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Could a vet deliver a baby?

248 replies

Dogaredabomb · 08/01/2026 09:26

I'm just pondering the crossover of medical and surgical skills between vets and doctors. I think a vet could do a cesarean in a pinch because they learn about such a wide variety of species.

I'm not pregnant.

OP posts:
BashfulClam · 08/01/2026 11:21

Favouritefruits · 08/01/2026 09:29

Vets train for longer than Drs, I don’t know if it’s true but my Dad told me vets can practice on people but Drs can’t treat animals. My Dad cones up with loads of weird stuff though so I take everything with a pinch of salt.

My grans GP was a failed vet. I suppose vets have to learn about more than one species so need more training. My gran was appalled as she used to be a nurse and said the GP kept pigs and had filthy nails lol!

Emmz1510 · 08/01/2026 11:22

I would say yes. When I was at school I remember the required grades for getting to study vet medicine at uni were a bit higher than for ordinary medicine and you needed a lots of work experience to even be considered (eg working or volunteering at a stables, cat/dog or other animal shelter, zoo, farm etc….) and I don’t think that was the same for medicine.

Satisfiedwithanapple · 08/01/2026 11:22

My dad had some stitches in his leg that his vet mate did many years ago. It was easier than going to casualty.

godmum56 · 08/01/2026 11:24

Favouritefruits · 08/01/2026 09:29

Vets train for longer than Drs, I don’t know if it’s true but my Dad told me vets can practice on people but Drs can’t treat animals. My Dad cones up with loads of weird stuff though so I take everything with a pinch of salt.

this is kind of true...vets are allowed to treat people in the same way that any other person is allowed to treat people, ie in an emergency and to the limit of their knowledge or under guidance of a clinician. Doctors are not allowed to treat animals in the same way that a vet would.

DustyMaiden · 08/01/2026 11:25

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 08/01/2026 09:55

Don't they normally stick one of their arms all the way up a cow's arse to help manoeuvre the calf during the delivery?

I'm not sure that most women would particularly relish that when giving birth...

I think your biology is slightly off. 😀

Fgfgfg · 08/01/2026 11:26

Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingService · 08/01/2026 10:47

Is it the term 'arse' you object to? OK, then - their rectum. I don't think most midwives would move a baby pre or mid-delivery in the same 'forthright' way as vets do with cows!

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think any mammal gives birth through their rectum/arse.

Iheartmysmart · 08/01/2026 11:27

I wish a vet had done my c-section as I felt like shite afterwards. In contrast, my kitten was spayed last week and she was full of beans and tearing around like a mad thing within 24 hours.

I like to think I’m quite practical and good in an emergency so would give a bit of ad hoc surgery a go. Only on people though.

LancashireButterPie · 08/01/2026 11:27

loislovesstewie · 08/01/2026 10:18

I would love it if they said to me' who was a good girl then'. 😊

There was a thread about this very thing a few years ago. A male Dr said "Good girl" to the poster after a pelvic exam. 😳

Sponge321 · 08/01/2026 11:28

Probably not very legal but talking probably 80 years ago my Nans friend went to their vets to have a wound stitched once or twice as the nearest hospital was over an hour away.

Basic things like that are pretty much the same. I'd likely trust a vet more than a GP for anything surgical. Most human doctors are specialists eg my dad was a gastro so good with anything digestive system but you wouldn't want him doing your heart surgery.

Smoggy1 · 08/01/2026 11:29

I remember being told that in an emergency, a vet can treat a person, but a doctor can't treat an animal. Doctors only specialise in human anatomy, while vets specialise in the anatomy of lots of species.

Sunnywinterdays1 · 08/01/2026 11:30

Dogaredabomb · 08/01/2026 09:26

I'm just pondering the crossover of medical and surgical skills between vets and doctors. I think a vet could do a cesarean in a pinch because they learn about such a wide variety of species.

I'm not pregnant.

Ches I would think so. My husbands not a vet, he’s a farmer and I honestly trusted his judgement more than some midwives.

IDontHateRainbows · 08/01/2026 11:35

reversegear · 08/01/2026 09:30

I’d say yes, but then whenever I’m feeling sick or need surgery I always say I’d rather go to the vets, you can always get a same day appt.

It’s cleaner and nicer than my local NHS!

You can get a same day appointment with a private doctor too I'll bet.

Meredithwho · 08/01/2026 11:37

I’m a vet and think I could do most basic human surgeries in principle but you’d be wide awake and screaming as I’ve no idea about drugs and doses in humans!

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 08/01/2026 11:38

IsabellaGoodthing · 08/01/2026 10:00

We are primates. I don't think there's anything about being human that would mean we need treating differently.

We're bipedal and our babies take a tricky, convoluted route through a curved and very narrow birth canal. The process is much simpler for say, an orang-utan.

Eyeshadow · 08/01/2026 11:39

Yes of course!

Humans are mammals and with the exception of things like cows who have different stomachs, we have almost the exact same anatomy.

A vet near me was arrested as he was treating humans.
It was scans and minor injuries, not c-sections though!

No offence to anyone but I would say vets are more skilled than doctors.
They require much more training as their job is more complex and there is less specialism.

I don’t think vets get a great salary though for the training that they have to do.

Wowsersbrowsers · 08/01/2026 11:41

My vet friend was very confident she could do a c section if needed. Said she had very neat stitching.

nOlives · 08/01/2026 11:43

Yes a vet absolutely could deliver a baby or remove a bullet.
Obviously there is some crossover with medicines but not all dog/human medicines are interchangeable. For instance a dog antibiotic might kill the infection but also have unacceptable side effects on a human.

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 08/01/2026 11:44

Having watched most episodes of 'All Creatures Great and Small', particularly when James delivered a calf, I think providing the Vet can get the rope round the legs of the baby it should be pretty much a doddle.

ProfessorBinturong · 08/01/2026 11:45

Standard vet training is on typical farm animals, horses, cats and dogs, with just a few weeks on other things that will be brought into the practice - budgies, snakes, hamsters, fish etc. They will probably have spent no more than a few hours on marmosets and squirrel monkeys, and none on apes. One who goes on to specialise in exotics - especially zoo work - will know more, but even places like Monkey World and London zoo bring in doctors for specialist work like ophthalmology on primates.

However, a key skill for vets is adaptability, and being able.to apply what you do know to an unfamiliar species. And the vast majority of drugs are the same (they'll have the BNF and MIMS available for working out human dosage). So in an emergency they'd have a far better chance of a decent result than an average person.

The cuts for a c-section might not be ideally positioned, but there's a very decent chance you and the baby would both live. In a vaginal birth there are complications in humans that don't arise - or are extremely rare - in other animals, so a vet might need to go for a c-section in circumstances a trained midwife could manage non surgically.

Post-birth prolapses look quite different in farm animals, so you might not want a vet treating one of those.

Stitching and placing IV lines would be no problem at all. Less fur and thinner skin makes it much easier on humans.

Re cows arses, I think the confusion may be between prenatal examination - which is sometimes done through the rectum to feel the uterus from the 'outside', and actual delivery which is definitely vaginal (unless it's a c-section, which goes in through the side).

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 08/01/2026 11:46

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 08/01/2026 11:38

We're bipedal and our babies take a tricky, convoluted route through a curved and very narrow birth canal. The process is much simpler for say, an orang-utan.

Edited

NYCEP Blogging Consortium - How big brains and bipedalism made birth laborious

This article contains a sobering illustration of the size comparison between a human birth canal and those of other great apes. 😬

youarebeingsoextrarightnow · 08/01/2026 11:46

Vets train longer. They basically train as a doctor to treat patients that can't tell you what is wrong and multiple different anatomies.

I would probably trust a vet more than a doctor tbh.

TheNinkyNonkyIsATardis · 08/01/2026 11:47

My cat was very ill for six weeks, and sadly died when I was 7 months pregnant.

I got more useful and kind treatment from the vet than I did from the NHS at almost any point during my pregnancy.

She was hugely informative about me and my lovely cat.

Stressymadre · 08/01/2026 11:48

My sister is a vet and she is my go to for medical advice! She has also stitched up members of the family and once glued my finger back together when I cut it open on a glass!

Cyclingforcake · 08/01/2026 11:48

reversegear · 08/01/2026 09:30

I’d say yes, but then whenever I’m feeling sick or need surgery I always say I’d rather go to the vets, you can always get a same day appt.

It’s cleaner and nicer than my local NHS!

Vets don’t train longer than doctors. Both are a 5 year undergraduate degree. Doctors then go on to have 3-10 years of training with decreasing supervision levels as they progress. I’m not sure what the postgraduate training for vets looks like but I believe they can go into relatively independent practice quite quickly.

I know quite a few anaesthetists that have anaesthetised great apes (chimps, gorillas) because they are quite anatomically and physically similar to humans and that is better than a small animal vet with a generalised training and background.

EstoyRobandoSuCasa · 08/01/2026 11:49

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 08/01/2026 11:44

Having watched most episodes of 'All Creatures Great and Small', particularly when James delivered a calf, I think providing the Vet can get the rope round the legs of the baby it should be pretty much a doddle.

Having read the books, I get the impression that's (usually) relatively straightforward to help deliver a lamb, but a calf is probably for the professionals and a foal definitely is!