When I got into veterinary medicine, I knew my job description would be highly varied. Yesterday was an absolute blast. . Each year one of the vet schools across Canada host the SCVMA Symposium and this year it was held at the University of Calgary Veterinary Medicine. I was asked to go to USVM for the day to do two sessions on humane handling of cats for the students.
I started by going over some basics of cat development and then we got into the fun part of cat body language. Cats are much more subtle in their signalling so it is our job to learn from them. I have some very neat cases (I could be prejudice!) we could go over. Pictures are definitely worth a thousand words when it comes to figuring them out.
Then we started to practice. What the students didn’t know was that we were going to practice with balls and stuffed animals before they were allowed near the cats. The reason for using the balls was to practice holding animals appropriately when they try to get out of your hands. Wish I had a video of the first student who volunteered. I had her hold the ball while I spoke to describe what I was going to do. As I was part way through, I hit the ball from underneath so the “cat” went running across the room. She didn’t make that mistake again!
Once that exercise was done, they practiced wrapping the stuffed animals in towels. There are a variety of holds for them to practice and I wanted the students feeling comfortable with the technique before using the cats.
I wasn’t too sure what to expect with the cats. I remember the ones we had in vet school and they weren’t the happiest of animals. The UCVM cats were great. They were so happy to have undivided attention, toys and treats. Once the students had perfected a hold, the cats were given treats and/or a small play session then onto the next hold. By the end, we had some of the happiest cats I have ever seen being restrained. I was so proud of the students. They did such a great job and were like little sponges. (Plus, I got a really cute scarf as a thank you.)
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