Vet students and veterinarians, what are the grossest things you’ve seen in the field?

[FutureVet96]

Mine without a doubt is parasite removal. It makes my skin crawl. I am starting to watch videos to numb myself to it, but it’s still hard. It’s weird because I can handle pretty much anything else. I’m especially fascinated by surgery. I thought it’d be interesting to see what gross things others have seen. Also, is it normal to be grossed out by things? I feel like I’m alone and I shouldn’t become a vet because of it. I’m the kind of person that will shudder/get goosebumps for a little bit, then I’m okay.

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[CalliopeDVM]

Also, is it normal to be grossed out by things? I feel like I’m alone and I shouldn’t become a vet because of it.

Every vet I know has something they're squicked out about. It's different things for different people -- maggots, vomit, eyes, lice etc.

 

[pp9]

Every vet I know has something they're squicked out about. It's different things for different people -- maggots, vomit, eyes, lice etc.

Not a vet yet, but...yep, maggots for me. And pigeon louse flies. I see a lot (too much...) of both with wildlife being the majority of the patients I deal with. I also have issues with expressing anal glands. It's not the smell, although that's not awesome either, but the sensation of expressing them really does make me start heaving sometimes (and yes, I've heard the whole 'Well you shouldn't be a vet then' thing plenty of times). I haven't run into anything else that really makes me sick yet.

 

[DVMDream]

Every vet I know has something they're squicked out about. It's different things for different people -- maggots, vomit, eyes, lice etc.

Can not do maggots. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope and NOPE.

 

[DVMDream]

Burned puppy was probably one of the worst things I have seen... had hot water intentionally thrown onto him.

I still think the horrid grade 4 periodontal diseases where the teeth are being held into the jaw by the bridging tartar are awful. The smell is horrendous. The pain has to be excruciating. To the point that I feel that any owner who allows their dog's teeth to get to this stage is guilty of animal neglect at a minimum and really to me sits more along with animal abuse.

 

[racccjlm]

When I was a fourth year we had a bull come in with a huge intermuscular hind leg abscess. We lanced it, and the putrid rotting smell filled the entire room as chunks of purulent material exploded outward and splattered on the floor. It was so big we used a garden hose to lavage/dilute it out as the bull was standing in the shoot. He seemed much happier the minute it was lanced.

Every vet I know has something they're squicked out about. It's different things for different people -- maggots, vomit, eyes, lice etc.

What??? Eyes?!

 

[JustPaws]

When I was a fourth year we had a bull come in with a huge intermuscular hind leg abscess. We lanced it, and the putrid rotting smell filled the entire room as chunks of purulent material exploded outward and splattered on the floor. It was so big we used a garden hose to lavage/dilute it out as the bull was standing in the shoot. He seemed much happier the minute it was lanced.



What??? Eyes?!

This is amazingly disgusting.
Randomly, I thought eyes were terrible when I first became a tech but it was pretty easy to get over.

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[JaynaAli]

What??? Eyes?!

Spoiler: Gross eyes. Ugh. :barf:

 

[Coquette22]

I get slightly squicked by eye stuff, but mostly it's because of "oh ****, eye thing, what do I do?"

Maggots are my nope. Can't do it. Or can do it, but feel like retching and showering the entire time.

 

[Trilt]

Unexpected bone grinding squicks me out. Fine with eyes, maggots (sidenote: loooove pulling bots out of things), blood and gore and gross infected stuff, yada yada. But that grinding feeling without me being prepared for it runs a shiver down my spine every time.

 

[Coquette22]

Unexpected bone grinding squicks me out. Fine with eyes, maggots (sidenote: loooove pulling bots out of things), blood and gore and gross infected stuff, yada yada. But that grinding feeling without me being prepared for it runs a shiver down my spine every time.

It took me some time to get comfortable with dental extractions because of that bone scraping/drilling sensation. It still makes me shudder a bit.

 

[nicrinke]

I've only just applied to vet school, so I'm not a vet or a vet student, but I have been a technician for almost 10 years.

I would say the gnarliest thing in my memory is what we deem the "cheeseball calf." We brought a cow into the chute that had not been doing well. Upon palpation, my boss discovered that she had a decomposing calf in her uterus that she was never able to birth; she evidently never dilated for some unknown reason. My boss got wise and said "you want to be vet? here you go" and so I sleeved up and scooped that decomposed calf out by hand. It had become an amorphous pile of tissue and bones and smelled like nothing you can imagine. Ah, yes. I'll never forget it.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I've only just applied to vet school, so I'm not a vet or a vet student, but I have been a technician for almost 10 years.

I would say the gnarliest thing in my memory is what we deem the "cheeseball calf." We brought a cow into the chute that had not been doing well. Upon palpation, my boss discovered that she had a decomposing calf in her uterus that she was never able to birth; she evidently never dilated for some unknown reason. My boss got wise and said "you want to be vet? here you go" and so I sleeved up and scooped that decomposed calf out by hand. It had become an amorphous pile of tissue and bones and smelled like nothing you can imagine. Ah, yes. I'll never forget it.

I once posted a rancid necrotizing metritis with black lumpy baby soup inside. I'm with you.

 

[DVMDream]

I've only just applied to vet school, so I'm not a vet or a vet student, but I have been a technician for almost 10 years.

I would say the gnarliest thing in my memory is what we deem the "cheeseball calf." We brought a cow into the chute that had not been doing well. Upon palpation, my boss discovered that she had a decomposing calf in her uterus that she was never able to birth; she evidently never dilated for some unknown reason. My boss got wise and said "you want to be vet? here you go" and so I sleeved up and scooped that decomposed calf out by hand. It had become an amorphous pile of tissue and bones and smelled like nothing you can imagine. Ah, yes. I'll never forget it.

This reminds me of the snake I saw in vet school. A viviparous snake that had never given birth. So we took her to surgery and removed so much necrotic, disgusting, mummified and decomposed baby snake goop. So gross. And the smell basically permeated the entire surgery ward and had most clinicians avoiding the place like the plague. Never again. Nope. No thank you.

 

[pp9]

Thought of this thread as I was treating (euthanizing) a wild groundhog covered in abscesses that either had rabies or an infection that spread to the brain. I've never seen so many abscesses on one animal.

 

[LetItSnow]

The grossest thing I've ever seen is when a client showed me their fungal infection after I said "this can be contagious to people."

Hands down. Nothing is grosser than humans. Maggot-infested wounds, purulent abscesses, bones sticking out (I once had a person bring their dog for euth after a car accident - head was cleaved in half), cuterebra, whatever.... nothing is worse than people. And people smells. Barf.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

The grossest thing I've ever seen is when a client showed me their fungal infection after I said "this can be contagious to people."

Hands down. Nothing is grosser than humans. Maggot-infested wounds, purulent abscesses, bones sticking out (I once had a person bring their dog for euth after a car accident - head was cleaved in half), cuterebra, whatever.... nothing is worse than people. And people smells. Barf.

Yes, people barf too.....far worse than animal barf.

 

[racccjlm]

.... nothing is worse than people. And people smells. Barf.

Had a guy drop his pants once to show me the pustular rash he thought he'd gotten from his dog. "Ummm sir...sir, please, sir...please stop...sir...I don't need to see any mo...SIR!!!!...please re-pants yourself!" Did NOT get into further details, and shipped him off to his human doctor.

 

[pp9]

The grossest thing I've ever seen is when a client showed me their fungal infection after I said "this can be contagious to people."

Hands down. Nothing is grosser than humans. Maggot-infested wounds, purulent abscesses, bones sticking out (I once had a person bring their dog for euth after a car accident - head was cleaved in half), cuterebra, whatever.... nothing is worse than people. And people smells. Barf.

Oh wow, that must have been horrible for the owner.