READER’S DIGEST
May• 2019 | 79UDDER GENIUSA Tinder-inspired app is helping farmers in the UK match up
potential partners for their cattle. Called ‘Tudder’ – a mix of
dating app Tinder and udder – it lets farmers swipe right on
cattle they like the look of. They are then directed to a website
where they can browse more pictures and data about
the animals. REUTERSArnie the armadillo was fairly
cooperative at first, but having a
12-gauge, almost four centimetre
needle thrust into his upper thigh
did not appear to be his idea of fun,
so when I tried to expose his limb
from beneath the armour plating
I soon discovered how immensely
powerful his legs were, even with
his owner, Mr Smith, helping to hold
him down. It took all my strength and
both hands to extend the leg into the
position I needed for injecting the
microchip into the armadillo, but
this of course left me with no hands
free to prep, inject or glue the wound.
A third pair of hands was required so
I called Louise, our head nurse.
The procedure was performed
quickly and effectively, and after as-
suring myself that the skin glue had
set, and scanning the left hind to en-
sure the chip was in place, Mr Smith
returned Arnie to his cat box and
headed out the door.
“In ten years, that is definite-
ly the weirdest animal I have ever
seen in here,” said Louise. “I have
one question though. North Devon
isn’t exactly overrun with arma-
dillos, so if it goes missing, it’s not
going to be hard to track down, is it?
Why go to all the trouble of getting
it microchipped?” Although I knew
there were good reasons, I had to
admit, Louise had a point.
“Any way,” she continues, “how did
you know to put the microchip into
the back left thigh?”
“You call yourself a veterinary nurse
and you didn’t know that?” I replied
with a grin, closing the window on the
computer to hide the evidence of my
Google search. “I thought it was
common knowledge.”Excerpt from
The Travelling
Vet by Jonathan
Cranston.
© Jonathan
Cranston, 2018.
Published by
Allen & Unwin,
RRP $35