Equine Medicine
| September 3, 2011 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
Yesterday I mentioned that I would not be going into Equine Medicine.
Before I started vet school, my response to the often asked question (was less of a question and more of a statement) “so you will be doing equine medicine of course” was based on the assumptions that I wanted to keep my hobbies and my job separate.
I always wondered whether I was making the right decision – I’m so passionate about horses and have been my entire life. In fact, my passion for horses FAR exceeds my passion for medicine and really anything else in life. I am never happier than when I’m doing something with my horses.
And that’s the key. “…MY horses.”
I like meeting other people’s horses. I like meeting other people’s dogs (if they are nice). But my overwhelming interest in both of those species is how it relates to MY animals and MY interests, and want *I* am doing with them.
Cats are a different story. I like cats. All cats. I tend to squeal (softly, as not to frighten the poor things) and instantly melt in the presence of cats. Not just my own.
I would probably make a good cat vet. But I digress.
Working in the equine medicine rotation confirmed that yes, I am making the right decision by going into food animal.
Here’s a couple of my observations –
1. Ignorance is bliss. I don’t want to see horrible things in horses. I don’t want to see the worst, or how the simple can go terribly wrong. I sat through a wound care class for equines in the morning and it was very difficult for me to distance myself from the thought that it could happen to Farley. Every patient I saw, I had the thought “this could be Farley”. From the cellutitis, to the skin cancer, to the kidney failure.
2. I’m too close, too immersed in the horse world. I can’t put the right kind of distance between me and the patient to protect myself from burnout. I can identify with the owner WAY too much to be the professional I need to be.
3. I get frustrated with the average horse owner. Endurance owners aren’t average. In general, if you have participated in a sport, you aren’t average. I can’t relate to the typical backyard owner and their lack of drive to understand the minutiae of the horse sport, riding, and their animal. I can’t relate and it isn’t fair of me to expect them to conform to some nonexistent standard, and then be frustrated when they don’t. Dealing with these kind of feelings is a recipe for burnout and dissatisfaction with my job. Better that I do medicine in a field that I still find important and interesting, but that I’m not so vested in.
4. We (vets) are expected to treat all horses like civilized beasts, when let’s face it – they aren’t. Some horses are angels. Most are decent critters. Some are down right uncivilized and the owners recognize it – but more likely the owner can’t understand why the vet is wary of a 4-hoofed animal with teeth that doesn’t have any respect for space. “He’s really just a sweetie…”. It makes me wonder whether this contributes to the high injury risk among equine vets? At least with a food animal, for the most part you don’t have to pretend that you are just fine with a 1000 pound beast trying to kill you and the owner doesn’t get in a huff when you say you would prefer to put them in the chute….
5. The last thing I wanted to do after my rotation was to see my horse. That does not bode well.
6. I don’t want to let go of my “horse owner” self to the degree I must, in order to be the vet I need to be.
So there you have it. It’s nice to know that my suspicions were correct and I’m not having to deal with the trauma of discovering that I don’t want to do equine, if that’s what I had gone to vet school to do.
I would like to point out that I got in my 3 posts this week 🙂
So, what does a “food vet” do, exactly?
Public health, herd management, disease control, health protocols, optimizing production, slaughter etc. Actually very similar premise to my last job, which I really enjoyed. I like food safety and looking after the food supply is something I really care about. I enjoy epidemology and the patterns of disease, along with major disease outbreaks that go across species – like west nile. I plan on practicing for a few years – perhaps in small ruminents??? or poultry or dairy or? – before stepping back and doing something more “wide-reached” and big picture-like. 🙂 Probably way more information than you wanted to know about food animal medicine!!!!!! LOL.