My First Blog

I was recently informed that creating a blog will help with search engine optimization and visualization on Google..... so here we go.  Spoiler alert, this may be terrible in the beginning, but hopefully with time, my grammar and humor will improve, or not.  It depends on who you talk to.  My primary goal is to give you really good information on your pets health, or maybe relay some good stories.

Most veterinarians I have met, grew up dreaming of this career.  I can't say that.  I don't remember what I wanted to be when I was a little girl, but during my teenage years, I always aspired to be a medical examiner.  I am not sure where or when this idea developed, as it was the early 90's.  NCIS, Bones, and other forensic shows had not been created yet.  I had always loved animals, but that was not my primary focus through high school and college. 

I attended the University of Pennsylvania with the intent of going to medical school.  I even attended forensic classes in addition to my pre-med classes.  One requirement for medical school was experience, which I had none.  Luckily, I was discussing this with a friend, who just happened to need another research assistant at her lab.  So, of course I said YES.  I was quickly thrown into the world of veterinary medicine and loved every second of it.  The research portion was a very small percentage of our job.  We were in charge of a colony of English Bulldogs, monitoring different medications to improve sleep apnea.  A majority of the time, our job included caring for these dogs, walking them around the hospital, socializing them, bathing them, playing with them, and taking care of their medical conditions.  To say the least, I learned A LOT about veterinary medicine in a short amount of time.

I quickly realized some similarities between a Veterinarian and a Medical Examiner; your patients can't talk back to you (although dogs and cats can tell you all about it), they can't tell you what's wrong, you have to use science/diagnostic tests to determine the problem, and that medicine is always evolving (so I won't get bored - most people know I can't sit still for long).  From there, I never looked back.  Veterinary medicine has taught me a lot about myself, but also a lot about other people.  Just like anything, there is good and bad in this world.  I am fortunate enough to be in a place where I can (hopefully) make a difference - for a human or our fuzzy counterparts.

So, I hope this new endeavor turns out well.  It will be an exciting new turn in my life and I can't wait to see what happens.  There will be successes and failures, but I intend to always learn from every experience.

I will end each blog with some advertising, so that our keywords are present for good old internet searching.  If you ever need anything (questions or concerns), please feel free to contact us, or come see us at Riverside Veterinary Clinic.  We are in South Knoxville, just minutes from downtown.  

Dr. Leah Wulforst