I'm a vet, AMA!

[KarlDilkington]

I am a co-director of quite a large practice with 7 small animal branches and a central hospital, plus farm, equine and exotic clients. I mainly do small animals but also do some farm and equine. Happy to answer any questions, but please don't expect me to diagnose anything or advise on treatment plans over the net

Thank you Karl for your reassuring answer upthread :)

Very welcome!

Wow my cat is much bigger than tiny cat and eats only one pouch a day max. Occasionally a few biscuits.

She too is busy eating the local wildlife!

Brilliant thanks so much

Great thread! Thank you

I have a dog who is mixed breed (not sure what, rescued and Mum was pregnant stray), he’s 15 months old and we are having a baby in September, anything we can do to help prepare him for the change? Neutered at 6 months under rescue centre terms and conditions.
Thanks :)

How do you know when it’s time to let a beloved pet go? We have a nearly 13 year old (in 2 weeks) lab who doesn’t (can’t) walk far any more but is happy in herself. I do think she has a touch of dementia (is that possible?) as she can’t work out the back door is open if she’s around the side of it! But to me she seems happy to see us every morning and can still walk around the garden, I fear letting her go on and on because we all love her so much, will I know when she’s had enough?? 😢

I’m thinking of getting a dog, I have a nearly one year old and nearly 4 year old, do you think I should wait until they are older and which breed would you recommend?

Do you find yourself making different decisions depending on whether the animal is a pet or a commercial animal i.e. child's pony versus a racehorse?

How are you finding time to answer all these questions?! Great thread! All the vets I know are too exhausted to do much after work!

I know a vet who left it late and qualified in her early 40s. She’s doing great and has no regrets (but is permanently exhausted!!)

Thank you for your answer Karl, I'm glad to hear that you don't see it often. It's an awful condition and it was terrible to watch her suffer it. She was an amazing dog. Rescuing her was one of the best things I ever did.

@KarlDilkington no, she just lives inside. Sorry I wasn't clear enough. Is it actually risky that she only eats that, no dry food, and little water?

@KarlDilkington ever seen Vet Ranch on Youtube?

@pebblespony - the owner and animal come as a unit, so the value of the animal to the owner and how much treatment the owner wants the animal to go through, or can afford, always come into your decision making; also, what the animal is needed for - so while @KarlDilkington is better placed to comment on horses, as I only work with small animals, in your example, a racehorse has to return to athletic function or stop being a racehorse, while a child's pony might get away with a slight lameness if it only has to amble round a field. So there always needs to be a discussion about how to deal with any individual case, except in the most straightforward situation, and in a strictly commercial animal, like most farm animals, money will always be the bottom line. A pet chicken may have hundreds of pounds spent on it (rarely!), or at least be brought to the vet as an individual; a commercial poultry farmer will only be using veterinary advice on a flock basis, because treating an individual bird would be totally uneconomic.

how do you deal with allergies?
a relative wanted to be a vet but during an internship discovered they reacted badly to the environment (previously only hayfever was known). I know that allergies can strike anytime.

and pregnancy? can you practice during pregnancy or do you deal with too risky substances?

When dealing with overweight pets do you judge the owner, especially if they too are overweight?

One of my cats is 7.1kg and has been advised to lose weight. She isn't so much fat as muscular and strong

Are you near Manchester and do you treat rats? :)

Thanks Karl.

@bluerunningshoes - a few vets have to change species or give up working in practice if allergies get too bad. These things do sometimes appear from nowhere.

Most vets just crack on with the anaesthetics during pregnancy, trying to avoid the anaesthetic gases as much as possible. Large animal vets need to take care with pregnant sheep. Cats are a theoretical danger for toxoplasmosis, but I don't know anyone who's behaved very differently around cats when pregnant - you need to avoid the faeces, which obviously we would anyway. My main problem was actually reaching the table to operate with my second pregnancy - I had to stop work at 31 weeks IIRC because I actually couldn't reach the table any more.

@Fatbelliedgirl - I don't judge owners at all if the pet is a bit overweight, though I do try to explain why and what to do about it. If the animal is absolutely morbidly obese I might be sterner with them, and feel sad about it, but I wouldn't judge them exactly. I notice if both owner and animal are very overweight, because I feel more embarrassed about discussing the pet's problem, though I do try anyway. Obviously I never comment on the owner's appearance in any way, or usually even notice it particularly, unless they have started showing me bits of themselves, as they sometimes do if they have a Nasty Rash or a bite wound.

I recently lost my dc to cancer. I have another cat same age but different litter. He seems to be doing ok in fact he's a better behaved cat now but feel like he needs company or someone to knock into shape!! He's nearly 14 is it a wise idea?

More sadly why is there such a high suicide rate amongst vets? Can nothing be done to help reduce vets stress levels? Sorry to ask that question if you don't want to answer that's ok.

Sorry, haven't read the thread. Lost my beautiful dog about 6 weeks ago and we are all missing her hugely. We need a dog in our lives and fancy a labradoodle but some of my friends are less than enthusiastic - are cross breeds a bad idea? ( and, thank you - if you are anything like my lovely vet, she made a terrible time bearable with her kindness, understanding and professionalism)

Why does my dog keep eating grass? Every time I let him out he eats grass, to the point he has spent the last hour barking to go out, when I let him out, he eats grass, I’m now sitting here putting up with the barking rather than let him eat more grass.

Its always been my dream to be a veterinary nurse for as long as Ive known. The one thing I find holding my back is that I can’t seem to control being over emotional when it comes to any animal in need.

30 years later, I still regularly have nightmares and wake up crying about dead animals Ive seen on roads, I also burst in to tears if I hear, think or see anything at all about any animal in a shelter or that has been abused or mistreated. I come from a country with endless amounts of street animals (Turkey) and I can’t even bear going back there to visit my family cause just walking on the street and seeing a dog covered in fleas with his ribs sticking out messes me up for my whole trip.

To sum up, a lot lot lot of tears, emberrasing amount for a grown woman and also really disheartening because in a professional environment I can’t see how I could ever do a good job if Im consumed by sadness all the time. The thought of witnessing a pet being put down because their owner can’t pay their medical bills scares me to death. And Im most certainly not rich enough to tale them all home (if it were even allowed!)

Please be honest, is there any hope for me at all that I can actually function at a vet nurse/tech? Have you ever employed/met anyone like that, vet or nurse, who were able to learn how to keep their feelings under control long enough to actually help the animals? If so, do you have any tips for how I can achieve that?

Thank you so much for answering all these questions, its given me a lot to think about.

I'm sorry if this has been asked, there are a lot of posts but what is the worst insurance company to deal with and also the best?

I'm sorry if this has been asked, there are a lot of posts but what is the worst insurance company to deal with and also the best?

In my opinion - worst = E&L and anything underwritten by them, best = Pet Plan