Because of the COVID-19 lockdown, I was not allowed to work in the hospital and I didn’t have to go to school either. With all the spare time, I started revising the notes of small animal surgery and medicine from last year to better prepare myself for the upcoming clinical rotations. Being worried about the condition of the cat I met regularly in the hospital who was suffering from serious arthritis, I contacted the Facebook page of the cat to reach out to her owner and was told that she was doing fine and has been losing weight as intended to lessen the load on the joints.

－Ernest Yu

Rural Area Neuter Action has been one of my bucket lists. It is about a large scale of neutering surgeries carried out by teams of veterinarians at countrysides, aiming at reducing the number of animals capable of reproduction in a short period of time, so as to relieve the burden brought by excess stray animals. Fortunately, I was able to take part in the Lanyu Rural area neutering, accompanying teachers in NTU, as well as the animal association in Taitung.

You guys in Hong Kong may have not heard about Lanyu. Lanyu is one of the outlying islands in Taiwan, and it is full of aboriginal cultures and natural sceneries, a place totally different from the cities! I am so grateful to all the people on this trip, and so lucky to be taken care by teachers, helped and supported by classmates, and overwhelmed by the warmth of the locals. Besides, I did learn a lot during this trip, which provided me the valuable opportunity to perform an operation that was nearly impossible in college. Though the premedication, anaesthesia, and aftercare were unavoidably simplified, the surgical procedures remained almost the same, allowing me to learn a lot about the details of surgery and the use of surgical equipment.

－Linda Lau