veterinaryrambles

[veterinaryrambles]

So for anyone interested in attaining higher education, this bill would utterly gut all of our student loan systems we currently have and replace them with things that are much worse, like lifetime caps on borrowing (have fun trying to do medical school on $150K lifetime!), even longer repayment windows, and eradication of our current income-based repayment plans.

This could wind up quadrupling my current income-based payment, which would result in nearly a full paycheck just to loans every month. That’s just me, and I could survive it… but anyone doing an internship right now? Anyone trying to get into veterinary or medical school without independently wealthy family? Anyone repaying loans on their own without a partner or with a rural job?

SCREAM AT YOUR SENATORS TO STOP THIS NOW!

The American people overwhelmingly oppose Trump’s plan. In fact, a recent poll found that only 14% of voters support cutting social services to fund an extension of Trump’s tax cuts. That’s why Republicans passed the bill early in the morning when no one was watching — because they know how wildly unpopular it is. This bill is NOT a done deal. It still needs to pass the Senate. It's important that we get in touch with our senators and tell them to vote NO on this bill. Keep calling. (202) 224-3121

[veterinaryrambles]

Dude. Why did you do this 💀

[veterinaryrambles]

DOGE just froze funding to vital Federal and Indigenous conservation programs devoted to supporting the very delicate and tenuous existence of the black-footed ferret.

I fell in love with these animals as a kid traveling to our National Parks. Their rarity and ferocity made me sharply aware, even as a child, of just how much of a responsibility we have toward our environment. I can't bear the thought of them being a fucking casualty of Trump and Musk.

Look at them! They do war dances.

[veterinaryrambles]

The majority of sick cats we have been seeing in the US have been indoor only cats being fed raw milk or raw poultry diets. Outdoor cats can certainly be exposed to bird flu by hunting wild birds or by roaming on farms, but indoor cats can and have died.

Please feed your cats cooked diets, whether canned, kibble or fresh cooked. If you are absolutely dead set on feeding a raw diet, switch to fish, pork, or other non-poultry/non-beef based diets! And nobody should be drinking raw milk, animal or human. Avian influenza is only one of many pathogens that can be found in unpasteurized milk, it’s just not worth the risk.

Indoor cats died of influenza after exposure to raw milk or raw diets

Bird flu from cat food? What to know to protect your pets : Shots - Health News

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/01/22/nx-s1-5270042/cat-food-bird-flu-raw-milk

[veterinaryrambles]

It was kind of unavoidable 😂

Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species.

Please reblog for a larger sample! I'm only running the poll for a day.

[veterinaryrambles]

SHIT.

Please reblog!

[veterinaryrambles]

There are so many tragedies in bulldogs and this is one of the most painful and chronic ones there is. I know so many bulldogs who are sweet gentle souls but react with snarling and biting if their tails are touched because this just hurts. All the time. It’s infected. All the time. It can never truly be cleaned and it’s just a seething cauldron of bacteria, yeast and inflammation, and many times that bacteria winds up resistant to antibiotics because of previous efforts to control the infection.

People never ask us what puppies they should get… they only bring them to us once they’ve already chosen. But if anyone ever asked me, I’d say run, run, RUN far away from English bulldogs, French bulldogs, and Pugs unless your breeder is daring enough to breed away from the “breed standard” and is mixing them them with things that give them longer snouts, better breathing, and more normal spines. Of course, any such breeder is likely to be ostracized for not toeing the line of how the breed “should” look, and is probably not charging nearly as much as the idiots breeding “fluffy” Frenchies (still just as misshapen but now with weird hair), “lilac” Frenchies (now with even more skin problems!) or “micro” Frenchies (a pretzel that can’t breathe and might have hydrocephalus too). Please please don’t buy these poor creatures, and if you feel so moved to rescue one that has been given up, make sure you have a side hustle going to pay for the extensive medical bills that are sure to follow. 😪

what does inverted tail mean?

Instead of the tail being outside the body, it's curled back in on itself forming a giant, tight pocket of skin that completely prevents any of the tail being seen.

This is a breeding ground for bacteria as it builds up moisture, shed fur, dead skin cells and skin oils.

It requires a surgical intervention and has a chance for some pretty severe complications.

[veterinaryrambles]

boop :P

Boop!

[veterinaryrambles]

Fun fact this also works with veterinarians since so many of the diseases they were stumped by were zoonotic like this one 😝

"Watching my dad (a GP doctor) watch House is more entertaining than the show"

[veterinaryrambles]

While I hate to be glib about losing a beautiful bird I mean, I’m just surprised anyone is surprised…. 😔 It’s P-22 all over again. 😢

The Bronx Zoo has just released Flaco's necropsy results.

He was not thriving, as the people championing the ideal of "freedom" claimed.

He was poisoned.

He was sick.

He was suffering.

"Freedom" would have eventually killed him. A building just happened to do it first.

"Postmortem testing has been completed for Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl that was found down in the courtyard of a Manhattan building a little over a year after his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo was vandalized on February 2, 2023. Onlookers reported that Flaco had flown into a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on February 23, 2024, and acute trauma was found at necropsy. Bronx Zoo veterinary pathologists determined that in addition to the traumatic injuries, Flaco had two significant underlying conditions. He had a severe pigeon herpesvirus from eating feral pigeons that had become part of his diet, and exposure to four different anticoagulant rodenticides that are commonly used for rat control in New York City. These factors would have been debilitating and ultimately fatal, even without a traumatic injury, and may have predisposed him to flying into or falling from the building. The identified herpesvirus can be carried by healthy pigeons but may cause fatal disease in birds of prey including owls infected by eating pigeons. This virus has been previously found in New York City pigeons and owls. In Flaco’s case, the viral infection caused severe tissue damage and inflammation in many organs, including the spleen, liver, gastrointestinal tract, bone marrow, and brain.   No other contributing factors were identified through the extensive testing that was performed. Flaco’s severe illness and death are ultimately attributed to a combination of factors—infectious disease, toxin exposures, and traumatic injuries—that underscore the hazards faced by wild birds, especially in an urban setting."

The naturalistic fallacy kills animals in horrible ways. The romanticism of what humans want to think of as a "free, wild, pure life" cannot be allowed supplant the reality of injury, sickness, and death. Releasing captive animals (or keeping them from being recaptured) because it's "better" for them to suffer untethered than live a healthy, safe, captive life is inhumane and horrific.

Flaco's life didn't have to end in pain, sickness, and suffering.

Flaco's death didn't have to be tragic.

But once the idea of "freedom" entered the chat, Flaco's fate was unavoidable.

[veterinaryrambles]

PLEASE do not encourage your kitties around the laundry machines! Cats can die in a manner of minutes from hiding in laundry and the machines being turned on, either from drowning, heat stroke or trauma. It is a terrible death and highly traumatic to the owners and veterinary staff as well 😭

[veterinaryrambles]

It's my 13 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

oh my heckin' god

[veterinaryrambles]

Okay folks: I’m working on a presentation about accessibility at zoos for an upcoming meeting.

One thing I’m touching on is the importance of supporting and welcoming real service dog teams. People sneaking their pets in / pretending ESAs are service dogs is becoming a real problem, and the general reflex I’m seeing in the industry is to just make it harder for anyone with a dog, so I want to ask the audience to think about that a little and consider other approaches to solving the problem.

I’d like to include a collage of photos of well-behaved service dogs at zoos and aquariums to help reinforce the point. Which means it’s photo request time! If you’ve got a photo of you / your service dog clearly at a zoo, aquarium, or other similar facility and would be willing to let me use it in this presentation, please chat/ask/email me (whyanimalsdothething @ gmail). I’m happy to block out human faces.

TIA. ❤️ 🦮🐕‍🦺

[veterinaryrambles]

patron saint of one-way trips and other journeys from which you can never return

[veterinaryrambles]

I’d also say that some of the very hardest jobs should be saved for those who do have a passion for the thing they’re doing, because some of those jobs will be crushing if you don’t have the insulation of passion. Being a veterinarian or doctor or nurse or dentist is grueling in both the preparatory work and schooling to get there, and then afterwards in long days, student loan debt, and the difficulties of the job itself.

A lot of people think being a vet is fun because it’s playing with puppies and kittens all day. Actually, sometimes it’s lying awake at night because your patient had an unexpected reaction to a treatment and now they’re hurt or sick because of it and you worry about if the owners are going to organize a witch-hunt online or report you to the board or come down to the clinic with a gun. Sometimes it’s seeing a sweet little puppy dying of a vaccine-preventable disease, covered in its own vomit and bloody diarrhea. Sometimes it’s seeing a senior citizen break down sobbing at their pet’s euthanasia because it’s the last pet they’ll ever be capable of owning and the last link to their deceased spouse or child. Sometimes it’s knowing you tried your best and still failed because sometimes biology just wins; sometimes it’s knowing you could have done more but the owner couldn’t afford it; sometimes it’s knowing you truly made a mistake you can’t take back.

I think most people should find a job they don’t hate just like OP says. But the passion jobs are definitely out there. I think if you do go for the passion job, make sure you LOVE it. Merely liking or kind of being into something like vet med is absolutely not enough to protect you from the hard parts. The passion still may not protect you fully, but you have a much better chance of surviving a difficult position if you have it. I tell people to not even consider being a veterinarian unless you can’t stand the idea of *not* being one, and don’t have any other ideas for a career.

If you just kinda sorta dig the idea of vet med, it’ll eat you alive.

these are very wise (and very real) words. believe me.

[veterinaryrambles]

Jersey cows are best cows, you cannot change my mind! Gosh these are incredibly gorgeous 🤩

Mr M. was my favorite client. He grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin, and he wanted to 'recreate' his memories of the 1950s and 60s in paintings.

Newborn calves can look terribly skinny. They fatten up quickly!

He sent me a photo of his dad with him and his sister. I added them in.

Dang, I love Jersey cows! I'm sure glad I got to paint these.