Maylea Harris ’26: MSPCA-Angell

I have always loved animals. The bond a family can create with the creature they take home is always so heartwarming to me. My parents surprised my little brother and me with a puppy in late 2019, so she was still very young during the COVID shutdown. I got to spend a lot of time training her, walking with her, playing, and much more. All that time with her made me think about how to best take care of her. What should I do if she’s sick? What could cause her to get sick? This line of questioning eventually sparked my interest in healthcare for animals and how I wanted to learn how to take care of the things that I love. 

This summer, at the Angell MSPCA Veterinary Hospital in Jamaica Plain, I interned with the General Medicine Department and shadowed Dr. Kathleen O’Hara. Angell MSPCA is the largest and oldest veterinary hospital in Boston, with many specialized departments and an animal shelter connected to the hospital. I attended and assisted in many annual appointments, where I would observe routine vaccinations, checkups, and testing. 

I would arrive at the hospital, set my lunch down in an upstairs office, and head downstairs to the clinic. I would immediately jump into appointments with Dr. O’Hara and her college intern, Rachel. We would measure the weight of the cat or dog, always in kilograms, and then gather relevant background information. Rachel would be here for the first half, then report her findings to Dr. O’Hara to ensure a smooth flow of information from patient to doctor. She would ask questions about the patient’s behavior, eating/drinking, energy levels, and eliminations. Rachel would check if the owner had any specific concerns, needed restocks of medication, or any new changes in the animal’s living conditions as well. 

After informing Dr. O’Hara, she would chat with the owner as she examined the patient. She would check the eyes, ears, mouth, joints, heart, breathing, and more. Multiple times, I watched as she found troublesome features in the pet. Sometimes an eye could be dry or cloudy, so we’d take a tear test, which measures the pet’s tear production. Sometimes the ears would be reddened, a sign of infection, so she’d grab a glass slide and take a sample. The animal could need dental work, so we’d also take the pet over to the dentistry department for an evaluation and an estimate for any procedures. Other times, we’d aspirate a lump to determine if it’s fatty or possibly dangerous. Joints can stiffen with age, heart murmurs could develop, or breathing can be labored. Since these were annual checkups, it was unlikely to see a pet in extreme distress, as they would be directed to the emergency room. But I often saw uncomfortable animals. 

An example of a bacterial slide taken from a dog’s ear. 

In the meantime, I’d be drawing vaccines with Rachel and prepping vaccine certificates to give to the owner. When the patient would get a rabies shot, we would give them a tag along with the shot to notify others that the animal was properly vaccinated. Rabies is a core vaccine, meaning it is legally mandated in Massachusetts for animals to be vaccinated against rabies.

Mixing a vaccine

After this checkup, we’d take the animals for their vaccines and testing. In most cases, it would be easier for an animal to be away from their owner when getting their pokes (and less stress for the owner as well). For extremely anxious or aggressive animals, sometimes it was easier to have an owner assist in holding the animal. In the clinic, we would give the animal what vaccines they were due for, and for newly adopted animals, we would microchip them as well. Some of the common vaccines were rabies, Lyme, Leptospira, DHPP, and Bordatella. All vaccines had a very specific spot where they were administered (ex., front left leg) to monitor any reactions the animal might have. We would also, if necessary, take a blood or urine sample. I learned how to draw up vaccines, hold a vein, and distract the animal with treats or noise. 

An ultrasound of the bladder to line up the needle for a urine sample, and a patient undergoing the sample

I was also pleasantly surprised that a lot of the skills I picked up were transferable across the medical field. I was analyzing samples, observing patient care, disinfecting patients and rooms between appointments, looking at X-rays, and much more. 

Two X-rays of an obese cat before a minor surgery

When I wasn't assisting with annual exams, I also completed two projects.  Firstly, I cleaned and restocked appointment rooms. For the cases when doctors care for their patients in those rooms, they need quick access to all the materials that they’d normally need only in the clinic. Those rooms, especially in the drawers, had a more chaotic organization at times. It was satisfying to wipe everything down and hope that I’m making it easier for the team. I also learned how to quickly identify common medical objects, like determining needle sizes and what else would be necessary for a medical evaluation. 

A before-and-after shot of drawers that I reorganized.

My second project was writing a research paper on the rising levels of anxiety in dogs post-COVID. This topic hit home for me, as my dog missed out on the appropriate window to be socialized. We’re lucky that she is still comfortable around new humans, but she is very shy or aggressive around most other dogs. I pulled from multiple sources to see if there was an actual rising trend of dogs’ anxious behavior after the pandemic, which I found to be true. Even adult dogs who had previously been socialized had a lot of trouble re-adjusting after COVID. All pets had to deal with major shifts in their routines as owners returned to work or started to have friends over again. 

For the last two days of my internship, I worked with the neurology department. There, I shadowed specialized appointments with Dr. Rob Daniel, Dr. Michele James, and Dr. Jennifer Michaels. Since owners were coming in with specific complaints, I got to see the range of neurological diagnoses a pet can get, and the different questions that veterinarians would ask in these specialized appointments versus annual ones. For example, if an animal came in that frequently collapses, the doctor would ask about the circumstances it’s in when they occur, the frequency of the collapses, the duration of time the animal is down, if they are responsive during the episode, if owners have tried to distract the animal during or before the collapse, the color of the animal’s gums, and much more. Since owners are aware of their pet’s symptoms, they may have also documented it by recording a video or timing the duration, making the diagnosis process easier. 

I also saw how these specialized doctors spent their time outside of the neurology appointments. Their days had frequent stops to the MRI to check on patients and their imaging, seeing animals to determine their likelihood of survival and quality of life with their neurological conditions, and diagnosing cases as a group (while using it as a teaching experience for interns and externs). The MRI had patients in and out every day, often reaching five patients from neurology alone. This process is long, as animals need to be sedated for any imaging, like MRIs and X-rays, to ensure a clean, still picture. Many animals were brought by the neurology office for a quick check from other departments, where they looked at an animal’s head tilt, heart rate, signs of a murmur, leg stiffness for a possible paralysis check, and, most frequently, if they knew where their paws were in space. That final check would be administered by flipping a pet’s paws over and seeing how quickly the animal re-adjusts. The faster they flip back, the more confirmation that is that the animal knows what their paws are doing. Sometimes animals would not flip their paws over at all. One case I saw was a dog who had no feeling in her hind legs and was dragging them as well. Sadly, she was put down shortly after that appointment. Finally, I saw how they diagnosed cases as a group. Doctors put up all the symptoms on the board (mostly for the benefit of the interns and externs, who are still learning) and traced what part of the brain could cause those symptoms. Then, we’d look for the common denominator to determine the most likely place of origin for the animal’s symptoms.

An example of diagnosing a case as a group on the whiteboard

On my final day, I visited the animal shelter with Dr. James’s team. There, I saw how animals who need specialized care receive diagnoses—the doctors come to them. We looked at two animals who had neurological issues to determine their quality of life, so that any owners looking to adopt knew what kind of care the animal would need. You can find the shelter’s website at https://www.mspca.org/adoption-centers/boston-adoption-center/ to give an animal a home, or to donate and support their cause. 

A young dog named Durango in the shelter.

I’m very grateful to everyone I worked with at Angell MSPCA. Their kindness and dedication fostered an environment where I could tell everyone truly cared for their craft. Even on their busiest days, doctors made time for my questions and made the experience a wonderful learning opportunity. I’ve learned a lot of transferable skills and valuable lessons there. This internship has cemented my love for STEM.