Mackenzie Coyne July 12th, 2023

Community Veterinary Clinic Journal

As I first arrived in the vet clinic, my peers and I were given a basic rundown of what a day in a
community clinic would look like from Dr. Amy Rubin. A crucial part of shadowing appointments is
knowing what the most common cases look like, so we were introduced to blood tests (4DX) to check for
heartworm, Lyme disease, and Anaplasmosis. We learned about how heartworm is transmitted and
further learned about FeLV (feline leukemia virus) and FIV (feline immunodeficiency virus).
When it was time for our first appointment, students shadowed Annika Jonsson as she took the
history of Millie, a young mixed breed dog. She presented healthy with no signs out of the ordinary, just
with a question from mom about a possible ear infection. Millie has a history of yeast infections and ear
infections, so staff made sure to check on these during the appointment. Later on we also learned that
Millie was not fully up to date with her Lyme disease vaccine booster, so noted to give it at a later point.
Jamie, a Vet Tech student at UMass did a workup on Millie, taking her vitals (TPR), which presented
with a slightly elevated temperature of 103.6*F and heart rate of 180 BPM, seemingly stressed out. Dr.
Rubin did a quick check on Millie and advised to cut back on extra table scraps, a bit overweight. Dr.
Rubin also advised Jamie to use the “T-touch” on Millie, which is circular motions up and down the left
side of the body to calm down a patient. It was time for Millie to have her ears checked, and as noted by
her mom and Annika, she does not take to people touching her ears well. Jamie used an otoscope to check
her ears while Annika held her in restraints. As Millie was very reactive to her ears being touched, Dr.
Rubin advised me to give her some spray cheese to calm her, which did not seem to have an affect on
Millie’s state. Both Annika and Dr. Rubin seemed worried about Millie’s ears, so they decided to take an
ear swab to run a culture and check for infection. A microscopic sample was created by my peer Will to
run the test at a later point. While Will was making the sample, Jamie and Annika gave Millie Borrelia
burgdorferi bacteria (Lyme disease) vaccine to update Millie’s booster, which was taken well and she was
sent back to mom. Jamie also saw Dude, an older cat for a nail trim at the end of our time in the clinic.
A case study about canine parvovirus struck my interest when learning about parvo, so I decided
to dig deeper into the nearly fatal virus. By definition, canine parvovirus (CPV) is a highly contagious
virus that commonly causes GI diseases in young, unvaccinated dogs. In this case, two dogs aged 2 and 3
months presented with symptoms of lethargy, vomit, and “foul smelling” diarrhea. The vets recognized
that both dogs were febrile, dehydrated, and the mucous membrane was pale and pink. Both dogs were
tested for canine parvovirus through the ELISA test and came back positive. They were both sent for
hematological examination and revealed microcytic and hypochromic anemia and sent to quarantine.
After 14 days, doctors resumed oral feedings and weeks later were discharged completely healthy with no
side effects.
Overall, the rotation went above and beyond what I had expected in such a small community
clinic. I did not expect to be able to work at such a hands-on rate with animals that were outside of the
university’s care, and that pleasantly surprised me. At some points I did get a little lost when the pace was
picked up and medicine sames were being said without the students having a proper understanding of
what they were and what they did. To prepare differently, I would have wanted to know more about the
background information of some diseases and how to treat them. I loved every minute of getting to learn
about veterinary medicine at such a hands-on level.
https://www.walkervillevet.com.au/blog/dog-ear-infection-causes/
https://www.pdsa.org.uk/pet-help-and-advice/pet-health-hub/conditions/parvovirus-in-dogs-and-pupp

Canine parvovirus infection: A case report - ijcmas. (n.d.).

https://www.ijcmas.com/9-2-2020/Vaishali%20and%20Tushar%20Jain.pdf