Life as a Hermit Crab

Let me tell you what's been going on here: The place I moved into looked fine (spectacular actually), but lacked regularly running water. I also tried to get internet, but apparently the 5 miles I live away from OSU is so far out in the sticks, I can't get internet (unless I wanted to spend >$100/mo). My fridge didn't work either, never resolved that problem even after I put it on an extension cord.

Remember Labor Day weekend, Mango (my cat) had a sudden unexpected bout of dyspnea (difficulty breathing) and died (euthanized at the clinic). My landlord told me he was going to poison my dogs when they got out one afternoon during a thunderstorm while I was working a shift from 5am to midnight. Mid September, my A/C and heater went out. It's really freaking cold in Oklahoma. Especially at night. I bought space heaters which blew the breaker box. Then the electrical fluctuations blew the larger space heater's coils. Plus, using ~18 light bulbs in 2 months indicate severe electrical issues. I complained numerous times to my landlord but he never fixed the problems.

Then the 1st week of Oct he decided to hand my key out to have whoever go in my apt/house. Super because my laptop and all my Rx drugs could have been stolen. Not to mention there's a rapist living 2 doors down. See Robert Reedy. That was another thing I found out, because the sheriff was knocking on doors! He was unregistered-- 2 convictions of felony rape!

To compound matters, the landlord took the sides off the barn I'm rented so the horses didn't have shelter from the rain (which got quite cold, almost freezing). Large puddles would accumulate so they didn't have a dry place to stand, which is not acceptable for winter.

Then my landlord decided to hand out my key to a guy in the trailer park to enter my dwelling without telling me. I've been spending my nights for the past few weeks basically driving around looking at other places to live, which has been a challenge since I have the 2 dogs and 4 horses! The dogs and I have been living out of my car of sorts. I had no idea that living conditions could actually be worse than they were on St Kitts this time last year when we didn't have electricity for two months. Heat, water, power, shelter, refrigeration for your food are all very important.

So I ran across a place in Agra, OK (30 min away). The wife is deployed Army in Iraq and the husband works out of state. It's a nice house on 53 acres. They have ~30 horses and ~10 dogs. They moved the mother-in-law (wife's mother) into the house to keep it occupied and a guy comes out to feed all the animals. They wanted a responsible person to live with the MIL in case she died randomly (broke hip, heart attack, etc). Rent is $400 for the master suite (huge bedroom, 9x12 bathroom, 9x18 closet), all bills paid (water, gas, trash, electric, internet, cable), free horse board, no pet deposit, and the dogs are allowed in the house.

And since all things too good to be true usually are, here's the hitch: the wife owns and pays for the animals, the husband the house. He wanted to "restructure" his mortgage for a reduced rate, so he stopped paying it and the house is in foreclosure. All animals are fat, he said he could pay the mortgage, and they seem to have enough money.

I was really hesitant moving there with the cost of gas and the 10 mpg Dodge Durango and the fact that we're required to live within 15 minutes of campus, but they seem like very decent people. I spent my 1st night there last night (will be spending nights that i'm on call at a friend's house). It is very nice so far, and I could very easily live there until mid-July when I finish up, but in all likelihood it will be temporary.

At this point, anything is better than the shit hole I was living in. Stillwater so far sux; I estimate that half the people in Oklahoma are looney tunes out of their minds crazy and the other half are bend over backwards super sweet. The school is quite enjoyable most days though. I will take pictures of the new place when I have time and internet.

OU vs Texas Game

Sean replaced our tickets with good ones! We sat at the 45 yard line in Section 25, Row 10?, Seats 1 & 2. Now, see map....
... The game was crazy crazy. Very sloppy football on both sides, but Sean wasn't as disappointed as I expected him to be with the loss.

We took DART Rail, which was a mess. When we tried to get back to the car (parked in Ft. Worth), we realized that it was too packed and headed to mom's for early dinner. Later, we caught the rail to the car and started on our drive, tails tucked back home.

I took my contacts out and gave him directions back to I-35, then blinked for anbout an hour... When I awoke, I asked how far we'd gotten, ie if we were past the Red River yet because he drives so fast. He then reads the next sign "Now entering Waco, Austin x# of miles!?!" Poor guy, I didn't think I'd would have to tell him to go north on I-35!

We turned around and headed north. I also took over driving. We made it back to Norman at about 1am. Very exhausted.

Sunday, we went to the U2 concert, which was awesome. We arrived just as the Black Eyed Peas were finishing up with their "It's Going to be a Good Night" song.

Despite OU's loss, I think Sean had a good birthday weekend.

Kinkajou

Here we go again, the weird things that people own. We got another blood sample of an animal we didn't recognize and [I've] had to look up. Looked like dog blood, and we ran it thru the analyzer as such, lol. (The analyzer has setting for cat, dog, horse, camelid, cow, sheep/goat, and people, but no Kinkajou or Coatamundi setting, go figure.) We've had a Turkey Vulture and a Bearded Dragon (lizard), but we recognize enough to know what to expect from those (and they are in the book). I think Kinkajous and Coatamundi fall in the really exotic critter category.

Taxomony:
Kindgom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammilia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Procyonidae (Raccoon Family)
Genus: Potos
Species: P.flavus
Subspecies: P. flavus flavus, chapadensis, chiriquensis, megalotus, meridensis, modestus, nocturnus

Genetic studies have shown that the kinkajous were an early offshoot of the ancestral procyonid line and are not closely related to any of the other extant procyonids. Their closest relatives are coatimundis.

Common Names: Kinkajou, Honey Bear, Micoleón, Lion Monkey, Night Walker

Range: Central and South America.

Habitat: Rainforest.

Description: Bodies are covered by an outer coat of golden woolly fur with a soft gray undercoat. Legs are short with bare palms and sharp claws. Head is round with small ears, and a short muzzle that contains sharp teeth. They have a 5 inch long extrudable tongue (12.7cm), which is used in reaching nectar and honey. Scent glands are near the mouth, on the throat, and on the belly, but they lack of anal scent glands. Tail is prehensile.

Length: 16-22 inches (42-57cm) body + 15-22 inches (40-56cm) tail

Weight: 4-7 lbs.

Diet: Omnivore (ripe fruit (90%), figs, flowers, insects, ants, eggs).

Behaviour: Nocturnal. Typically forage alone, but occasionally forage in small groups, and sometimes associate with coatimundis. They sleep in family units and groom one another. “Kinkajous are sometimes kept as pets. They are playful, generally quiet and docile, and have no noticeable odor. However, they can occasionally be aggressive. Kinkajous dislike being awake during the day, and dislike noise and sudden movements. An agitated kinkajou may emit a scream and attack, usually clawing its victim and sometimes biting deeply.” (Wikipedia) According to ABC News Paris Hilton was bitten by her pet Kinkajou.

Breeding/Mating: Non-seasonal, year-round. Males have an enlarged bone that protrudes at the inside of his wrist, which he rubs the females sides with during mating. This bone is usually bare skinned in the male, but fur covered in the female.

Gestation: 112 to 118 days

Young: 1-2 cubs produced per litter

Lifespan: 23-41 years

Predators: Fox, Tayra (Tolomucos), Margay, Jaguar, Ocelot, Jaguarundi, People (for fur and meat).

References:
Honolulu Zoo: http://www.honoluluzoo.org/kinkajou.htm
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkajou

Coatimundi

The rotation I'm currently on right now is Clinical Pathology (ie looking at blood smears and tissue samples). Someone submitted some Coatimundi (which they spelled Cotomundai) blood for us to examine. It's blood looks very similar to that of a dog, which is quite interesting. Since not one of the 5 veterinarian in the room even had the slightest clue as to what this animal looked like, I was volunteered to give a 2 minute summary of the animal for this morning. Here goes...

Taxomony:
Kindgom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammilia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Procynidae (Raccoon Family)
Genus: Nasua
Species: N. narica & N. nasua

Common Names: White-nosed Coati (N. narica), Brown-nosed Coati (N. nasua), Pizote, Antoon, Tejón, Quash, Small Mexican Badger.

Range: Southwestern USA to South America.

Habitat: Wooded areas of the Americas from altitudes up to 3,500 metres (11,000 ft).

Description: Bodies can be dark brown, reddish, or yellow. Masked eyes with gray muzzles, chins, and throats. Snout is long and shovel-shaped extending beyond lower jaw. Mouth contains crushing molars and large canine teeth. The tail has six or seven light bands, and is not prehensile.

Length: 2 feet + 24" tail

Weight: 9 lbs. (range <25lbs)>

Behaviour: Diurnal. Females and sexually immature males form ground foraging in family groups of 5-12, but can be as large as 30. Adult males are solitary. Young cubs are left with a pair of babysitters, similar to meerkats.

*Easily domesticated.

Breeding/Mating: Non-seasonal

Gestation: 77 days

Young: 3-5 cubs produced per litter

Lifespan: 7 years

Predators: boas, raptors, hunting cats, and tayras (tolomucos).

*Now, eventhough various internet sites said this was a reasonably easily domesticated/tamed animal, as someone said "If 5 veterinarians have to look it up because they don't know what it even looks like [on google because it's not in our text books either], then people probably shouldn't have it."

Cotton Bowl Tickets

Sean recieved our Cotton Bowl tickets for the OU vs Texas game. Our seats: Section 15, Row 11, Seats 7 & 8. Now, see map....
... really sweet tickets if you're a Texas fan. He's in the process of trying to switch them for anything that's not on the Texas side.

No More Mango

Mango died this evening of dyspnea and severe pulmonary edema. Not quite sure what the primary cause was yet (L-CHF? HCM? toxin?), but I did send him to necropsy. He appeared BAR Friday morning and evening, but about an hour after I came home, I noticed him panting so I rushed him to school. He was on O2 for over an hour and became progressively worse despite Lasix (furosemide). It was very sad, especially since he had adjusted so well. His 3rd birthday would have been September 19th.

L-CHF: Left sided Congestive Heart Failure
HCM: Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
BAR: Bright, Alert, and Responsive

Update: No toxins were found in his system (but that's not unusual). He did not have HCM or CHF. The pathologist suspected a severe infectious vasculitis, possibly Chaggas.

Thank You Aunt Shane & Uncle Mike!

Dear Aunt Shane & Uncle Mike,

Thank you for sponsoring my ECFVG registration!

Your Niece, Karla

My Rotation Schedule

Dates Rotation
8/31-9/20 Field Services
9/21-10/11 Small Animal Internal Medicine
10/12-11/1 Clin Path
11/2-11/22 Community Practice
11/23-12/13 Vacation (to study for the BCSE)
*12/1-12/8* *ECFVG-BCSE*
12/14-12/20 Anesthesiology
12/21-12/27 off (maybe)
12/28-1/3 on
1/4-1/10 Anesthesiolog
1/11-1/31 Food Animal Medicine
2/1-2/21 Animal Shelter
2/22-3/14 Radiology
3/15-4/4 ICU? (I'd like to change this so I can study)
*4/12-4/24* *NAVLE*
4/5-5/3 Zoological Medicine
5/3-5/23 Equine Medicine
5/24-6/13 Diagnostics
6/14-7/5 Small Animal Medicine
*6/25 *Grand Rounds Presentation*
7/6-7/25 Equine Surgery
7/26-8/15 Preceptor (Externship)
8/16-9/6 Preceptor (Externship)

Start of OSU

Here starts life at Oklahoma State University's Veterinary Program. Everything here is orange. (Cringe!) Rotations start on Monday, with Field Sevices, and go until mid July when I got out on externships. Nice to know that Norman is only an hour away and that Dallas is only a little bit further. They have 2 Walmarts here! That is very exciting. I haven't eaten at McDonald's yet, but wow, the spicy chicken sandwich I had at Wendy's was really good. It's nice to be back in the states.

From Highland Park to a Trailer Park

Rudder, Salty, Mango, and I have all been reuninted in the Americas! What a heroining flight! TSA is absolutely miserable and I have no desire to ever fly again.

After much to prepare and pack in College Station, I finally moved in to my place in Stillwater. It's pretty and everything seems nice. The horses seem to like it. It's really close to school and I'm ready to get started!