whyamiavetstudent - Tumblr blog

[whyamiavetstudent]

Things that sound cooler than 'veterinarian'

Let’s be honest, getting to say “I’m a veterinarian,” is pretty cool as is, but there are a couple of phrases that we could use to make our profession sound even cooler. Here are a handful.

“I remove testicles from unwilling carnivores for a living.”

“I’m perpetually in training for a zombie apocalypse survival scenario. My bite percentage this week is 0%.”

“I uninstall kitten factories.”

“I’m supposed to make sure your meat wont infect you. It’s a tough job.”

“My job is to not kill people, with the challenges gradually increasing through the week.”

“I treat patients who aren’t ashamed of their body hair.”

“I do everything except human. Unless it’s an emergency.”

“I save lives… And then clip their toenails.”

And my personal favourite…

“I’m a physician for non-human lifeforms. No, the company I work for is not nearly as well known as NASA or the FBI.”

[whyamiavetstudent]

Just finished up my second year (and passed, WOOOO).  As part of our degree we spend x weeks on various farm placements doing work experience.

One student got her hand stuck between a cow and the railing on dairy placement (OUCH).  Another got rammed in the knee by a fleeing sheep.  I’ve had a horse I was restraining rear up on me and wrench my arm, shoulder and back.  I’ve been kicked in the knee by a cow who was trying to get her teat cups off.  

During vet prac I dealt with a number of potentially aggressive dogs.  They were identified and muzzled before we began to handle them in a way that may make them lash out.  We also dealt with a feral cat who we had to wedge against one end of the trap to sedate.  

It does happen, though.  We had one cat who was sweet as pie, the most lovely loving purry cat ever.  The practice manager at the clinic I worked at (as a nurse/receptionist) was taking him out of his crate when his back foot got caught in the metal.  He screamed and bit clean through the meat of her thumb and ripped up her arm.  Animals in pain act out in ways they never would normally.

As students, we’re also constantly supervised by people who know what to look out for.  We’re being taught what to look out for.  Admittedly, a lot of our ‘near misses’ are dumb luck, but we’re also told / yelled at when we’re putting ourselves in situations where we may get hurt.  And we’re given lots of Health and Safety talks - like ‘a cow can reach you with her back legs no matter where you stand regardless of whether she is in a headbale or not’. And ‘a single sheep is a scared sheep and a scared sheep won’t care if you’re in the way’.  And ‘stay the fuck out of the way of deer, they WILL try to jump over you and their back feet WILL smack you in the face’.   

Amusingly enough, most of our class injuries are from extra-curricular activities.  One guy managed to break his own nose our first week into vet.  Another shattered her ankle during some kind of sport.

Pardon the barrage of questions, but I have an OC who's studying to become a vet, and I'm prettyf pumped that this blog exists. Anyway, on to business: I know that vets run the risk of getting bitten by their patients while at work, but how often does that actually happen in practice? Have you (or maybe a colleage) ever been bitten badly enough that you required medical attention? Do most offices have a policy in place in case that happens?

Most clinics have a general policy that goes a bit like this:

Make sure nobody else can be injured

Secure the animal

Seek immediate medical attention

Fill out insurance forms later

Meanwhile, someone else deals with the animal. Depending on circumstance may refuse to see it conscious ever again.

I haven’t been bitten, but I have had lacerations from nails and second degree friction burns on both hands thanks to a horse, which is the reason I don’t see horses anymore. A colleague got trampled by a cow and concussed. Sometimes we die. 

I’ve been ‘nipped’ by dogs on two occasions, not the patient’s fault in either case, and no blood drawn. For one dog I was examining their teeth, the dog sneezed, and smacked my hand with its canine teeth. For the other, it was being anesthetized and was a little too awake when I tried to place the endotracheal tube, and the jaw twitched strongly.

My boss and a nurse was badly bitten last year. A canine patient was waking up from anaesthesia, and still had an endotracheal tube in because it was brachycephalic and we needed to keep it alive. It woke up far too quickly, promptly went through an excitement phase and chomped down on the nurse’s hand as she removed the ET tube.

Boss came in to help nurse, dog is still freaking out and chomped down on his hand when he pried its jaws open. Boss then proceeds to sort of bear hug dog while it’s clamped on until it’s fully conscious and lets go.

(Dog apparently has no memory of this and since comes into the clinic sweet as pie)

Boss then stupidly scrubs into an orthopedic surgery he was scheduled to do (wouldn’t listen to me! Justified it by double gloving over the bandages and everything inside the glove was sterile anyway) and complains that the puncture wounds in his palm make it harder to do the surgery.

He sent the nurse straight to hospital, but fully intended to complete his working day before going. We rescheduled all his evening appointments and kicked him out straight after surgery anyway, but he intended to make a martyr of himself.

Now if you have an OC who’s studying to be a vet, I bet you’ll be thrilled to know there’s a whole vetblr tag on tumblr, filled with vet students. Despite the holiday season, many of them are probably still studying. You could consider following them to know what their lives are like in vet school.

[whyamiavetstudent]

THE MANDALA GROWS

[whyamiavetstudent]

This is what I do when exam stress gets too much. Start a really challenging crochet project with seriously beautiful yarn! I'm doing Mandala Madness on Ravelry.

[whyamiavetstudent]

What to make out of 1000m of 4ply beautiful blues? Hmmm...

[whyamiavetstudent]

Dear pre-vet

Hi there. I am approaching the start of my final year of vet school and I want to help you. Throughout my vet school journey I’ve learned a lot and I would like to tell you what I wish someone told me when I was in your situation. As those who follow me may already know, I like lists so:

1. You will get into vet school. Period. When you know what you want and you are willing to work for it, you will get it. Hard road? Yes. Will you fail? Most likely. Should you give up? Fuck no. Anyone who tells you otherwise are telling you the same lies they tell themselves to validate not going after their own dreams.

2. Enjoy the journey. You are allowed to be happy and enjoy life before reaching your goals. It’s the getting there that makes the end goal all the more sweeter. So while you’re doing that extra subject to boost your marks to get into vet school try to enjoy it!

3. There is no real ‘right way’. People have their own baggage as I alluded to in point 1, so asking for advice on how to get into vet school is great and all but everyone’s situation is different. It’s important to learn from other peoples experiences but don’t let that hold you back from making your own. Just because it may not be ‘conventional’ doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

4. Work on yourself and your own mental health. Do not fall into the trap of, ‘oh well once I get into vet school then I won’t have to worry about grades anymore and everything will be fine’. No, there will be other things to stress about. Stress is a part of life so start learning to manage it now because as a vet you’ll also have to manage other peoples stress on top of your own.

5. Only compare yourself to the you of yesterday. Getting stressed over class averages is a waste of time because at the end of the day all you can do is your best. People can also bullshit about how much they ‘didn’t study’ for the test but still got a good mark. Everyone’s study techniques are different and what constitutes as a lot of study if relative. Just do you. You’re great!

6. When you are not coping well with something, tell someone. Even if you think it might be silly relative to all the other problems in the world, they are still your problems so they’re important. Anyone who tells you otherwise doesn’t have your best interests at heart and are not worth your time. So when you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed with study or panicking that you may not get into vet school this year, talk to someone about it.

7. BREAKS ARE IMPORTANT! DO NOT FEEL BAD FOR TAKING THEM! If you are procrastinating a lot, you probably need a break. Take some time off and do something you enjoy. Afterwards your study will be far more efficient.

8. The hard work doesn’t stop when you get into vet school. I doubt it stops when you’re a vet. This is what I want to leave you with because this also ties back to points 2 and 4. As I am sure you are aware with going into this industry, mental health is a big issue. As the new generation of vet students and vets coming through let’s try to lower these statistics. Do not try to ignore what you’re feeling because ‘once I get into vet school it’ll all be fine’ or try to ‘tough it out’, if you need help, seek help, there is no shame in that. 

Good luck with your studies, be gentle with yourself, be kind to others and always give it your all. The world is your oyster and may your journey of life be a long one.

Regards,

VA

xx

[whyamiavetstudent]

Not quite all the notes for the exam on anatomy in two weeks. The first book is full of handwritten notes, the other three go up to the little Dino stickers. That great big honking pile of paper on the right is endocrinology.

[whyamiavetstudent]

Spot the spelling mistake in Budras Anatomy of the Horse.

[whyamiavetstudent]

Blood circles to the anatomy gods for a pass mark.