Pigs?

One of the most unique and rewarding clinical rotations at Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine is TDCJ. The TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) has the second largest cattle herd in the state of Texas, 2,000 head of horses, guard dogs and tracking hounds, 25,000 swine and 300,000 poultry.

4th year veterinary students, along with a veterinary clinician, work closely with “non-violent” offenders on numerous prison unit farms throughout the State of Texas. There is never a shortage of cattle to work, colts to castrate, pigs to bleed or mares to palpate.

During one of my visits, two other 4th year students and I were asked to look at a yearling pig that was non-weight bearing lame on the left hind. His stifle was very swollen, hot and painful. He did not appear to have any orthopedic injuries. His stifle was about the size of a basketball, leading to a diagnosis of an abscess. Scalpel in hand, I carefully made a small 2 cm incision and a small amount of caseous (think cottage cheese) material oozed from the incision. One of my good friends James, who is a true Texas Good Ole Boy, drawled, “Katie, I don’t think that is gonna do” and proceeded to lengthen the incision with an accurate and nonchalant swipe of the blade. Within seconds all of the prisoners scattered to escape the deluge of cascading pus and the putrid odor that infiltrated the immediate 10 foot radius. While the prisoners were dry heaving outside the pen, we milked the last ounce of pus out of the abscess. I don’t think I will ever see such a rewarding abscess again. It was at that moment that I realized it takes a very special (and strong stomached!) person to see the beauty in a 5 pound mound of pus. Such a sense of accomplishment! While I probably will never work on swine again, this was the pivotal moment that I realized how much I love to work on animals.