Flying with a Cat

Date: June 7, 2018

Author: astottler

I’m here in Nashville! As I write this up, it’s Wednesday. I got here late Saturday night, so I’m still settling in!

How did Jackson do on the flight? Read on for more!

I’ll have a separate post up in a little bit with Nashville things, but this is enough for its own post!

Let me just start by saying that I was SO nervous for this. I was worried he would be super scared. He’s pretty scared of new people and new places. But I also sort of knew he would be just fine. He’s really good in the car, and rides 2 hours in the car fairly frequently. After some debate, I decided not to use any pharmacological intervention. I really didn’t want to because it just adds another variable, but I was worried he would be terrified. So how did it go? First, we flew Alaska Air. They had a pretty good pet policy: $100 for flying with the animal, and they don’t require any records or paperwork if he travelled in the cabin with me, which was something I DEFINITELY wanted to do anyways.

I was really nervous to go through security, because I wasn’t sure how that would work. They gave me the option of holding him as I walked through the metal detector and his carrier went through the machine, or taking him out in a private room for when the carrier went through the machine. I opted for the private room because I wasn’t sure if he would make a run for it. He was really good for this process. When I took him out he seemed scared but not terrified. As we walked around the airport, he meowed some. Not yowling, just reminding me he was there. The next few hours were a little bit of a nightmare, but he was a champ. We got onto the plane, and then immediately had to get off because there was something wrong with the plane. That led waiting an hour or so to get onto a new plane. Then, once on the new plane, we taxied for a while and then they brought us back to the gate because a warning light came on. THEN they had to change flight crews because due to the delays, the pilots had been working too many hours in a row. So MORE delays. I was a bundle of nerves at this point because it was 2pm, and he had been in the carrier since 8:30am, and we still had a 4 hour flight ahead of us. Meanwhile…he was fine. As soon as we started taxiing the first time (before we got called back to the gate), he curled up and fell asleep. And then was asleep through the whole delay and pretty much the entire rest of the flight. I was worried about the noise at takeoff, and that he would be terrified….nope, he was asleep. He didn’t make a single peep on the plane, and only meowed again when we were off the plane. I put my hand in the carrier a few times to check on him…he purred. So he was definitely not traumatized!

In terms of logistics, I brought a big tupperware container and a bag of litter (which 100% will get flagged at security if you do this), as well as some small paper bowls and a bag of his food. When we got to SFO, I took him out in a pet relief area by the gate and gave him an opportunity to use the litter, which he didn’t. I gave him the chance to drink water on the plane and I don’t think he did at all.

Due to the delays, we got to the house we’re staying at around 10pm…meaning he had been in the carrier for almost 12 hours. I had a letterbox and litter delivered to the place so it would be ready for when we arrived, but not only did he not urinate in his carrier, he didn’t use the litter for a little while.

I was also nervous for how he would be in a new place since he tends to be scared of new places. Nope. He was purring and flopped out on my bed pretty much right away.

He seemed very comfortable and was happy to explore a new place. He especially loves all the window sills! There are critters that he loves watching out the windows on the back deck.

And of course he has been loving hanging out in the sink. I don’t get it.

The one weird thing is that he didn’t eat really at all the first day. That’s really unusual for him. He’s usually constantly eating, and he loves his dry food! He didn’t seem stressed at all, and was behaving normally. And he ate a couple of treats. But then I was unpacking a can of his wet food, and he was instantly interested so I fed him that, and since then he has eaten normally! Kittens…

Overall, despite my own stress, we had a great flying experience. I’m so lucky that he’s so good about this kind of thing, and I think taking him in the car regularly from a young age was really helpful. It’s also SO nice to have him here with me!

Have you flown with a pet before?

Lemon, Dill, and Chicken Salad+ Other Spring Salads

Date: May 11, 2018

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guys. I created something amazing. I tried to make a Sweetgreen copycat one of their spring salads, and while it actually tasted nothing like it, it was SUPER delicious and insanely easy (thanks to Trader Joe’s.)

Ingredients:

Trader Joe’s Lemon Pepper Grilled Chicken

Steamed or Roasted Asparagus (I steamed mine, and then for my last salad of the week when I didn’t have any broccoli, I broiled it)

Roasted Broccoli (I roasted with Trader Joe’s Everything seasoning blend)

Feta

Fresh Dill

Mixed Greens

Trader Joe’s Tzatziki Sauce

This salad screamed “spring” to me. Also, I got that bowl specifically to house large salads.

Just basically mix everything together. The Tzatziki is the dressing.

I’ve also had some other delicious salads lately that I thought I would share.

Granted this isn’t the best picture. But right now, aged balsamic massaged onto kale is my jam. This also has dried cranberries, creamy goat cheese, and deli chicken. I actually think I prefer deli chicken to turkey at this point.

Same idea but with honey goat cheese. I don’t have a picture, but I’ve also been doing blueberries instead of pears in my lunch salads this week. Partly because they were actually really sour and not the best to just have plain.

Avocado toast, plus an amazing salad that doesn’t look like much. Amazing thanks to the aged TRUFFLE balsamic vinegar that I used. I think aged vinegars are my current favorite thing. The kale was massaged with a little olive oil, aged truffle balsamic, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper.

And since I claim to be a vet student, here are some fun things from these past couple weeks:

Learning how to locate abdominal organs on ultrasound:

New bffs:

My first client simulation lab! My school puts a lot of emphasis on communication in our curriculum, starting in first year!

Day in the Life: Vet School Spring Year 1

Date: April 19, 2018

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

6:15am: Wake up. I usually get up at this time to workout, but I decided to try to get some extra sleep this morning because I’ve been tired so I try to force myself back to sleep. Jackson isn’t having it though.

6:45: I stayed in bed as long as I could, including getting up twice to try and kick Jackson out of my room.

6:45-7: Weight Jackson and snuggle. And take my (gummy) vitamins. He’s officially 10 pounds! Which means he’s tripled in size since I got him <3

Then I get dressed and eat breakfast.

A cracker, the rest of my blackberries, and a double chocolate protein muffin.

Pack my lunch. I pretty much always pack the same salad, but the fruit varies depending on the season. We’re not at peach season quite yet. Pear, goat cheese, chicken, with some GF basically cheezits.

7:45: Not really sure what to do since I’m awake an hour earlier than I needed to be, so I start this post and watch a youtube video, and then get ready for the day!

8:40: Leave for class.

9:00: First lecture is on imaging of the abdomen.

10:00: Lecture on anti-emetic drugs and gastroprotectants. We learn that long term omeprazole use can decrease calcium absorption. A couple of years ago when I was really sick with stomach issues, I was on omeprazole for probably a year, and broke my foot at the end of that time so I wonder if that contributed? I was training for a 10 mile race and doing a lot of other stuff, but I had also run like 6 half marathons while healthy without ever having bone issues so maybe!

11:00: Lecture on pathology of the stomach and esophagus, which I purposefully did not take much of a picture of because we looked at a lot of real images of the organs.

12-12:40: Lunch! I sit outside because it’s a beautiful day!

12:40: Change into scrubs and a lab coat for anatomy lab.

1-2:40: Anatomy lab. Today’s lab involved dissecting into the abdomen and seeing all the organs we’ve been talking about!

3:00: Return home to my little sidekick greeting me at the door.

Eat a snack while relaxing with a short TV episode, followed by Jackson cuddles.

3:30: Continue on this blog post.

3:45: Make some notes on today’s lab. Grab a handful of Cheerios before heading to Crossfit because I’m starving.

4:25: Leave for Crossfit.

I haven’t worn my ankle brace in a looong time but I wear it today because while my ankle is much, much better, I’ve already exceeded my use of it for the week and we have double unders. Usually my ankle is totally fine running once a week, and after that it gets sketchy. I ran 3 miles on Sunday and had soccer on Tuesday, so it’s sore. Which is an issue since I have a 5k on Saturday, so I’m babying it!

4:45: Crossfit. The 4:45 class is a 45 minute class but we still do the same stuff as the normal classes. Today is a longer workout so it’s a mad dash.

Part 1:

5 rounds:

30s assault bike MAX EFFORT (ouch)

90s rest

30s burpees to a target

90s rest

This was TOUGH because we were really encouraged to go all out on the bike! We didn’t have much time before heading right into the WOD, which was a fun one.

9 min AMRAP:

9 push jerk at 75#

15 sit ups

21 double unders

I finished 5 rounds plus 9 push jerks.

5:45: Return home and cook dinner while sipping on a lavender kombucha. Nothing unusual today. Zucchini noodles with pasta sauce and lots of cheese: regular and fresh mozzarella.

Dessert:

Enjoy life soft baked chocolate cookies in a new brand of vanilla cake “healthy” ice cream. I ended up really not liking the ice cream. I almost didn’t finish the bowl, and ended up just tossing the rest of the pint.

Then I go to ice my ankle while turning on the Giants game.

Watch the game a little longer before starting class work. This is his preferred position…

7:45: Snack on a bowl of Berry Cheerios.

And then this is the set-up:

Baseball (on mute), iPad with lectures, and then my notes.

8:30: Jackson wants to lay on my iPad…and play. So I do some clicker training with him. He’s been really bad about biting—play biting, not aggressive, but still a problem especially at night. I’m trying to teach him to “attack” this toy so I can try and redirect his behavior. I don’t appreciate dealing with teeth every night around 3am…

It’s about 9 now. I have another lecture I want to get through but it should be quick! I’m usually in bed with the lights out around 10:30.

And that’s a more or less typical day of GI in vet school!

Day in the Life: First Year Vet Student (Fall 2017)

Date: November 1, 2017

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

As, promised, here’s my day in the life as a first year vet student! Every day and every week is different, but today is more or less typical!

5:55am: Alarm goes off

I start getting ready for the day, and try to keep my roommate’s talkative kitty quiet.

She actually settles down instead of following me around meowing this morning.

6:20: Quick breakfast before running out the door. I have a flapjacked muffin and a few crackers.

6:40: Leave the house and realize it’s trash day. Whoops. In vet school I never can keep track of the days. I take out the bins on my way out.

6:45: Arrive at the teaching hospital. This morning I volunteered for the treatment crew for kitties burned in the Sonoma/Santa Rosa fires. We’ve gotten a ton of kitties transferred to us, so students come in in the morning and evening to take care of them to help out the normal hospital staff.

8:30: Finish the morning treatments. We finished a little bit early, which means I don’t have to sprint to lecture! The kitties are the sweetest things.

9:00: Lecture. With a lollipop. We’re doing immune system/hematology right now.

10:00: Lecture.

10:50-11:00: Take a quick walk before our 11:00 lecture to get the blood flowing!

11-12: Lecture

12:00: Lunchtime! I packed leftover zucchini noodle pad thai with scrambled egg. I accidentally put too much sauce on, so I threw in some lettuce.

1-2: Lecture/lab. We’re looking at pictures of bone marrow aspirate and identifying cell types, and underlying diseases.

2-2:15: Meet with my group to discuss how we are going to attack our group take home test/homework assignment.

2:30: Home! This is the earliest we’ve gotten out in a long time, and it’s because the other half of our class has a 3 hour lab this afternoon (we have it Friday). I have a snack and watch a short TV episode. I usually take a break when I first get home because my brain is fried, although today was pretty light so it doesn’t feel as necessary!

2:50-3: Start typing up this blog post.

3-3:30 Random stuff around the house. I bag up leftover Halloween candy for our group meeting, keeping out some for a baking project!

3:30-4:15: Go over lecture notes and make a study guide. For each lecture, I go through the slides (I take notes directly on the slides on my iPad. That thing is my life.) and make sure I understand everything, and summarize it all into a study guide. Colorful pens are mandatory. I try to go through all the lectures on the day of, because it’s easy to get behind, but some days (like Monday when we had 5 lectures) that isn’t practical. I get through one lecture so far.

Everyone has to find their own method of studying in vet school, and thus far this has worked really well for me. When I’m studying for a test, I can read through my study guides fairly quickly, although I still go through the lectures as well. Right now the study guides are enough and I don’t need flashcards, but that might change . Flashcards are more time consuming and part of vet school is optimizing time. Our next unit is nutrition, so I may need to start using them with that!

4:15: Get ready for Crossfit!

4:25: Leave for Crossfit.

I wear running shoes because I’m trying to give my feet more cushion (my ankle bone has been hurting) and we’re not doing anything that involves squatting or any movement that would require flatter shoes.

Also: I really like this version of this song. The first time I heard it I thought it was the weirdest thing, but it grew on me.

4:45-5:30: Crossfit! I go to the 45 minute condensed class. It’s the same workout as the regular classes, but the pace is faster. We do 10 minutes of EMOM kipping pull ups, and I do 5 each minute. I feel like my strength would allow me to do more, but my hands get bruised and ripped.

The WOD was a 15 minute AMRAP of

30 sit ups with a 14# med ball

200m run

30 push ups

200m run

I only got to 2 and a half rounds!

When I get home, I make dinner right away and turn on Game 7 of the World Series! I can stream Xfinity, but what it lets you stream is weird. I can’t stream the World Series…but then I realized a couple of days ago, there is a loophole. I can stream the Spanish broadcast! I’ll take it! I know some Spanish, so I understood some things!

6:00: Sit down to eat. On the menu is Mexican style zucchini noodles. I season the zoodles with smoky seasoning, and then stir in Harvest salsa, chicken, and reduced fat Mexican cheese blend. Guacamole on the side.

For dessert, I pull a piece of pumpkin banana bread from the freezer.

7:30: Finally mute the game and get back to work. Normally I’d watch one show episode during dinner and then start studying, but Game 7 of the World Series is a special circumstance, clearly! Instead of going through the other lecture from today, I start working on making a giant diagram of all the immune system stuff we’ve learned this block. I really like putting everything together.

Somewhere in there, I snack on a granola bar. It’s so crumbly I have to eat it over the sink or I’ll make a mess. Annoying.

A cuddle break was taken also:

9:00: Astros win the World Series!

9:15: Break to blog. My diagram is done for now. Rina is snoozing. She often comes up and meows at me when it’s time for bed!

I’m going to sign off now. I’m going to take a crack at my immune system homework problems I’m meeting with my group about tomorrow, and then I might read for a few minutes. I’ll probably call it a night around 10:30!

Weekend at Home + Vet Student Things

Date: October 15, 2017

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

With all the fire starting this past week, I never got to recap my weekend at home. Before I get into that, I want to share a little bit about my weekend.

One of the most heartbreaking parts about the wildfires are all the animals that are lost/injured/killed when owners have little to no warning to evacuate. Some amazing people have been doing great work to evacuate, rescue, and save countless animals. Here at the vet school, we are starting to get patients. I finally got the chance to help out, and I jumped at the opportunity. I spent Saturday morning helping out with some burn victim kitties, and I’m on call Monday night in case we get lots of patients.

The only bright spot in all this tragedy is seeing the community come together to help. The spots to help out with the fire victims at the vet schooled filled up SO fast. My classmates raised money to take donations into Sonoma Country. Many businesses and organizations are donating money and items to help the victims.

And through all the tragedy, we are starting to see traces of hope; dogs that stayed behind to protect the farm animals, and all emerged safe. People who returned to find their houses gone, but their pet, healthy, waiting for them. People doing incredible things to save lives.

That being said, the fires are still burning, so my thoughts go out to those affected.

I spent my Sunday morning volunteering at a pop-up clinic. It’s an amazing experience, because we get to work with clients in need and practice taking the lead on cases. This morning was my first opportunity to take the lead myself, without the aid of an older student! Things like this weekend make me so happy I’m going into this field.

Also this weekend: I played intramural soccer. I haven’t played soccer in 8 years, but I grew up playing it from the age of 5. WHEW. I consider myself a fairly fit person, but soccer running is a different kind of fitness. We ended up playing a shortened game, and I don’t think anyone was complaining about that!

ALSO this weekend, I tried out Davis’s newest brewery, Super Owl. I like it, but 3 Mile is still my favorite beer in this area!

Back to my weekend home. I drove Chloe back Saturday morning after a final walk around the neighborhood.

One of the first tasks was visiting the GF bakery for Saturday donuts! These are great because they’re baked, not fried.

Maple donut, orange donut, chocolate donut, and apple cake and a cinnamon roll.

That afternoon, I snuggled with kitties and then met up with a friend at Stanford who just transferred there. It reminded me of how hard undergrad was. It’s somehow easy to forget that…

On my way home, I picked up dinner to celebrate my dad’s birthday, a bit late!

I had salmon with a baked sweet potato and broccoli.

We also broke open the growler that we brought home from Kansas in January! That was a definite upside of vet school interviews! Even all these months later, it was delicious and fizzy. This was Reindeer Sweat, which was a holiday-themed stout. I believe it had notes of chocolate and cherry. This was one of the best stouts I’ve had in a while. Totally worth braving icy temperatures!

My mom made a German Chocolate Birthday cake:

My sister made Gelato and brought dulce de leche to put on top, so I had a bowl of that! Yum!

Sunday morning, I ran 4 miles at one of my favorite places ever.

I’ve mostly been running 3 miles over the past year, and it’s amazing how different it feels with that extra mile…overall it went well though!

For lunch, my dad grilled peaches and chicken (I took lots of leftover grilled chicken back to school with me…) and we made grilled chicken and peach salad.

I also brought a zucchini with me and backed another loaf of zucchini pumpkin bread.

People who let their bread cool, I understand you the least.

That afternoon, one of my friends from home (the one with the puppy!) came over for a little dog walk. They’re officially friends, which was such a good feeling after Chloe’s behavior the previous week. They were both pretty tired, so when they played, it was sort of in slow motion.

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Then, it was time for me to return to school. When I got back, I had a text from my sister waiting, saying she has just adopted a kitten! Um, excuse me, you couldn’t have done that a few hours earlier?? Look how cute she is though:

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Ok, I’m back to studying!