What if?

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causticus

causticus

OSU CVM c/0 2014
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Got into one of those fun "what if" discussions the other day at work... I thought we could use another lighthearted thread to distract us from our impending interviews.

If you could choose ONE species you would never have to work with, what would you choose?

I went with cats, because they can be so unpredictable. Someone else went with horses because they are also unpredictable...and could cause a bit more damage than your average house cat. Another one said Hippopotami :laugh:

What would be your "one species?" (And Homo sapiens don't count, I think that's pretty much a given for most of us 😉)
 
Tarantulas/spiders.

I don't mind the little ones in my home (though I do like to relocate them). I try not to kill them if I can avoid it, but I do not want to do an exam on your huge ass hairy tarantula.

I know that the situation would probably never really come up for most of us, but I shadow an exotics vet and I asked him once if he had ever had people bring their tarantulas in and he said he has received calls about them over the years... no thank you.
 
GellaBella said:
Tarantulas/spiders.

I don't mind the little ones in my home (though I do like to relocate them). I try not to kill them if I can avoid it, but I do not want to do an exam on your huge ass hairy tarantula.

I know that the situation would probably never really come up for most of us, but I shadow an exotics vet and I asked him once if he had ever had people bring their tarantulas in and he said he has received calls about them over the years... no thank you.
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i second this one
 
GellaBella said:
Tarantulas/spiders.

I don't mind the little ones in my home (though I do like to relocate them). I try not to kill them if I can avoid it, but I do not want to do an exam on your huge ass hairy tarantula.

I know that the situation would probably never really come up for most of us, but I shadow an exotics vet and I asked him once if he had ever had people bring their tarantulas in and he said he has received calls about them over the years... no thank you.
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Eww...Enough said!
I might have to third this one.
I was going to say chickens/turkeys until I saw your post, but spiders really skeeve me out.
 
Flesh eating bacteria - because they eat your flesh
 
I am dumb. I thought this was about if you could only ever have to work with one species which would it be.

Anyway, I agree with the spiders thing, although I have never encountered one in a veterinary setting that wasn't stepped on intentionally. Or snakes... yuck.

Also, I like cats because they are unpredictable and hardy.
 
Sophie10 said:
Cats! For the following reasons:

a. They are so cute.
b. They can withstand so much more treatment than other animals and are incredibly resilient.
c. They have such interesting diseases- Renal failure, FIP, Uretheral obstruction, stomatitis.
d. I want to be able to work on my own animals and they are both cats.
e. Kittens!!!
e. The cat overpopulation problem sucks and is serious and I feel like I could do some good as a vet.
f. They are interesting compared to dogs. Eg, mast cell tumors in cats.

My second choice would probably be goats or dogs.
Click to expand...

This sounds like u want to work with cats... ? I love working with cats also. i started interning at a feline only clinic just so i could work with more cats because my other hospital seems to have an overload of dogs that come in.
what do you NOT want to work with?

*edit* haha sophie you are funny. im keeping ur quote cuz i agree with all the +'s about working with cats!
 
Owners.


Entomology is my backup plan, so I'm totally cool with spiders.
 
I'd have to go with parrots/macaws/exotic birds. They definitely make me nervous - I always think of how easy it would be for one of their huge beaks to take off a finger. :scared:
 
Can I be a little more specific and say dogs under 25 lbs? I'll even make up a species for them: Canis annoyingyappypurselandsharkis.
 
vnair2 said:
Flesh eating bacteria - because they eat your flesh
Click to expand...

I work with these guys on a regular basis. Really, they're not so bad once you get to know them - they are just misunderstood! 😀

I never thought of Tarantulas, that is a good one. I am surprised people actually bring these to the vet! How do you know when your spider is sick??

I agree with the bird one as well, and I am a parrot owner if that says anything! They are moody, chompy little bastards. And doubly scary to work with because they are so fragile!
 
I'm going to have to say cats. I am really allergic to them. I'd have to keep a stock of drugs on hand just for me, or maintain some sort of massive positive pressure system and HEPA filters with some major vacuum behind them all over the place. I was sent to work in the cat room at a clinic I worked in one summer. Looked like I had spent 30 minutes in a CS gas chamber.
 
nyanko said:
Can I be a little more specific and say dogs under 25 lbs? I'll even make up a species for them: Canis annoyingyappypurselandsharkis.
Click to expand...


Make it dogs under 20 pounds, and I'll agree with that too! My girl is 25lbs, and by far, one of the best dogs I've ever owned.
 
I think I'd have to say chameleons. They don't freak me out and I could (hopefully) get over spider issues, but it seems like if one is sick it WILL die and there is nothing that I could do as a vet to convince it otherwise. Talk about demoralizing
 
Aw... but tarantulas and reptiles are awesome?!

I'd probably go with... some kind of large farm animal. I volunteered at a farm for a while, and despite loving the sheep, cows, pigs, and horses... I never really got completely comfortable with the creatures that are up to more than 10 times my weight. Super big dogs (think wolfhounds, my goodness!) are great but they also will still make me nervous come the time I have to treat any.
 
I am slightly afraid of toads. I think it came from doing horse stalls when it was dark out and I scooped up what I thought was a piece of manure and it hopped at me! Terrifying!!!😱

Although, I don't know who would pay for a vet to see their toad.
 
I would have to say psittacines as well. They are absolutely beautiful, but also unpredictable and bitey. One snap and goodbye index finger or just a whole hell of a lot of pain. I love working with them in a pathological setting, their diseases are totally interesting, but I draw the line in a clinical setting. They scare me too much. Cows and horses I can do, psittacines, no way.
 
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CATS!!! and horses since they're almost like gigantic cats. They just always have me on edge cause I don't trust them. lol
 
Ferrets! I may or may not have a slightly irrational fear of them. I always think of them like hairy snakes masquerading as mammals, and when I hold one I am afraid its going to slither out of my hands and break itself...or eat my face off.
 
Allthingsequine said:
Ferrets! I may or may not have a slightly irrational fear of them. I always think of them like hairy snakes masquerading as mammals, and when I hold one I am afraid its going to slither out of my hands and break itself...or eat my face off.
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I hate to say I laughed at this, but...well, a giggle may have escaped at the slithering part. I'm also so terrified when I'm treating them that their weak little wiggly spine is just going to snap as they bend themselves in half. I think they're pretty cool little weasels for the most part though, as long as I don't have to take them home with me!
 
I agree with birds. You can't tell they're sick until they're dying and then examining it may kill it!
 
We had an injured porcupine once at the emergency vet clinic I work at in Fairbanks. I would be happy if I never had to handle one of those again!
 
Snakes, definitely snakes. The lack of legs just freaks me out.
 
I don't think I'll ever work with spiders, so I'm going with cats.

They're bitey, scratchy, and can twist around in their own skin to bite/scratch you. Plus when they do bite people the wound gets quite infected without an expensive trip to the human doctor. Wouldn't miss cats at all.

I'd be a very happy rabbit only vet.
 
Pigs kind of scare me, not going to lie. They are cute when they're small, but they're so incredibly LOUD when they are screaming, it can be just blood curdling. We had some research pigs come into the pathology lab today while we were on the necropsy floor and they were deafening. Plus I hear all the stories about not falling down in front of a bunch of them and that sort of thing. And their manure smells too close to human "manure." No thanks!
 
Cats. Hands down.

I don't trust any cat that doesn't live with me. My older cat is the love of my life, and my other one is a lovely dude too. I love to live in the presence of cats.

But I find cats to be extremely irrational when stressed. I'll take a big aggressive dog over a 6 lb aggressive cat any day.
 
Well I used to think that way about cats. But in my last clinic I got attacked by a pit bull...got sent to the emergency room and had 18 stitches and physical therapy to regain use of my thumb...so yeah Im not worried about dogs...just pit bulls and Ill take on a cat over a pit bull anyday.
 
For all the psittaphobes (not sure if that is even a word!!), thought I would attach this parrot video to convince you to be more accepting of the avian species 😀. I have an African Grey parrot who has convinced me that his species may be one of the most intelligent of all animals, and therefore, would make an exciting, interesting, and challenging animal patient!!!
http://www.ted.com/talks/einstein_the_parrot_talks_and_squawks.html
 
Can I be really really specific and say shar peis? They are the meanest, nastiest dogs I've ever come across (at least, the ones I've come across have been mean and nasty).

I actually love working with cats. At the vet I used to work for I was the designated cat person. Whenever a cat got out of hand I took over and I loved it. They're just silly and temperamental, which I love 🙂.

Horses can be a bit intimidating to work with, especially if they have really bad ground manners.

And I have a parrot (albeit a small one, but still) so I'm fine working with them. Spiders I don't like, but I highly doubt I'll ever have to work with them, even as a wildlife vet.
 
Unfortunately, I'm going to go with cats. I'm allergic, they have pointy ends everywhere (and are not afraid to use them if you so much as look at them wrong), not to mention that I think they smell terrible - their feces smell worse than baby crap.

But since life is filled with cats, I think a more reasonable answer would be hamsters. Silly gits look like they're asleep, then the second you touch them they sink their chompers into your finger. They scare me! :laugh:
 
Electrophile said:
Pigs kind of scare me, not going to lie. They are cute when they're small, but they're so incredibly LOUD when they are screaming, it can be just blood curdling. We had some research pigs come into the pathology lab today while we were on the necropsy floor and they were deafening. Plus I hear all the stories about not falling down in front of a bunch of them and that sort of thing. And their manure smells too close to human "manure." No thanks!
Click to expand...
My mom grew up with pigs and my aunt still has scars on her leg from a hungry boar. Mom said she went out to feed them and made the mistake of putting her leg over the fence first. I have some teeth marks on my boots from my monogastric nutrition class. One bit me on the butt when I squatted down to scoop the left over feed out of the trough.
 
Healthy puppies. They annoy me to no end. They're fine if they're really sick, but otherwise I'd rather never deal with them.

I'll take cats in any form, though. There's an art to reading their behavior, and once you've got it they very clearly tell you what they're thinking. I could be perfectly happy working exclusively with cats.
 
lyndaelyzoo said:
For all the psittaphobes (not sure if that is even a word!!), thought I would attach this parrot video to convince you to be more accepting of the avian species 😀. I have an African Grey parrot who has convinced me that his species may be one of the most intelligent of all animals, and therefore, would make an exciting, interesting, and challenging animal patient!!!
http://www.ted.com/talks/einstein_the_parrot_talks_and_squawks.html
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong - love 'em, but they still make me nervous! Anyone ever looked up Alex the Parrot before? It's definitely worth a search on Youtube or the Google-machine. Talk about smart!
 
NittanyKitty said:
Don't get me wrong - love 'em, but they still make me nervous! Anyone ever looked up Alex the Parrot before? It's definitely worth a search on Youtube or the Google-machine. Talk about smart!
Click to expand...

awww i believe alex the parrot has been talked about on this forum before. i think there's even a memorial post from when he died. 🙁
 
VeganSoprano said:
I'll take cats in any form, though. There's an art to reading their behavior, and once you've got it they very clearly tell you what they're thinking. I could be perfectly happy working exclusively with cats.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. I've worked with so many cats, I can read them easily now. It's also important to remember that, with cats, you are not going to be the boss, you just have to convince them to work with you. I love working with angry little kitties. Ferals are my favorite 🙂
 
What's with all the pig hating? I love how curious and prolific and efficient (and tasty) they are! Just about perfect, no?

I've never had any problems with boars, but also I've never dealt with ones with tusks...

To summarize: Don't hate on pigs! (But cats, spiders, and toads--OK with me)
 
causticus said:
Got into one of those fun "what if" discussions the other day at work... I thought we could use another lighthearted thread to distract us from our impending interviews.

If you could choose ONE species you would never have to work with, what would you choose?

I went with cats, because they can be so unpredictable. Someone else went with horses because they are also unpredictable...and could cause a bit more damage than your average house cat. Another one said Hippopotami :laugh:

What would be your "one species?" (And Homo sapiens don't count, I think that's pretty much a given for most of us 😉)
Click to expand...

Who said hippopotami? I am slightly offended! 😀
I would have to say parasites. Yuck!
 
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im going to say spiders to, nothing else really bothers me...i hate spiders though! Or more than two cats at a time. Cats are evil in numbers, The clinic i work at has about 50-60 cats living in the building because they were on the pounds death-list.
 
It's a toss up between rabbits and ferrets...

I'd have to go with ferrets, I had a bad experience when I was little and it never did go away. (My friends ferret latched itself onto my thumb for about 10 min... her dad finally had to come pry the things jaw open... I was not a happy 5 yr old!)

Rabbits freak me out because I feel like I'm going to break them, especially when they spaz out! I like them otherwise. 🙂
 
Nutria. They are the closest things on the planet to ROUS (thats Rodents Of Unusual Size for you youngsters) and I'm convinced that given the opportunity, they'd go straight for your jugular.

Javelina are a close second on my list.
 
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Mereafterthough said:
CATS!!! and horses since they're almost like gigantic cats. They just always have me on edge cause I don't trust them. lol
Click to expand...

I had to laugh at this...because I'm planning to be an equine vet, and if that doesn't work out I would be a cat-only vet. They are my two favorite species!

As far as ones I would like to never work with...llamas and alpacas probably top my list.
 
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