Y2S1 Week 11: Community Practice and the Howl-o-Ween Dogstume Contest!

This week we kicked-off our endocrinology and reproduction block! I was able to get in a quick swim before diving into our first two lectures which were a nice overview of hormones, receptors, and feedback loops. During lunch we had a wonderful talk from our integrative medicine and rehabilitation faculty head, Dr. Koh. Dr. Koh walked us through the ways that integrative veterinary medicine can be used in a clinical setting and tied in a lot of interesting cases. During his presentation he walked through different alternative modalities such as acupuncture, herbs, rehabilitation, and laser therapy and explained how they could be used in conjunction to traditional western techniques to improve the quality of life of our patients. As Dr. Koh walked us through different cases that experienced significant success with the use of alternative therapies, he kept mentioning that one of his favorite things about integrative medicine is that there is never a point where you don’t have something else that you can try. Many owners that have been told by their regular practitioner that there is nothing left to try, seek out these alternative modalities and are surprised by the improvement that they witness in their animals! After lunch we had some time blocked off to work through some clinical cases and prepare for an upcoming histology lab discussion. The rest of the afternoon consisted of some grocery shopping and a meeting with the event planning team that is helping us bring our Symposium vision to life!

The evening involved teaching the undergrad KLOHC course and then relaxing with Churro. This week we focused on medical errors in human and veterinary medicine as well as how to correctly write prescription labels. These topics tied together nicely since medical errors can easily occur due to a mistake with a prescription label.

Tuesday started off with a nice hot yoga session followed by two lectures on the physiology and anatomy of the pituitary gland followed by a lecture on the pathology that is associated with this gland. I think that this lecture organization is extremely helpful in bringing these ideas together because we are able to learn about the normal function of this gland and then understand what happens clinically when things go wrong! Tuesday afternoon I had the opportunity to join a webinar from Standard Process on the gut-liver axis. Dr. Laura Gaylord, a boarded veterinary nutritionist, gave a wonderful presentation that explained the importance of the gut-liver axis in health and disease and how a whole-food diet and proper supplementation can help optimize its function. She also touched on the importance of the gut microbiome in modulating physiological systems including gastrointestinal function, immunity, and metabolism. A gut microbiome that is out of order can lead to a plethora of pathologies such as acute and chronic enteropathies, obesity, metabolic disease, cancer, and neurologic dysfunctions. While genetics do play a role in the makeup of the gut microbiome, there are also ways to limit dysbiosis though diet as well as appropriate antimicrobial stewardship. Dr. Gaylord concluded her talk by highlighting the importance of a multimodal approach when addressing the gut-liver axis. This means that as practitioners, veterinarians should use supportive measures to help support the normal functions and homeostasis of the gut, microbiome, liver, biliary system, and portal vein.

Wednesday morning started off with a fun run with Churro followed by our second mini-rotation day of the semester. I had the opportunity to shadow the Community Practice service which is comparable to a general practice. During the rotation we had the chance to see the cutest munchkin, Scottish fold cross. Fun little fact, when a Scottish Fold and Munchkin are mixed, the result is a "Scottish Kilt". This little guy needed some vaccines and a microchip along with a physical exam to address the presenting complaint of nystagmus and a potentially wonky gait. Our little friend was an angel during his exam and loved being the star of the show. I was even told by his owner that he has his own Instagram! At the end of the day, Dr. Halperin went over the top seven preventative care concerns that we should be addressing during the general  appointments especially when dealing with inexperienced pet owners. These include, vaccine schedule, parasite protection, behavior, nutrition, reproduction, oral care, and pain prevention. A key foundation of veterinary medicine is solid communication and client education so learning how to address these topics is extremely important to the overall wellbeing of our future patients. The rest of Wednesday consisted of some studying and some quality time with Churro!

Churro and Clover

Thursday began with a hot yoga session followed by two lectures on the adrenal gland. Similar to Tuesday’s lecture lineup we then transitioned into a lecture on the pathology of the adrenal gland. It was exciting to learn how these glands function and what could occur when things are not properly regulated. I then had some time to play with Churro before heading over to Madeline’s clinic to see my favorite Dobie, Drake. For those of you who don’t know, Drake is the sweetest Doberman Pinscher to ever walk the earth and is absolutely spoiled by his wonderful owner. Drake needed to get his blood pressure checked and there is not a better place to do that then in the serenity of Madeline’s clinic. I think you could take anyone’s blood pressure in there and it would be significantly lower than if they were in a “traditional” clinic setting. After hanging out with Drake I had the opportunity to pick up Clover, Churro’s little buddy, for an afternoon playdate. Clover and Churro spent some quality time slobbering all over each other and also got in a nice walk around the park! The rest of the night consisted of some studying and lecture review for the following day.

Friday morning started out with a quick run with Churro followed by two lectures on imaging the endocrine system. Unlike most of our other organ systems, radiographs is not the modality of choice when trying to observe endocrine tissue. MRI and CT, along with scintigrams for functional imaging are more beneficial. We then had a lecture on thyroid physiology followed by a lecture on thyroid pathology. It is so interesting to learn how these glands function and what that means on a clinical level when things go awry. We then transitioned into a histology discussion with a clinical case to tie everything together. This was a great way to end the week and bring together all of the endocrine topics.

Gabi and her sidekick Bindi!

Friday night consisted of the annual Howl-o-ween Dogstume contest. This is a fun way for people to dress up with their dogs and compete to be “top dog”. The Canine Medicine Club was in charge of running this contest and it was super fun to have a front row seat to this event and see all the behind the scenes work that went into making this possible! We had roughly 24 awesome contestants and the overall crowd-choice winner was a sphynx cat that was dressed up like ET. It was awesome to see all the hard work that people put into dressing up with their animal and take a break from studying to enjoy some time with friends!

Saturday morning was kicked off with a quick run with Churro followed by a hot Pilates class. I then had the chance to get in a quick swim before studying for the upcoming endocrinology exam. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting some work done at Madeline’s clinic. Sunday consisted of a similar schedule with some quality time with Churro and some studying. I also had the opportunity to stop by and see the amazing Dr. Youkey who was running a booth at the Farrier CE event on campus.

Dr. Youkey ☺

Quote of the week: "I don't like dead dogs, I like pathology... I like dogs." -Dr. Brian Murphy