Vet Times

Tag: Euthanasia

  • Dealing with a dreaded ‘Christmas clear-out’

    Dealing with a dreaded ‘Christmas clear-out’

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    While Christmas is, on the whole, a joyous time of year, for vets it can be quite the opposite. Besides the expected chocolate poisonings and other festive fiends, we also get what some vets may refer to as the “Christmas clear-out”. For those who haven’t twigged, this is the inevitable increase in euthanasias at this…

  • On call for Christmas

    On call for Christmas

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    It’s a clear sign of impending Christmas time when client gifts, in the form of those jumbo tins of Quality Street, start creeping back into the practice. If that’s not enough of a festive indicator, the diary being absolutely blocked solid with MASSIVELY URGENT things that absolutely must be done before Christmas is a sure…

  • Perks of the job

    Perks of the job

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    I always thought it would be a rewarding job. That was one of the reasons for doing it, after all. I don’t mean financially – although, when I was training, I thought the money would be nice, because everyone knows vets do alright, don’t they? After I qualified and calculated the hours I worked compared…

  • Physician agency – striking the right balance

    Physician agency – striking the right balance

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    I was terrified when I started my consulting career. As I walked out to call in my first client, I was full of doubt, just as everyone is. Could I do it? I wasn’t very good in most social situations – was this the right career for me? In the end, consulting actually came naturally…

  • Home visits: a window into curious clients

    Home visits: a window into curious clients

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    It is a truth universally acknowledged – people are weird. It’s something that becomes clear within a few days (or even hours) of any job that has significant interaction with that terrifying, unpredictable section of humanity known by the strangely bland collective term “the public”. Actually, it’s pretty clear in almost any job – except…

  • Cats versus dogs – the ultimate speciesism?

    Cats versus dogs – the ultimate speciesism?

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    It seems ages ago now, but the August bank holiday brought many treats this year – it was sunny, I didn’t have to pick up a dead cat from the gutter and a special edition of This Morning aired. For anyone who has had to recuperate from surgery like me then This Morning becomes a…

  • On killing

    On killing

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    “It must be the hardest part of your job.” In my early career I would nod solemnly, sigh, and say “yes, it is,” while I thought about the myriad other things about my job I was finding harder than euthanasia: challenging ongoing clinical cases out-of-hours work the stress of responsibility the fear I was blundering…

  • Arguments

    Arguments

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    I am not a naturally confrontational person – I am British, slightly shy and not especially self-confident, which means I am effectively Arthur Dent (except I prefer coffee to tea). I am generally pretty popular with clients, though it makes my humility gland twinge to admit it, and I used to joke this was because…

  • A defence of generalism

    A defence of generalism

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    Ahh, veterinary medicine. Look at it, stretching out over the horizon – so pretty. Look at all those referral centres. Of course, I remember back when it was all fields. Back in my day, you could be a proper mixed vet, expressing anal glands with the lingering scent of cowpat on your fingers, and an…

  • Human euthanasia

    Human euthanasia

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    This is a personal blog, filled with personal opinions, and it’s not that funny. Skip to the one about CPD if you fancy a chuckle, and, as ever, if you strongly object to an opinion of mine, bear in mind it was probably implanted by space aliens, so it’s not my fault. *** “We’re so lucky…