I am being lazy again. I didn't have time to write so I just copied what I wrote two years ago and pasted it here. I wrote this paper for my Small Animal Radiology Internship in the UC Davis Veterinary Teaching Hospital. This is just part of it. I add a note in the end.
There are several interesting activities that worth mentioning. Once a vet student who took me to the other side of vet hospital. There I saw several large animals in the intense care. We have to get inside the facility with boots on so we won't carry their diseases to other animals. I saw a “donor” cow that has a large opening on left side of his body with a cover on top of it. Vet student told me some cow did not have enough bacteria in their stomach to help them to digest grass. In that case, they would just open the cover of the donor cow and scope up some bacteria from his stomach and put into the other cow’s body. Wow. That was something.
During the internship, I also had a chance to follow a tour in the hospital. A retired vet told me that cat’s blood is unlike dog’s blood, which can be stored in the certain environment. Cat’s blood cannot be used any more if it left a cat’s body for some time. Therefore, they have “blood donor” cats. Those cats have tubes attached on them all the time and they live in the hospital. Whenever a sick cat needs the blood, vets would just directly attach sick cat to the one end of the tube and donor cat at the other. After they pull the blood out of the donor cat, they can directly push blood into the sick cat. Amazing!
Note: I wonder what makes a cat a "donor" cat, the other a "receiver" cat. I mean they both are cats, but one has to stay in the cold cage inside the UCDVTH and frequently donates its blood to other cat while the other has privilege of getting the best medical treatment. The only difference between the two is that one is loved by someone, the other is not. However, just because no one love the donor cats doesn't mean they are inferior. Their value as a cat doesn't change at all. In fact, if anything, donor cats should be superior since they saved other cats by donating their blood. I mean how many cats got to do that in their life time. Anyway, I believe that all cats are created equally. And, we should apply this understanding to human being as well!
