-1Bonnie Erb- Job Shadow

On May 29th 2009 I completed my three hour job shadow session. I shadowed two Veterinary Technician’s

at a Veterinary Hospital called Warren Woods. I chose this hospital not only for the exceptional staff, but

because I was also a client and really wanted to get to know everyone better.

Upon entering the facility I encountered two lovely receptionist’s that were both in brown matching scrubs.

At which point one of them announced my arrival and I was promptly introduced to Donna. This would be

the Tech I would follow for half the day before she handed me over to Dawn, who was another Tech.

The first thing we started was a tour. We walked through each of the rooms as she explained it’s purpose.

Along the way I was introduced to all the staff. From food prep, exam rooms, isolation, surgical suite,

pharmacy, lab, and treatment area. Every room had a purpose. Donna even showed me their break room

featuring all stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. She explained that they recently under went

construction to expand and that Dr. Julie Cappel (the owner of the clinic) did a little extra for all the hard

working staff.

As Donna guided me through all the doors like a maze we ended up in the cat ward. This area was the

adoptee’s. Warren Woods partners with an animal rescue and adoption organization. Donna was explaining

that the many cats in this ward were rescued and up for adoption. Donna had told me if I wanted to adopt or

know of anyone that this was the place. I then replied while laughing, “ I have no more room. I have a dog,

7 birds and two turtles.“ One cat in particular, Sandy was pregnant. But she was in isolation. Many of the

staff had even adopted some in the past. There are three resident cats in the facility. Punky Lee, Romey and

Marie. All of which are Tabby cats. And are free to roam the halls and get pats on the head.

From Cat ward to Dog Ward/Kennel. This was by far my most favorite spot. Upon entering I became

familiarized with a certain smell, the one you recognize from a wet dog. You knew that dogs resided there.

Their were currently five dogs caged. Donna told me all their names and let one of them out so I could pet

one. This dog Merry a rescued Pitt Bull had an interesting story to tell. Donna and I put Merry back inside

the cage and we exited to a quieter room as she began to tell me the story. It appears Merry was left for

dead at a church in Detroit. Emaciated and having vaginal discharge, which is what the vet technicians had

discovered upon receiving Merry at the hospital. Doing several test’s and x-rays, they had also discovered

she had a deceased baby inside her. The Veterinarian immediately did surgery and helped Merry recovery.

She is now a healthy happy dog. Her name was given to her, Merry because it was Christmas Day when she

was found. She was up for adoption, but Dawn, the Vet tech I also shadowed adopted her and she was in

the process of moving and was pregnant. So, she brought her in until her move was final. I thought this was

an amazing story. The dog ward also had a door located inside which led outside on the side of the

hospital, this had about a 10’ x 8’ square of grass for the potty area. Much of the grass was gone for the

excessive playing. I thought that was cute.

Next stop was the Surgical Suite. This was an average bedroom sized room with all the tools necessary to

perform operations. This was also where Dental Prophylaxis was performed. I was introduced to the ultra

sound, suction , syringes, autoclave, and the machine that administers Isoflurane. The drug used to

knockout animals such as fractious cats. For unusual surgeries, a Dr. Gums was brought in to perform.

While we were in the surgical suite a patients pregnant cat needed to have an ultra sound. The Veterinarian

performing asked me if I would like to watch. While 5 other technicians surround to help out and watch, I

was asked, “Bonnie, can you see?” I felt so special. It was so neat. Turned out there was five babies inside.

Next to the surgical suite was the most morbid area of all. The body bags and a freezer to house the

euthanized. Today definitely was my day to see a lot. They had a cat that had multiple blood clots, couldn’t

eat and could not see. The owner brought him in to be euthanized. While standing and observing, the

technicians were having severe problems administering the IV because the blood pressure was so low the

needle wasn’t taking to the vein. Finally, someone got it in. I asked Donna, “ do the technicians do

euthanization or does the veterinarian?” She told me it depends. If the owner drops the animal off and does

not stay the techs do, but if the owner wants to be present then the Vet’s do. I also asked her, “ On a rare

occasion do you ever have so many euthanization’s that they won’t fit in the freezer?” She then replied, “

yes, during Christmas and Thanksgiving.” I could not believe it. The freezer was an average size deep

freezer you would get from Home Depot. I was curious how they could fit a St. Bernard inside. Donna

handed me a brochure for FCM. It was a service they used for cremation and same day pickups. I was

guessing that if they had a St. Bernard and it was not leaving with the owner, it would be going to FCM.

The Isolation room was next up on our tour. This is where all the sickly animals were. One in particular, an

African Grey was in a incubator box. Donna explained how it was throwing up and just was not doing well.

On the bottom was 5 baby kittens, no less than a week old. They were rescued as well. The kittens were

fine but were in an incubator for warmth. There wasn’t much time spent in isolation, so we quickly moved

over to treatment.

The treatment are was nice. There was a radiology machine, a bath tub and 3 stainless steel tables.

On one there was a poodle mix receiving treatment. Apparently it was taken to a groomer and is was nicked

on the paw casing an abrasion. The groomer decided to conceal it with some powder to stop the bleeding.

The owner had just noticed it a day later and brought in her dog. The Technician cleansed the area and the

veterinarian examined the area and gave instructions for the Technicians. From there, a glue was applied to

seal the wound.

Now, it was time to visit the pharmacy. Here all the prescriptions were filled and handed out. It was a

narrow hallway with entrances to most of the exam rooms. Half of the hallway was medicine bottles and

the other had computers. Donna had showed me how they check the schedule to see what’s coming in for

the day. Also, they were able to access patient records on the computer and bring up estimates.

Finally, my last stop was the lab. This is where Donna had passed me on to Dawn. This was an exciting

educational room. I spent an hour and a half here. Beth had explained that every day was different and they

were stationed in different areas. I suppose to break up the monotony of it all. She was in charge of running

all test’s that came through. The most useful piece of equipment in the room was the microscope. Here

Dawn checked platelets of good and bad bacteria and yeast crystals among so many other things. I got a

chance to look at cockatiel blood, fecal sample and an ear discharge. The Cockatiel blood was amazing,

Dawn explained how the blood actually moves under the scope. When putting any sample on a slide there

is a procedure that must be done. There were three liquids. A red, blue, and purple. The slide gets dipped in

each to help secure, brighten and clarify the sample for scope viewing. It is rinsed with water but not before

being blow dried first and after. With blood upon doing chemistries, they have to sit so the blood separates

and a serum is present. There are two vials. One that has a plasma for coagulation and another that is for

clotting. The gel in the serum effects drugs like Phenobarbital. This was pretty neat. Upon our free time

when Dawn wasn’t running test’s, I was free to ask questions. I did ask, “what kind of hours to you work

and what the appropriate attire was?” She told me it is usually open to close some days and others are half

days. The Lab was where the schedule was hung and I got a chance to overlook it. It appeared that they

worked four to five days a week, around 44 hours a week. Dawn did explain that there was always

something to do and the days never seemed long. As far as the attire, All the Technician’s were free to wear

any sort of color scrubs, most of them wore crocs. But, the receptionist only wore brown. By then, it was

time to say my goodbyes and head home with a binder full of notes.

While the time flew by I did learn a lot about the Veterinary Technician job. Would I want to pursue this as

my career? A lot has impacted my decision. I was very surprised to hear 5% of the day was actually spent

with animals while the rest of the day consitised of tests and other duties. It wasn’t exactly how I imagined

it would be, I guess that question is still up in the air. Do I still want to pursue my degree in the field,

Definitely. This was a very educational day for me and I very much indeed enjoyed it.

Warren Woods Veterinary Hospital

Donna Dawn