Veterinary Medicine 2015 hopefuls!

Don't chill in the kick zone of a cow - you will get kicked
Only go through the crush zone (between a cows side and something solid, like a wall) if you must.
Ask as many questions as you can!
Oh and the older your clothes the better - they are going to be smelling... ripe shall we say

Back from the dairy

Started the day by missing my train Being an intelligent human being, my logic was something along the lines of "THE FARM IS NORTH OF WHERE I LIVE THEREFORE I SHALL PICK A NORTHBOUND PLATFORM AT RANDOM, YEAH " Yeah, no. I did have quite an interesting internal dialogue as I watched by train pull up to another platform though Anyway, I got the next train and still ended up being more than an hour early despite the 40 minute walk from the station . Moral: if you want to travel somewhere, don't be me . Oooh, I saw a load of planes fly overhead as I was walking as well (apparently it's the queen's birthday?), so that was interesting.

Anyway, the farmer was absolutely amazing He was really friendly and chatty and did all he could to cram as much information into my tiny noggin as possible I asked tonnes of questions too.

After a tour around the farm, accompanied by his two collie puppies, we went back into the parlour. Milking 60-odd cows is certainly a lot different to doing a few milking demonstrations for the public! For today I was given the job of spraying the teats after the clusters were removed as well as releasing the milk into the tank (and cleaning up... how I managed to get cow shut on my face I will never know ) I've learned tonnes in the space of one afternoon, I can't wait until I go back Even though technically I haven't even started my placement yet, he's already invited me back in September as hopefully a few more calvings will be going on then. Apparently out of about 30 WEx students that he's had over the years, only one hasn't made it to vet school, and that was mainly because he was more interested in rowing and just applied for VetMed because that's what his brother did, so hopefully I shouldn't break that pattern!

The farmer gave me the leaflets from a few boxes of mastitis medication as well as the bull catalogue (for AI) to take home, which I shall enjoy reading through. I'll admit that some of it may as well be written in hieroglyphics, but hopefully I'll understand a bit more as I work there longer Unfortunately they use the same vet as my other farm, which I've already tried and failed to get experience at, but the AI book has contact details at the back...

Apologies for the wall of text, can you tell how exited I am?

Im helping at the open day next saturday hopefully

So on my last day of college I got to do a head to tail check up on a rabbit. Felt amazing! To be fair, I wasn't sure what I was looking for but I learnt quite a lot I feel! Also, it probably wasn't that in-depth but it was more I think learning how to handle a rabbit when doing things like that? Either way, it was very fun! I also managed to get work experience at an animal sanctuary! Whoop whoop! They have rabbits, birds, donkeys, horses, dogs, cats, sheep, pigs, guinea pigs, rats, chinchillas and a hedgehog! I think I'm going for a visit this coming weekend, should be grand! I spoke to the woman on the phone and she was lovely. I am VERY excited now! Although it is a fair drive away Just trying to find some farms now I contacted a few and one said that because I was under 18 I would have some problems but you have all managed so I will persevere!

Sounds ace! I loved doing my day at a dairy farm. I have to find another one willing to take me! I would of seen an AI and the LA vet come in but both didn't happen that day, which is something that was planned for when I went! They were so lovely though and tried to cram information into my head as well! That placement sounds great! I'm pretty jealous

Maybe you'll meet Hanna?





That sounds awesome, it sounds like you did loads! Congrats on getting more booked too, you are going to have TONNES by the time you apply





Aww, you'll see LA and AI work eventually, don't worry . The farmer at my place has basically said that I can come back whenever I want, so hopefully I can get him to give me a ring if there's ever something interesting going on.

I bet I won't I've barely booked anything for the summer! One of the ladies at college took my contact details for work experience though! Also, little Monty is a royal ball python. Let's not embarrass me further eh? I hope I do get some! I called an LA vet and they said I can come next year for work experience! I will hopefully be able to get at least a week when I find out my holiday dates from school for next year! I get the feeling I will have a lot of cattery work experience by the end of the summer. I have a feeling the lady wants me to come in during the summer as some of the other girls can't. This is good though because if I have days where I am not getting out the house I can hopefully go over! That's really great, he sounds very helpful! It sounds like you had a fab time

Did any of you guys watch Horizon's 'The Secret Life of the Cat' on Thursday? Scientists from the RVC put GPS collars and cameras on 50 cats in Surrey in order to analyse their behaviour. Well worth watching in my opinion

It's here if you missed it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b02xcvhw/Horizon_20122013_The_Secret_Life_of_the_Cat/




Well you certainly have more than I had when I was your age (i.e. none ). By August all I had was a week at Pets at Home, a week at the SA vet and 13 days at a stable. That makes more sense I actually learnt a bit about the various morphs of reptiles from when I was working at P@H, but I'm hoping I can expand on my knowledge during my exotics placement in July .

I'll have to check out that programme! Sounds pretty good. Yeah I was lucky enough to get an exotics vet almost by accident? Obviously not completely by accident but I booked a SA vet and it happened to do exotics too! I never thought about contacting Pets at Home for work experience? I remember my mum suggesting it but I never thought to much into it! Note to self...

To be honest I wouldn't really recommend it as a place to do WEx. 95% of the jobs I did weren't animal related; I spent the vast majority of my time 'fronting up' shelves (bringing stock to the front, making everything look neat etc ). I don't think I actually held an animal at all during my placement, the closest I got was probably cleaning out the guinea pigs in my last day.

They managed to lose my reference form too

So yeah, I wouldn't necessarily write it off as useless experience; speaking to customers etc is a skill that vets need, and I did plenty of that, I would just maybe leave it until the very end, after everything else is done, just as a little extra thing if you get the chance.

Aw ok, thanks for the advice! Shame about losing your reference though Speaking to people is a lot harder than speaking to animals. Animals don't seem to care if you are socially awkward I've started meeting new people through work experience though and I seem to find it much less difficult speaking to people now, which is a plus because I was always a bit shy

Back from the dairy

Started the day by missing my train Being an intelligent human being, my logic was something along the lines of "THE FARM IS NORTH OF WHERE I LIVE THEREFORE I SHALL PICK A NORTHBOUND PLATFORM AT RANDOM, YEAH " Yeah, no. I did have quite an interesting internal dialogue as I watched by train pull up to another platform though Anyway, I got the next train and still ended up being more than an hour early despite the 40 minute walk from the station . Moral: if you want to travel somewhere, don't be me . Oooh, I saw a load of planes fly overhead as I was walking as well (apparently it's the queen's birthday?), so that was interesting.

Anyway, the farmer was absolutely amazing He was really friendly and chatty and did all he could to cram as much information into my tiny noggin as possible I asked tonnes of questions too.

After a tour around the farm, accompanied by his two collie puppies, we went back into the parlour. Milking 60-odd cows is certainly a lot different to doing a few milking demonstrations for the public! For today I was given the job of spraying the teats after the clusters were removed as well as releasing the milk into the tank (and cleaning up... how I managed to get cow shut on my face I will never know ) I've learned tonnes in the space of one afternoon, I can't wait until I go back Even though technically I haven't even started my placement yet, he's already invited me back in September as hopefully a few more calvings will be going on then. Apparently out of about 30 WEx students that he's had over the years, only one hasn't made it to vet school, and that was mainly because he was more interested in rowing and just applied for VetMed because that's what his brother did, so hopefully I shouldn't break that pattern!

The farmer gave me the leaflets from a few boxes of mastitis medication as well as the bull catalogue (for AI) to take home, which I shall enjoy reading through. I'll admit that some of it may as well be written in hieroglyphics, but hopefully I'll understand a bit more as I work there longer Unfortunately they use the same vet as my other farm, which I've already tried and failed to get experience at, but the AI book has contact details at the back...

Apologies for the wall of text, can you tell how exited I am?

Woooo! Glad you had fun! I was meant to go to mine today but I've got a URI and not very well so I couldn't I swear I must have a very low immune system ahaha!

Haha oh dear that must have been confusing, I am the worst for travel, I cannot be trusted alone Happy birthday Lizzie II (as in the queen, in case you think I meant you )!!

That's great you enjoyed it! On the farm I go to they have two collies and they are lovely, the youngest just doesn't leave you alone even when putting on your wellies but that's great, you obviously left a great impression! Was that iodine spray you mean? Oh wow! There's clearly a common factor there! I'm sure he will soon be saying 31

I love getting reading material off of placements as geeky as that sounds, it's just so interesting!


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Yikes...this is my competition :P

Check out my latest blog post guys- fantastic clinical stuff Come to Liverpool.

Hope you're feeling better soon

I was so embarrassed . In my head I was thinking, "Should I run down the subway quicky?", but I thought people would laugh Oh Tails...

The dogs are great, they're only two months old so still only babies! VERY jumpy and friendly

I'm not sure what the teat spray was actually. It was white, so I don't think it could have been iodine. I'll ask when I'm next there

Me too! One of the people at the urban farm gave me the 'Merck Veterinary Manual' (an oldish copy but still accurate I imagine) . Almost 2000 pages of vetty goodness

Thanks may be bed bound today