5
Animal clinic —human hospital
THE BATTALION
MONDAY, MARCH 27. 1978
Page 5
By DAVID WHITE
Irii'Hi my name is Duke. I like to
Vat anything — apples, oranges. I’m
J with children. I’m nine years
and I’m spoiled.” Tom
jngdale, a client of Texas A&M’s
iall Animal Clinic, is speaking for
small dog, a Chinese pug.
You can hardly call them dogs,”
s Aringdale. “You get so attached
them, isn’t that right Duke? Stay
[ay from him — he has those big
iwn boots and he doesn’t want
stepping all over them. Sit
n and rest your bones, boy.”
ke is just one of the “special”
mals treated by Texas A&M’s
all Animal Clinic; there were
1,920 in 1977. The clinic is a popu-
) place for pet owners to bring
eeDi jfeir animals because of its veteri-
|ary specialists and its special
ilities.
The small animal clinic has a
- parity for 225 in-patients and six
^ pnajor surgeries simultaneously. It is
tup much like a human hospital,
e intensive care unit, instead of
is, has 12 cages, some with in-
ttaveneous feeders leading into the
ik occupants of the cages,
ere is a surgical preparation
where the animals are shaved
d anesthetized, just as humans
, and the surgical rooms are all
tup with equivalent facilities and
r Piirfequipment as are found in a human
Webfcpital.
on. (] | Dr. W.F. JulifFs students are in
ime the surgical preparation room shav-
the right front leg of a female
Jack cat. On the table Wiggles, a
dy-colored female terrier, is hav-
her chest and abdomen shaved,
th animals have been anes-
ictized.
The cat had been shot with a
shotgun and David Nelson, a vet
erinary student, is going to set the
cat’s leg which had been shattered
by the buckshot. Wiggles is going to
be spayed and have a small breast
tumor removed by Jerry Wendel,
another veterinary student.
Both animals are rubbed down
with two different yellow-brown
iodine solutions in the area to be
operated on. This along with the
shaving makes sure the area is
sterile.
Once the animals are under the
influence of the anesthesia their
tongues are exposed so that the
anesthesiologist can determine by
the color of the tongue if the animal
is getting sufficient oxygen and
breathing properly. He can also
check the animal’s pulse using the
lingual artery in the tongue.
The animals once they are ready
are wheeled down the hall on a cart
to surgery. In surgery Nelson puts
on a cap and mask and carefully
scrubs his hands. After washing he
is helped into the green surgeon’s
' gown so that his sterile hands do not
touch anything. Nelson then puts on
a pair of plastic gloves which cling
tightly to his hands. All of this is
done to keep the conditions of the
operation as sterile as possible.
Nelson lays a “drape” — a green
cloth with a hole in it — over the cat
and situates the hole of the cloth
over the area to be operated on;
furthur measures to keep the
surgery sterile.
Nelson makes an incisions down
the cat’s leg. He removes a ball of
black hair from the wound — forced
into the cat’s leg by the penetration
of the shot. Nelson cuts away the
layers of muscle tissue until a jagged
bone is revealed. “Boy it’s ragged in
there,” Nelson says when he sees
the bone.
He removes three small
fragments of a shot pellet. For a
minute the students argue over
whether the the cat was shot with a
.22 rifle or a shotgun. “We’ll send it
down to ballistics for a test,” Nelson
jokingly says.
The bone has been shattered by
the pellet and Nelson removes some
tiny bone fragments. He takes a de
vice that looks like a hand drill and
inserts a surgical pin into it. Nelson
slowly inserts the pin up the bone
marrow. “How’s kitty doing?” Nel
son asks the student anes
thesiologist, David Rundell.
“Good,” is Rundell’s reply as he
checks the cat’s tongue.
Nelson wires the Done fragments
back to the bone with a thin steel
wire. “You twist the wire until a
quarter of a turn before it breaks,”
Nelson says. How do you know
when a quarter of turn before it
breaks is? “That’s why you go to vet
school,” he answers.
One of the wires breaks. “That
was a quarter turn too much,” Nel
son explains. He removes the bro
ken wire and starts again.
At the next table Jerry Wendel,
who has spayed Wiggles and re
moved a small cyst on her chest,
drops a pair of clamps on the floor.
“Take it easy, Jerry,” Nelson jok
ingly says.
Nelson is finished and starts to
close the cat’s leg. The “needle” is
curved and looks like a fish-hook.
The “thread” is thin steel. The rea
son for this non-irritating steel is to
discourage the animal from chewing
w » v,<//f//v
tUEER TEAMS
dyfoj ifliiu'HUftll \ V
Applications:
'“"(March 20-29
jnMSC,
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All proceeds donated
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Our Greenfield Plaza location has a
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846-1784 for details.
1803 GREENFIELD PLAZA
(Next to Bryan High)
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Political Forum
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DEFENSE BUDGET”
Waste in the State Department
Monday - March 27
8:00 p.m.
Rudder Auditorium
m/ci/tep Into the m/c
Non - Students - $1.00
Students - 50*
on the stiching and to hold the inci
sion closed.
Once the suturing is done the cat
is wheeled on a cart down to radiol
ogy. X-rays are taken to make sure
the leg has been set properly and all
the bone fragments are removed.
The X-rays show that the leg has
been set well and the pin is in posi
tion. “You only get a B+ because of
the poor suturing job,” anes
thesiologist Rundell teases.
As the cat is wheeled back down
the hall to its cage other students
ask Nelson, “How did it go?” “Fan
tastic,” Nelson answers as he hur
ries the cat back down the corridor.
By the time the cat is in the re
covery room it is waking up. It
shakes with cold caused by its
metabolism being slowed by the
anesthesia. The cat meows as it
starts to feel again and looks around
in a daze.
“She is not quite with us,” says
Nelson as he puts her in her cage.
“I’ll check back with her later to
make sure everything is okay.”
The small animal clinic performed
2,414 surgeries last year using many
of the same techniques and equip
ment used in hospitals for humans.
This special treatment pleases
clients of the clinic like Aringdale
who says, “Animals get to be like
people. They are pretty special.” Or
as one bio-medical science student
said, “They are people.”
(A&M first in med/denh
Texas A&M University is a
leading supplier of the state’s
medical and dentistry students.
Since 1953, more than 65 per
cent of Texas A&M students ap
plying to Texas dental schools
have been selected and more
than 60 percent of those applying
to the state’s medical schools
have been admitted, said pre-
med and pre-dentistry adviser
Dr. Gil Schroeter.
The acceptance rate and total
of 1,087 students are among the
best in the state, he notes.
“I think it reflects well on the
quality of our students,” said
Schroeter.
Applications originating from
Texas A&M have increased in
both professions since 1972, but
now appear to be leveling off.
Both developments reflect na
tional trends.
Last year, Texas A&M sent its
first applicant ever to the Har
vard School of Medicine.
Another landmark in pre-med
and pre-dentistry history was
1956, when 27 of 33 medical
school applicants were accepted
and all seven dental school hope
fuls were admitted.
Presently, about 1,000 stu
dents are studying pre-med
courses and 300-400 are pursuing
pre-dentistry curricula, notes
Schroeter.
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M
FRESHMEN
If you are a freshman interested in becoming Involved in Texas A&M and Its student programming, the Memorial Student Center Council
and Directorate is opening applications for Council Assistantships. Council Assistants aid Council officers in the areas of administration,
finance, programs, projects operations, and public relations.
Any freshman in any field of study that is interested in the above areas is urged to apply. Talented people are needed in all areas, so don’t
be afraid to drop this application by Room 216, Student Programs Office, MSC. Applications close Tuesday, March 28, 1978, at 5:00 p.m.
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
MEMORIAL STUDENT CENTER
COUNCIL & DIRECTORATE
Application for MSC Council Assistant
(Please Print)
Classification
Name
Major.
.GPR Last Semester
Telephone
Are you on (Conduct, Scholastic) Probation?
Mailing Address
Yes No
Activities and Honors in High School (use back if needed)
Experience with MSC Activities
Other Campus Activities
Other Time-Consuming Activities Next Year
Magazines and Newspapers Read Regularly
Books Read in Last Year
Why are You Interested in Becoming Involved in Campus Activities (especially as a Council Assistant)
Your Concept of a College Education