Dangers of being a Vet

[AbbyNormal]

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(I'm a nurse, not a vet) but... when my vet was last at my farm to assess my horse for possible diphtheria (cat had it) she grabbed my horse by the tongue and she had complete control of my horse. I was pretty impressed.

 

[eventualeventer]

Holding the tongue is helpful for oral examination but is not a humane method for whole-horse restraint. Pulling on the tongue excessively can damage the hyoid apparatus and even lead to cranial nerve damage, so when examining the mouth one should always brace the hand holding the tongue against the bars or the cheek, so that if the horse moves there will not be excess traction on the tongue. I'm not saying your vet did anything wrong, but holding the tongue correctly does not prevent the horse from moving its head (although by bracing your hand against the bars you may gain some control of head movements), let alone its body. If your horse stood still, that says more about the vet's finesse and the horse's temperament than the restraint technique.

For other aspiring equine vets, I think alliecats' comment about SICK horse handling being different from WELL horse handling bears repeating. As discussed on another thread recently, not only can normally mild-mannered horses do dangerous things due to pain and illness, when you're a vet, a number of the horses you deal with will not be mild-mannered to begin with.

With any species, I think it's easy to get complacent after working with them for a while because of being hurried, distracted, or overconfident. Any animal has the potential to hurt you, even one who has been cooperative in the past. Some situations are higher risk than others - working under a horse, working with a large-breed dog's head close to your face, painful procedures, etc. - but the minute you stop paying attention to safety is when you put yourself at unnecessary risk. Also, as mentioned above, NO animal is worth the safety of you or the people around you, and NO client pays you enough to compensate you for disability, death, or even just a lousy week of not being able to work due to injury. If your gut tells you not to do something or not to handle a particular animal, don't do it or find a safer way to do it.

 

[awaring1]

(I'm a nurse, not a vet) but... when my vet was last at my farm to assess my horse for possible diphtheria (cat had it) she grabbed my horse by the tongue and she had complete control of my horse. I was pretty impressed.

Um.. no.
I would never let a vet do that to my horse. Did they try a lip-chain?

 

[lostbunny]

Dogs and cats I'm pretty good with, birds freak me out.

what!!? lol naw birds are awesome!! Small dogs with green teeth half falling out and putrid breath you can smell 5 metres away freaks me out. That, and maggot wounds.

 

[HopefulAg]

Birds are damn scary. Those suckers hurt when they bite (and that's a small bird! The bigger ones can break bones/lop off appendages/steal your soul) and getting them out of carriers is just another way of the client saying "**** you!"

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

That, and maggot wounds.

😍

 

[Chinola]

Birds are damn scary. Those suckers hurt when they bite (and that's a small bird! The bigger ones can break bones/lop off appendages/steal your soul) and getting them out of carriers is just another way of the client saying "**** you!"

I had a nanday conure that was nasty to pretty much everyone but me and my brother. I always wanted to help the vet get him out of the carrier but the vet always insisted on doing it himself. He'd get bit once, show no fear and my bird would cut the crap. He even made me sit during exams so my bird couldn't try to get to me.

 

[jmo1012]

what!!? lol naw birds are awesome!!

yeah but all you have to do is look at them wrong and they fall over dead-they're so fragile! (i did, however, spend more than a year of my childhood trying to convince my parents that a parrot was the perfect pet for me. they refused to give in. same for the ferret. and the monkey. haha)

 

[lostbunny]

gosh we had mourning doves that seemed like they would drop dead if you even breathed on them, and I was *pleasantly* surprised just how hard a Canada goose can punch you in the face.

 

[withoutane]

I'm SA and the doctors know me on a first-name basis at urgent care.

I've never been seriously hurt but I have been on antibiotics a LOT. 🙄

 

[HopefulAg]

gosh we had mourning doves that seemed like they would drop dead if you even breathed on them

At least they lived up to their name. 😉

 

[LetItSnow]

gosh we had mourning doves that seemed like they would drop dead if you even breathed on them, and I was *pleasantly* surprised just how hard a Canada goose can punch you in the face.

Right? I always felt a little embarrassed on behalf of the ducks when they'd bite. About the best they could manage is to grab on and pinch a bit. It's really pretty pathetic as far as biting defenses go.

 

[lostbunny]

Right? I always felt a little embarrassed on behalf of the ducks when they'd bite. About the best they could manage is to grab on and pinch a bit. It's really pretty pathetic as far as biting defenses go.

Their defence mechanism is their cuteness. Who in their right mind would want to eat a cutsie little smooshy wooshy wittow buwdy like dat wittow duckie wuckie.

 

[that redhead]

Right? I always felt a little embarrassed on behalf of the ducks when they'd bite. About the best they could manage is to grab on and pinch a bit. It's really pretty pathetic as far as biting defenses go.

I distinctly remember getting "attacked" by ducks as a little kid because someone thought it was fine that the two foot high child with a bag full of bread be left on the ground with a ring of hungry ducks around her. I have no problems with ducks now but let me tell you, not a happy camper at the time! 😛

 

[Mohorsegirl]

Hey everyone,

I was talking to a vet recently and he discouraged me from becoming a equine vet because of the danger that goes along with treating horses. He kinda made it seem like I would die if I became a equine vet.

I was wondering if anyone on here has had a experience where the vet has become injured due to crazy horses. I have personally witnessed techs get injured but the vet was a huge guy who could muscle the horses around and he never got injured.

Is the profession really that dangerous? I am a very small person and when I am dealing with horses that misbehave I just cannot control them... I just do not have the physical strength to control a horse that does not want to be treated. Will this hinder me from becoming a equine vet?

No one will win a battle of strength against a horse, you have to win by intelligence 😉

It takes awhile to get to "know" how horses work and how to handle them, but you can do it. But yeah, I will never argue that it is not dangerous! Especially a "primary care" vet (aka, one that makes barn calls and refers surgeries to another vet); when I worked with one equine vet, we would make barn calls sometimes where we had to catch the horses ourselves, and do everything without an owner even being there.

 

[Zany Tiger]

One of the first things I've learned in vet med was that the two animals with the highest flight or fight responses are cats and horses. Having a very limited exposure to horses if they are anything like cats I'm in for a treat. I've already lost count of the times I've been bitten and scratched by kitties, but I still love them. 😀

 

[Dsmoody23]

One of the first things I've learned in vet med was that the two animals with the highest flight or fight responses are cats and horses. Having a very limited exposure to horses if they are anything like cats I'm in for a treat. I've already lost count of the times I've been bitten and scratched by kitties, but I still love them. 😀

I just had a flashback of the very first time I saw a feral cat climb a blank exam room wall like Neo in the Matrix.

It paused in the corner by the ceiling for about 4 seconds and then flew across the room into my face. 12 stitches.

Cats are batsh*t insane.

 

[eventualeventer]

Zany Tiger, if it's any comfort, the worst I've gotten from a patient is a bruise (although my own *&%$ horse walked across my foot, and my metatarsals ached on rainy days for a couple years after) - the potential is there for bodily harm, but they make good on it infrequently IME. OTOH, the very first cat I handled in a medical setting - and I wasn't really even handling, just watching/helping - attacked my hand and I ended up going to the ER twice in the same weekend. I think I prefer blunt trauma to penetrating wounds. 😀

 

[jlm179]

I just had a flashback of the very first time I saw a feral cat climb a blank exam room wall like Neo in the Matrix.

It paused in the corner by the ceiling for about 4 seconds and then flew across the room into my face. 12 stitches.

Cats are batsh*t insane.

They are. I love them. I have 3, but seriously would not want to treat most cats out there.

Once my vet and I were locked in a barn bathroom trying to catch a feral male to sedate him, so we could neuter him. He was climbing the walls of the bathroom. It was insane. I am not sure how I got him into the bathroom in the first place, but I somehow did. I had left the bathroom to grab a saddle pad to try to throw on it, but by the time I got back the vet had trapped him in the little trashcan with his butt out and got him sedated. Crazy freaking cat.

The other one was tame enough I could carry around. I had him on the back of the vet truck and he said whatever you do don't let go of him. Well the cat spazzed when he was sedating him and I may of let go of him. Thankfully the cat went into the vet truck and passed out in there.

My 3 cats on the other hand are great with vets, but not all cats are. I seriously think you need to wear leather gloves like people wear with birds to handle some cats.

 

[lostbunny]

I just had a flashback of the very first time I saw a feral cat climb a blank exam room wall like Neo in the Matrix.

It paused in the corner by the ceiling for about 4 seconds and then flew across the room into my face. 12 stitches.

Cats are batsh*t insane.

I didn't know feral cats could climb walls until I witnessed it myself. It was like exorcist, except the cat didn't vomit green, but its head probably did spin around.

In any case, more importantly, Neo is way hotter in Speed then in Matrix. But thats just me. Go Canada!

 

[libster06]

I just had a flashback of the very first time I saw a feral cat climb a blank exam room wall like Neo in the Matrix.

It paused in the corner by the ceiling for about 4 seconds and then flew across the room into my face. 12 stitches.

Cats are batsh*t insane.

Same here. Bit a girl I worked with through the handling gloves 3 times. Also really made the 10 minute neuter seem that much more worth it.... then he reopened the sutures after his post-anesthesia wake up/flip out. Freaking feral cats...

 

[Cautionary Tail]

Three of my cats are reformed ferals. The fourth is feral spawn (trapped a pregnant female). Handling a feral cat at home (where I'm not pressed for time and can always back off and give them a chance to relax when they've had enough and want to eat me) doesn't bother me, but I hate having to restrain murderously displeased felines in a clinical setting. Hate. That whole pesky self-preservation thing kinda takes over, and... yeah.

As far as birds go, I'm kinda relieved to know I'm not the only one freaked out about having to handle them. I almost lost a finger to a military macaw once, and witnessed the gory aftermath of a cockatoo attack. I don't dislike birds, but I'm afraid I'll inadvertently inflict grievous bodily harm upon the small ones, and afraid the larger ones will not-so-inadvertently inflict grievous bodily harm upon me. I don't dislike birds (I've met some I've been quite fond of and would probably enjoy living with), I'm just not very adept at working with them at this point.

 

[Cautionary Tail]

Same here. Bit a girl I worked with through the handling gloves 3 times. Also really made the 10 minute neuter seem that much more worth it.... then he reopened the sutures after his post-anesthesia wake up/flip out. Freaking feral cats...

One of mine (then a particularly "mouthy", unpleasant, and large feral tom) came 'untied' and bled out post-op.

The entire office received foodstuffs after that one.

 

[LetItSnow]

cats are batsh*t insane.

same here.

orly? 😉

 

[libster06]

orly? 😉

Troof.