#which means ive been adding to the queue for 4 hours now

[yourfaveneedsakiss]

THIS ISNT A REQUEST BUT UR GENUINELY ONE OF MY FAV TUMBLR BLOGS EVER PLEASE NEVER SAY YOU'RE GOING ON HIATUS THEN LEAVE FOR THREE YEARS AND COME BACK SAYING YOU NOW HAVE A WIFE AND THREE KIDS /silly

YAY YIPPEEEEE!!! I shall NOT go on hiatus for 3 years and come back saying I have a wife and three kids. 🫡

[drferox]

20 Questions with Dr Ferox #8

My gosh, there’s just so much stuff you vetlings want to know, isn’t there? Well, knowledge is good, so here we go with yet another info dump as I try to answer a big slew of your questions in one hit.

Anonymous said: I sometimes get your patreon emails or an update on your blog while I'm studying/struggling in the wee-hours of the morning (vetmed). I'm in WA, so where-ever you are it's also late/early. What are you doing up in the witching hours?

First of all, I am an AdultTM and as such I am permitted to set by own Bed Time. There are many reasons why you might receive notifications from me so ‘early’.

I have a blog post on queue every morning between 5am and 6am my time (so probably 3am and 4am your time). It goes up automatically, so I can see initial responses before I go to work.

I think Patreon sends its emails at the same time each day, regardless of when I post. I certainly don’t type there early in the morning.

Sometimes I’m on nightshift and can get kinda bored at 3am sometimes.

Sometimes I just can’t sleep, especially with the changing day/night cycles.

Most of the blog runs on queue, honestly. At least three posts a day do.

@banesidhe said: Just happened to discover your blog. Thank you so much for posting like you do (even the snark. I'm a 911 dispatcher, I appreciate the snark ;) ), and sharing your experiences. No vet question, but if you could only ever re/read five books for the rest of your life, which five titles would make your cut?

Ah, I have found many similar people to myself among emergency personnel. There’s a particular combination of gallows humor and wishing people would get to the point that unites us.

For fiction books:

Feral, Kerry Greenwood

The Shepherd’s Crown, Terry Pratchett

Monstrous Regiment, Terry Pratchett

Watership Down, Richard Adam

Good Omens, Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Hmm, bit of a trend there.

But the work books I couldn’t live without are:

Plumb’s Veterinary Drug Handbook

The 5 minute veterinary consult, Dog and Cat Edition

Ettinger’s Textbook of Internal Medicine, Expert Consult

BSAVA Rabbit Medicine & Surgery Handbook

Small Animal Surgery, Fossum.

Anonymous asked: what was the most exotic/rare patient youve ever had?

This fat meerkat.

Anonymous said: My dog is a shelter dog and we suspect she was abused before we got her (afraid of E V E R Y T H I N G) and weve been slowly working on getting her to at least ignore people we walk past or that enter the house and thats been making progress. But she hates the vet. Hates it. Gets in my lap and refuses to leave. New dogs people and smells. So her normal vet takes the approach of having one of us hold/console her while they do all the poking and listening and whatnot and muzzling her if they need to and just getting it done as quickly as possible. But this last time she saw a new vet and this vet took the approach of hand-feeding her almost an entire bag of treats and called it "stress-eating" and tbh you should have seen the look on my dogs face. She was so weirded out. Shes highly food motivated so it was like heaven to her but she was simultaneously very suspicious. Her face was like"i love this but idk if i trust it" it was great.Have a greatday!

If you an reinforce the behaviour by arranging frequent, short visits to the vet clinic where nothing happens but lots of treats, she may start to associate the vet clinic with positive things (food) ad no scary things. This might make the rest ofher life easier.

Anonymous said: I own fancy rats and just want to put out there to people, that while they are THE MOST amazing tiny friends, in my experience most vets are completely lost when it comes to their care & several I've seen refused to even touch my exceptionally friendly females. They often get respiratory infections requiring antibiotics. One of my friend's females passed away bc nobody would perform a simple surgery on her. So please be cautious when buying them. 

I would like to suggest that any surgery on a rat is likely to be not simple, because they do have particular anesthetic requirements that can make their recovery difficult. Also that a lot of traditional rat medicine hinges on using post mortem examination as a diagnostic tool, which is not useful at all with pet rats.

In dog and cat medicine most of our equipment and even medications are not suitable for rats, or very difficult to adapt. We simply have fewer options, and generally less experience with these species Most vets I know will attempt to treat them, but with a great big disclaimer saying I don’t do this often, and a quick question as to whether you’d prefer to go to a nearby clinic that does see rats more often.

Anonymous said: Hello, I recently took in 3 abandoned kittens and they're covered in fleas. They appear to be 6 weeks old and can't use meds or wash for them. I clean them with vinegar and dish soap and I was wondering if you knew of any other ways to help them since they hate getting wet. I also use a comb but they dislike that as well.

You can use capstar on kittens from 4 weeks of age, and Revolution from 6, probably earlier. Talk to your vet.

Anonymous asked: Strange question but do you know if that rage syndrome thing can happen in cats also? I know a cat who does that and also acts strangely in general at the same time?

It is not documented in cats, however Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome may present in a similar way.

Anonymous said: Hey doc! I plan on getting my cat fixed soon and I'm worried about how it'll affect her. She's really skittish and prefers to stay in one room, could getting her fixed make it worse?? I guess like what are the possible behavioral effects is what I'm askin? For the qt: ive been here a while i just dont like or reblog stuff but i came for the vet knowledge and stayed for it too, especially the mythical creatures and dog breed info

She is probably not going to have any long term personality changes from being desexed, though might be out of sorts for a few days after the anaesthetic. If anything they tend to be less stressed because they’re not attracting Toms.

Another Anonymous said: My kitten was neutered yesterday and he's doing great, healing well, playing nonstop, remarkably agile despite the e-collar (navigating small spaces, jumping to high places), eating & drinking well. The vet didn't give us any aftercare instructions but I googled it -- and wish I'd done so before the surgery because I could've prepared better. A lot of it seemed obvious in hindsight but nothing I'd have thought of on my own. Do you have a flier or anything for your patients' humans? 

We send our patients home with aftercare instructions. We have a default one that we print for routine surgery like desexing, and a customized one for non-routine procedures.

We also read it out to our clients when they pick up their pet, and point out that all these instructions are written down, because it’s easy to forget details when you’re worried.

Anonymous asked: I have a question! I saw your desexing cats post and thought I might send it to you. I neutered my male cat but he still sprays and tries to roam the neighborhood. I try to keep him inside best I can. Is there a reason this happens?

It may be stress, but you should consult your vet to rule out any underlying urinary tract issue before assuming so. Your vet should be able to discus the various stress reducing techniques, changes and treatments that are available.

Anonymous asked: Whenever my roommate wakes up before me, she makes bacon for breakfast while the coffee is brewing. If she hasn't slept well, her coherence is sometimes a bit... lacking. If our cat happens to demand food, about half the time she ends up giving him a slice of bacon instead of cat food. We only recently figured out that she's been doing this. He's not getting fat, and gets actual cat food later, so is this OK, or do we need to try to figure out how to keep this from happening?

While bacon is certainly digestible, it is not a balanced diet. It would be ideal if you could minimize his bacon habit.

@nowgovanish said: Hello! I have a question about my 13 and 4 year old cats. They seem to have some pretty bad skin reactions to certain foods, and I've tried a lot of different food brands that my vet reccommended. The one that seems to work best is a grain free/ non chicken variant, but I see that you aren't a huge fan of grain free. Is there anything I should change or try sticking with what works?

I have said many times before that if it’s working, keep feeding it.

Novel protein diets, and ideally single proteins source diets, are more use for allergies than just going ‘grain free’.

‘Grain Free’ labelling on food particularly vexes me because it’s not regulated. You can find ‘grain free’ food that really mean ‘corn free’ and either use grain byproducts or straight up use rice. Last time I checked, rice was a grain.

It’s like ‘Hollistic’ - it means nothing on a pet food label. Neither does ‘Organic’, pet food companies do not have to use all organic products in pet food to label the food as organic. These are marketing ploys like ‘all natural’ which are targeting your emotions and don’t mean anything when it comes to the food.

If you’ve come across a novel protein diet, or a minimum ingredient diet, that is beneficial for your cats then stick with it. But recognise what’s marketing and what’s useful.

Anonymous said: I love my dog but he is a complete and total moron. He has strangled himself so often that his bark is now raspy. He even found a way to do it with a harness! We've resorted to jogging when walking him to try and keep up but is there some way to make it better? We've tried letting him learn on his own, pausing when he pulls, and getting a longer leash. If he was much smarter I'd accuse him of being into asphyxiation.

I would suggest that you potentially need to figure out what motivates your dog most. Consider using positive reinforcement to encourage him to heel on the lead, instead of wandering and pulling.

You might also want to consider something like a halti collar, which pulls the dog’s nose downwards to their chest when they pull, instead of something that goes around the neck.

Anonymous: Would you consider it a good generalization that dogs more closely resembling/related to wolves (like huskies) have less health problems? I am aware that no dogs are completely lacking in health problems.  Tax: came for good hard factual analysis.

No. And here’s the thing- all modern dog breeds are equally distant from their wolf-like ancestor, unless they have been recently mixed with wolves again.

Their health problems are different to those dogs with more extreme anatomy, but dogs that look like wolves are not inherently healthier.

@justslowdown said: a book i have discusses the man who created the GSD breed (aka isolated traits from a diverse population) pairing dogs with their daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters and onwards til more than 1/2 of the pups had to be culled. due you think this could be partially responsible for the health issues remaining more than a century later? "Very drastic inbreeding was espoused during the formation of the breed [...] to quickly form specific type" - The German Shepherd Dog by Ernest H Hart

Certainly.

This is called line breeding, where the offspring of a ‘perfect’ individual are repeatedly bred back to the same individual generation upon generation to try to recreate it. All you really do is lose genetic diversity very quickly and allow recessive deleterious genes to proliferate in the population.

This is why just about everywhere else that’s not the purebred pet world, this is considered a bad thing to do.

@eyestumblin said: Do you think horses would look significantly different if their wonky anatomy were more logical?

They would no longer be a horse.

@cirque-du-spoon said: I saw you mention sheep on the horse thread and I spent a fair bit of time on a sheep farm in Wales. The head shepherd once told me "sheep are born, they spend the rest of their life trying to die". Then he opened his landrover door, and the passenger footwell was maybe 6 lambs snuggled up to one of his old motherly collies.

The common phrase down here was “The aim in life of a Merino ewe is to die and take fifty of her friends with her.” It’s not really much of an exaggeration.

Anonymous said: I'm intrigued to hear the faults of sheep, lay it on me!

Oh I will. It’s on my list for a big write up.

@queenalia said: Hi! I love the post about why horses make no sense, and I was wondering if you would do a similar one for sheep (one of the most suicidal animals on earth in my opinion)?

It will definitely be done sometime in the next few weeks. As you understand, it’s not  quick answer.

@vulturegeorge said: Hey Dr.F, after reeding your "horses-are-spindily-legged-disasters" post and your comment about how sheep are worse, I was wondering if you wished to elaborate? I am currently working on a heard of 50 random sheep my uni bought with a ton of lung issues ... so it'd be super interesting to me. Question tax: came for the Lucifer story, stayed for all of your amazing advice & opinions. I hope you are finding balance between vetting and living. cheers!

I promise I will elaborate. I can’t leave a cliff hanger like that and not explain... eventually.

[kerrylifeandloves]

  Sometimes, you visit a place that weaves its way under your skin. Something that you see or experience leaves such a lasting impression on you, that it somehow puts a kink in your DNA. It moves you, teaches you, and you know that there will always be a file labeled xyz in your brain. Well a visit to the Jewish Quarter in Prague did this to me. It broke me down a little, then put me back together, but slightly differently than I was. Iv spoken before about how I feel travel helped shape the person that I am today in this post, Why I Feel Travel Can Be The Key To Growth and Wellbeing. This trip to Prague has just placed another layer. Let me tell you all the wonderful things Prague has to offer, and why Prague is the city that changed me a little.

Prague has so much to offer, and depending on the time of year you go, you can find the city not as crowded as you may expect. I spoke to you about the basics of our trip in this post, Your Guide To Prague in The Autumn – The practical stuff, so in this post I will be letting you know about the things you can do to make the most of a visit to this gorgeous city. Bursting with history and culture, everyday was a school day for us. Im not going to give you our full itinerary, but I will share with you the things I think are a must do in Prague.

The Jewish Quarter;

The Synagogue’s

I had read up on the Jewish Quarter before arriving in Prague, so I knew that it was an area had a torrid history. In the 13th century, Jewish people were made to leave their homes, and made to all settle and live in one area. Over the years, Jews expelled from various other countries were made to live in this area, as they were banned from living anywhere else in Prague. During Hitler’s occupation, he wanted the area preserved as a kind of “museum of an extinct race”. The Jewish Quarter has six synagogue’s and these (except the Old-New Synagogue, which requires an additional ticket) form part of the walking tour or entrance only tickets that you can pay to do. We chose to do the entrance only tickets, which cost £12 each, as we wanted to go around at our own pace. You can read more about the options, walking tours etc here. You can also do walking tours which are free, and you just pay a tip to the guide. We didnt do one ourself, but saw lots of them going around. Lots of options of the free tours throughout Prague can be found here.

We went into 4 of the six synagogue’s, and the Pinkas synagogue, built in the 1500’s, was my undoing. As soon as you walk in, the walls are covered, a floor to ceiling memorial, with names. These names, all 80,000 of them, were the names of the Jewish victims from the area, killed in Nazi occupation. That in itself was a shocking visual representation, but up on the first floor was where I lost all my composure. The upstairs concentrates on the fate of the Jewish children. There were photos of some of the children that were kept under house arrest in the area, before being taken off to the camps, and drawings that they had created. In an effort to try to keep a little bit of normality and fun for the children (that were not allowed out during the day, could only go out for one hour of a night time and were all expelled from school) the children were encouraged to draw. The drawings spoke a thousand words. Drawings of children being torn from parents. Drawings of children praying at the gates of freedom. Drawings of children crying with arms outstretched. It was harrowing. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling as I went from picture to picture, feeling like I owed these innocents my attention to their work. My heart was breaking for these lost souls, but I felt strongly that I owed it to them to learn their story. I felt devastated, but also in awe of the jewish people’s resilience and determination to never be made to not feel proud of their heritage. If you are on a cultural visit to Prague, I urge you to include the Jewish Quarter in your itinerary.

The Old Jewish Cemetery;

As one of the oldest Jewish burial grounds in the world, this too is a must see. The final resting place of up to 12,000 jewish people, the graves were sometimes 10 people deep as space was so very limited. Used as a burial ground between 1439 and 1800, it was the only place that Jewish people were allowed to be buried. Although its subject is obviously not the most uplifting, I found it to be beautiful, peaceful and incredibly poignant. As one of the most important parts of the Prague Jewish history, a visit to the cemetery is another must.

Charles Bridge;

You cannot come to Prague without walking across the famous Charles Bridge. The gothic bridge straddles the River Vltava, and separates the Old Town of Prague, and the Lesser Town (Mala Strana). The bridge, built in the 1300’s, is iconic as the 30 statues that were added in the 17th century are all stunning and significant. Some are even meant to bring you luck if you rub them, and you will see some of the statue’s rubbed to a shine where so many people are hoping for a slice of the luck. There is also a tower at either end of the bridge, which you can pay to climb up and see the City from another viewpoint. I adored the bridge. We even got up at 6am one morning to go and see the City wake up from the bridge. It was so calm and peaceful and I think I fell a little in love with Prague that day.

Prague Castle;

In Mala Strana, you can gain access to Prague Castle. This beautiful building, visible from almost anywhere in Prague town even on a misty, grey day, also has the breathtaking St Vitus cathedral in it. Entrance to the castle will cost you around £12 each, depending on what you want access to. There are a few options available, and we went for the top one.

The origins of the castle date back to 880, with various additions in the 10th and 14th centuries. It is said to be the largest castle complex in the world, and it is huge. It used to be the residence of Kings and Emperors, but since the 1900’s was used for presidents, before becoming a cultural monument of Prague in 1962. The castle is also where you will find St Vitus cathedral and Golden Lane. If you make the trip to the castle, I would advise going early to beat the queues. We went to the castle on the day that we got up for sunrise. A walk across Charles Bridge, then up the hill to the castle will take you maybe half hour. The hill is pretty steep, but you can stop half way for a cuppa, like we did…….

St Vitus cathedral;

I think I will always remember the moment I walked into St Vitus. It. Is. Stunning. Breathtakingly stunning. You know I am a fan of architecture if you have been with me for a little while, and this was everything! This gothic church is the most important church in the whole country, and contains the tombs of many Bohemian kings and holy Roman Emperors. Visually, the outside of the cathedral is beautiful, interesting and almost princess like. Inside, it has so much going on within it that I would be here until next month telling you all the details. It is an absolute must to go to if you are in Prague. Again, going early should mean that you are not over whelmed with crowds. Visit the cathedral first before continuing round the castle as it gets very busy as the days goes on.

  Golden Lane;

The tiny houses on Golden Lane were built to house the servants and defenders of the castle. The houses were occupied right up until WWII, and famous writers have been known to live there, hoping to spark creativeness and inspiration. The 16th century homes all have a story to tell and I loved looking into each one. The houses are all numbered, and some of the residents were a fortune teller, Madame de Thebes in number 14, (arrested by the German Secret Police and killed during interrogation) a Red Musket solider in number 13, house number 12 had a basement area that was used as a prison, and one of the first houses in the lane was inhabited by an “alchemist” that was commissioned to make an elixir of youth! I loved walking down the lane, and the tiny houses gave a great insight into how the people of earlier centuries lived.

Some Free things to do in Prague;

Walking across Charles Bridge is obviously free, but there a a few other things that wont hit the pocket, but are worth doing. Just walking around the streets looking at the architecture made me happy! There is so much detail in the buildings!.

Mala Strana;

Mala strana is the part of Prague at the other end of Charles Bridge. Known as “Lesser Town” Nik and I really liked it over this side. It was a lot calmer, and it felt very quaint and traditional. It also is where you will find the ever changing Lennon Wall, the Infant Jesus of Prague and the bank where all the rivers swans congregate.

The Lennon Wall is a wall that is a tribute to the late John Lennon. People come to the wall to pay their respects and it is covered with drawings, song lyrics, tributes and fantastic graffiti. It is ever changing as layers of drawings and painting are on top of each other. You also have the church of Our Lady Victorious that houses the famous Infant Jesus. This 16th century statue attracts people that make the pilgrimage to see it and pray with it, from all over the world.

We also visited the Strahov Monastery, which is still a serving monastery and resided in by monks. The monastery is absolutely beautiful, and home to a fantastic selection of religious art and artefacts. The art has a lot of history behind it as much of the art is slowly being clawed back by the monastery. The collection was stolen from them over the years, and by several countries and leaders. The monastery has about 3/4 of its collection back now. You will also be able to try some amazing blueberry larger here. Brewed on the premises, by the monks, I could have happily stayed all day supping that. its blueberry, a super fruit,  got to be good for you hasn’t it???

Old Town Square;

This is where Nik and I spent a lot of our time, and it is gorgeous. Home to the Astronomical Clock, you will see crowds gathering at the foot of the clock around every turn of the hour. This is because when the clock chimes the hour, the clock puts on a mechanical display that in the middle ages, was considered one of the wonders of the world. I must admit to being a little underwhelmed by the performance, but the 600 year old clock itself is a work of art.

  You also have the beautiful, fairy tale Church of our Lady before Tyn in the Old square. This church is another beauty, and again, famous in any photo you see of Prague. Another gothic building, the church was started in the 14th century, but not finished until the 16th. It is beautiful and it was my husbands favourite landmark in Prague. If you want to go inside the church, have a look at the opening hours fairly early on in your trip as the hours its open are quite random. It is beautiful though, so worth a look inside.

I literally could go on all day about things to do in Prague, but I am sure if you are still here, you are in need of a cuppa or something. I think I could visit Prague again, for the same amount of time, and still not get to do all the things that I would like to. That is the thing with a mini break isn’t it, so little time but so, so much to do! We had an amazing trip, and honestly think if you are thinking of going to Prague, all the things I have mentioned should be somehow popped onto your list.

So, thats it. My sum up of the fabulous things to do in Prague. I came home from Prague a little different. I feel an overwhelming desire to learn more about the Jewish people, and why they have been so persecuted throughout the years. I want to learn more of their customs and religion. I feel that it reminded me to aways show tolerance  kindness and love to everyone. I left Prague a better person, and as the saying goes, travel is the only thing that you can spend money on that makes you richer. never have I felt that more keenly. How about you, have you experienced something that you felt changed you a little? Have you visited any of these places in Prague? Is Prague on your wish list to visit? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. 

  Prague – The City that Changed Me a Little Sometimes, you visit a place that weaves its way under your skin. Something that you see or experience leaves such a lasting impression on you, that it somehow puts a kink in your DNA.