VMDiva

With the holiday season upon us, it’s important to remember our furry friends and keep them safe! Below is a adapted list of holiday hazards from the American Animal Hospital Association. With a little preparation and pet proofing, the holidays can prove as enjoyable to your pets as they are to you!

Common Holiday Pet Hazards

Bones: The holiday turkey or chicken will leave a lot of tantalizing bones, but don’t feed them to your pet. Beware of steak bones, too. Small bones or bone chips can lodge in the throat, stomach, and intestinal tract.

Holiday Plants: Holly and mistletoe are extremely poisonous when eaten. The lovely poinsettia may not be truly poisonous but its milky white sap and leaves can certainly cause severe gastric distress. With so many hybrid varieties available each year, the best approach is to keep the plants out of your pet’s reach. Don’t forget lilies are toxic to our feline friends!

Electrical Cords: Holiday lights mean more electrical cords for kittens and puppies to chew. Be sure you have cords secured and out of the way.

Candles: Lighted candles should never be left unattended and that is even more important if left at kitty’s eye level or within puppy’s chewing zone. An exuberant tail or a swat of a paw can turn candles and hot wax into an instant disaster. Anchor candles securely and away from curious faces and feet.

Pine Needles: Check around holiday trees frequently. Ingested pine needles can puncture your pet’s intestines.

Christmas Tree: Make sure your tree is well secured. If you have a tree-climbing cat or large dog with a happy tail, anchor the top of the tree to the wall, using strong cord or rope. Preservatives often used in the water in a tree stand can cause gastric upsets, so be sure it is inaccessible or not used. Avoid sugar and aspirin additives in the water as well.

Ornaments: Sharp or breakable ornaments, dreidels, and even aluminum foil should be kept out of reach. String objects, especially tinsel and ribbons, are to be safeguarded at all costs. They are thin and sharp and can wrap around intestines or ball up in the stomach.

Stress and Company: With everyone coming and going, watch out for open doors and sneaky pets. Make sure your pets have updated collars and tags on in case of escape. Microchipping your pet will also help if your pet escapes. All pets should have at least two forms of id on them at all times. Ask guests to keep an eye out for pets under foot and remind them that sometimes your normally friendly dog or cat may be less than willing to deal with enthusiastic children and rooms full of unfamiliar people. Provide a special quiet place with a blanket and fresh water for your pets to retreat to when the festivities get too stressful.

• Before traveling with your pets, make sure they have all required vaccinations and health papers. If they are on medications, have enough to last  through the trip plus an additional 5 day supply to be safe.
• When traveling by air, be aware of airline restrictions regarding outside temperature and number of animals allowed per flight. Someone may have already booked a pet, and there are no more allowed. Each airline handles pet differently, please contact your carrier for more information.
• Remember that even the most gentle and trusting pet may bite when in pain. Train your dog to a basket muzzle by placing treats in the bottom of it. Basket muzzles provide protection for you and anyone else helping with your pet and allow them to pant and breathe easily. You can also use a soft towel or cloth strips and remove it as soon as possible so the pet can breathe more easily. When dealing with cats simply placing a thick towel over their head may calm them down and decrease the chances of being bitten.
• Too many treats during the holidays can expand your pet’s waist line, so monitor the amount of goodies and remember that food is not love and extra attention will give you the same reaction as a treat.

You’re one step closer to admission to veterinary school and one thing remains: Your interview. The nausea-inducing most nerve wracking moment of your life. But with a little preparation it can prove successful. Here’s what you need to know:

Relax

If you approach your interview confidently, that confidence will be palpable to your interviewers.  A few deep breaths prior to your interview will help clear your head. Remember your interviewers understand your nervousness and won’t hold it against you. Every other applicant is as nervous as you.

Dress Well

Men should wear a suit and tie. Women should wear a suit, blouse and trousers, or blouse and skirt. Wear comfortable shoes as you may walk around the hospital and campus during your interview process. No Sneakers! Tattoos are becoming more acceptable and I have seen veterinary students with full sleeves of tattoos. Tattoos should not affect your interview unless you have a naked woman on your forehead. Piercings are prevalent but if you have excessive facial piercings consider taking the most unusual out prior to your interview.

Be prepared to discuss any grades below a “B” on your transcript

This one’s a gimme. You are being compared against the cream of the crop.

Focus on Your Interviewers

I have heard firsthand accounts from admission committees that, because the application process is so competitive, something as seemingly insignificant as looking at your watch during your interview can result in denial. Focus on your interviewers, make eye contact, and don’t fidget. Shake hands before and after the interview and thank them for their time. Don’t ask questions unless they ask if you have any, then, focus the questions on their professional lives. There is limited opportunity for written thank yous to your interviewers. You will be lucky if you remember what you said during your interview let alone the interviewer’s name. A written thank you can never hurt your chances and is always good etiquette.

Be prepared to Answer the Obvious Questions

• Why do you want to be a veterinarian?
• What sets you apart from other applicants? What contributions can you make to the veterinary field?
• Tell me about your most memorable experience while working with a veterinarian?
• Are you a member of PETA? Do you oppose lab animal use?
• If you are a cat breeder, you’d better be able to name breeds of cats.

Take Your Time to Think About the Less Obvious Questions

• What was the most difficult moment in your life?
• How does your background influence how you approach the human-animal bond?
• What do you do in your free time? Do you have any hobbies?
• What is the last book you read?

Not every applicant is given the chance to interview. Knock ‘em dead!

Changing ideas on work and life have been festering in the veterinary field for years. The now female dominated profession (80% of new graduates are women) has swung the pendulum back in the direction of family oriented work schedules. Most new graduates do not want, nor will they accept, jobs that require the 60-80 hour weeks the baby boomer generation has set forth. They are looking for a reasonable and oftentimes flexible schedule to adequately balance against family life. Baby boomers, the typical demographic for male practice owners, have had mixed receptions to this idea.  Some have acknowledged that “old way” of practicing veterinary medicine with all night surgeries and lack of sleep coupled with strained family relations is not only undesirable but sometimes detrimental. This is especially the case when a woman must consider balancing work with raising children. Others cling to the mantra “I paid my dues, so should she” or “This generation is lazy.” These ideas are preposterous. The push toward family life comes from the children of the divorced parents from the 70′s and 80′s. Perhaps this new generation sees the strain living the “veterinary lifestyle” can have on a relationship. All this being said I came to realize: It’s going to be difficult converting the older clientele to this idea as well.

I recently had a client demand, rather belligerently, that because she was such a good client she deserved another veterinarian’s home phone number so she could call on weekends. Huh? Had my customer service skills failed, I would have retorted with “Do you know your physician’s home phone number? How about your dentist’s?” Regrettably, I refrained. After mulling this over, I realized there is a population of veterinary clientele who have grown accustomed to having their veterinarian available at all times. While this may have been a necessity years ago, the advent of overnight emergency clinics and referral hospitals makes this obsolete. I would much rather have my own pets at a 24 hour care facility being treated and monitored by veterinarians who haven’t just rolled from bed. I would also much rather have a client’s pet, who is sick enough they called me in the middle of the night/weekend, at a facility where it can receive continuous supervised care. This is in the animal’s best interest.

Veterinarians too long have positioned themselves differently from other medical professionals: cramming in extra appointments, working a full day then getting up in the middle of the night for emergency calls, never refusing an emergency.  These, one can argue, are good qualities. I agree to a limit. Knowing when to defer, when to refer, and when to confer is equally important. Your family doctor does not meet you at the office at 10pm. If you call with an illness, you are sent to the well staffed emergency room ready to handle any illness. To be treated as a knowledgeable professional one must behave like one.

Veterinarians must maintain a balance between work and personal life or we will see the same high turnover and burnout that has afflicted many before us.

The recent ban on cat declaws in Berkeley and the current legislative efforts to create bans in other California towns may have unintended consequences. The concern with elective procedures such as cat declaws is a topic of debate within the veterinary profession.  Most veterinarians still perform declaws nationwide and help cat owners decide whether to pursue a declaw or not. Many owners who elect the have their feline friend declawed do so with full disclosure to the discomfort the cat will feel postoperatively. It is not a decision to be taken lightly. It is also not a decision to be made by bureaucrats.

Cats are destructive of no fault of their own. Cats sharpen their claws on the best available substrate, which unfortunately many times is your new sofa, clothing, moulding, etc. In a Utopian world, owners would have infinite tolerance for cat scratches and destructive behavior. We don’t live in Utopia. One can argue right or wrong but the issue remains. I fear many more cats will be forced outdoors where they face the perils of cars, predators, and disease. It is known outdoor cats have a significantly shorter lifespan than indoor cats. I also fear that more adult cats, and therefore less adoptable cats, will end up in a shelter situation. The repercussions of an influx of cats into a shelter will most likely result in an increase of euthanasias. I predict a repeal of the ban in several years.