Vet Times

Tag: Dogs

  • Blue dog and Blackfish

    Blue dog and Blackfish

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    For the second post in my self-imposed “communication month”, I have a Netflix-based idea. I finally watched Blackfish as I’m working my way through my playlist on the app. If you’re unaware, this is a documentary concerning the capturing of wild whales and cetaceans, and keeping them in captivity to perform for the public. Blackfish…

  • Eat, sleep, vet, repeat

    Eat, sleep, vet, repeat

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    Many aspects of lockdown are similar to being on-call: travel is restricted to staying in your local area, and, apart from shopping for food or exercising (especially with the weather still feeling rather wintery), most people are largely house-bound. That’s not to mention the fatigue and constant low-level anxiety – so trying to find things…

  • Silver linings in a blue January

    Silver linings in a blue January

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    With altered plans and festivities limited to just one day in England, it feels like Christmas came and went even more swiftly than usual this year – so perhaps the post-Christmas blues may not be so noticeable. However, it is these – together with the poor weather, failure to stick to New Year’s resolutions and…

  • We’ll look after them

    We’ll look after them

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    Since the beginning of the pandemic, many small animal vets adopted a “no clients in the building” policy. To begin with, we didn’t like it. Everything took longer, we ran back and forth between practice and car park, history taking was stilted, the practice phone lines were jammed and we often ended up running around…

  • A good Job Decision

    A good Job Decision

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    I’m going to end this year’s blogs – my ninth year of blogging coming up in 2021 – with an introduction. I sadly lost Ebony at the end of February this year, and doing lockdown with no pet was very, very hard. But I was choosing to be sensible as I was planning a house…

  • A dog is for life, not just for Christmas… or lockdown

    A dog is for life, not just for Christmas… or lockdown

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    In the first lockdown in March, we saw a surge in puppy purchases. With vets up and down the country struggling with staffing issues, and trying desperately to heed RCVS and BVA advice to see emergencies only, new owners requesting puppy vaccines just added to that pressure. We waited with trepidation, expecting the craze to…

  • Lockdown 2.0 as a vet

    Lockdown 2.0 as a vet

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    During the last lockdown, I wrote about the struggles of working in a veterinary practice through COVID. And while that has changed slightly, it has still been an extremely tough year for all members of staff throughout the profession. In March, practices up and down the country resorted to emergencies only, and postponed all routine…

  • Pandemic puppies

    Pandemic puppies

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    It is with much mirth they read the many comments that the childbirth explosion after the first lockdown will be made up entirely of first-borns. Parents, exhausted from home schooling, smirking at what is to come for those who did not have to be a 24-hour entertainment centre seven days a week for their children…

  • The new etiquette of dog walking, post COVID-19

    The new etiquette of dog walking, post COVID-19

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    Having been lucky enough to spend the past few days in Cornwall – at a time of year where dog walkers are plentiful and you can hardly take two steps without tripping over something small and fluffy – it’s struck me that COVID-19 has not only shaped the way we interact with one another, but…

  • The borrowers?

    The borrowers?

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    Having written on what I see as the perils of the popularity of “borrowing” pets via apps and websites, I was saddened to see that, with the COVID-19 puppy boom, these are now being seen as a “normal” alternative to doggy day care. A sad narrative of puppy farm dogs with behavioural issues and ill…