his way home from work, and he's met a lot of cool people through the group lessons (I hear they often stop at the pub next door to the school for a drink after leassons). He's one of the few in the program who've stuck with the curriculum through six of the eight beginner eight-week programs, and every time I see him he's got more riffs and songs under his belt.


I'm so proud of him! He's going to be teaching me stuff pretty soon.

We've tenatively decided to start a band after I graduate. I think I'll sing and play rhythm and fingerpicking, and he'll play lead. So we'll be on the look out for a bassist and drummer (although if I get a djmebe drum maybe we can do a power duo thing) as of May 2007.











Forget all about that macho shit and learn how to play guitar!
--John Cougar Mellencamp (yes, back when he was a cougar)

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