Shoreline Animal Hospital

On May 20th, Dr. West spent the day at the Haddam Killingworth Middle School speaking to 5th graders in 3 groups of ~ 60 students each followed by the entire 7th grade all at once.  

The 5th graders are learning to be scientists.  They have been conducting experiments, gathering data and coming up with conclusions.  Dr. West titled her power point presentation for them  ”The Mystery of the Vomiting Dogs”.  Her goal was to present two cases which started with the same symptoms.  Max the Golden Retriver and Phoebe the Pug both were weak and vomiting.  She then lead the children through the steps she would take as a vet to diagnose the pet’s problem.  Dr. West started by encouraging them to create a list of questions they would ask the owner to get a thorough history.  Then, they were walked through the physical exam findings.  The next step was to decide what tests would make sense for each pet.  Then they put this information and data together to make a diagnosis and treatment plan for each pet.  What they learned was that each step needed to be completed to get the whole picture.  In the end, despite similar presenting complaints, Max and Phoebe had completelydifferent problems.  Max had a sock obstructing his intestines and needed surgery to get him well.  Phoebe had eaten sugar free gum and was experiencing a low blood sugar level from xylitol toxicity.  With intravenous fluids she also recovered well. 

In the 7th grade, the kids are learning body systems.  They are currently working on the respiratory system, so Dr. West used a power point presentation to walk through the various parts of the respiratory system and discuss a few differences between animals and humans.  She presented a few cases to demonstrate how a veterinarian might examine each part of the system.  Some examples included an endoscopy video of the larynx in a race horse, x-rays of an asthmatic cat and a dog with a collapsing trachea which was repaired surgically with a stent.

It was a fun filled  and educational day. The kids seemed to enjoy the presentations and they asked lots of great questions.  Perhaps a few are even budding veterinarians.