In the last two weeks I have not had a single person show up on time for an appointment. Every. Single. One. Late. Not even a little late. I’m talking 20-45 minutes late. Several of them mentioned they had places to be so I needed to be fast. One woman showed up a whopping two hours late and then complained she had to sit in the waiting room for 15 minutes. Show up early to your vet appointments guys and gals!

Ha I make them wait. I always talk to them face to face and let them know they missed their appointment and they can either wait an indefinite amount of time or reschedule. #respect

Word.

I have cried a sea of tears over my chemistry homework. I’ve spent countless weekends in the bone room, running my fingers over every crevice and bump, trying to commit every aspect to my memory. I’ve worked on hundreds of physics problems, trying to commit advanced theoretical formulas to memory. 

I have choked back nausea and sadness at the dissection table, lamenting that someone’s pet had to die, so that I could learn which muscle goes where and which nerve goes along with it. 

I have forgone sleep, have eradicated my social life, have turned my bed room into one big classroom, with flashcards and charts everywhere, to help me remember what I need to know. 

I spend every waking hour of every day educating myself in zoology, histology, embryology, chemistry, physics, anatomy, pathology, physiology, animal welfare, ethics, ecology, evolution, biology, botany, and even politics. 

I am one of thousands of aspiring veterinarians going down this road of education. I am following in the footsteps of thousands of current veterinarians who have spent decades studying all manners of science, from the basic structure of an atom all the way to topographical anatomy. 

We are mocked as lesser doctors than human doctors, though we spend the same amount of time in school and have more than one species to memorize. We are treated as puppy huggers and animal rights nut jobs. We either have crushing student loans or live in a country with free education that pays veterinarians minimum wage. 

So, tell me again, how your vet is trying to sell you cancer pills for your dog. Tell me again how your vet spent 8+ years of financial misery and living on the edge of a burn out to spend their day arguing over whether your dog’s life is worth the 40 bucks for a parvo vaccination as part of some elaborate Nigerian Prince long-con. 

Tell me again how HolisticMamaBear.com has made more sacrifices than any of us. Tell me again how someone who has never even opened a single, solitary educational textbook for the sake of educating themselves about their passion, somehow knows more than the thousands of people who dedicated their entire lives to this. 

What sacrifices has your mango fruit juice peddling health guru made that makes you believe he has your best interest at heart? What sacrifices has your suburban middle class housewife with a google machine that somehow has Snopes.com blacklisted made that makes you believe she cares more about you and not at all about how Internet controversiality feeds her ego? 

Fear is a horrible thing to live with. We all fear what we don’t know. But you don’t combat fear by clinging to the next best argument that seems to validate your pre-conceived notions and use it as an opiate pacifier. You combat it by tackling the issue head on, confronting the fact that you may be wrong, and setting aside your own personal prejudices for the sake of truth and knowledge. 

I don’t fault people for not knowing the truth. But I do fault them for hiding in their echo chamber of comfort, rather than facing the truth once it’s presented to them. 

Love this

Up Close And Personal With Hummingbirds by Tracy Johnson

Bird whisperer Tracy Johnson nests out in her backyard in Livermore, California engaging with her feathered flock of friends, hummingbirds. Her encounters with the tiny and vibrant birds which are elusive to the common eye have become her regular visitors, where she has named many of them. Her passion has led  to dedicate a significant portion of each day using handheld hummingbird feeders to lure the little creatures in for a vivid close-up.

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This is amazing!!

GUESS WHAT?! Just got the update from the breeder: Pups have been born! Three males and four females. All healthy, stunning higher-content wolfdog pups. Now the real wait begins. I cannot bring my new woofer home until about three to four weeks of age (wolfdogs mature faster than typical domestic breeds, and their socialization period starts just shortly after their eyes open). It’s going to feel like forever! 

I look at this and feel so depressed because of all the wolfdogs in my local shelter that were left there because people thought it was cool to capture and breed a wild animal as a pet. I bring them treats whenever I can in hopes that when I go back, they won’t be there. Meanwhile there are people breeding more and more for money. You can slap a $5000 dollar price tag on a wolfdog, that makes me sad :( Adopt, don’t Shop. 

I’m curious to know which local shelter you’re speaking of here. Wolfdogs are actually incredibly rare to find in any shelter because 1) it’s a huge liability for anyone outside of privately-run rescue organizations to adopt them out to the general public on account of concerns with rabies vaccinations; 2) even most privately-run rescues are incapable of providing proper wolfdog-proof containment; and 3) there really aren’t many wolfdogs to begin with - certainly not as many as you seem to think there are.  In truth, an estimated 75% of all claimed “wolfdogs” in the USA have no wolf in them whatsoever, but are, instead, simply shepherd, husky, and malamute mixes who’ve had the “wolfdog” label slapped on them by uneducated owners and unethical breeders alike. Unethical breeders, in particular, mislabel their animals so they can sell them for more money, while owners enjoy the notion of having a piece of the wild in their living room. Others still mean well, but simply don’t know any better, and are under the false impression that things like CKC paperwork or a DNA test can “prove” that their husky mix is “75% wolf” when this is actually not the case.  The point is: I highly doubt that the animals at your local shelter are actually wolfdogs; I can almost guarantee you they are just mixed-breed domestic dogs.  Also, it’s worth pointing out that literally no one is taking wolves out of the wild for the purpose of breeding wolfdogs. That notion is entirely false. Wolfdogs in the USA can trace their origins back to fur farms that went out of business in the 50s and 60s. Even these wolves were, themselves, captive-raised to begin with. On to the next point: The notion of “adopt, don’t shop” really doesn’t help reduce the number of animals in shelters in the way you think it might; this is especially true when it comes to animals with wolf content. To preface, I am actually a wolfdog rescuer; I run a private nonprofit organization specifically for these animals. I also support responsible wolfdog breeders and owners alike. Why? Because responsible breeders are a huge asset to my work as a rescuer. They have what’s called “take back contracts” that buyers are legally-bound to uphold when they purchase a puppy. These take-back contracts stipulate that if, for any reason, the owner cannot handle the animal, or becomes sick, or can no longer afford its care, etc., that the animal will be returned only and directly to the person who bred it in the first place until another owner can be found. If another owner cannot be found, the breeder will provide the animal with all the care it requires for the remainder of its life - whether that’s one year or fifteen. Either way, it means one less animal for me to rescue.  Occasionally, owners will not uphold take-back contracts, and may try to sell the animal off to another party instead. The wolfdog community is very close-nit, and it’s incredibly rare for any animal with legitimate content to “fall off the radar” so to speak, so tracing the origins of a wolfdog is actually incredibly easy. Even so, responsible breeders will sometimes have their animals micro-chipped or even tattooed, so that if that pup does wind up in rescue, we can contact the breeder it originally came from immediately. You’d be amazed by how accommodating these breeders can be. Just last week, I drove nearly halfway across the USA to meet with a breeder who was adamant about assisting us in rescuing one of her pups. She even paid for a portion of my gas money to get there. The pup’s new owner (who was found for us by the breeder) paid for the rest.  The point is: responsible breeders are NOT the problem, and If you want to see a decrease in the number of wolfdogs in the USA, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Instead, start first by educating yourself properly about these animals. Then turn your attention to the unethical backyard breeders who keep selling husky/malamute mixes as “wolfdogs”, and to the irresponsible owners who perpetuate the cycle of wolfdog misrepresentation by calling their dogs something they are not.  You can read more about misrepresentation and why it matters HERE. And, of course, if you have any further questions or concerns, do not hesitate to ask. 

Though it is true that wolfdogs are globally rare, Wolfdogs are actually incredibly common in rural communities with large sled dog populations, such as northern parts of North America. I personally worked at a shelter where wolf dogs were bred with greyhounds and huskies to create racing sled dogs. There was a sizable sled dog racing community which involved gambling, and a lot of unregistered rural dog breeders would have 20-40 dogs. Similar to areas with underground pit bull fighting rings who have shelters with more pits than other breeds, our shelter was full of sled dog mixed breeds, and a percentage of those were Wolfdogs. Also, we were required by the city to euthanize any suspected wolf mixes because they were seen as a safety risk. Fwiw. TLDR: there are pockets of the globe with much higher rates of homeless Wolfdogs and low wolf content mutts. Specifically, ones with backyard racing sled dog culture. Love from a veterinarian!

I do not support breeding wolf hybrids. I have seen a few come through the hospital and each one was so aggressive we could not touch them without very heavy doses of sedation. Their owners also couldn't handle them and would flinch at their movements. I think 99% of people cannot provide the basic needs, environmental and social, for these dogs.

Beside all that, it is very true that by law, rabies vaccine are not valid in any state in this country. So if your hybrid bit someone, either they need to be quarantined for 6 months or euthanized and submitted for testing. It's just not fair to them to take that risk in my opinion.

so: i am definitely, absolutely not happy in vet school, but i hear through the grapevine that being in vet school is not the same as being a veterinarian. 

on this beautiful warm night i wish you all the strength to handle what needs to be handled this week. 

Oh I hated lots of days in vet school. It's really tough and it messes with your emotions a lot. Don't worry, clinics are better! Hang in there

kind of a weird question, but any vet students / grad students out there struggling with insecurity about weight gain (due to long long long hours sitting in class and a lot less time to do physical activity)? i’ve gained about 10-15lbs since starting vet school (i’m a second year). i’ve always tried to be positive about body image, but it’s definitely been a huge lifestyle change and especially in winter time i feel very gross and unhealthy. 

I have gained 25 pounds in the past 4 years of being in vet school. I'm struggling a lot with body image right now. I feel awful about the way I look every day. I want to start exercising and eating better but I'm exhausted all the time from clinics and I stress eat.

I know your pain, you're not alone

Many veterinary students will tell you they’ve wanted to be a veterinarian since they were small children. Whatever persuaded them—a beloved pet, involvement in FFA or 4-H, or time spent shadowing a veterinarian—this profession has no lack of passion. Passion for the profession is what allows these students to look past the sacrifices and strenuous academic requirements necessary to pursue a veterinary degree. The question we face now is whether those individuals know the true cost of these financial sacrifices. It’s easy to look at a single summary dollar figure. But a dollar figure on paper doesn’t capture what it means for you, your family or your day-to-day life. To that end, let’s explore the similarities and differences between expenditure patterns of early-career veterinary households and the average U.S. family between the 70th and 80th percentiles of income using data collected from the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Personal Financial Planning (PFP) tool and from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).1 (Read More)

Lol a student loan debt of $10,000? Try $250,000!! These numbers are way off

Positive Veterinary Things

There are copious volumes of negative things in the veterinary profession. Convenience euthanasias, being limited by money, being accused of not caring when all you want to do is help… no wonder our mental health is so poor and our suicide rate is so high.

But we’re still here for a reason. There are moments of light in the darkness, even though some days they are few and far between. Remember them. Hold onto them for the bad days.

Borrow my list if you need to. Good karma for you if you add your own.

…

^ oh yes, the Vestibular one. Happens a lot, actually.

Putting hypothyroid dogs on medication and watching them look 5 years younger.

That little ear twitch kittens do when they swallow milk.

Keep it up guys!

Thank you for this post! I just lost a colleague to suicide this week. I needed some happy things to focus on instead of darkness.