Health and Fitness- Vending Machines

By Madison McGee

Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine

I do not have much time to exercise as a vet student and an anesthesia technician so I try to

watch what I eat. This is not always easy since my schedule changes minute to minute some

days and I never know when I will get to eat. Vending machines only have chips and candy bars,

which are not only unhealthy but also expensive. Therefore, I bring my own “vending machine”

every day. I have a small lunch bag with an ice pack, a cheese stick, a squeeze fruit packet, a

fruit snack, craisins, granola bar, and lunch (sandwich, leftovers, etc.). The cheese sticks come

in a variety of kinds likes mozzerella and colby jack. Buddy Fruit and Dole make 100% fruit

squeeze fruit packets that are great on the go, come in lots of flavors, and are a good alternative

during the winter when good fresh fruit is hard to find. Buddy fruit also makes 100% fruit snacks

and one pack counts as a single serving of fruit, plus they taste great. Craisins are like raisins, but

made from cranberries with a little more moisture for those who think raisins are dry. The typical

granola bar (not coated in chocolate) is another great option on the go that is filling enough to get

you by till dinner and allows you to pass the vending machines.

A Meaningful Spring Break

By Madison McGee

Texas A & M University

I went with a local FFA group to the Houston livestock show for spring break 2011. Many

students have gone for veterinary related purposes, but I wanted to see the real meaning behind

these animals, the kids. They are the ones who put their time and heart into these animals and I

got to see the joy each time a student won and the tears each time they did not meet their goals.

This taught me more about the show than any amount of urine collecting. This same group then

turned around the next week to showed at the Brazos County livestock show and I never once

heard a complaint about feeding at 7am or standing in the heat.

A French "Faux Paw"

By Caroline Menghini

Texas A and M University

Class of 2012

Two summers ago I landed a dream job as a summer extern at a busy small animal practice in Paris, France. I managed to convince the vet there that my French was adequate enough for me to work an entire summer. I don’t consider myself fluent, but I can read pretty well and carry on a decent conversation.  

My first day went well and the veterinarians treated me to lunch at their favorite café down the street. I envisioned myself speaking French for the duration of the lunch break in order to impress the vets and gain rapport with the locals. I mostly just sat there listening as the veterinarians discussed their cases for the day and some drama happening at the clinic. Any questions directed at me were answered briefly and with energetic nodding.  I felt anxious about my rusty French skills and I was upset that I had accidentally ordered a salad with tuna in it because I couldn’t properly translate the menu.

At the end of the meal the waiter came around to clear the table. He glanced down at my plate and saw that I had eaten a small portion of the salad and shoveled the rest around on the plate like a six year old avoiding his broccoli.  I tried to redeem myself by continuing to speak French.  Seeing his concerned facial expression I assured him, “Je suis plein.”  He suddenly broke out into an enormous smile followed by obnoxious laughter.  I looked over at the vets who were vigorously shaking their heads and looking rather embarrassed.  I had just made a big rookie mistake. “Je suis plein” directly translated into English means “ I am full.” In French however, “Je suis plein” means “I am a pregnant animal.”  Being in the company of veterinarians made this even more ironic and hilarious for everyone I’m sure. Mortified, I tried to recover by saying what I should have said, which is “Je n'ai pas faim,” meaning “I am no longer hungry.” Too late.  My feeble response wasn’t audible over the laughter.  We left the café tout de suite and thankfully the vets never mentioned the incident again, at least not in my presence.  Needless to say, I never went back to that café with them. Instead, I chose to eat baguette sandwiches at a local park while brushing up on my French vocabulary.

Costa Rica: It’s more than just the Rain Forest

By: Lana Chumney

Class of 2011, Texas A&M University

During the Christmas break of my first year of vet school, I traveled to Costa Rica for an International Veterinary / Animal Science program. Our group consisted of twelve veterinary students from Texas A&M and the Ohio State University. Proyecto Asis is a wildlife refuge located in Ciudad Quesada. For two weeks we stayed with host families, most of whom spoke only Spanish. While I am not fluent in Spanish, my vocabulary improved substantially even in two weeks of being immersed in the language.

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It's a Baby!

By: Lana Chumney

Class of 2011, Texas A&M University

I was so excited to start my fourth year in the clinics on the large animal emergency rotation.  As it turned out, they should have named those two weeks “the petting zoo rotation” due to the wide variety of animals that we saw.  These included a miniature donkey colt, a miniature horse, a pony, a mule, another donkey, a baby camel, a kid goat, a Dexter bull and a few horses.  About the middle of my week on nights, just when the lack of sleep was catching up to me, a miniature horse came in with a newborn 25 pound foal that was premature and having trouble breathing.  As it was my case, I spent a good deal of time questioning the owners on its history.  “We’ve only had the mare for three months.  We had no idea that she was pregnant.  When I got home I thought, ‘Why did the kids leave a stuffed animal out there with Rosey?  But when I got closer, I saw that it was a baby!”  Now you may be thinking, how does someone have a horse that is 11 months pregnant and not know that it is pregnant?  I continued to ponder this question as I continued with clinical rotations for the next month.  At this point, my mare had been at my parents’ house in a stall for a year with no stud horses on the place.  I had seen her a couple of months earlier and remarked on how fat she had gotten on the free choice coastal she was eating combined with her lack of exercise.  About that time I got a call from my mom: “Your horse just had a baby!”  As it turns out, the farrier had turned an uncastrated colt out with her for an hour 11 months earlier and the rest is history.  And that was the end of my pondering.