Today we have a first on my blog. A guest post! I thought this was a very worthwhile topic, and I hope you find it informative. 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table...
Questions From A Prospective Vet Student, Part 3
Here are the last set of Jasmine's questions.If I was able to become a practicing vet, I would like to own my own private practice. Would you be able to give me a general idea as to what that would be like and what are the odds of really being able to "be my own boss" and direct my own clinic? Owning your veterinary practice is a lot of very hard work, and you don't get any training in this as a veterinary student. You will need to secure business loans of around $300,000-500,000 (US) or more for even a small practice. Having strong business skills and training is important to being a business owner, as many private practices go bankrupt because the owner isn't a good businessperson. You will spend a large portion of your day and week managing aspects of the business and...
Questions From A Prospective Vet Student, Part 2
Continuing the answers to Jasmine's questions, here are the next ones....Also, I am undeclared in regards to what my major and minor are at the moment, and I was wondering what would be the preferred major in order to benefit me most if I did pursue becoming a vet? I have a strong love for English as well, I might take English as my minor, but I'm not sure if that is recommended for this type of career... Are there many areas where a minor in English would be useful? I can only really speak from experience with US veterinary schools, but I would imagine that in other countries it would be the same or similar. Honestly, your major doesn't completely matter. In the US the admissions office looks at whether or not you have taken and passed specific courses, and don't look...
Questions From A Prospective Vet Student, Part 1
Jasmine recently emailed me with quite a lot of questions. Over the next few days I'll try and address them. Here's the first part!I am currently a first year student at the University of Alberta, enrolled in the faculty of science. All my life I have had a strong love for the well-being of animals of all shapes and sizes, and have a firm belief in the proper ethical treatment of animals. The past year I have been wondering what type of road I would take to the career that would have major involvement with the proper treatment and health of all animals. I have established some sort of path for myself where I'd like to get into the 4 year DVM program at the University of Calgary to become a practicing veterinarian, as well as take part in a project such as PETA for the...
Puppy Graduation
One of my regular readers posted this comment on my entry about Training Techniques...I would really urge you to find a good trainer rather than rely on books. The reason for this is because it takes allot of time and patients to really help a dog learn. A good trainer creates a plan and then re-enforces your training again and again and again. ( notice I said your training)Most of this is about training you and you pass that onto the dog.I think that's an excellent point, and one I also believe in. In my own practice I always recommend group training classes rather than books. First, socialization is vitally important to a dog's...
Fleaces And Other Random Things
Today is just a few quick and simple comments and answers. The first one is probably only going to be found amusing by my veterinary colleagues.Today one of my associate doctors was talking about looking for "flea dirt" with one of our techs. For those who don't know, flea dirt is the little black specks you will see on the skin in pets who have active fleas. These specks are the feces of the fleas and is pretty distinctive. Since it's flea feces, we know that the fleas are actively feeding. As she was discussing this, I mentioned something about flea season and she heard "flea seas..." Her mind immediately related this to flea feces, and she coined a new term...FLEACES. So in our clinic from now on we're going to call flea dirt fleaces. Anyone...
Pushing The Boundaries Of What We Can Do
Back in December, The News & Observer (based out of Raleigh, North Carolina) published an article describing bone marrow transplants in dogs. I found it interesting for many reasons. First, I hadn't heard of this being done in dogs. Second, it was being done at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, my alma mater. Here are a few quotes.Dr. Steven Suter of the N.C. State University College of Veterinary Medicine is scheduled to perform the surgery Feb. 2 in Raleigh. Suter started the canine bone marrow transplant program about two years ago with machines donated by the Mayo Clinic.Since then, 36 lymphoma-afflicted dogs have gone through the procedure. The survival rate for dogs that undergo traditional chemotherapy treatments for...
Training Techniques
Stefanie has written before and sent this to me...You may remember me as having a 14 year old Queensland Heeler/Australian Shepherd mix (Shadow) that had a squamous cell carcinoma on her left tonsil and soft palate. Just days ago I had to have her put down. While her spirit and mind were willing - she was having more frequent episodes of gagging on her tumor - so I made the most humane decision I could for her and rather than have her choke to death on it, I took her to the vet and had them euthanize her. Very difficult to say the least. The silence at my house is deafening. The pain of losing her - physical and emotional in a way I didn't expect.As I am not ready financially for another dog (not emotionally either - but do want to do something productive rather than wallow in the loss)...
Dressing dogs up... take 2
I've posted in the past about how much I dislike (nay, detest) the current trend of dressing our dogs up. Cesar Millan would have a cow if he saw a Rhodesian Ridgeback in a trendy famous-label sweatsuit. Cesar Millan, however, lives in Los Angeles, not a cold, Canadian city where winter gusts of -20 Celsius are commonplace. While there are 400 plus breeds of Canis lupus familiaris, the variation in breeds is astounding. A Jack Russell Terrier, weighing about 20-30 pounds, is a far cry from a 140 pound Alaskan Malamute. Take a look at both of 'em. Which one needs the coat? Over generations and generations, the former lost its size, its coat,...
Born To Be A Teacher
I received this email from Krissy today...First off I really enjoy reading your blog. I'm a first year vet student at UC Davis. I'm pursing small/equine track (leaning more towards equine) but want to keep my options open. I've tutored college chemistry in the past and really feel I have a passion for teaching. I was wondering how you got involved in teaching college biology and if you were still a practicing vet? Please direct me to your blog if you have already written about this, but I would find any information interesting because I've been considering teaching while also being a part time vet. (maybe a couple years after graduation after I have had the chance to be a full time vet and practice my skills in the field. I've also considered pursuing a PhD and teaching vetmed, but...
Work/Life Balance
Erin asks a great question...Hi, I have been interested in being a vet since I can remember but I just wanted to ask, how do you fit you family life/ love life around your work if you have to work so hard all the time till your about 30 before you've become a proper vet?If someone finds the ultimate answer to this they can make a living writing books and giving seminars. Honestly, this is something that is really hard to do. In my opinion it's about priorities and what you want at any given point in your life. Also remember that there are very few things you have a "right" to. I believe in a strong family and know that it's hard to be alone and not have a good love-life. However, you may have to sacrifice part of this to get what you want and shouldn't feel like...
The Cost Of Snow Days
Remember my rant about winter weather? Well, it looks like the weather reports were correct and some of the worry was a little justified. It's still nowhere close to what northern and mountainous parts of the country get, but in this area they're calling it "Snowpocalypse". It's the most snow in Georgia since the early 1990s, and many of the interstates have been completely shut down due to accidents and jackknifed big-rigs. Much of this is due to the ice rather than snow, as parts of the area received up to a quarter-inch of sleet and freezing rain. Even Wal-Mart closed early yesterday, which is pretty much unheard-of.This is more snow than my kids ever remember seeing, and it's been great to share it with them. My wife made snow cream, we had a snowball fight,...
Winter Weather Rant
Here in northern Georgia we are expecting a major winter storm to hit tonight and into tomorrow. There will be several inches of snow and up to a quarter inch of ice. For our part of the country this is a pretty big event. For those not familiar with US geography, our region doesn't get snow very often, so it doesn't take much winter weather to cause panic and shut things down. People in this area simply don't know how to handle snow and ice, so they freak out a little (or a lot) when it happens.Even though I've grown up in the South and have lived most of my life here, I simply don't understand the panic. I remember several years ago when 1/2 inch of snow shut down Raleigh, North Carolina and ended up in some children having to spend the night at their schools...
Microchips & Tumors
In 2007 a press report stated that there was a direct relationship between microchips and certain tumors in mice, rats, and dogs. Depending on the studies reviewed, tumors happened in anywhere from 1-10% of the animals who had chips implanted. This article has caused an uproar and concern in those who have read it. Now there are people who are extremely concerned that microchips will cause tumors in their pets.However, I haven't seen any good evidence that this is a true risk. Here are some quotes from the original article, which I think are overlooked in the discussion.Dr. Cheryl London, a veterinarian oncologist at Ohio State University, noted: "It's much easier to cause cancer in mice than it is in people. So it may be that what you're seeing in mice represents an exaggerated phenomenon...
Tattoo or Not Tattoo
"De plane, boss! De plane!"Sorry, I couldn't resist. And my younger readers probably have no clue what the heck that means.Yesterday I talked about microchips. In the discussion about identifying pets, tattooing usually comes up. In fact, many people are strong advocates of tattoos over microchips. Tattoos cannot fail, and short of cosmetic surgery to remove the skin, they can't be lost. However, I think they are less than ideal methods of identification, and I don't recommend them. Here are some reasons.1. In my experience few veterinarians have tattoo equipment. The tattoos normally used for livestock are the ones most commonly seen in veterinary offices, and even then usually only with large animal vets. So finding someone who...
Microchip Failures?
Recently I received a question from Cindi, who is part of a poodle flickr group. A discussion came up because several members of the group had found that the microchips implanted in their dogs could not be read. I won't copy the entire discussion here, but this is a basic summary: Several chips from different manufacturers in different pets and different geographical locations could not be read by multiple scanners. Within a veterinary practice 2-3 different scanners were used and none of them could find the chip. So obviously people are concerned about the microchips in their pets. And this is a good and valid topic for discussion!First, let me point you to a post I made in 2009 about the basics of microchips: read this and then come back. I...
Where Does Obligation End? Part 2
Back in November I started the most recent poll, asking if veterinarians had an obligation to provide treatment for a pet even if the owner couldn't afford it. The question was based on a situation with a client, and though it was one of the more extreme situations I've seen, it wasn't the first one on this subject. The results of the poll surprised me somewhat, as I didn't expect such a large percentage to say a vet has an obligation to treat.No--56%Yes--30%I'm Not Sure--12%I think that many people don't realize how much money it takes to run a veterinary practice. Most vets run on a slim profit margin, and it's not uncommon for veterinary clinics to go out of business. The most common reasons for such failure usually revolve around the vets not charging for services,...
