It was hot. I had studied hard for three years at secondary school to get into vet school, and then six tough years to get through it.
And it could all go horribly wrong in the next few hours.
The written examination consisted of five essays I had to write in three hours, on any vet topic. There was no choice, no room for manoeuvre. I had to demonstrate understanding over every part of the syllabus, and all the species we had studied.
So I was delighted that one of the five questions was about cruciate disease in dogs.
My scariest tutor specialised in this problem, so I was completely familiar with it. I could settle down to write.
Similarly nowadays, cruciate disease is very familiar, to the point where I can be moderately confident of the diagnosis just watching my patient walk into the consulting room. It is one of the most common causes of a limp on the back leg of the dog. And, unfortunately for many, it’s as bad as breaking a bone.
The problem with rupturing this ligament in the dog’s stifle (knee) is that the ligament is unable to heal itself. The joint will try to toughen up, but without the stabilising influence of this ligament, every time the leg takes the pet’s weight there are unstable movements across the stifle that result in cartilage and other joint damage, creating osteoarthritis.
And that can be very painful.
For some patients, my role is to support them in managing that arthritis. For others, the right choice is a surgical repair such as a TPLO or tibial plateau levelling osteotomy.
One of the most exciting things about being in one profession for as long as I have is to observe how much better we are getting at it. The TPLO was first described after I qualified, so it didn’t feature in my final examination essay.
But I still get to help injured dogs and their pet parents through difficulty, making all that studying and worrying so very worthwhile.
