Most disgusting sight seen while working with a vet

[bmichs75DVM]

Ok. This one is fun and interest. What was the most repulsive sight you have ever seen while working with/for a veterinarian?

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[david594]

It would have to be a toss up between the Hit By Train Dog and Dragged 1 Mile Behind Pickup Truck Dog

 

[Poochlover11]

I haven't actually seen this-but a girl I worked with at a dairy farm had a dad who was a vet. She said one of the worst things he experienced was when a calf had died inside the cow and the cows body had begun to decompose the calf. He had to take the calf out of the mom limb by limb-said it was the worst smell he had smelled in his life. Not looking forward to that as a large animal vet-that is for sure.

 

[Poochlover11]

It would have to be a toss up between the Hit By Train Dog and Dragged 1 Mile Behind Pickup Truck Dog

Did either of the dogs survive?

 

[tpad40]

Maggots! Before I moved to VA, I lived in a colder climate and rarely saw maggots. However, this summer working for an emergency clinic I have seen more maggots than I could possibly imagine. The grossest ones were on this dog with a 4 in by 3 in oval wound on his hind end that had hundred of maggots. It was very weird because the maggots were all perfectly aligned so they looked like little dots. Then we sprayed it with the magic maggot spray and it was like a firework. Totally awesome/disgusting. We also had two stray kittens come in that were literally being eaten from the inside out by maggots, very sad

Also, I was repulsed the first time I saw a warble in a cat. I did the intake exam and thought it was some sort of FO...until I accidentaly brushed against it and it *wigggled*.

 

[david594]

Did either of the dogs survive?

No, the Hit by train had actually been put down on the scene by a police officer at the request of the owner. The dog had a massive chunk of its back missing and that doesnt do justice to the damage.

The dragged by truck we put down after getting permission from the owner. The dog looked as though someone had taken a belt sander to it. On both the front limbs the skin and muscle had been ground off and also taking a significant part of the humerus with it. The muzzle and skull was also similar having one side being ground down to the bone.

 

[Poochlover11]

No, the Hit by train had actually been put down on the scene by a police officer at the request of the owner. The dog had a massive chunk of its back missing and that doesnt do justice to the damage.

The dragged by truck we put down after getting permission from the owner. The dog looked as though someone had taken a belt sander to it. On both the front limbs the skin and muscle had been ground off and also taking a significant part of the humerus with it. The muzzle and skull was also similar having one side being ground down to the bone.

Why on earth was the dog dragged by a truck?

 

[VeganChick]

Maggots!

Oh my, yes!!! (shudder)

 

[bmichs75DVM]

I haven't actually seen this-but a girl I worked with at a dairy farm had a dad who was a vet. She said one of the worst things he experienced was when a calf had died inside the cow and the cows body had begun to decompose the calf. He had to take the calf out of the mom limb by limb-said it was the worst smell he had smelled in his life. Not looking forward to that as a large animal vet-that is for sure.

Ahh, the famous fetotomy. I have helped with a few of those. They are no fun but interesting as hell (I think gross stuff is awesome, but I’m weird). I would have to say that most repulsive thing that I have seen was a sheep that had ripped its ear about 7/8 off its head because it was stuck in a fence. The wound was full of pus and maggots. We removed the ear and expressed the pus from a grapefruit sized wound (that’s when the owner passed out and hit the floor hard!) The vet and I both lost it laughing and I took a picture of it with my cell phone.

 

[guppy73]

We had a rabbit come into the shelter for a neuter--poor guy had a warble rolling around & poking out of his scrotum. I have photos on my cell phone, right after pics of my dog.

Oh--and the warble, once removed, was a guest at our staff meeting that day. We're a sick group!

 

[aspiringDVM]

This one didn't actually happen to me, but it involves both hit by train and maggots.
Clients found their dog on the train tracks in the 90 degree heat several days after she'd gone missing. They put the remaining pieces in a shoebox and brought her to the clinic to be cremated. SO glad I wasn't working that afternoon.

 

[c0bester]

Definitely maggots! The sound of the hundreds of larvae eating away at the live flesh on the rump of a dog is absolutely horrific and I'll never forget it! Of course, my vets told me that it was my "initiation" before they told me to enter the exam room...

 

[sumstorm]

bloated dead minke whale carcass during necropsy.

asian elephant whose tusk had been ripped out and sold (because he was 'bad') that had to be cleaned twice a day with giant 'q-tips' made of bamboo and sponges.

Pre-hensile tailed skink died in an exhibit on x-mas eve (determined by a video feed by when any movement stopped) at the end of the work day, due to 'brief' feeding in the exhibit on christmas day, wasn't found till mid-day the day after christmas. High heat and humidity environment, near a heating lamp....was essentially mush beneath the lizard skin, and we had to necropsy.

 

[AgtOrange]

Brown recluse spider bite on a pit bull - the wound itself was pretty bad, but the worst part was the initial cleaning. It started as just a matted mass of fur, and as we kept cleaning the layers of skin and tissue just kept sloughing off until we were through the muscle layer on the thorax. It was about 8 inches in diameter by the time we were done. Dog recovered beautifully, though.

Second to that would be a maggot infestation in a female rabbit's vagina. I think I hear the clicking noises in my nightmares.

 

[Poochlover11]

I had to biopsy the pin of a dairy cow covered in ring worm. That was not fun. I made sure to thoroughly shower after that.

 

[RazorDoc2010]

We see maggots a lot and they're pretty gross.

Also, a dog that was hit in the head with a machete. And he made it.

Also, a HUGEEEE abscess on a horse's back. The thing took over an hour to drain...it was glorious.

 

[Kylana]

I couldn't think of anything very disgusting that I've seen until a few people started talking about maggots. YES!! Those things are nasty! I remember seeing them on a baby cottontail who had a puncture wound in his back. We'd look into the puncture wound and every few seconds see a white blob squirm into view then disappear somewhere else into the poor bunny's body. It was super disgusting.

 

[HopefulAg]

Hrm, let's see...


Watching vet chop off cats head (cat was dead, of course) for rabies testing? Then hearing the approach of a technician, grabbing the head, and sticking it around the corner at the oncoming technician? Maybe....

Cat with a 'hole' in it. Perfect little hole (about an inch in diameter) in the skin, went down into some tissue. Cat's purring up a storm while we're poking around back there. Then it lays on its side and maggots pour out of the hole.

Back when I worked in kennels (just started) it was my time to go to lunch. I think it was my third day or so on the job. I walk out of kennels and the doctor asks 'going to lunch?' and I nod. He then goes "well we just finished amputating a dog's leg and there's a microwave in the back....". He then hands me the leg. It wouldn't be so gross now a days but at the time it was pretty vulgar. Funny, but disgusting.

But the winner, by far, is when we went to pick up a cremation animal (we have the only cremation unit in 50 mile radius). Asked where it was and they said 'out back'. So we go 'out back' looking for a freezer. Instead, we see trash cans. 'Surely not!' we think. We were wrong, as evidence by the smell. For three days (over the weekend) a dog's corpse had been sitting in the trash can, in the Texas heat and Gulf Coast humidity, and by the time we got to it, it was pretty much just a dog soup. It had bloated, popped, liquified/congealed/whatever you want to call it, and attracted all sorts of critters. Yum....

 

[rachroo]

Watching vet chop off cats head (cat was dead, of course) for rabies testing?

Yeah, I have to agree that animals getting their heads chopped off for rabies testing is pretty gross.

We used to have a cat that boarded that was missing it's nose.

And I have to agree with the multitude of maggots crawling around on a poor animal's body.

Other than that, I don't really get grossed out too easily.

 

[BR549]

This wasn't disgusting, but awesome nevertheless. The vet called me to see if I was in town. She said you need to come see this. When I got there, there was a medium sized dog that appeared to have be scaled. The incision ran almost a full 360 degrees, from just above the shoulder blades. The skin could be rolled all the way up to the base of the skull! This occured from a dog fight, which if you didn't look closely for the puncture wounds, you would of thought it was intentional. The dog survived.

 

[david594]

Also, a HUGEEEE abscess on a horse's back. The thing took over an hour to drain...it was glorious.

Haha! Clearly the only reason any of us are going into the field. Who can't love draining a large abscess.

And for everyone talking about maggots, you guys do use Capstar right?

 

[BR549]

Speaking of maggots, I had a goat once that had it's horn ripped out. She was like this when I got her and the flies and gnats had already blown. I spent everyday cleaning it out and eventually got them all out. I was used to maggots, though, because they are always around here in the South, especially the summer with calves and kids.

 

[Raimes]

Warbles aren't gross to me, I thought they were awesome, we got 2 out of a little squirrel.
I have yet to see maggots.
The only thing to scare the heck out of me though, we washed a piece of skin from a rottie's leg we amputated, the girl I worked with dropped it on me, I freaked. I just didn't know what it was.

I think the grossest thing I ever did smell was pyo in a hound.

I think absesses are awesome, I have this horrible obsession with squeezing anything to get pus or anything else out of it.

 

[DVMorBust]

I think absesses are awesome, I have this horrible obsession with squeezing anything to get pus or anything else out of it.

I love roasted garlic.

Seriously, though - there is nothing more satisfying than relieving that pressure from an abscess.

 

[Optimistic 13]

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[bmichs75DVM]

HAHA. I completely agree, there is almost nothing more satisfying than expressing pus.

Along with the disgusting, I once helped drain 55gallons of fluid from a mare’s uterus. The sight wasn’t disgusting, but the smell was horrid. It was amazing.

 

[DVMorBust]

Anyone else find it interesting how 'gross' seems to be synonymous with 'fascinating' on this forum?

In all seriousness - it's not the sights that get me, it's the smells. I can smell something that just sets off my gag reflex, but it doesn't actually bother me... go dry-heaving!

Me: "*hack* no, really, *hack* it's not an issue *hack* I got it. *hurk* so did you have a good lunch? *hack*"
Other person: *stares* you sure you're OK?
Me: *hack* mmhmm. *oops, that one had a little throw-up in it* *whistles while scrubbing*

 

[Poochlover11]

Haha! I am glad I am not the only one that finds this kind of stuff interesting. I was beginning to think I was weird..... But it sounds like there is a whole group of us!! Yay!! Lol

 

[DVMorBust]

We're all so excited about puss that we're posting at the same time.

I love this forum.

 

[aspiringDVM]

I think absesses are awesome, I have this horrible obsession with squeezing anything to get pus or anything else out of it.

Me too!!! And also cysts!

 

[Raimes]

Anything that has lovley liquid type stuff coming out of it is amazing. I think that's why I liked warbles, they squoze out like puss. Oh god.. I am disgusting.

 

[CatVet2Be]

Haha! Clearly the only reason any of us are going into the field. Who can't love draining a large abscess.

My day is made when an abscessed cat comes in, there's just nothing more satisfying than a big squishy, oozing abscess.

And for everyone talking about maggots, you guys do use Capstar right?

Capstar works on maggots?? I'd never heard that before, is it off label use?

 

[LVT2DVM]

.

 

[thereservoirdog]

Wow, I feel like a wuss compared to you guys, I think expressing anal glands is disgusting! But I have to agree, abscesses are awesome.

 

[twelvetigers]

Dead bloated beaver, necropsy on a cow a "bit more ripe than we like" (to quote the vet)... but that was part of my lovely time at OADDL.

Maggots and parvo are the worse I've had so far at the clinic. I'm looking forward to far grosser things (though I'm sure the vet isn't)!

 

[No Imagination]

Hands down (for me anyway),

Dead putrid rotting flesh + Maggots under 3-4" of matted hair on an otherwise healthy looking Afgan. The doctor ripped a "1x1' square section of matted hair right off with his hands. Skin and all came off, maggots on floor. erghh :cry:

Aside from my first necropsy on a bloated rottie, it was the only time I even vomited.

 

[hizarlow]

Here are few pictures to bring back the memories. Imagine the smell, sound, and constant feeling for the rest of the day, that one is in your hair.

 

[No Imagination]

Damn you... didn't need that.

I think what bothered (ok, bothers) me the most about it, was the dog was alive. Had the dog been dead, ahh, no biggie, we've all seen dead decaying animals. But alive, rotting, ergh.

The Vet (who I love dearly) put the mat of hair in a bag for the owners to take home/throw out. He (vet) was Pissed off.

 

[168135]

I still have a lot to experience... the grossest thing I've ever seen was a surgery to remove bladder stones. I could handle the ***** dog ear, but barely handle the surgery. I had to leave the room a couple of times and I would get upset with myself because I really wanted to see it! Just thinking about peeing little shards and how much it would HURT just gets to me. And then the vet was flushing the uretha and it was bloody and squirting out, making sure that he got all the stones... argh.

 

[LVT2DVM]

.

 

[Neoformans]

Oh my experience is really similar to yours LVT2DVM. Huge bloated dead necrotic puppy stuck inside chihuahua mom. We did go into surgery to get it out though, the puppy had been stuck inside for 3 days. Sorry to hear about the poodle, couldn't you have done a humane euthanasias for free though?

 

[bmichs75DVM]

Were I work, we have a lot of deer farms in the area and every time one of them dies, a necropsy of the head must be done to extract the brainstem, bronchial lymph node, and tonsil. It is fascinating to watch the vet cut the checks all the way back then to snap the jaw bone and fold it over. Especially when there are huge abscesses (warbles) inside the cheeks.

 

[TrocarKarin]

I'm with DMVorBust. Its the smells that are terrible. And I used to embalm, so I should be used to bad smells, but even though I haven't come across smells as bad at the vet's office as I did at the funeral home (like the people who would come through who had been dead for a few weeks in the summer before they were found), there's this factor of "this poor thing has been LIVING with this" that triggers my gag reflex.

I almost puked on a guinea pig I was holding a few weeks ago. It had an abscess the size of a tennis ball on its stomach, and the vet lanced it. I was pushing on it to express the fluid (and I agree with you guys, draining stuff is awesome!) and then the smell hit me. My eyes were tearing up, my mouth was watering, and it took everything in me to suppress my gag reflex. The worst part, was that smell clung to me the rest of the day, and I could still smell it on my hair even after I changed out of my scrubs.

The other gross thing was an old dog that was being prepped for surgery. The techs decided to clean out his urethra, and they kept squeezing out all this half-hardened smegma. It must've been about 4 or 5 cubic centimeters of smegma when all was said and done. And it reminded me of toothpaste coming out of a tube. I now use a clear gel toothpaste because of that.

 

[Optimistic 13]

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[smm482]

I am eternally greatful that I have not had any traumatic maggot experiences b/c your stories totally gross me out! I have a strong stomach, but the combination of the visual descriptions and the noises...gack! My grossest experience thus far does not entail maggots.

We had a mare come to foal out at the breeding farm I was working at because she was a high risk pregnancy mare. The timing was such that she had been streaming milk for several weeks and was not even close to 300 days into pregnancy. The vet I was working for suspected it might be a hydrops because her belly was huge. She managed to hang onto the foal for longer than we thought she would but she ended up aborting and hydrops it was. The mare's water broke and then just kept on coming. I am not exaggerating when I say that gallon after gallon of amniotic fluid poured out of the mare. The stillborn foal was rather disgusting, extremely deformed, but absolutely fascinating. The abdomen was not fully closed so it appeared like it had been split open and all the digestive organs had developed on the outside of the foal's body rather than the inside. The foal was shockingly developed (it even had hair), especially since the vet pointed out the huge depression in the foal's spine was a sign that these deformities developed early on. It was rather gross to look at, but amazing to see all of the internal organs lumped together in this huge mass hanging out of the foal's belly. The amazing thing about the hydrops was that once the mare got rid of all that fluid, she lost the appearance of a broodmare alltogether.

 

[sms25]

Damn you... didn't need that.

I think what bothered (ok, bothers) me the most about it, was the dog was alive. Had the dog been dead, ahh, no biggie, we've all seen dead decaying animals. But alive, rotting, ergh.

The Vet (who I love dearly) put the mat of hair in a bag for the owners to take home/throw out. He (vet) was Pissed off.

Speaking of maggots... A few years ago we had a rabbit come in who's hind end was crawling with maggots. The doctor working was a fairly recent grad and had no idea what was safe to use on a rabbit to kill maggots (can you use capstar on rabbits?), so me and another girl got the task of picking them off. So we sat there for over three hours picking maggots off this thing. It was gross and the maggots kept crawling back up the drain. ugh. I felt so bad for the poor rabbit. Well, we finally get her cleaned up and ready to go home. The vet talks to the owner (who was actually the pet sitter-- the owner was on vacation for the next month) and gives the discharge instructions. One of the techs brings the rabbit in to show her how to administer the meds and the poor bunny falls over dead on the table. It was horrible.

 

[DollyyLlama]

oh my goodness you guys.. i'm used to most everything we see routinely in the cat/dog practice, though some of the smells (like an incontinent animals that smells of strong, stale urine) are a challenge. but i'm so nervous about the desensitization necessary to be a vet. please tell me it that it isn't as easy for everyone as it is for some of you admirable stomach-of-steel types.. and that it gets easier with practice!

 

[LVT2DVM]

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[dreamvet]

I have to admit, seeing all the gore really fascinates me. . .it usually results in some of the most interesting cases you'll see.

BUT one thing that is very hard to get over is a completely necrotic body part. . .still attached.
One dog that was hit by a car and not brought in until over 2 weeks later. the front leg was black, completely necrotic, and the smelll. . . .i'll never get used to it.

The second worst case I saw with necrotic parts was a cat that was attacked by a dog, broken jaw. and the tongue was completely dead. It was just this black, smelly, thing hanging out of the mouth.
THE WORST: the cat was super nice, AND the tongue itched her a lot so. . . .i was one of the only people who paid a lot of attention to the cat (I felt so bad for her since none of the other techs wanted to be near her cause of the smell) so she would always rub against my arm and i would feel this dried lump scarping my arm, and it left behind a line of pus and discharge (from the base). The sacrifices we make to comfort our animal friends. . . . .

 

[twelvetigers]

Um, eww? Seriously, THAT is gross.