Hollybank Work Experience

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As vet’s, we remember all too well the hours of work experience required to show our commitment and passion for the profession. Without the support of our local vet practices we wouldn’t have been able to gain the experience needed for university application therefore we all feel strongly about offering students the opportunity to see practice at Hollybank.

More often than not our students return to us over a number of years. It is lovely to follow them through the process and see their hard work pay off at the end. We currently have a number of students in differing years of their veterinary degree who come back to see practice with us regularly. Most recently, Charlotte who also lives locally has been accepted to study veterinary medicine at Liverpool university. She has in fact just started her course and we are very excited for her!

Charlotte has kindly written a piece about why she wanted to become a vet and how important it is to carry out such work experience. We hope Charlotte’s experience encourages other aspiring vets and vet nurses to find the placements that they need.

“Owning a variety of pets means I have been on many trips to the vets from a young age. It immediately intrigued me on these visits the way in which the vets were able to diagnose the problems without the animals verbally telling them the issues in the same way in which I would tell my doctor. It was at this point I realised vets have to use other methods to find the animals’ problems in order to apply their knowledge to create a treatment plan. It was as the vets explained to us their diagnoses that I was also interested in the reasons why my pets’ bodies were malfunctioning and how the treatment would work in solving these problems. All of this is in addition to the clichéd but true fact that I love interacting with animals and want to help prevent and ease their suffering. So, it was at a young age that I decided I wanted to be a veterinary surgeon.

When applying to vet school it is important to have a wide range of work experience under your belt so when I was 15 I started looking for a placement at a vet’s practice so that I could see what the job involved and whether it was what I definitely wanted to do. Having a dog, Evie, and a cat, Tigger, who are regulars at Hollybank, it was a good start to apply here as I knew it was an excellent vets to do work experience at and I already knew the team. It was in the summer of 2014 that I spent my first week of placement here and I absolutely loved it, so much so that for the past two years I have been watching practice here every Thursday evening, and spending a week whenever possible.

I love watching practice at Hollybank as there is such a wide variety of cases to see and things to do. I can say I am a lot better at cleaning since working here, much to my Mum’s pleasure, as it is always a priority for the practice to be clean and hygienic. I also spend a lot of time watching consults between the vets and clients, which made it apparent that working as a vet involves dealing as much with the humans that come with the pets as well as the animals themselves. These consults have also provided me with the information of a lot of different illnesses and their accompanying treatments, which I always find interesting to hear about. In addition to this I also enjoy watching the operations carried out by Richard and the team, one of my favourites so far being a caesarean on a Bulldog, partly due to the puppies being very cute. I also try to help the vets and nurses when needed, such as by tidying up between consults, helping to clean or helping to hold animals. However, it appears that my main role at the practice is keeping everyone well fed with cakes!

Hollybank is my favourite veterinary practice to work at as there is always something exciting going on for me to do, the practice is very welcoming and clean, and all the veterinary surgeons, nurses and receptionists are very friendly and are always willing to help and explain things to me. My work experience at Hollybank has confirmed my ambition of becoming a vet as I thoroughly enjoy working here, and despite the hard work involved in being a vet I am still fascinated by the job and the range of skills it requires. I am very grateful to Richard and all at Hollybank for giving me this amazing opportunity and helping me with all they have done.”

Please see our ‘work experience’ page if you are considering applying to do work experience

 

Brave Pet Of The Month…Kodi!

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DSCF0665_2sKodi is a very handsome and clever German Shepherd Dog (GSD). He presented to us with the concern of weight loss, a ravenous appetite and frequent bouts of watery diarrhoea. Kodi had in fact lost 6 kg in 3 months! However, his remaining physical examination was unremarkable.

Weight loss despite a really good appetite suggests there is some form of abnormal digestion and/or utilisation of the nutrients he is receiving. This type of disorder could also be the reason for his diarrhoea. However, there can be lots of other reasons for diarrhoea and these too must be considered.

GSD’s are a breed known to suffer from a condition called exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI). The pancreas contains specialised ‘exocrine’ cells which produce enzymes; the enzymes are transported to the small intestine where their role is to digest food. In dogs with EPI their is a loss of these exocrine cells. This leads to reduced enzyme production and therefore significantly reduced digestion.

Due to this lack of digestion and nutrition, dogs suffering from EPI will inevitably lose weight. They respond to the malnutrition with an increased appetite and the undigested food travels through the GIT in the form of diarrhoea.

kodi_9_hdr4So why does EPI occur more commonly in GSDs? The destruction of the pancreas is due to inappropriate immune attack on the pancreas, in other words, their body attacks their own pancreatic cells. The exact reason for this unclear. However, it is thought to be a hereditary condition. In theory, any breed can suffer from immune mediated EPI and any disease affecting the pancreas can result in the destruction of pancreatic cells, for example, severe cases of pancreatitis.

Based on Kodi’s history and breed  we were keen to rule in or out EPI. This requires a specific blood test. His results were supportive of EPI. What next? The pancreas cannot regenerate new exocrine cells so EPI is a lifelong condition requiring medical management. The bulk of this management is the addition of  ‘replacement enzymes’ on Kodi’s meals.

Unfortunately, this alone is often not enough and the overall management can be very complex with a number of other things that must be addressed:

  • These dogs often have concurrent deficiency in vitamin B12 requiring regular Vitamin B12 injections.
  • The condition can be ‘diet responsive’ so changing to one high in fibre and low in carbohydrate must be considered.
  • They can also be prone to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and at least in the early stages of diagnosis and stabilisation antibiotics may be required.
  • Last, but not least, there can be concurrent GIT disease. This can be particularly true for GSD’s who can be more likely to suffer from conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In fact, we think this is the case for Kodi as he responded very well to feeding a lamb and vegetable diet (diet-responsive IBD)

dscf1194It has taken lots of time, patience and fine tuning of his medications. However, thanks to his owner’s commitment Kodi is currently doing very well! He has gained weight and has normal faeces which are important indicators of how stable his condition is.

With frequent visits to the vets we think Kodi definitely deserves recognition as a brave pet!

Public help line for poisoning in animals….VPIS

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The Veterinary poisons information service (VPIS) provides expert support and advice on poisoning in animals. They are able to do this thanks to their extensive database of over 200,000 previous cases and access to the most recent research and scientific data on toxins in animals. They can offer advice on over 1000 different toxic substances!

They offer a 24-hour emergency telephone service to veterinarians, allowing us to phone for support if needed.  This provides us with the most up to date information and current ‘best practice’ on how to manage animals that are suspected to or have eaten toxic substances.  Ultimately, this helps us to create the most optimum treatment plan for your pet.

The VPIS now offer direct support to the public and pet owners too. Currently, their public helpline is open Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm. For a consultation fee, you are able to seek advice about any potential concerns of posoining in your pet. Please follow this link to read more about this new service.

As always, our clients are always able to phone us here at Hollybank too. We will be able to guide you with common poisons based on our experience. However, in some cases we may still direct you towards VPIS and their specialist service.