Wonder Boy and I have been trying to make good use of our Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens passes by taking part in as many tours as we can. (Members get a discount.) Yesterday we toured the Zoo’s animal hospital. We take our cats to a veterinarian practice and the doctors they see are very good, figuring out how to take care of all types of pets. But pets is a limited range of animals. It would be easier to master that. (Not easy – just easier.) At a zoo, you take care of everything!

The veterinarian explained how he partners with other specialists for things like teeth cleaning and even partners with human doctors. The zoo is surrounded by four major Cincinnati hospitals so why not? Can you imagine being a human doctor and getting the call one day to come in and do respiratory care on a gorilla? Greatest day ever.

Right now the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens has a new baby giraffe. The veterinarian explained how it’s great, but when his staff hear’s an animal is pregnant, they have to start cramming to make sure they can handle any scenario. He likened it to studying for the boards and hoping you never have to take the actual test.

The tour didn’t include a lot of great photo opportunities (despite what one other lady on the tour obviously thought), but it was information packed and a wonderful time.

This post originally appeared on Kate’s Point of View. © Kate. All rights reserved.