Large vs small animal medicine

[airrick16]

What challenges are unique to small animal medicine? How about LA medicine? Which is more "challenging"? I know this a very vague question, but just doing some interview prep

What skills are required to practice LA medicine, that might not be as important to small animals vets? For example, what skills are necessary to diagnose lameness (to isolate source of pain by watching gait)?

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[sumstorm]

It depends. on you, on the clientelle, on the environment, etc.

the best way to determine what you will find challenging and different is to put some time and energy into shadowing large and small animal vets.

 

[airrick16]

Thanks thats true, but in general? For example equine medicine is focused primarily on orthopedic and rheumatological problems. How many times have you have had to do a lameness exam on a cat? I takes a certain eye/ observation skills to isolate the problem after watching the horse run, although most of this comes with experience.

Having never worked in a small animal clinic i was just wondering about challenges in small animal medicine. For example, are illnesses/injuries more diverse, harder to diagnose. Are the owners less willing to invest money in cats and dogs?

 

[sunshinevet]

Well, lameness is a problem in dogs and cats too... on an average day, you would probably work up atleast 1 lameness problem in each species in a busy consulting clinic. Not only that, but cranial cruciate ligament rupture is the most common cause of lameness in dogs - and americans spent over $1.3 billion in 2003 on surgical procedures to fix it.

The amount of money - really depends on the client. I've met both equine and smallies owners who didnt want to spend 2c on the animal, yet owners from both who are willing to spend tens of thousands.

Its a bit hard to sum it up really. Its not like equine where pretty much everything is ortho/repro. You do lots of everything, really.

 

[airrick16]

Its a bit hard to sum it up really. Its not like equine where pretty much everything is ortho/repro. You do lots of everything, really.

Well u just kind of did So you would say small animal vet deal with a wider range of illnesses?

 

[sunshinevet]

Lol, no. You just shoot a lot more horses.

 

[CatVet2Be]

How many times have you have had to do a lameness exam on a cat? I takes a certain eye/ observation skills to isolate the problem after watching the horse run, although most of this comes with experience.

Lameness happens more often than you'd think in even the smallest animals. Cats can get legs caught in garage doors, tear ligaments while running from a predator, or suddenly start limping at home. And a lameness exam on a cat is challenging because they won't trot for you in a room or walk on a leash. You have to develop a keen sensitivity for subtle movements. Same with dogs that come in limping. Owners don't always know which leg, they just know it's a leg that's bothering the dog. From there you have to observe an animal whose adrenaline is up from being in a new environment who probably won't limp in the clinic the same way he has at home.

Having never worked in a small animal clinic i was just wondering about challenges in small animal medicine. For example, are illnesses/injuries more diverse, harder to diagnose. Are the owners less willing to invest money in cats and dogs?

I don't know if SA illnesses and injuries are more diverse because my LA experience is limited. I can tell you that there are illnesses that affect certain breeds more than others, medications that can work great on dogs but will kill cats even if you're treating them for the same type of illness. There's rich owners who will balk at an office fee while flipping perfectly manicured nails through an expensive bag. And owners who are on extremely fixed incomes pull out every resource they have in order to save their elderly pet. Even if it means going without their own necessities.
I know of one client who spent close to 30k to keep their cat alive for 3 more years after a cancer diagnosis and one who decided it would be cheaper to just get a new dog that wasn't sick.

Challenges that are unique to SA. I think client communication is going to be a huge one. You'll have nice clients, crazy clients and downright offensive ones who make you want to beat them with fluffy or fido. They try your every last nerve and in some cases their heartbreak becomes yours if you grow to care about them as people. Dogs are often treated like people's very spoiled children so you find yourself in a unique position of wanting to wring fluffy's neck but having to smile when "mom" tells you what a wonderful, sweet, loving thing he is as he's humping your leg. There's a lot more politics involved that anyone ever realizes until you try.

That's the best I can do with general questions. If you come up with more specific Q's I'll try again.

 

[sumstorm]

The question is just way too broad.

Lets start with how you define small animal. are you limiting it to dog/cat, or do you include exotics and pocket pets? then, are you limiting it to general practice, or speciality and emergency? within those, owner or associate? holistic?

on to large animal. are you including horses? or are you seperating those into equine vs food animal? are you including all food animal in the US or just the 'traditional' ones? are you asking about industry ag, of small farm? dairy production or meat? large expanse or stock yard? Temple or Bud?

that is why I said it depends. I personally think an emergency practice owner that also provides services for exotics is a more challenging job than a large animal food industry vet, but I would be willing to argue that a cat only practice associate vet isn't as challenging as a family farm dairy practicioner, or a livestock handling expert.

The biggest difference, in my personal opinion, will be the utilization of animals. Are they resources or not? if so, how? emotional, food, product, etc? I believe the essential skills of palpation, diagnostics, etc aren't going to be inexplicably different (otherwise vet schools would already specialize which is a different debate.) I also think in non equine LA there is a lot more concern with return on investment, that you won't see in pets unless you are dealing with working animals. IE most dog owners aren't going to worry about whether their dog earns it's keep, but of course, there are exceptions; stock dogs, sniffing dogs, SAR dogs need to earn their keep, but the end result of failure to do so isn't likely ending up in a processing plant.

 

[sunshinevet]

Challenges that are unique to SA. I think client communication is going to be a huge one. You'll have nice clients, crazy clients and downright offensive ones who make you want to beat them with fluffy or fido. They try your every last nerve and in some cases their heartbreak becomes yours if you grow to care about them as people.

No, seriously, horse vets take the cake for client communication. If you ask most vet students why they won't go into equine practice, they will tell you its because of the people - and its no joke. Horse people are (in general) downright insane - the most average horse owner is far more demanding than any other client I have experienced in 4 years of SA vet teching.

I think "challenging" is subjective to what kind of person you are. I know a senior student who is so into food animals, it is actually frustrating for her to do the small animal stuff, because she is so out of her depth. And yet most of the class just can't deal with intensive production medicine, yet she can handle it like a pro. There are so many challenges to consider, the ONLY way you can fully understand them all and get a real perspective is to shadow vets and get involved and see what its really like with your own eyes.

And dogs and cats dont suffer from any more/less diseases than horses/cows/pigs/sheep. You just practice different medicine concerning them, and that is the difference between the fields.

 

[Bill59]

Some challenges that are more prevalent in LA relate to economics. Most food animals and some horses are considered by the client as economic entities instead of family members like a lot of SA. So you're often more limited regarding what the client will spend.

In a lot of LA practices you have to do farm calls, which is usually much less efficient compared to the client bringing the patient to you. There are fewer LA jobs compared to SA and you are more limited to where you can live, often in more rural areas. You are more likely to have emergency call with LA whereas many SA practices utilize emergency clinics.

As for medical aspects, I don't think there's much difference. And lameness is a very common presenting complaint in SA, at least dogs. Cruciate ruptures are epidemic in large dogs. Luxating patellas in toy breeds, elbow and hip dysplasia in large breeds, arthritis in old dogs .... it's a very common problem.

The most important clinical skill in diagnosing lameness is observation -- really watching the patient move. Being familiar with how a normal animal moves and noticing subtle differences. And being willing to take the time to do a thorough and systematic exam.

 

[CatVet2Be]

No, seriously, horse vets take the cake for client communication. If you ask most vet students why they won't go into equine practice, they will tell you its because of the people - and its no joke. Horse people are (in general) downright insane

Wow, I'd never thought about that. All the horse people I know were people I worked with and they were pleasant and sane. There's always someone to give the rest of a bunch a bad name. I mean there's cat people and then there's "cat people" **shudders at thought**

 

[laurafinn]