"That reminds me of the YMCA"

Saturday, July 18th

It's the weekend! And it was raining this morning. The perfect excuse to sleep in.  When we finally rolled out of bed, we set out for some thermal pools.  Rotorua is known for it's underground hot springs and numerous natural warm pools.  We drove out to a place called Kerosene Creek.  

It was raining. A lot. And we started following a small family who apparently had no idea where they were going.  We hiked about a half mile in the wrong direction.  Thanks a lot, small Kiwi family!! Last time we blindly follow a strange family in the rain! 

When we finally found the thermal pool, it felt amazing after having been in the cold rain for so long.  There were about a dozen other people there.  Mostly families with small children and other tourists.  There was a small waterfall pouring in to where everyone was wading.  The water was very shallow and when we dug our feet down into the sand and rocks in the riverbed, it felt hot!  When we moved closer to the waterfall the smell of sulfur was pretty strong.  Not the best smell...but no way we were leaving the warm water in that cold rain! 

We didn't stop to take any good pictures in the rain.  Luckily we made some friends and someone was nice enough to snap a pic of all of us:

Those guys were so nice.  A little handsy maybe, but super sweet. 

We finally got out of the hot springs and after a very VERY cold jog back to the car we hurried home to shower and head in to town.  The rain finally stopped and we were able to enjoy a nice afternoon strolling through town, window-shopping, and eating a yummy dinner at a restaurant called Atticus Finch.

We may have ordered two desserts. NO regrets.

Peace. Love. Cows. Moo.

"She's Rollin"

 Friday, July 17th

Friday went by so fast! Which was great...because it put us one day closer to the weekend! Holler

I started my day with three back-to-back calls.  On the way to our first call, we got stuck in a herd of cattle that were being walked down the road between farms.  

First call of my day was a bloated calf.  Usually, they tap the abomasum and try to relieve the pressue in the abdomen, and then treat medically before resorting to surgery.  This calf, was odd though.  It had a ton of fluid in its abdomen, but it didn't feel like it was isolated to its abomasum.  It felt like there was fluid moving throuhgout the entire abdomen.  When we tapped the belly, we found dark, green fluid and pulling out about 1.5 liters.  We suspected, based on the history the farmer gave us, that the calf may have suffered some trauma and ruptered its galbladder, and maybe another organ.  

Second call was to visit a man who keeps a goat and a handful of sheep.  We just gave the sheep and goat a quick once-over.  If a client wants to purchase certain products from the veterinarian to treat his animals, then a vet has to have visited his farm/animals within the past year.  

Third call, for me, was a heifer with a calf who was trying to come out upside-down (dorso-pubic presentation).  We managed to pull it out, but unfortunately, the calf was not alive.  The heifer, a jersey, pouted for a little while and refused to stand until the farmer tempted her with dandelions; then she up on her feet and on her way. 

Murphy saw a cow with septic arthritis and a hip luxation. Increased levels of estrogen can cause the ligaments in the pelvis of a pregnant cow to become looser, which makes calving easier.  Sometimes it allows enough laxity that the hip completely luxates.  Whoopsies...The odds were not in this cows favor.  

Murphy's second call was to assist with a dystocia.  She helped pull out both calves and guided the second calf on her own!  Live bull calf twins!  Her day was gouing great...until she got stuck in the field on her next call.  The farmhand had to haul them out with the tractor.  Before they got stuck, they looked at a down cow with suspected milk fever.  (Treated with CaMg, Dextrose, and Banamine)

Please note that Murphy is taking a picture and not helping with the situation in any way.  Way to pitch in Murph...

Last call of the day was a dyspneic cow.  She was orthopneic and has a large amount of snot pouring out of her nose.  We checked for a foreign body (negative).  She was running a fever.  The vet suspected the cow likely had Catarrh (chronic granular rhinitis).  This is a nasal granuloma, that is suspected to be associated with IBR and is more common in Jerseys.  The use of IBR vaccine in the Waikato region of New Zealand is thought to affect how this virus presents, in that the infectious form is rare but granulomas continue to be fairly widespread.

As soon as work was done we set out for Rotorua! The drive was so pretty. Has anyone found an ugly drive in New Zealand?

 We ate a five star dinner of ramen noodles and then set out for a pub. We found a nice little bar that had some craft beers (which, believe it or not, are hard to come by in the small farming town we've been working in).  After a tasty drink we went home and fell asleep. 

"Are you from Ireland?"

Thursday, July 16th

TODAY WAS MURPHY'S BIRTHDAY! 

She got to celebrate with everyone on this side of the globe before everyone back home started wishing her Happy Birthday! One of the vets brought Murphy a delicious little treat to enjoy for her Birthday...a kronut! So thoughtful!  Murphy said it was tasty.  

First thing in the morning, Murphy went out on a call that lasted for about 3 hours... 

In the meantime I went out to see a sick cow and a calving.  The sick cow at the first farm looked as though it probably had a Clostridial infection in its throat/jaw.  Treating these kinds of infections are usually expensive and unfortunately they are only cured about 20% of the time.  The farmer elected not to treat due to the cost. Completely understandable.  Instead he showed us around his farm and introduced us to his prize possesion; a '57 Chevy Bel Air.  He picked it up from a guy in Maine a while back and has kept it in great shape.  In the words of Ferris...it was so choice. And you can't beat the view from this front yard.

The calving I helped with went well and the calf was alive! That's always a pleasant ending.  Murphy had a successful day too.  She helped deliver a live calf and got to see an amazing (and huge) farm.  On nearly every call that Murphy has been on, someone asks her if she's Irish. Her name is confusing the farmers. 

We ended up celebrating Murphy's Birthday in style...with a frozen pizza and beer.  We walked to a local pub and treated ourselves to some potato skins and a drink.  It was a wild and out of control night.  We were in bed and asleep by 10:15.  :)

Happy Birthday Murph Dirt!!

"Are you ladies in the calendar?"

Wednesday, July 15th

There are pictures of organs from a necropsy in this post so if you get sqeamish, avert your eyes. BUT, if you can make it to the end you'll be rewarded with pictures of adorable newborn calves.

It was rainy today.  Rain really adds to the experience.  It's super.

First call of the day was vaccinations for 220 cows.  Each cow received a vaccine for leptospirosis. This whole process only took about an hour and a half (because the farmer was wonderfully helpful).  The vaccination we gave them is designed to protect against three serovars of leptospirosis; Hardjo, Pomona, and Copenhageni.  The first two serovars are intended to protect humans from contracting infection from shedding cows.  

The second call of the day was for a post-mortem in the field.  A cow on a farm had suddenly collapsed and died after a one day history of labored breathing and rapid heart rate.  When we opened up the cow, her lungs were heavy, large, and wet.  They continued to ooze a serosanguinous fluid throughout the necropsy.  There was a very large amount of froth throughout the trachea, extending down into the bronchi.  The intterlobular septa were grossly enlarged and filled with serosanguinous fluid.

Here are a couple of gross pictures:

(The bright green grass really adds to the photo, I think)

No abnormalities were found with the heart. The spleen was small and pale, but we assumed that after 24 hours of labored breathing, a likely explanation was splenic contraction due to stress.  The vet took some heart and lung samples for histopath. We couldn't give a diagnosis on the spot but it looked as though the cow has died from respiratory distress caused by acute onset of severe pneumonia.  The cause of the pneumonia was unknown.  The cow was not running a fever and there were no other sick cows in the herd with her symptoms.  

On our drive back to the office, we discussed differentials for sudden death in a cow with severe pulmonary edema.  This cow was a couple years old and her heart seemed, grossly, normal, so we ruled-out congenital heart defects.  There are many infectious causes of pneumonia in cows (BRSV, BVDV, PI3, Manheimia...none of which tend to cause sudden death in older cows) but the fact that she had no fever made those less likely.  The veterinarian's top differential: Fog Fever.

Fog Fever, aka: Acute Bovine Pulmonary Emphysema and Edema (ABPEE), is a non-infectious condition that usually presents acutely with symptoms such as open mouth breathing (check), sudden death (check), and interstitial pneumonia (check).  It is usually caused by moving cows onto lush, green pasture.  L-tryptophan (the same stuff that makes you sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner), from the pasture, is converted into 3-methylindole in the rumen. This 3-MI is metabolized in the lung and its biproducts are toxic to the pulmonary vasculature and airways, causing pneumonia.  You can sometimes treat this with steroids and furosemide, if you catch it soon enough.  You may also benefit from moving cows off of the pasture, but use caution, understanding that moving a cow in respiratory distress can easily worsen its condition.  You can also feed cows Monensin a few day prior to moving them on to greener pasture, in preparation.  (There is also a form of fog fever that can be caused by consumption of perella mint or moldy sweet potatoes).  We'll have to wait on histopath results to find out if this is what our cow had.

The last call of the day was the most exciting one, so far.  A cow had been down for nearly one week and had only been eating sparingly - nibbling at forage and pellets when offered.  She went into labor but the farmer hadn't been able to pull a calf out, and called us in.  When a cow is down (won't stand), has been down for a while, and then has a dystocia (complicated birth), that kind of makes you start to lower your expectations for the outcome.  

When we arrived, the cow was down and in labor.  When we took a look, we could feel the calf's two front legs but its head was turned a caught behind the cow's pelvis.  The vet repositioned the calf and set up to pull it.  That sentence doesn't really describe the situation well enough, so let me try again... The vet, lied down on the muddy ground, in the rain, covered in poo and goo.  Using all of her strength, she wrestled the calf backards, into the cow and carfeully turned it to the appropriate position.  She then attached the calving chains and we used a jack to pull the calf out.  The calf was alive!  Everyone was a little surprised.  The farmer was thrilled.

One more quick feel around in the cow and we found that there was another calf on its way.  Murphy and I palpated and found that this calf was coming out backwards.  The vet pulled calf number two out as quick as the first one, no problem.  Two live calves!  Mama cow did a good job of instantly starting to clean up her calves.  A bull calf and a heifer calf, Freemartins unfortunately.  The farmer didn't seem to mind; she was just so excited to have two live calves. 

Mom started eating grass and molasses right after her calves were out.  We're hoping that's a good sign, but she's lost so much weight over the past week, she still had a long ways to go.  She also needs to get back on her feet asap.  The calves will likely be sent to the works.  That's a nice phrase they use here instead of saying, sent to slaughter.  Don't worry, slaughter is not a sad or scary word. It's just the way things are.  These calves aren't of any use to a dairy farmer so they have to be sold off  to slaughter.  People who aren't farmers or vets, and don't understand how these things work, will always try to argue, saying it's terrible or sad or wrong... but it's not.  

The benefit of being a vet here, is that we got to do what was best for mom and her calves.  This situation was a success for the veterinarian.  The cow gave birth, got some much needed pain meds, and will hopefully live to calve again.  Her live and healthy calves get to spend some time lying in the grass with mum and learning to walk today.  Most importantly, the farmer was very pleased with the outcome.  We could tell, like most farmers, she really loved her cows.

Other notable things that happened today...  One lovely farmer brighened our day with some sexist comments.  First, he grumbled, "Only ladies?" when Murphy and I climbed out of the van with another female veterinarian.  Yes, sir.  Only ladies today.  We managed to do our job well despite our inadequate, tiny, lady brains.  Then, he also asked Murphy and me if we were going to be in the calendar...refering to the semi-nude calendar that the vet students at Massey University sell to fundraise for their halfway-through-vet-school celebration.  No, sir, you can't find me or my friend in a nude calendar.  You just have to laugh some things off.

MOO!  Cow Love!

Why noodles?! Why?!

Tuesday, July 14

It was cold today. Again.  It's going to be cold all week here. And cloudy and rainy.

First thing this morning, Murphy got called out to help with vaccinations and I went out to help with cows that were being synchronized for breeding.  There were only about 20 cows, or so, that this farmer was synchonizing.  One week ago, all of these cows received a shot of GnRH.  The cows with non-active ovaries received progesterone secreting implants (CIDR).  This first GnRH injection causes ovulation and the CIDR implants prevent some cows from going into heat sooner that the rest of the herd.  Today, we went out and removed the CIDR's from cows that received them, and gave all of the cows a shot of prostaglandin.  This dose of prostaglandin will cause the corpus lutea to regress and new follicles to develop in the ovaries.  Two and a half days later, the farmer will give his cows another dose of GnRH (to make them ovulate) and then inseminate them 16 hours later.  270 days later (hopefully), calves are born!

This is our office.  Very green.

The second call I went out on was for a lame heifer.  The farmer said she had been lame on her front right foot for a couple of days.  The vet watched her walk, looked at her hoof, and found that she had white line disease.  This occurs when there is separation of the hoof wall and sole, allowing foreign material to penetrate and infect the white line region.  After trimming away part of her hoof we saw that she had a decent amount of pus and it was infected.  The vet trimmed away enough of the sole to let it drain, sprayed it with some lovely, purple, topical antibiotic and sent the cow on her way.  95% of the time, trimming the hoof and allowing it a passage from which to drain, is sufficient treatment in cows.  I learned that heifers in particular are more prone to developing this.  They are more often bullied by other cows and end up putting a lot of pressure on the forward part of their front legs.  This is usually where the white line becomes weakened and allows in foreign debris.

In case you don't remember much hoof anatomy (like me) here's a diagram:

(Photo rights: University of Bristol and University College Dublin)

The third call of the day was the most exciting call!  When we left, we were under the impression it was a prolapsed uterus in a ewe (female sheep).  When we arrived, the owner informed us that her pregnant ewe had been straining to give birth for over an hour.  She had lambed before, but seemed to be having trouble.  The vet examined her and determined that the lamb had it's head back and that the ewe's cervix was no longer dilated.  That was going to make it even more difficult to pull the lamb. He corrected the position of the head and after a lot of struggling, eventually pulled the lamb free.  The lamb was fairly large, and sadly, didn't survive the birth.  However, there was not one, but two more lambs that he successfully pulled!  These two little lambs were very lively and eventually started to stand and "bah!".  There aren't many things cuter than newborn lambs.

The ewe did a good job of going to her lambs and starting to clean them up, right away.  We put them out in a paddok out of the mud where they'd be warmer. Look at that tired, proud mama. 

We ended the day with a sick cow. She had recently calved and had a raging fever of 42...which translates to roughly 105-106 in Farenheit.  She most likely had metritis.  Metritis is an infection of the uterus.  This cow's calving had gone smoothly, as far as we know.  There was a bit of discharge and her placental membranes were still adhered in some places.  We gave her a dose of pencillin and metcam and sent her on her way. 

Murphy and I went back to our motel cabin and ate chocolate while we waited for our room to warm up.  For some reason the owner of this establishment thinks it's okay to come and turn the heat off in the rooms during the day.  Who doesn't love coming home to a 45 degree room?  We were too lazy to walk out into the cold to get to the kitchen, so we made ramen noodles with hot water from our kettle. They weren't too bad.  In typical old lady fashion, we fell asleep reading in bed by 9:30 pm.

"I've never been inside a cow before!"

Monday, July 13th

***Sorry, we won't be able to post many pictures of the work we are doing. The cows are patients and the farmers are clients and Doctor-Client-Patient confidentiality still applies here. I'll still post as many embarassing pictures of Murphy as I can muster though, don't worry!***

Today was our first official day of work at VetFocus (soon to be renamed Vetora). After scraping ice off of our car windows, we were on our way.  The VetFocus building is large and it's very nice. It's corporately owned and there are VetFocus offices in other areas of New Zealand.  Downstairs is the small animal clinic, or 'smallies' as they call it.  Yesterday they had a couple of spays and dentals and a laceration repair.  Upstairs are all of the offices and where the large animal vets work when they're not out on a call.  All of the vets we met are incredibly nice and helpful and don't seem to mind when we ask a million questions.

In New Zealand, you go straight from high school into Veterinary School, which is only 5 years.  The first call I went out on was with a vet who is my age but has been practising here for two years already.  She was shocked when I told her I'd never had my arm in a cow before.  "...and you're graduating in May??" Yeah. She and the farmer (whose cow I was about to palpate) were stunned.  I imagine they lost a little respect for American veterinary schools in that moment, and I can't really argue with them. 

Are you paying attention, American Veterinary Schools?!? Show us more cow bums!  Let us palpate! Students shouldn't have to go on externships to get more hands on work with animals!!  Particularly, large animals. So far on my externships I've performed most of a gastrotomy, a neuter, sampled cow brains for mad cow, necropsied chickens, visited a slaughterhouse, helped in traceability procedures at a stockyard, participated in biosecurity training, palpated a pregnant cow, and assited with a fetotomy.  (All of these experiences were new to me at the time, so I am by no means a pro in any of these fields)  But, I'm not sure how much/any of that I'd be able to do at school.  ...okay, rant over.

Either way, on that first call, the calf was dead in utero by the time we arrived. It was the second of a set of twins.  The first twin was a female and unfortunatley her dead twin was a bull, meaning that both of them were essentially useless to the dairy farmer.  When cows carry twins that happen to be male and female, the female twin, 92% of the time, is sterile.  This sterile cow is called a 'Freemartin'.  This happens because the female and male twins share a portion of the placenta and blood supply, where they can exchange proteins and hormones.  During gestation, the male structures develop before the female structures.  A hormome (AMH) secreted by the male, prevents formation of the certain structures in the female (Mullerian ducts), rendering her infertile.  It's also possible for the male calf to have deficiencies in his sex characteristics.  Twin calvings tend to be a messy situation.

The next call, Murphy and I went out on together.  There were 21 cows on a farm that needed to be preg-checked.  The farmer had kept the cows in the paddock with the bulls, nearly all of the time, and wanted to know if his cows were pregnant and how pregnant they were.  Only 21 cow bums for our vet to palpate...not bad.  Most of them were only a few months from calving.  We also gave Magnesium bullets to some of the older cows.  

Here's the part where I talk about Magnesium deficiency - if you don't care to hear about this please skip to the last section :) (Also, please feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken about anything I describe)

Magnesium deficiency (Grass Tetany or Grass Staggers) can happen to cows that are fed on lush, fast-growing, green pasture or on pastures with soil or fertilizers that are high in potassium.  Symptoms of Grass Tetany, early-on, include nervousness, pricked-up ears, head held high with eyes wide, and walking stifly as if on stilts.  If left untreated, it can result in death due to uncontrolled muscle spasming, including cardiac muscles.  Incidence tends to increase in early spring when fresh grass low in Mg is growing.  Hypomagnesemia can also commonly occur in pregnant cows nearing calving, when their dry matter intake can't meet their energy demands.  Magnesium plays a role in calcium absorption, so supplementing with magnesium a few weeks prior to calving helps reduce the risk of Milk Fever in lactating cows.  

In New Zealand particularly, Magnesium needs to be supplmented in the diet. Around 20-25% of all cows on pasture in New Zealand are hypomagnesemic at any given time.  It's partly due to genetics and partly due to the use of fertilizers that are high in N and K.  High potassium intake decreases the absorption of magnesium in the digestive tract.  Cows need to have Mg supplemented in their diet consistently, because they can't pull from stores in their own body.  Many farmers will supplement Magnesium in the diet by dusting patures, adding to feed, directly orally supplementing after cavling, or slow-release Magnesium bullets.  Magnesium bullets don't have a high enough level of Magnesium to be used as a sole source, but some farmers use them in older cows close to calving, in addition to other supplementation.

After work was done we stopped by the Pak'n'Save to pick up some candy (exotic New Zealand candy, okay...it was totally justified...because it was super exotic...and we really wanted it) and went back to our little cabin. We enjoyed a dinner of chocolate and tacos, in that order.  It was an excellent first day of work!  

Here's Murphy eating a PB&J, aggressively.

Peace. Love. Cows.

I Feel Like Mr. Underhill

Saturday, July 11 and Sunday, July 12

Saturday morning we woke up and decided to laze around in bed for most of the morning. We are our 'love muffins' that we had picked up from the Piha Store the day before. Eventually, Claire asked us if we wanted to go on a hike with her on the North Beach of Piha so we went out with her on a short hike. There hasn't been a hike in this country with a disappointing view so far! 

 

Claire told us about how Edmund Hillary (Kiwi, famous for hiking Mt Everest) had a batch not far off the path we hiked. (A 'batch' is a term for a rugged little holiday home) She occasionally will pack a thermos of tea and trespass to drink it in his garden. She says that when good people trespass it discourages not good people from trespassing. Pretty solid logic I guess?

There is a four day, 77km trail named after him that runs the coast of some of the prettiest, mountainous parts of the coast. Better done in summer I assume... The nights get below 30 here in July. 

On our way out of Piha we stopped for lunch at the Piha Cafe one last time and ate our food with a view of the beach. After that we set out for Te Awamutu. Earlier, a Man from Aukland had been kind enough to tell us that there is nothing in Te Awamutu but a bunch of farms. Good....that's what we're going there for!

The drive to Te Awamutu was amazing. It was just rolling green hills with the occasional herds of cows or sheep roaming on them. It's really just green the entire way. Te Awamutu is a small town. We got groceries and fell asleep pretty early. Sunday morning we got up and set out for...yeah...another hike. 

We went to Mount Pirongia Forrest park for an easy treck. The first half of the hike followed a stream and passed through farm land.  It was like walking through The Shire, basically.  It was about 35 degrees outside and the ground was still frozen when we started walking. 

Halfway through the hike we had the option to go through a cave. I was less than thrilled but Murphy was really into the idea of it so we did it. Here are pictures of the cave and me fighting off a panic attack. Murphy is a born caver! I'm claustrophobic. 

The rest of the hike felt like we were going through Jurassic Park. The trees were huge and leafy and green. And there were velociraptors. And Chris Pratt was there. Shirtless. 

Kidding. Unfortunately. 

We stopped in a meadow on the way back out and enjoyed the view. We sat and ate a picnic and read for what must have been over an hour. I made good use of the gifts my friends gave me before I left <3

We made dinner back at our room (some really nasty Alfredo....New Zealand, what is wrong with your Alfredo sauce? It's embarrassing. But maybe we shouldn't have bought the cheapest brand.) ...and  prepared for work the next morning.