Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my vet blog!

First of all I should probably introduce myself! My name is Charlotte Romans, like many people who say they want to be a vet, my interest was fueled from a young age, inspired by my great love for animals (and at the age of six especially sheep, mainly due to the fact I was often dragged along on walks by my parents through fields where there would be nothing but sheep!) and was later reinforced when I began to get more practically involved with horses by becoming a member of the Pony Club which often involved learning details about the anatomy of the horse, daily care routines, dentistry and shoeing. It is quite fair to say that this helped to spark my enthusiasm  for all things veterinary which to this day still remains as strong as ever!

From that point of my life onward, I decided I would make it my mission to try and win a place at vet school and over the years I have tried to learn as much as I can about animals and their health both as companions and as livestock. From completing work experience placements in small animal clinics, at the local stables, helping out for a day of lambing at a farm to undertaking milking of a dairy herd, I am hoping that with this coming summer I can even fit in some more valuable work experience which I thoroughly enjoy the diversity of! Even through keeping my own pets, I have learnt the importance of regularly treating for fleas and worms, checking the teeth and skin of both my rabbits and cats, and dealt with the challenge of trying to trim a very wriggly rabbits' claws!

A current area of interest for myself is work regarding stem cells and their possible use as a regenerative veterinary medicine, and I recently wrote my Biology coursework, combining my love of science and animals, upon how mesenchymal stem cells were used to regenerate the superficial digital flexor tendon in race horses, which lead to me reading some really intriguing journals upon research that had been carried out and allowed me to analyse the benefits, risks and ethical issues surrounding this treatment and other complimentary therapies that may work alongside it. However I will post more about this topic later on this blog as I will begin researching stem cells again as part of a Pathology project later this year!

So there you have it, a hopefully not too long introduction to myself, my interests and how it came to be that I decided veterinary would be a good career choice!

Until the next time, goodbye!