Vet Times

Tag: Social Media

  • Is social media the new saviour of lost pets?

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    I was surprised to learn our local authority is getting rid of its dog warden, and that all strays found in the area will be dealt with by the neighbouring council’s warden instead. This means more dogs for one warden to collect and, for owners, further to travel to find your dog… and who would think there wasn’t…

  • Crowdfunding: the new way to pay vet bills?

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    I’m seeing a rise in crowdfunding for veterinary treatment via social media. Some of it is from legitimate charities for certain cases, but also a lot from private individuals who can’t afford treatment. I’ve seen some appeals via the GoFundMe and Indiegogo websites, and others tell me they’ve seen such pages on JustGiving, which launched its own crowdfunding tool in…

  • What is normal in the veterinary world?

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    As veterinary students (and probably later as vets), we have a very distorted view of “normal”. Exam season (for Glasgow) is now over, but during revision, the social media stakes noticeably increase. While many of my non-veterinary friends share photos of their piles of notes captioned “T-minus 2 weeks”, “Revision hell” or the like, in…

  • The lost art of tortoise husbandry

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    In the role of client, I found myself praised and then shamed in equal measure when taking my tortoise for a check-up this week. Being a paranoid RVN pet owner, I was getting a bit worried because Bridget seemed considerably smaller than a friend’s female tortoise of the same type. After being quizzed on her housing, feeding,…

  • Cytology better than swabs for culture in cases of otitis externa

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    This one’s a little controversial, but some evidence exists that taking swabs for culture from cases of otitis externa can lead to poor reproducibility. Swabs taken from the same ear may produce different isolates, and even when the isolates agree, they may have different (antibiotic) susceptibility patterns (Bloom, 2015; Graham-Mize et al, 2004; and Schick, 2007). Bloom (2015),…

  • Get qualified

    Get qualified

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    According to the RCVS there is no such thing as an unqualified veterinary nurse, and thanks to the Royal Charter we now have defined roles of RVN, SVN and care assistants. This is a massive advance, but the situation has left a number of unqualified, yet experienced people feeling marginalised. In recognition of this, however,…

  • Self-confessed expert syndrome

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    The world has changed enormously since I qualified as a vet in the nineties, but my first taste of the “brave new world” of technology was when Glasgow vet school installed a 40-strong computer room, all connected up to the internet and the then-new World Wide Web. These computers used NCSA Mosaic to view web…

  • Election fever

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    Living in a democracy is taking its toll at the moment… Sadly I’m back on sick leave with my back, so I have plenty of time to peruse the candidates for both RCVS VN Council and the general election. If I was still at work it would be hard to keep up! Luckily, even with…

  • Crash prevention

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    Following the devastating news of the Germanwings crash last week, the co-pilot’s torn-up sick note and the early implication of mental health issues (later suspected to instead be eyesight-related), I witnessed a shocking flare-up of defence regarding mental health on social media. My gut reaction was of absolute disgust. Whether said sick note referred to…

  • Aural haematomas: an alternative to surgery

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    It occurred to me the other day I hadn’t seen an aural haematoma for some time. Saying that, I now expect three to come along in Monday-morning surgery. I also recall a time when we immediately resorted to surgery as the primary treatment. However, lately we have drained the ear and injected dexamethasone into the space. If you…