Reconsidering... advice please??

[Manders221]

I just finished my first semester of classes specific for veterinary Technology but I made the commitment to change to prevet next semester. This will be my 4th semester of college, my first year I was undecided. Today was the last day of the semester and we watched a video of a dissection of an entire cat. The instructor made us watch it because for those who are continuing with the program, that's what they'll be doing next semester. We've been disecting organs all semester and so far the GI tract was the only thing that really bothered me. The juices grossed me out but I was still able to do it. Watching this video today really really bothered me though. I was holding back a tag for most of the video and it made me wonder if I'll be able to go to vet school. Is this something I can learn to outgrow or should I forget about vet school and stick with the tech program? I've watched several spays and neuters and those do not gross me out at all. I can direct the heart and the brain just fine. But set an entire dead cat in front of me and ask me to remove it's skin, examine the muscle, and then slice the head in half... that just really creeps me out.

Thanks for any insight any of you might have to offer. It means a lot to me.

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[Manders221]

So, I admit I am a bit lost about what the exact hang-up for you is; is it having to dissect an entire animal that's placed in front of you vs. just an isolated organ that's been removed?

I'm worried that I will be so grossed out by disecting a whole animal that I won't spend enough time with the specimen to study it and understand it well enough for an exam. I am wondering how common it is for people who hate the idea of disecting a whole dead body to get into vet school and still do alright academically

 

[TheGirlWithTheFernTattoo]

@PippyPony was it you who gets grossed out by lab-related dead things?

 

[pinkpuppy9]

I'm worried that I will be so grossed out by disecting a whole animal that I won't spend enough time with the specimen to study it and understand it well enough for an exam. I am wondering how common it is for people who hate the idea of disecting a whole dead body to get into vet school and still do alright academically

I mean...I didn't love anatomy/dissection if that helps. However, the tissue is preserved (we got fresh limbs a few times at my school though), so it's not bloody at all. The juices are just the preservatives, not necessarily bodily fluid (and GI is the juiciest part of any cadaver). It's not a pleasant experience for anyone, really, so I wouldn't say you should count yourself out of vet school completely over it, but yeah you will spend a lot of time with your cadavers first year.

If being a vet is what you really want (I'm assuming you've done all the legwork to determine this), you'll just have to bite the bullet and survive first year. There were numerous occasions when I felt grossed out during anatomy. Again, it really isn't meant to be pleasant, but it is necessary. Sorry I can't really come up with a solution for ya.

 

[Manders221]

However, the tissue is preserved (we got fresh limbs a few times at my school though), so it's not bloody at all. The juices are just the preservatives, not necessarily bodily fluid (and GI is the juiciest part of any cadaver).

A lot of what bothers me is the smell of the preservatives. I guess I was just looking for reassurance my disgust for dissection won't translate to disgust for surgery. But I think living things are probably less disturbing. Your comment did really help, it's good to know that most of the undesirable stuff will be over with after the first year.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

A lot of what bothers me is the smell of the preservatives. I guess I was just looking for reassurance my disgust for dissection won't translate to disgust for surgery. But I think living things are probably less disturbing. Your comment did really help, it's good to know that most of the undesirable stuff will be over with after the first year.

You'd be surprised, some of the worst/grossest things I've encountered have been on/in living things.

A lot of students rub Vick's under their noses before lab to help cover up the smell, I never felt compelled to do it but I hear it works pretty well.

Really, I was okay during lab, but smelling the stank on myself after was the bad part. Trying to eat food with the smell still on my hands was rough, as I couldn't always immediately shower up after lab. You will smell like lab until you shower, lol. Sometimes the scrubs you wear to lab will never smell the same, either. I hated when upperclassmen would make comments on how we smelled after lab too, as if they didn't smell the same just one year ago

 

[PippyPony]

@PippyPony was it you who gets grossed out by lab-related dead things?

Kind of? Not anymore. I was genuinely worried about it before school started because I have a reeeeally sensitive stomach, but the interest in what we were doing quickly took over. I still occasionally have moments where it bugs me but it really is not a common occurrence.

It has made me look at bbq ribs a little differently, though, which is tragic since that was one of my favorite foods before this haha

 

[PippyPony]

Trying to eat food with the smell still on my hands was rough, as I couldn't always immediately shower up after lab.

Double up the nitrile gloves. Magical.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

Double up the nitrile gloves. Magical.

Still didn't do it for me

 

[LyraGardenia]

There were definitely some gross days in anatomy, like opening up the abdomen is always really juicy, and seeing cadavers with heads and limbs removed can be a bit unsettling at first. But for me at least once you get in there trying to learn all the details, you get desensitized to the grossness. The smell of fresh dead tissue bothers me more than formalin, we had fresh chicken cadavers and I could barely handle sitting near it. I was definitely beyond ready to be done with anatomy by the end of it, especially after an entire semester of large animal stuff which doesn't interest me, but I still got a decent grade in the class. I tended to sit back and read the book and let my group members do the actual dissection, and I was the kind of person that loved dissections in high school and undergrad. I still made a point to come in on my own time to look at our cadaver, though. PP's right that you'll generally only do dissections first year, and then on clinics you'll most likely be required to do a necropsy rotation, but that's probably just 2-3 weeks, and not preserved specimens.

Would you be able to take an anatomy course in undergrad? That would probably give you an idea if dissections would be a deal-breaker for you before committing to vet school. I'd also recommend shadowing more surgeries other than just spays and neuters if you can.

 

[PrincessButterCup]

I just finished my first semester of classes specific for veterinary Technology but I made the commitment to change to prevet next semester. This will be my 4th semester of college, my first year I was undecided. Today was the last day of the semester and we watched a video of a dissection of an entire cat. The instructor made us watch it because for those who are continuing with the program, that's what they'll be doing next semester. We've been disecting organs all semester and so far the GI tract was the only thing that really bothered me. The juices grossed me out but I was still able to do it. Watching this video today really really bothered me though. I was holding back a tag for most of the video and it made me wonder if I'll be able to go to vet school. Is this something I can learn to outgrow or should I forget about vet school and stick with the tech program? I've watched several spays and neuters and those do not gross me out at all. I can direct the heart and the brain just fine. But set an entire dead cat in front of me and ask me to remove it's skin, examine the muscle, and then slice the head in half... that just really creeps me out.

Thanks for any insight any of you might have to offer. It means a lot to me.

Exposure is probably the only thing that will help you get over being grossed out by post-mortem exams and dissections. Vapor rub has already been mentioned, but here are some other tricks:

- Always stay hydrated. Bring water to lab with you and leave it in the hallway, or in the locker room, or wherever you can get to it. If you start to feel faint or weird at all, leave and get a drink. It helps so much.

- Eat enough! If you go into lab with an empty stomach, you'll regret it. (The first time I was going onto the necropsy floor, I thought I was being really clever by not eating - can't throw up what you didn't eat, right? I didn't vomit, but I did feel pretty awful after standing on a concrete floor for five hours. Eat. You'll thank yourself.)

- Go and sit down if you need a moment. No one will laugh at you - I've seen people leave and go sit in the auditorium or locker room for a few minutes if a smell or case was getting to them.

There are some things that just take time to get used to. I remember feeling a little grossed out the first time I watched a dog being skinned, but now I can do it myself without a second thought. Just remember that your cadaver can't feel pain anymore. Dissociate the idea of it ever having been alive, and just focus on the job at hand - locate that organ you're looking for, pay attention to the structures you're studying . . . if it helps, don't think about the cadaver as a cat. It's just tissue and formalin that you're using as a learning tool.

 

[LetItSnow]

I mean, it's hard to say. I suspect you'll get over it - at least well enough to continue. There are always people in a vet school class who are just grossed out by some stuff - that's ok.

But as important - I don't think you should view vet tech'ing as "less gross". The stuff you see in practice as a vet or vet tech will be similarly gross. If you can't handle it as a vet, probably you don't want to be teching, either.

 

[CPvet17]

My advice would be to desensitize yourself to dissecting. Sounds like you’re off to a good start having done individual organ systems. YouTube dissection videos and watch them; even if it’s a little bit at a time. Take some of the anxiety and scariness out of the situation by knowing what to expect to see.

When I began working as a vet assistant years ago, IV catheters and blood draws used to gross me out. I think I subconsciously associated a pain aspect to it, but i remember I couldn’t look at them or i’d sometimes get lightheaded. And then I’d get into this whole mental cycle of “oh, that’s gross”/“omg! If you’re grossed out by this, how are you wanting to be a vet?!?!”, which would make matters worse. Of course, that won’t do in this line of work so I went home and YouTubed blood draws and catheter placements and it made it so much less of a big deal to me. Now, it’s no problem at all for me.

Same goes for when I know I’m going to assist in surgery. It’s anxiety producing, for sure; that’s the nature of the game. And there’s definite still times when I first get in there and my doctor isn’t ready for me to help out yet and I have time to sit and mental drive myself crazy, but once I get in there and am hands on, you become so task oriented that the “ick factor” and anxiety largely fade away and you’re left with working towards the goal of healing. And reveling in how cool you job is compared to the typical.

So, give yourself time to adapt and take baby steps. Get comfortable with dissection videos. Work up to surgical videos; maybe gastric videos, if you think them the worst for you. Vet med is gross a lot of the time; we just gotta learn to manage our reactions to it when it is.

P.S. - A trigger I haven’t been able to get over, yet: I can’t do that thick, stringy bile/saliva vomit consistency. Makes me dry heave. I put like, 30 layers of newspaper/paper towel between me and that stuff when I have to clean it!

 

[twelvetigers]

You get used to the gross stuff. You really do.