Cougar Paws: Student Vet Program

Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve; the students of the Munford High School FFA are still at it! Working with Paws and Claws, cats are being spayed and neutered left, right and center thanks to Veterinarian, Lynn Svoboda, and Veterinary Technician Felicia Keough. With the students helping to prepare and watch the animals, Dr. Svoboda and Ms. Keough have, so far, spayed and neutered 241 cats this year alone at the Munford High School Veterinary Lab!

The facilities at Munford FFA are full of cats, but they have an excellent system to keep track of everything. Students in the veterinary science program have a process they have to follow especially when it comes to surgery days. The process sometimes means they’ll even come in the night before to get everything prepared! To set up, students have to make sure they have enough towels, cradles, and recovery station that is fully stocked and prepared for post-op cats. The towels and tanks are in the recovery station, for when the cat comes out of their surgeries. After setting this up, the students then check the other supplies in the recovery station. These supplies include a thermometer, peroxide and alcohol, cotton balls--for cleaning wounds--stethoscopes, and otoscopes, which they use to check ears for ear mites. Students also set up the supplies for vaccinations and microchips, as well as drawing blood. When drawing blood from the cats they check for feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukemia virus.

After getting everything set-up, surgeries are ready to start. Looking at the paperwork on each cat in their care, the students observe dosing the correct amount of anesthetic according to their weight. If the cat is to be spayed, they shave the belly starting from the rib cage. The area is cleaned with iodine and alcohol gauze. The cat, now asleep, is then taken to Dr. Svoboda for surgery. Students are the ones to shepherd the cats to and from their surgeries and watch them in the recovery station where the cats get the reversal to bring them out from under anesthesia. This is where the recovery station comes in handy. The cats are semi-contained in them making it easier for the students to keep a watch on their vitals. When they start to crawl around, jump, and show other signs of movement, they are put in a nearby kennel to finish waking up. When they are put back in there, the kennels are empty so the cats can’t harm themselves.

Owning two dogs and three cats herself, Amy Sanders, a student in the program, has dreamt of becoming a vet pretty much her whole life. Excited to be enrolled in Large Animal Science this next year, Amy is looking forward to working with the sheep, something she hasn’t gotten to do yet. All of the students share that same excitement about the opportunities presented in the Veterinary program. They are getting to work with these animals at a level that many people don’t experience until college. All of the students are very knowledgeable when it comes to what they’re doing. If you go up to any of the students, you’ll get a very in-depth explanation on what’s going on. It’s amazing to see the students in action and listen to what they have to say. Every single student there has an amazing handle on what’s going on in the lab.

Cougar Paws Veterinary Clinic is continuing to spay and neuter cats from the shelter; they’re looking to have 800 cats spayed and neutered by the end of the year! Working strictly with shelters and rescues--such as the Tipton County Animal Shelter, and Tipton County Paws and Claws--there are plenty of cats for them to fix. Heather Twisdale with Paws and Claws was a wealth of information when it came to statistic behind what they’re doing. She mentioned that the North had a spay, neuter rate of over 70 percent in many areas, but the South’s rate was only about 30 percent due to overpopulation.

“20 years ago the North had the same problem we did,” Ms. Twisdale mentioned. Ms. Keough jumped in and added that, “we’re very adamant about spay neuter simply because, not only are we cutting down on the pet population, we’re cutting down on the dying kittens that are being bred to our outside cats, community cats, and our feral cats. That’s going to cut down on diseases, and viruses. Ultimately, we want to see less feral cats, so please spay and neuter.”

Agriculture Teacher, Missy Hammond, is the driving force of the Munford FFA veterinary program. She’s the one that started Cougar Paws, and she’s also the teacher that’s in charge of making sure the students have learned the material so they can be in the program. “I train my students in class and then they are set up to come here and work. So we have been fortunate to have enough volunteers to continue this through the summer. We have reached out to other FFA chapters, we have had Crockett County come and help us. Halls has been and we have some more set up to come in later.”

The Munford FFA wants to be able to provide the students for the labor needed in this veterinary operation. They also want to provide the equipment and supplies, which is something that the public can help them with! The Munford FFA always needs towels for the cats as well as kitty litter, peroxide, alcohol, and cotton balls.

“We would be happy to take any of those things as donations!” Mrs. Hammond mentioned.

If students are interested in the veterinary program at Munford High School, they would need to come to the ag building and talk to Ms. Hammond.