Stories from Vet Tech 6: PG-13 and Parasites

We've been covering the reproductive system in A&P, so, naturally, there have been a lot of good quotes.

During these discussions, I've had one burning question building up inside of me. We were discussing the male parasympathetic reflex caused by olfactory cues and behavioural changes in the female, and my time had come. I raised my hand.

"Yep?" said our prof.

"I have a weird question," I said.

"Okay," she said.

"So I used to work with these stud horses... and I swear that whenever I was ovulating, they'd get pushy with me and I had to be a lot firmer with them and, and..."

By this time the whole class was laughing, including the teacher.

"Am I crazy?" I asked.

"No!" said my prof.

"Thank goodness!" I said. "Because it was getting pretty weird when I'd have to come home and tell my husband that the horses all got boners when I walked into their stalls."

"I'm guessing," said my professor, still laughing, "they weren't picking up any behavioural cues from you, right?... but they could definitely pick up hormonal cues. Actually, that reminds me of this gelding I used to have. Zippy. And Zippy shouldn't have been behaving like this, being a gelding. But Zippy would get an erection whenever the farrier pulled up in his truck. It was so awkward."

Hey, hey, hey!

~*~


"Dogs don't have bulbourethral glands. Bulbourethral glands are also called Cowper's gland, after the guy who discovered them, I guess." She paused. "I don't think I'd want an accessory sex gland named after me."


~*~


Discussing mammary glands and that females will continue lactating as long as they are regularly being suckled.

"That's how you end up with people still nursing their toddlers and stuff. Eesh. If you're old enough to go get your own drink, it might be time to move on."

Good grief, look at that kid; he's ready to join the local flag football team. 

I guess it's a great diet plan for mom, anyways. 

~*~


Fun facts:

Armadillos always give birth to identical quads.

Really interesting and only kind of horrific facts:

1. Those cute little pot bellies that puppies and kitten have are actually caused by Toxocara spp (roundworm). Puppies are born with it because it goes transplacentally as well as transmammary, and kittens get it immediately after birth because it goes transmammary for them. Also, virtually every single adult dog/cat has encysted roundworm. You can deworm them, but it won't kill the encysted ones, which will just wake up and become adult worms whenever they want to later (which is part of the reason why you have to deworm regularly).

Irresistible!

2. Toxoplasma gondii is the protozoal parasite pregnant women are told to watch out for and why they are warned not to change cat litter for fear of catching this. In reality, you are much more likely to get it from unwashed fruit or improperly cooked meat, but anyways... normally people just fight it off and it's not a big deal, so if a pregnant woman was exposed to it prior to pregnancy, and then exposed again, it wouldn't be an issue because she'd have antibodies to fight it off. But if her first exposure was while pregnant it can cause miscarriage if contracted in early pregnancy, and severe developmental issues in the baby if contracted in later pregnancy.

But besides that, here's the really fascinating thing; it also might be giving normal, everyday people the crazies.
Read this article about it!


Just plain horrific facts:

If you want to know what the parasite Echinococcus granulosus does when it gets into a human (which is not its definitive host, and we'd be better off if we were), you can watch this video. It merits a solid 12 out of 10 on the ick scale.

~*~

Not quite so desirable now. Is it.