Yesterday we had a vet day with Aslan the male lion, Zeus a male tiger, and Mia a female cougar.
I first went and bought food for lunch for the vet staff before they showed up and then came back and met all the vet staff.
While Aslan was being sedated by the keepers everyone stayed in the office just in case. Once they had successfully injected him the vet staff went to start the exam. When the staff felt comfortable the interns were called down and allowed to watch the exam. We were called in one by one and picked up aslan's paw and shown his claws then allowed to hold his mane. While he was sedated they also made paw prints and nose prints in paint and construction paper.
While Zeus was being sedated by the keepers the interns stayed in the office and the vet staff stayed in the prep room. The vet staff went to examine Zeus and when they felt comfortable the interns were called in again to observe. One by one we were allowed to feel his fur and look at his teeth. We also felt the papillae on the tiger's tongue to compare it to a housecat. I also looked at the vomeronasal organ on the roof of the mouth. They also made paw and nose prints for zeus too.
While Mia was being sedated by the keepers the interns stayed in the office again and when she was down completely the vet staff went to examine her. They had forgotten the vaccinations and called me to bring them down so I went into the hospital and grabbed them and ran down to the enclosure and gave them the vaccinations. I was then allowed to feel the largeness of the tail for a jumping cat.
It was a really exciting day and we have another vet day tomorrow for smaller cats.
That does sound really exciting. I have never really looked that closely at cats to examine all those differences. How much larger is the papillae on the big cat from the house cat? Does the large tail of the jumping cat help him balance as he jumps? Did you get to keep a nose/paw print? That would have been fun to do.
ReplyDeletethe tiger that we got to look at closely had papillae that was about 1/4 an inch to 1/2 an inch while housecats have tiny bumps. The tail usually helps balance the cougars like how the tail helps balance a cheetah when it is running. It acts as a counterbalance for the animals when jumping or running.
ReplyDeleteHopefully i will get a nose/paw print at the end of the internship and they said they usually give us pictures and a new shirt to take back with us.
I loved being included in the vet day.
Thanks for all the questions Jerrie!!!