Could a vet deliver a baby?

[Dogaredabomb]

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.

That's so interesting that human doctors are brought in to deal with zoo animals! Only primates?

I wouldn't choose a vet to take my temperature.

I should think if you were pregnant and stuck in a lift with two people, and your waters broke, and one fellow passenger was a vet and the other one was, say, a salesperson, the vet would likely be more use!

Yeah, one of my relatives claims to have delivered his own son, as he and his wife were snowed in. The midwife did eventually get through, but had clearly been at the brandy.

No disrespect to my relative, but I'm sure his wife delivered their son and he just supported him as he emerged. Let's give mums their credit, and not just the dads for doing the ta-da! bit at the end.

In my experience, pets are prescribed human antibiotics in smaller doses, for 5 times the price it would be sold for in Boots.

Didn't Paddy deliver Lisa's baby in Emmerdale?

Probably. They would also be better than a doctor to have on your team in a zombie apocalypse in some respects as well because they’re used to dodging bites. My BIL is a vet and he’s definitely on my zombie fighting team if the undead ever do rise.

As an aside, does anyone remember a drama series a loooooong time ago that was based around a zoo vet?! I'm having flashbacks to it from this chat but cannot for the life of me remember what it was called or any particular detail from it!

Im a MW. Usually, babies deliver themselves, we just catch them.

Do you mean this? I remember it from the 1980s

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_by_One_(TV_series)

Mind you, I have watched some of those vet programmes on tv and their stitching skills leave a lot to be desired, you wouldnt want them near your bikini line.

Intro &theme music here @Faceonthewrongfoot

I'm far from knowledgeable in bovine anatomy but I'm assuming even cows dont birth their young through their arsehole?
I'm assuming they come from the vagina like ours do?

I was trying to make a joke.

Oh yes, I think it must have been that, thank you, that's around the right age!

If you've read the 'All Creatures Great & Small" books, James Herriot seems to spend half his life pushing cows' displaced uteri back in after they've given birth, so there is no doubt at all about this😆

It was a classic sitting round the telly in the living room on Sunday night watching with your parents series, brings back memories of drying my hair in front of the gas fire because Sunday was hair washing night.

Yes, exactly this! We had a log fire, but otherwise exactly the same 😁

Your dentist upsells Botox?!?!

Interesting question!

I used to work with a chap who'd been a vet and then qualified as a doctor. Interestingly, he was the one doctor I've ever known who wasn't a complete git, so make of that what you will 😁

Yes of course.

I seem to remember a question about would you rather have a doctor or a vet on a desert island, and the answer seemed to be a vet as people are just another animal to a vet.

Yes they could. Well, my grandfather was a vet and delivered a few babies as he was often nearer at hand than a midwife in Slovakia in the early/mid 20th century! He mostly worked with farm animals, so would have helped deliver lambs and calves frequently, so the skills probably aligned.

Not really. People have fleeting thoughts like this fairly regularly. I found that those who say it's strange or unusual tend to either not be particularly intelligent, or creative....usually!

I’m not sure that’s true actually…

There would be loads of cross over. I’ve been deployed with the armed forces and the A&E consultant had to treat the military working dog. I’ve seen pictures of a sedated dog receiving dental treatment from the dentist too!