Blog #1

My name is Payson Coverley. I am a sophomore transfer student at UNR. I transferred from a small school in Oregon where I was playing soccer, but due to injuries I am unable to continue to play soccer, which is how I ended up at UNR.  I am double majoring in agricultural science/animal science and Ag education. I am hoping to become a large animal veterinarian technician. I currently work at a small animal vet hospital just to experience both large and small animals. So, it is clear that I love animals and love to help them. I was born and raised in Nevada. I come from a family of 5. I have two sisters, one older and the other younger making me the middle child. My older sister, Hannah, is going to school in Idaho and is onto her senior year. My little sister, Molly, is a junior in high school. My dad is the Sheriff in my town and my mom is a CPA. I grew up playing soccer and some basketball. I played soccer and basketball in high school and then played soccer in college. I worked hard to get a college scholarship for soccer and reached my goal by playing in Oregon. Soccer has always been my favorite sport over basketball. My family owns a ranch in the small town where I am from. We raise and sell cattle. Our operation is a small one with about 60 head of cattle (head meaning head count). I have two dogs named Lucky and Phoebe. I also have horses named, Soda and Ricky.  I enjoy working out and playing with my dogs. I work 5 days a week at my vet hospital as well. It has been an amazing experience working there. The reason I applied for a job at a small animal vet when I am trying to go into large animal vet sciences is because I have grown up around cows and horses and have learned a lot about them by being around them most of the time. But I felt I should also explore what goes behind working with small animals. The animals we get at the hospital are dogs and cats for the most part, but we also get a large amount of birds of prey. For example, owls and hawks. Small birds get brought in as well like, pigeons, small song birds, blue birds, parrots, etc. Lizards have been brought in as well as bunnies, ducks, and chickens. It can be hard at times working at the hospital because death comes along with the job. There are animals that are too sick to heal and the humane thing to do is put them to sleep to end their pain. For a person that loves animals it is a hard sight sometimes to see an animal that is very sick or has passed away but then you must think about keeping them alive while they are suffering is the selfish thing to do. Working where I work has taught me many things that aren’t just medically related. I hope I can help many more animals in the future.