:(

The small white dog with the horizontal ears died. The mange puppy is in bad shape. I sat for over an hour trying to syringe feed her today. I doubt she will be there when I go in tomorrow morning.

I talked with Dr. Smriti for a while today about veterinary school in India. She told me that all students who want to go into a medical field take a standard exam. Those that get the highest grades are accepted into medical school and those who get lower grades are put into dental and veterinary school. She said that virtually no one goes into the exam wanting to be a veterinarian and that even she had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that her exam grade wasn't good enough for medical school and that she was going to be a "dog doctor." She said that even though it wasn't her first choice, she has come to love being a vet and working at Animal Aid. We discussed how the work here isn't like the medicine we learn in school. An animal has a wound, you clean and dress it. An animal has a fever, you give it antibiotics. If it seems dehydrated and painful you give it fluids and pain meds. She is working with such limited resources, virtually no diagnostics, so in a way she is only able to do half her job. Regardless, she does it well.