Sugar Gliders, safety pins and undie pants

We went to West Park Animal Hospital and Rehabilitation Center with our homeschool group for a tour today. This is a state of the art facility and some pets even come from out of state to be treated here. We got to see the operating room, the "ICU", x-ray, ultrasound, cat ward, dog ward, isolation, etc etc. I had no idea there were so many different rooms back there behind the exam rooms. We even got to see a little puppy that was under anesthesia having some stubborn baby teeth removed and then was going to be spayed. We saw an x-ray of a dog that had eaten an open safety pin. The pin had traveled all the way through the digestive system without causing any damage - a miracle to be sure. It was at the very end of the colon and the owner "found it" the next day, if you know what I mean. That's one treasure hunt I wouldn't want to be on! We also got to see an endoscope and heard the story of the Mastiff that had eaten six pairs of his owner's undie pants. They were able to pull them out, still intact, before it caused any real damage (to the dog or the undies)! Rachel thought it was pretty cool that animals have procedures with endoscopes too! Benjamin asked some good questions like, "What's the most unusual animal you have treated?" Answer: Sugar Glider. He also asked some operating room questions. Gotta love those field trip days! Even if the temperature is well below zero. It was -11 when we got up this morning but it had climbed to 3 degrees by this afternoon when we were out and about. Steve stayed home with Sarah and Emily but he will get to go see the animal hospital tomorrow when he goes to pick up Benjamin's new gloves that got left behind:)