This National University of Singapore notebook had the words: "Discover, create and nuture." This slogan probably meant nothing to her. But to me, they told me that a 19-year-old had discovered veterinary medicine was what she wanted to study in the university. Creation of a fully qualified veterinarian would take the next 5 years of undergraduate study. She needed a mentor with sufficient experience and maturity to educate her before her journey started as she was new to the world of animals. Her hands-on experience was her beloved 6-year-old cat.
"I had postponed neutering a Chihuahua that had come in at 9.00 a.m," I said. "So that you could see the operation". I had asked her to start at 10 a.m on this Sunday, so it was not her fault.
Surprisingly, the waiting room was full at 10 a.m on this Sunday May 6, 2007. It could accomodate around 7 clients and pets and all had appointments. One dog owner had to linger outside as his Miniature Schnauzer barked his heart out at all other dogs in this 5 sq m waiting room.
"Get in the first case," I told receptionist James who nowadays had stopped giving numbered cards. He was over 70 years old. He could not recognise who came first and there had been unhappiness at queue jumping. So, the card numbering system was a good idea for him to prevent queue jumping. I don't have those fanciful electronic numbering system. Let sleeping dogs lie. I just had to ask who came first, when necessary.
The first case was a detective mystery.
"Doc, the hair on the tail did not grow normally" the owner of this luxuriant-coated 3-year-old female Shetland said. "But the tail wound you treated 2 months ago was now fully covered with hair." I looked at the "new hair growth" (see picture) where the old wound used to be. I could not believe my eyes.
The rest of the tail was almost hairless as on the day Groomer Mark clipped away all hair in case there were other hidden tail bite or lick wounds.
The tail was not entirely bald. Fine hair growth. As if time had stood still. Not only that, there was a 1.5cm diameter red wound further behind the recovered wound (see picture).
"Is it possible that vigorous tail wagging could have resulted in tail trauma and injuries? Do you have bougainvilla or other plants inside your apartment?"the Sheltie had not stopped swinging her tail from left to right and back for as long as she was on the consultation table.
It was no wonder that the owner loved her. Such a happy dog!Now, how to resolve the problem of the hair-less tail of 2 months? How to make the hair grow back? It was not the sole problem. A big circular grey patch with 5 bite wound scabs presented on the Sheltie's left rib cage (see picture). The hyperpigmented skin with the grey black pigments told me that the Sheltie had licked this area for more than a few weeks but the owner could not confirm.
"The Sheltie might have some foreign body, for example, wooden splinters, embedded inside the skin. Her skin became itchy and she had to bite and lick it. If the condition persists for another month, the best course of action would be to snip off the infected skin." The owner said that nothing had injured the dog. His dog would look ugly if any more of her luxuriant hair got shaved off her left rib cage area during surgery.
I did not say more or speculate. The victim was four-legged and was not able to communicate to us. What the owner wanted was a cure. I asked Groomer Mark to express the anal sacs. Dark brown oil oozed out. Anal sac impaction would be one reason that the dog was biting her tail as she tried to relieve her anal itch. As part of the routine, I squeezed the anal sacs again. This Sheltie had some backside fat and the glands were much deeper. It was through years of experience that one could reach deep under the subcutaneous fat. I showed the intern and Mark the tissue paper that more anal sac oil had been expressed out. This was part of Mark's learning experience. He was new to the world of dog grooming. So, I had to mentor him too whenever I had the time and he would need to have hands-on experience which the internet web pages could never teach.
As for hands-on experience, the intern was asked to put on an Elizabeth collar onto the Sheltie's neck to prevent further biting for the next 30 days. I gave her the theory on how to fix the collar inside the consultation room. She was to "just do it" - the Nike slogan in the waiting room area while I received the second case in the consultation room. She would learn only by doing things, not by being spoon-fed.
There was much to learn as she had no canine handling experience --- the Animal Husbandry and Management Course in Glasgow University's Veterinary Course in which I attended some 40 years ago. With no knowledge of canine handling experience too.
Learning by mistakes would be more educational. I had asked her to put a dog muzzle during a case today. She took the deep pink muzzle, sized L, from the drawer of muzzles. She put it onto the Jack Russell.
I tried not to laugh as I could not see the dog's head vanished and I could only see the neck, four legs and a body of the Jack Russell.
This cloth muzzle too big such that it covered even the ears of the dog. It was upside down. "Silly," was all I commented as I took the sized S muzzle and demonstrated. I presumed too much that she could muzzle the dog. It was not the commercial muzzle with the hole and velcro strap you would see in pet shops. It was of different design and
many people put the muzzle upside down, so it was common even for dog owners to muzzle upside down. A picture of the cloth muzzle is shown here.
Today was busy so I did not supervise her putting on the Elizabeth collar. I happened to peek outside at the waiting room area. "Why do you put on the Elizabeth collar for her?" I shouted at Groomer Mark as he had completed the job so that the client could go home faster. "How would she ever learn to handle a dog if you don't allow her to be hands-on?" Many times I had to restrain Mark as interns needed the experience to discover.
Mark said that he wanted to show her how to do it by fixing up the collar himself. Discovery, create and nuture --- it would be hard to nuture an intern if they do not discover and make mistakes by doing simple new procedures for themselves. Now I have to make sure that Mark does not spoon feed newcomers to the world of small animal practice. Not to muzzle his good intentions but to explain to him that the young ones need hands-on to make mistakes and to learn better.
