Fieldtrip to the Animal Doctor

Carter frequently has school groups and scout groups, etc requesting to come to the clinic for a little tour. He always enjoys showing them what he does, and the kids love it. It seems like every kid thinks they want to be a veterinarian at some point in their growing up years - I know I did. I realized that even though our own kids have spent quite a bit of time at the clinic, they probably don't know a lot of what Dad does, or what lots of the equipment is for. So I asked Carter if he would mind giving our little preschool co-op group a tour. He said to come on down.


First we checked out an exam room and talked about what kinds of pets everyone has at home, and discussed how animals sometimes get sick, just like we do. Entering the surgery room Carter had the children put on surgery caps, which they thought was a hoot. A tech had set up the room for a mock procedure so they could see all the instruments and stuff. Carter showed them the laser and he burned each of their names into a tongue depressor.





Kyler was so proud when he diagnosed a broken leg on an x-ray. I did manage to recognize a litter of unborn puppies, but for the most part I am mystified at how they can pick up such crucial, minute details from those cryptic pictures. Next, they had prepared a series of microscopes for us which were focused on some interesting critters - a louse, a flea, and a tick. The kids looked and looked again. They couldn't get enough.



Their favorite part was probably just petting the puppies and kitties. The kids got to watch a dog having a bath and also see the groomer in action, which was cute. And they pretended to be big dogs and sat in the boarding kennels. It was sweet how concerned the children were to see the critters with bandages and "owies." Thank you to the wonderful staff for being patient with us and preparing such neat things to see, and thank you to the hot doctor who showed us around. I think all the children loved it, and Kyler and Shaylie were proud of their cool dad.