#NerdsUnite: The secret life of a veterinary technician
<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lindsay. She and I met ... well, somewhere in the social space. I think we might have started talking through this site directly, then through facebook - maybe ... I'm not sure. But she's awesome. I talk to her on twitter almost every day, and she's really rad and TOTALLY a big huge animal lover. Like crazy huge!! In these series of posts she will be talking about her life and random adventures with sometimes more than two legged creatures. I guess there's only one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LINDSAY!! </editorsnote>
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @TheCraftafarian
So I finally got those pictures I was hoping to get for this post. A friend from high school saw my facebook post for help regarding photos I needed off my uncharged laptop for which I did not have a charger (because I'm a very bad nerd and didn't back up my files from my old laptop). I met him at a nearby starbucks and we sat outside while he worked on my computer. It was really cool because he told me what he was going to do before he did it. To pull data from a laptop you have to unscrew a panel and remove the hard drive--which sounds kinda scary! Since the laptop was in working order and just needed photos on a deadline he just grabbed those off my hard drive for me. So I can share these awesome experiences with you! So if you are in the Central FL-Orlando Area and need some computer help he is CompTIA A+ certified just contact me on twitter and I will get you in touch with him!! So yeah thanks to Robert I now have my old photos from UF Vet School yay!
Last week was the stories of the deer and kangaroo. This week is the white bengal tiger and the cougar. The cougar was actually a little frightening. The tiger didn't shake me in the least. My boyfriend is still annoyed that I helped with these animals. He doesn't want me to get eaten. I share his sentiments, but come on! What an experience!!
The bengal tiger was a gorgeous boy. He was 10 months old and belonged to a circus, I can't remember if it was Barnum and Bailey or Ringling or what. I know it was a circus or some place with performing cats. The poor guy had broken his tibia and fibula (hind leg bones). He was brought to UF Zoo medicine for care. To top it all off the young cub also had a calcium deficiency making it more difficult to heal his broken leg. He was in a large cast and on cage rest as well as medications. Since we were small animal our job was just to go in there at night and check on him. Make sure he didn't chew his cast or run out of water. He was a very sweet boy, very very gentle. We never actually went into the cage with him but interacted from outside and we could scratch his chin through the bars of his cage. He never tried to grab us (although he couldn't fit his front legs thru the bars) or bite us. It was really really really cool to work with him even on the limited basis. 
The cougar on the other hand was an awesome experience but I was on edge the entire time. It was tranquilized thankfully. Actually it was on a CRI (constant rate infusion) of propofol. Which is an injectable anesthetic commonly used in humans and animals, I'm sure most of you have heard of it somewhere. So she was on that as well as other medications. This was actually someone’s pet. Apparently it would sleep in bed with its owners. Crazy! The cat's name was Cayla and she had anal fissures (tears in lining of anus...owwie!) and an infection. So she had to be on IV antibiotics, pain medications, as well as anesthetics because she was sweet to her owners but to other people she was a regular cougar. We never had a problem with her or her anesthesia. And I would never have been super nervous if they didn't make such a big deal about the dart gun. Yeah, a dart gun. Although the big cat was hooked up to tons of drugs on the off chance that she woke up we had to be provided with a dart gun. We were shown how to take it from the briefcase thing it came in, screw it together, load the dart, and shoot. After zoo med left my shift mate and I alone with this giant anesthetized cat I took one look at Cayla, looked at the dart gun, looked at my shift mate and said "Fuck the dart gun, if that things wakes up I'm gonna bash it in the head with the defibrillator." It literally took like 3-5 minutes to put the gun together and load it. Annnnd we weren't allowed to have it ready with the safety on!!! I love animals and so does she, every single one. But I love my face just the way it is. The lady in the photo is my buddy Sharon who is now in Vet School, sooo proud of her!!
Crazy times at UF Vet Med. Seriously. I may have more to come but we'll just see what happens this coming week.
Peace. Love. Pawprints