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

What would you do if an animal had clearly reached the end of the road but the owner was desperate to keep it alive? My sister couldn’t accept that our childhood cats had reached the end of their lives with kidney disease at age 18-20 and the vet seemingly facilitated her obsession by offering increasing amounts of meds, regular admissions for drips and even teaching her to do sub-q injections of fluids at home. Why did the vet continue to offer treatment past the point of any quality of life benefit?

Would you ever put an elderly animal to sleep if the owners just didn’t want it anymore?
I had a colleague who had a 14 year old cat and was moving abroad so had it PTS

Yes definitely. There are so many animals and so few homes, it's not easy to just rehome a 14 year old cat. Plus they will find it stressful. A peaceful death at the end of a happy life is not something to be sniffed at, when you think about it.

My DD (almost 13) also has wanted to be a vet for as long as I can remember.
Is it true that it is harder to become a vet than it is to become a doctor; and how long did it take you?

@bearsandhearts

of course

And sorry, second question - do you ever come across people who career change to become a vet in their late 30s / early 40s? I always regret being disuaded from applying for vet med by my parents.

Whoops, sorry
Dog, Spaniel (springer x working cocker) currently 7 months x

Do you think there are 'dog people' and 'cat people' ( I do) and if so what are the differences?

Do you know why my male cat might be humping things all the time (blankets etc). He was neutered at 3 months old and he’s now 11. I assumed the neutering would take away those urges in an animal?

That's unusual. Usually it's the cats neutered later in life that still hump. I would suggest he's either stressed, bored, attention seeking or trying to be dominant.

thank you @gertrudecb

Thank you for this thread. Really interesting!

What is the relationship like between Clinical Animal Behaviourists and Vets? Is there anything, from a vet's perspective, that makes someone a great behaviourist?

What are your thoughts about raw food diets?

I've heard that annual vaccinations can be dangerous to animals or completely unnecessary, is this true?

It just seems to be the latest thing. I reccommend annual vaccinations and will always do so unless I get hard evidence to persuade me otherwise. Much better than the animal dying of distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, parainfluenza or leptospirosis - all of which I've seen them die of.

Also, are some dogs just not keen on other animals? I have a year old chihuahua and he's is terrified of all other animals, I took him to the puppy parties and tried behaviours classes but couldn't do anything with him because he was so busy running away from the other dogs! Walks see him scaling my shoulder if another dog takes an interest in him.

Yeah especially when they're small. It'd be like us meeting a giant and not being scared just because they're also humans.

Why is an operation on an animal sometimes more than on a person

Do you mean in cost? Which operations are?

Thank you Karl! Good to know re lone canines and very helpful to learn. Thanks again for this helpful thread.

Do you think dog owners should be given more information as to how to handle arthritis in their dogs so that they can live longer, eg activities in the later years that don't put too much stress on the joints, making changes to the home to reduce joint pain etc

The emphasis needs to be made from the first vaccination as a puppy. Over working the dog as a juvenile is the leading cause of arthritis later in life. Don't over exercise when they are growing. Just because a dog can run along you bike for miles every day, doesn't mean they should. Stuff like that.

What would you do if an animal had clearly reached the end of the road but the owner was desperate to keep it alive? My sister couldn’t accept that our childhood cats had reached the end of their lives with kidney disease at age 18-20 and the vet seemingly facilitated her obsession by offering increasing amounts of meds, regular admissions for drips and even teaching her to do sub-q injections of fluids at home. Why did the vet continue to offer treatment past the point of any quality of life benefit?

Did it have quality of life though? If it wasn't in pain and the owner was happy to pay for all of the above then it could be facilitated. If the cat was in pain or stressed by it all then it should be stopped.

My DD (almost 13) also has wanted to be a vet for as long as I can remember.
Is it true that it is harder to become a vet than it is to become a doctor; and how long did it take you?

The grades you need are pretty much the same but I think you need more experience to be accepted onto a vet course. To have worked with animals beforehand. I think there are less places in the uk on vet med courses too? But not totally sure on that. I did a 6 year course at Cambridge.

do you ever come across people who career change to become a vet in their late 30s / early 40s? I always regret being disuaded from applying for vet med by my parents.

We have one who was a lawyer until mid thirties then did a vet med degree. She's excellent. Not met any others though, but plenty of nurses.

Why do so many vets give really bad behavioural advice for dogs?

What does a NQ vet earn. Likewise you sound quite senior, what is your annual salary? Interested as my daughter wants to be a vet.

I hear people on here saying a the time that the dominance theory isnt true. What do you think?

Thought I’d hop on as I’m a vet and agree with lots of what karl has said ... but have some different opinions too

Cats are my favourite to treat. I find that 9 times out of 10 a soft and quiet minimal restraint approach works perfectly for a compliant patient! And the cat ward is so quiet and peaceful compared to the noisy yappy dog ward!

I do mostly enjoy being a veg but wouldn’t encourage my dd to do it. If you want to make money dentists and doctors far out earn us vets.

I spend 20% of my life on call.

Vets have something like the 3rd highest suicide rate of professions in the U.K. although recently there has definitely been more focus on mental health.

Huge numbers of vet graduates change careers totally within 5 years of graduating

But I don’t think I’d be much good at anything else and most days I do enjoy work on the whole

My 9 year old Westie had cruciate ligament surgery on Monday and has made a rapid recovery. He is refusing to go in a crate, is it okay for him to walk around in the house and garden?

You’d need to ask your surgeon mindfullness as there are several different techniques that could have been used.

I work in the surgical field (humans!) would love to come and be a vet scrub nurse though

Anyway my question is..I once had a vet tell me that the most aggressive animals waking up from anaesthesia were Black and Tan dogs. Is this true do you find?

Also do you get trained to administer anaesthetic and look after the airway or are you more the surgical side? At when in your career is this decided?

Do you ever feel emotional when putting an animal to sleep?