Animal Magic: using my fingers and our sense of touch

We recently held a very successful open day at our Peacehaven clinic. It was specifically aimed at primary school children, to give them a chance to go behind the scenes at the vets.

We had set up some activity stations for them to try out various vet related tasks. These included learning how to put a bandage onto a teddy bear’s leg, and how to tie a knot using surgical instruments.

It was great fun for us to set it all up, and we really enjoyed turning our ideas on how to best present the work that we do into manageable tasks for young children. 

And I am already planning a new activity for next year.

This was a suggestion from a colleague from vet school, who claims that she can recall a similar idea being used by a professor at vet school to illustrate what he was teaching. It hinges around the importance of the information we can gather without any expensive machinery or testing, with one of our senses other than sight and hearing.

I am referring to our sense of touch.

It is such second nature to me that I almost use my hands as an additional pair of eyes. 

They give me information about my patient in 3D that is unavailable from any other means. This is partly why it was so devastating to be a vet during the pandemic. It was like being asked to make diagnoses with my eyes shut!

I can still recall the very first time I realised the potential of the palpation. Just using my finger tips to help a patient to work out what is going on in their life.

I was a student and the vet I was shadowing invited me to palpate the swollen belly of a young cat. I was completely overwhelmed when I realised I was competent to recognise a pregnancy, and even count the kittens, with just my finger tips.

I am going to see if we can replicate that experience at our vet school event in Peacehaven next year, using some models. Maybe some of the parents will enjoy having a go as well!