... makes me uncomfortable

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No Imagination

No Imagination

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Just wondering, what animals make you uncomfortable or afraid of. I'm not talking about phobia's, but more or less - due to lack of experience you are just not comfortable working with or around. Perhaps a species that you know you are going to have to work hard to overcome such feelings.

For me, its Pigs and Horses
 
Squirrels.

So fast and angry. Such sharp teeth.
 
horses...I just never really learned how to handle them. Probably has to do with being a city kid, but yeah, i have this fear of being kicked.

and on the phobia/totally irrational side, spiders.
 
Birds! I have definitly thought about this before though. I have decided I relly need one of everything to get more comfortable with them! Although in my case, acquiring my cat didnt help much because he is more like a dog. He is the SWEETEST most non-aggressive cat ever. He isn't giving me good practice with my cat wrangling skills 😀

I just feel like there are so many little nuances to each animal you will never know unless you have the pleasure of having one. I feel like in order to relate to clients best I will need to have one of everything! Like, I am not entirely comfy with bunnies either but i LOVE guinea pigs, Im one of the only ones who will touch them at my clinic. I attribute it to having 2 when I was younger...👍
 
Cows, due primarily to my lack of experience with them. They just seem to me like giant critters without any sense of boundaries/ not running over you. I enjoy working with somewhat challenging horses, so it's not just the size/craziness issue, but I have no idea how to control a cow and that makes me nervous.

Edit to add: oh yeah, birds too, just because I've never worked with them (aside from chickens) and those beaks look sharp!
 
I'm not totally confident that I could handle some large animals like cows without further training, but I'm not really AFRAID of them.
 
Having worked with birds, I would still put them pretty high on the list.

You look at the wrong and they will drop dead on you.
 
david594 said:
Having worked with birds, I would still put them pretty high on the list.

You look at the wrong and they will drop dead on you.
Click to expand...

I haven't done any veterinary work with birds, but I know I would be afraid to do any work on mine. She's a parrotlet, about 4 inches (10 cm) tall – head to tail.
I can't even do a great job of removing sheaths from her feathers when they grow in.... my fingers are too big.


But with sufficient training, I actually might want to practice on birds.
 
Birds definitely (those beaks are sharp)! I think some cats can definitely be nasty too (I know at home my kitties are super personable, but take them to the vet and they are non too pleasant).
 
Lizards and snakes!!! Give me a horse, cow, pig, sheep any day.
 
Hope I'm not in the wrong forums..😀

Personally, I can't stand snakes! I never used to have a problem with them until I encountered a northern water snake. Those little guys are vicious!

I realize that it's a completely irrational fear, and that the likelihood of dying from a non-venomous snakebite is minimal..but still, I can't shake the creepy-crawlies when I see them.
 
A bull or a stallion. Testosterone O My!
 
Raccoons and turkeys. It's OK during the daytime, but I've run into some angry momma animals in the dark before and they terrified me.

But as for general animals working with...I don't know a lot about pigs and a very large angry sow intimidates me.

Cows for the most part are OK. I am sure I'll learn more about handling them, but our beef calves were a good intro and then of course, learning how to deal with the neighbor's big bull that always got out...
 
fish. well, mostly dead fish, or fish that are out of water and flopping around. probably falls under the "irrational phobia" category. but luckily i think i can avoid aquatics in my career.
also, i'm still a little uncomfortable dealing with *caution* cats.
 
Horses. My family has four and I ride, but not very well. They're so unpredictable, and have hurt me before. It's not fear, it's just a constant unease when I'm working around them because I can't figure them out. It's one of my deepest downfallings and I'm going to have to get over it because I want to do large animals.

(wow. didn't expect to be doing a confessional today)
 
Large animals other than horses, or very angry cats/dogs... I'm most comfortable with wildlife I guess. Give me a hawk over a mean cat any day. Someone mentioned that people in their clinic wouldn't touch a guinea pig... where I interned I was the only one that would go near a rabbit. I don't think the techs were scared of getting hurt themselves, but had been told in school that rabbits can break their backs if you hold them wrong and were scared of doing that. Haha worked for me, I took the bunny and they took the pit bull!
 
Snakes. I'm to the point where I can kinda sorta handle them if someone hands them to me, but I'm terrified the whole time. I hate picking them up out of their cage. Small ones aren't as bad but I hate the pythons and such.

Probably comes from growing up on a ranch and hearing "Theres a rattlesnake down by the barn, someone come kill it" far too often during the summers!
 
Beef cattle. They aren't generally handled much and I'm still not 100% comfortable handling the stocks...which they tend to freak out in (because of their lack of handling). I liked the dairy cows I hung out with though--much calmer!
 
Horses and cows. Give me an angry cat anyday over something that can kick my kneecap off!
 
Snakes! When I find them I freak out, even looking at a picture of one makes me somewhat uncomfortable.:scared:
 
rabbits. they're so fragile and so many things can go wrong.
 
I'm saddened by all the snake-hate... I love herps.

Maybe my baby garter can do some ambassador work - she's just a bit over hand-length.
 
Wildlife doesn't make me nearly as nervous as they used to. I have the wildlife experience to thank for that. Squirrels scared me like crazy until I worked with them. I still have to get more acquainted with birds though. Birds make me nervous.

I'm not confident with horses yet, but I'm not scared of them.

I've always been scared of snakes, but that's something I want to change. Hopefully I'll get a chance to work on that.
 
I'm with you on herps. Snakes just don't seem terribly threatening. No claws to scratch you with, the teeth are sharp but they won't tear off your arm, no cat mouth bacteria, they can't kick etc....Plus my bearded dragon is a sweetheart, very mellow and getting old. Though I used to be the kid who would bring home frogs in her pockets, my mom was not amused. 🙄
 
Herp lover as well. In fact, any animal I can hold and restrain - I have zero problem with (big dogs, feral cats, birds (well, Chickens and Turkeys), lizards, snakes, ferrets, rabbits - love working with them.

Cows and things that out weigh me - that you really can't restrain - gonna need to work on/with.

Spent some time in Ecuador a few years ago, caught a 17' Anaconda, next to getting into vet school, was the highlight of my life (bit me on the leg, but still worth it)
 
Um, anything EXCEPT horses. All of you large animal phobes can send your ponies to me! 😀 I don't have any small animal tech experience, just some shadowing, where I was paying more attention to what the vet was doing than the tech. It's a bit of a weakness of mine. I've learned how to do an OK scruff on my cats to restrain them on their sternum or laterally, and I've given my own cat subQ fluids and IM injections, but I haven't had to restrain a strange cat. I don't really know how to restrain a dog.
 
I'd say cows and horses, but I have yet to work with them really. My answer might change by the end of the summer. Birds are also new territory - I would be concerned about hurting them too, and the idea of a blood draw is pretty intimidating. Large birds (like turkeys and up) are quite scary, so hopefully I can avoid those. Lol.
 
twelvetigers said:
Birds are also new territory - I would be concerned about hurting them too, and the idea of a blood draw is pretty intimidating. Large birds (like turkeys and up) are quite scary, so hopefully I can avoid those. Lol.
Click to expand...

Huhh - Not sure were all the anti-bird stuff comes from.

I had a summer gig where we trapped and bled (literally) hundreds of birds (sparrows mostly) Bled from jugular , kept them for 20 - 30 minutes before release - and we only had 1 die on us (and that was in the beginning when we were learning what we were doing.

Another project with Turkeys and Chickens, bled from wing vein, again, hundreds of bleeds, never had a problem.

Fun fact: When doing the wild trapped birds, I didn't know that birds only had ONE jugular. Thought I could "hit the other jugular" after blowing the previous (only happened once) - Wow, that was embarrassing, as I got the gig due to my vet tech skills.
 
Fractious cats definitely. I start breaking out in a cold sweat sometimes when they start escalating their meow-growls. But I find that after I get scratched (not bitten yet!), I gain more confidence and it doesn't bother me as much.
 
ok this may seem weird, but I kind of afraid to handle dogs. This is because I saw a dog "playfully" rip a mans muscle out of his leg. I mean dogs are great, but in the back my head there always that fear that a dog may play a bit too rough.
 
I am always uneasy walking behind a horse, even if I let it know I am there. I usually walk in a large arc around the hind-legs!:laugh:

Other than that, nothing but a roach. I can't stand a roach. I'd rather have a giant spider on me than a roach!:scared:
 
BR549 said:
I am always uneasy walking behind a horse, even if I let it know I am there. I usually walk in a large arc around the hind-legs!:laugh:

Other than that, nothing but a roach. I can't stand a roach. I'd rather have a giant spider on me than a roach!:scared:
Click to expand...

But every spider has SOME degree of venom, though most won't do more than cause a slight bump on the site of a bite (on a human).
However, the largest ones have lovely, scary looking fangs.
And some of them jump (gotta love those Wolf spiders. Why make a web when you can hunt down your prey and jump on top of them?)

Roaches, on the other hand, can't really bite you. They just happen to like eating everything that you eat (and all sorts of things that you probably wouldn't eat, too)

NycVet said:
ok this may seem weird, but I kind of afraid to handle dogs. This is because I saw a dog "playfully" rip a mans muscle out of his leg. I mean dogs are great, but in the back my head there always that fear that a dog may play a bit too rough.
Click to expand...

Well as long they were just "playing", i'm sure it was fine. 😉
 
Fractious kitties.
Hands down. I think it's the noises that they make.
 
I'll take a cat thats about to burst into flames from rage than any sized dog that might bite. Flat out aggressive dogs I absolutely will not handle. Let someone else deal with that, I won't lose a wink of sleep.
And beef cattle. I was pretty scared of all cows until vet school, where it has been tamed down to just a timidity. Thanks vet school!
 
BR549 said:
I am always uneasy walking behind a horse, even if I let it know I am there. I usually walk in a large arc around the hind-legs!:laugh:
Click to expand...

Thats just being smart. No different then not approaching a dog you don't know from above, or putting your face near any unknown dog. For some reason I'm more afraid a horse is going to bite me then kick me. Horse people seem so comfortable putting their hands near their mouths - I don't know how I feel about that.
 
Snakes and anything aggressive!! (Even horses...i.e. young colts...lol)
 
Cats far and away! Nasty feral things that have no business in a house or clinic. Seriously, the clinic I work in always has five or six "clinic cats" roaming the back room. I am to the point of being able to touch about half of them, and usually the nastier of the bunch. But no, no cat work for this boy. Once they are out I can do really fast declaws though! :whistle:

Horses are not one of my strong suits either. I am not phobic of them like I am cats, but I know very little about them, and what small amount I do just makes them even more intimidating. Very hard to read/predict.

I will just stick to my dogs thank you very much. I will learn horses though for my specialty. Hey, I have gotten used to bulls already, it's a start! 🙂
 
Pigs! Got a good amount of experience with horses and cows in school, but not enough with pigs. Those teeth can be quite frightening...
 
BR549 said:
I am always uneasy walking behind a horse, even if I let it know I am there. I usually walk in a large arc around the hind-legs!:laugh:

Other than that, nothing but a roach. I can't stand a roach. I'd rather have a giant spider on me than a roach!:scared:
Click to expand...

Actually I was told you're supposed to walk very closely to the horse when circling it. They don't have the space needed to kick you very hard if you're right next to them. More space = more powerful kick.
 
Cleo, you're spot on with the logic but:
Folks should stand either very, very close or very far away. There's an intermediate zone of danger that is one horse's leg distance (~5-6ft)...to put it in visual terms: You should be nearly touching (~1 inch) with your upper body to the horse or roughly 6 feet away.

I don't want you getting hurt thinking you can stand close and you're safe. In my estimation, people don't walk close enough to get out of that intermediate zone.
 
Potbellied pigs. Those tusks scare the poo out of me!
 
No Imagination said:
Thats just being smart. No different then not approaching a dog you don't know from above, or putting your face near any unknown dog. For some reason I'm more afraid a horse is going to bite me then kick me. Horse people seem so comfortable putting their hands near their mouths - I don't know how I feel about that.
Click to expand...


Rightly so, my brother's ex-girlfriend had her pinky bit off by a mare. The doctors tried to save it, but necrosis sat in and she lost it.

redsteven: I'd still prefer a spider. I used to catch black-widows and all other types of spiders as young as 6 years old. For some reason, roaches make my skin crawl.

Infinivet: thank you for the correct procedures. I think this will make me more comfortable working around horses.
 
Definitely cats. I'd rather take a kick from a cow anyday than being bit by a cat. I don't mind birds, but those beaks sure can hurt if they get you!
 
Primates...i work with cynomologus macacas, they are intimidating little guys. Sharp teeth, can carry herpes B, and pound for pound about 10x as strong as humans. The other day I had one pull my hand into her mouth, luckly I was wearing leather gauntlets at the time.
 
No Imagination said:
Thats just being smart. No different then not approaching a dog you don't know from above, or putting your face near any unknown dog. For some reason I'm more afraid a horse is going to bite me then kick me. Horse people seem so comfortable putting their hands near their mouths - I don't know how I feel about that.
Click to expand...

I will say this, a horse's nip is painful...those grass-eating incisors can really hurt if they chomp you just right! It's a good point though, it's important to be aware of all body language (even if you're clear of the rear end). A concern of mine (that happens very frequently with people who don't have a lot of horse experience) is when people stand directly in front of a horse. I used to have my horse at a university barn and it was open to the public. I found myself always reminding people that horses have a blind spot directly in front of them...people who were not timid but not familiar with horses would do this a lot.
 
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