Dr Ferox's life as a veterinarian

Today’s post is once again brought to you by Dr Ugg.

Infectious diseases are all around us. But they’re a whole lot less of the medical battle than i first thought. When i went to uni i was naive and thought a lot of the stuff i’d learn would be about bugs and germs and things we treat with drugs. A lot of it is but less than i thought. There’s parasites, which are kinda different. There’s kennel cough and parvo and cat flu and a variety of other interesting things. But mostly we see the same bugs over and over, and we treat them the same because it works.
To prevent the spread of disease between infected animals, we have specific protocols. Contagious things go in isolation. What “isolation” is varies between clinics, but the outcome is the same. Absolutely as few bugs (viruses or bacteria) get out from the sick animal into the rest of the clinic. Not on our feet, our hands or our clothes. But thats not the isolation i was wanting to talk about.

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Lilly (c) Jiva @ www.flickr.com

I’m a Queen of Death at the moment.

I’m euthanising a lot of animals, and more than a few people are springing surprise euthanasias on me. It makes the week hard when you feel like all you’re doing is killing, not medicine.

I should first clarify what I mean by a ’surprise euthanasia’. Most people, as their pet approaches the end of its life, talk to the vet about their options. We’re told that “Fido isn’t doing very well,” or “I’m worried about Miffy’s heart condition” or you will have diagnosed a malignant cancer weeks ago, or will have been treating a dog’s arthritis for yonks and watched it slowly get worse. The “surprise euthanasias” are those that appear out of the blue- I walk into a consult to see a ’sick cat’ and fine myself looking at a dehydrated, emaciated creature who I’m told “just hasn’t been herself lately. Not all there, you know?” and I get that sinking feeling. The owners say words like “suffering” or “quality of life” or “I want what’s best for her” and I know that they don’t want diagnostics, just some closure and some peace.

I realise it’s part of the job, but there’s an entirely different mindset involved when it comes to euthanising an animal compared to treating it. When I walk into a consult room, reasonably happy at the start of the day, it becomes a very abrupt change of face. Compare it to other owners that either drop into the clinic for a fifteen minute chat, or make a half hour phone call, to discuss options and gradually get their mind around the idea that euthanasia is a valid choice at this point in their pet’s disease. [Read more →]

Client Quote #2

Vet: “And where you planning on getting your puppy speyed?”

Client: “I think you mean ’speyded’.”

Vet (Thinking): No, I don’t.