The 4 Gifts of Veterinary Medicine
On your first day working with pets, you are given four gifts. Three are dogs; one is a sled. The three dogs are named Giving, Happiness, and Stability. The sled is called Life. Giving represents what...
View ArticleAll I Need to Know in Vet Med I Learned From Yoda
I live in a Star Wars Fandom household. I’m pretty sure the main reason my Gen-X, Comic-Con loving husband agreed to have kids was that so he would have an excuse to buy every Star Wars Lego in...
View ArticleRisk and Regret: How I Made the Choice to Live
One of my favorite songs is “I Lived” by One Republic. The lyrics include: I owned every second that this world could give I saw so many places, the things that I did With every broken bone, I...
View ArticleThe Other Six Percent: Can You Let it Go?
When I was in elementary school, I was already an overachiever. I had been planning my career as a veterinarian since I was six years old. Somehow, my mother convinced me that my vet school...
View ArticleAre You Breaking the 6 Commandments of Professional Courtesy?
In veterinary school, our ER clinicians had one rule that still sticks with me today: “Never talk badly about the referring DVM to a client.” One important reason for this rule is that the client’s...
View ArticleThere, I Said It: Your Medical Records Stink
Welcome to There, I Said It- a column where we give you, the reader, a chance to get something off your chest in an anonymous fashion. Be it embarrassing, frustrating, or just something you didn’t want...
View ArticleThe Difference Between Low Cost Spay/Neuters and Regular Clinics May Surprise...
I lost a patient this past weekend. I don’t know why and I will likely never know, as the owners of the dog decided not to have a necropsy to find out. They blame me, however. This would not be the...
View ArticleHow Do We Get Over Our Guilt About Money?
Veterinary medicine falls right in the middle of the Venn diagram conversion of emotions and money. Pets are increasingly considered part of the family, and we the parents of our furbabies. But...
View ArticleTISI: I Had To Leave a Job Because of the Toxic Atmosphere
Welcome to There, I Said It- a column where we give you, the reader, a chance to get something off your chest in an anonymous fashion. Be it embarrassing, frustrating, or just something you didn’t want...
View ArticleDo We Play a Role When a Colleague Ends His or Her Life?
Whenever we lose a member of our profession to suicide, and it happens with an astonishing level of frequency, our community gathers to mourn. “She was such a caring person. He was so proud of this...
View ArticleIt’s OK to Love your Life Outside Your Work
I have a confession to make: Practicing veterinary medicine is not my favorite thing to do. It’s hard sometimes, being surrounded by people who say things like “It’s my calling” and “I’ve never wanted...
View ArticleI’m a Vet and a Panicky Pet Owner – and Here’s Why Specialists Rule
I’m not the calm, logical pet owner you’d expect a veterinarian to be when my own pets’ health and wellness might be in question. I’m the pet owner who calls ASPCA Poison Control when Biggy steals a...
View ArticleI Still Chose Cancer over Kittens
I am a veterinary surgical oncologist. This is a bit of a mouthful and probably more than most people want to know when they ask what I do. Veterinarian is really the only answer that they want to hear...
View ArticleThe Biggest Lie Vets Tell Themselves
Sometimes we tell ourselves lies to make life easier. We say things like, “I was walking in and out of exam rooms all day long. That counts as exercise,” or “There’s a ban on cellphones in the office,...
View ArticleFive Reasons Vets Deserve to be Complimented
Two years ago in an emergency situation, I met my vet and he has changed my life. The things I learned from Dr. Jason Sweitzer and the entire staff at Conejo Valley Veterinary Hospital have given me...
View ArticleWhat Is a Vet Doing at a Human Hospital?
When someone discovers that I am a veterinarian, typically the next question they ask is, “What kind of veterinarian are you?” I will admit that I tend to have some fun with answering this question. I...
View ArticleThe Vet Who Cancelled Christmas
When I was in high school, I was part of a very special Christmas tradition. The concert choir at Largo High School auditioned and was selected to participate in Epcot Center’s Candlelight...
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