Wandering Wildlife Vet

Veterinarian medicine has many areas of focus within the career. One of the biggest decisions veterinarians need to make when choosing their career path is whether they want to be in a clinic setting or working in the field. Small animal veterinarians typically work in a clinic while large animal veterinarians work in the field.…

Anesthesia is one of the most common practices used in wildlife medicine. As you can imagine, most wildlife is not keen to being handled by humans and some species are too dangerous to handle without anesthesia. Some of the more advanced treatments and diagnostics require the animal to be anesthetized to perform. Even X-rays can…

Parasites are never a fun topic to discuss. They are creepy crawlers that make your skin itch and your stomach ache. Our domestic animals and wildlife deal with the same issues when it comes to parasites. We, as a society and industry, have worked hard to eliminate or reduce the number of parasites that we…

Necropsies are the animal equivalent of an autopsy. They are performed when animals die and a definitive diagnosis is wanted. The field of veterinary medicine that performs necropsies is known as pathology. Pathology is the science of the causes and effects of diseases. Pathology can be split into two main categories: gross and histopathology. Gross…

Hematology is the study of the blood and diseases associated with blood. Blood is made up of 3 main cell types: red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Red blood cells make up the majority of the blood cells and are responsible for housing a molecule known as hemoglobin which transports oxygen and carbon…

Welcome to my International Certificate Project! Throughout my externship at the Lilongwe Wildlife Center, I will be posting short, educational posts about common aspects and practices in veterinary medicine. They will focus on issues and procedures done at the center in order to care for their patients. Each post will explore the challenges of working…