Rabbits, Horses, Cows and BrewDog

We started the week off with a lecture on rabbit anatomy.  What I gained from that lecture - rabbits are not well designed creatures.  Examples: They can only breathe through their nose (so if they get their nose blocked they are in big trouble), they basically don't have any coronary collateral circulation (so if a coronary artery [artery that supplies blood and oxygen to the heart muscle itself] gets blocked there is no back up artery), to be quick and agile they have very light bones, but this also makes them prone to fractures and osteoporosis.  Cool fact: Don't get into a staring contest with a rabbit because they only blink 10-12 times an hour!

My group had our first horse practical.  We worked on haltering, leading, picking up feet, grooming, rugging and basically learning where to stand so you don't get kicked.  Having spent 3 weeks of extramural studies this summer at a horse barn made a huge difference.  I wouldn't go as far to say I am confident with the horses but I am not too intimidated by them either.  Later in the week we had a horse anatomy session to try and palpate anatomical landmarks.  Unfortunately the horse we were working with the majority of the time was a little heavier so it made finding the landmarks more challenging.

We also had a cattle handling practical this week.  We learned how to halter cows, open their mouths, put gags in their mouths and how to tie up their legs so you can lift their feet up.  Although I have spent some time with cows this was all new for me.  Holding the cow's head to put the gag in is quite a good workout!  At the end of the practical we were running a little late.  So the professor decided to speed up the waterproof washing by getting out the pressurized hose to rinse us all off.  It was effective but my waterproofs were not waterproof enough to keep my clothing dry.

In terms of dissection we had a rabbit dissection and thorax and abdomen prosection (all the specimens are already dissected for you by someone who knows what they are doing).  It was kind of a nice change to be able to clearly see all the features were were looking for on the prosected specimens as opposed to the mess that often results after us inexperienced vet students hack away at our dissections.

We finished the week off by going to a microbrewery, BrewDog Friday night.  All their beers are labelled according to their alcoholic percentage.  One beer was 10.2%!  Can you even call that beer?

The weekend has basically been spent studying and longingly looking out at the uncharacteristically beautiful weather.  Its been sunny for 3 whole days in a row!  Definitely a new record for my time here in Edinburgh.

Sections of my dog spine perpetually set up on my window sill

Enjoying the nice evening weather walking home from the gym