In July 2025, which is my previous semester break, I had a chance to intern for a month at Klinik Veterinar Putra Nilai. This give me an opportunity to put my previous knowledge into practice into a real clinical setting during this internship, which also helped me to better understand the responsibility of a veterinarian in providing care for patients and their owners.
I have able to observe and be involved in many cases in this one-month period and I learned something new from each cases. For example, there was a cat named Cumi who had trauma related breathing issue without showing flu. Veterinarian confirm the diagnosis of diaphragmatic hernia after knowing the X-ray result. There is also cases about Chronic Kidney Disease, Feline Gingivostomatitis, Feline Infectious Peritonitis. Not all of the cases involved cats, canine, birds and other type of pets also had a variety of issues. I remember there is a dog with skin problem that suspected to be Malassezia dermatitis and a case of benign prostate hyperplasia in a large breed dog.
Other than the cases, I also got to explore and learned about varies diagnostic tools and how to use it in the proper way. For example, how to use CBC machine, diagnostic test kits. I learned how to read blood test results, the kidney value and liver value which are essential for identifying diseases. I was permitted to help with blood collection, wound care and some basic medical procedures under the supervision of the veterinarians. The other important skill that I™ve learned is how to handling the animals in the safe and professional way.
Developing soft skills is also important compared to the hard skills. I worked on understanding pet owners™ worries and talking with them to explain diagnoses. Veterinarian should be active listening and have some technique in communicating with the owner to get the most accurate information about the patients in order to make a precise diagnosis. Building trust with the owner is also important for the better communication, stronger compliance and thus better outcome for their pets.
This internship was a meaningful learning journey that has expanded my clinical knowledge and improved my soft skills. I have been inspired by this experience to keep learning and to dedicate myself to being a veterinarian who can improve the animal welfare, environment and the community.
