Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

Dr Kwok · Joined: 05 Jan 2006 Posts: 130 Location: Selangor

Last time time i used to be surprised why nobody ever talk about their life as a vet in this column specially for this topic.

I can share mine here since i started my new job in clinic.
Just make it simple for eveyone to see, this is how my first few days goes

7.00 wake up and brush up
7.15 start my engines
8.00 reach clinic and make milo and eat something
8.45 Start all the morning treatment
10.20 follow senior vets to see cases and help around
1.00 Have rounds
2.00 Have lunch
3.00 Do some afternoon treatment or follow senior or go into surgery
become anaesthetist
6.30 pack up and start my engines again
7.20 Reach home

You can see this is almost a 7 to 7 job, but i know there are people who work even longer hours, so be considerate if you find the vet too tired or stressed or unfriendly sometimes :P :D :roll:

Dr Dunker · Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 464 Location: Puchong,Selangor

Yep, u are lucky Kwok, the first clinic i worked in started at 10 in the morning ( got to b there earlier) and finish at 730 ( On paper anyway). the current place i am in, is basicly a 9 to 9 job as well. wellcome to small animal world where gray hairs grow.

Dont get me wrong though, life as a small animal vet is always interesting and fun. One just have to keep your sense of humor and your sense of sanity at all times.

Lets see... I have only been practicing for about 3 plus years, not too many amazing things happened in that time frame. I did not save a dolphin from drowning or a panda from some odd god-knows-what disease. hell the most rewarding case so far was this case I had a year or so ago.

A cat droped in with a distended stomach and was rather dehydrated. cat was not eating well for a number of days. So being a cocky vet i did my physical exam and got badly bitten in the process in fornt of the owner. i found out using my "amazing" skill that the cat had constipation. A very bad case of not being able to go do "big business" i told owner, thinking that the poor old chap dressed in a dirty T-shirt and short pants may not be able to read much less understand vet jargon. Well, turned out the guy was a lawyer and wore what he wore coz he was doing some home improvement. yikes. cocky vet now known as moron of the day. Anyway I went ahead and did an enema. I spent the better part of the afternoon digging up the poor cats arse. God it smelled good. At the time a veteren staff was eating his big mac and watching the moron of a vet digging a cats back side. the odd mix of odors between the bigmac and faecies that have not moved for 5 days had put me off mc donalds for a few weeks. the after care the following 3 days was harrowing to say the least. imagine me digging around the cats toilet everymoring to see if this cat have laid a golden egg. The morning of the 3rd day, the biggest golden egg was laid and judging by the smile I had, it might as well have been a golden egg! To cut the long story short, the cat finally went home doing "big business" well.

Take home message...even a load of shit can bring a smile to vets!!!!

Dr Chong · Joined: 12 Dec 2005 Posts: 666 Location: KL

Nice story, Dunker!

Dr Dunker · Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 464 Location: Puchong,Selangor

As vets we are subjected to many pressures. Ur boss if u have one, (even worst if u are a boss), ur patients, pet owners, breeders and so on and so forth. We work long hours and may b rewarded or ignored for our efforts. We fail at times and blame ourself or others. We have sleepless nights and at times we dont really want to go to work to see who died in the clinic last night. But i find vets a interesting lot coz even under such conditions many still smile and laugh and joke. What is truly amazing, if u come to think of it, is that we as vets can not only b funny but will face funny situations while we work.

Firstly, names of pets. I know every vet out there got to have been stumpt or totaly flabegasted with some of the names pet owners give their pets. It could b as mundane as A dog named Blacky...the dog is brown and the blackest part of the dog was the food pad and the nose. Also a white husky i saw when i first started working named 'Siew Hack Chai' which i was told (i cant speak the local chinese dailect) ment small black little fellow (or somthing like that). Another white husky named Whizkie cos he urinates all the time and every where for that mater. Also that dog have a real fondness for beer. (owner found out during CNY celebrations in his house).

I have meet a mad killer rott cross that was named Cat. What the heck was the owners thinking?? easier to get licence? Since it was named Cat how fearce can it b right??- That rot killed and ate two cats. (thats what the owner says) I think it was more killed and ate two Vets!!!! Also saw a dog once, named Fei Chai (fat one). He was a whipet...

Cats have cool names too. Mine is named Bento-Potato!!! My house mate's cat have a condition known as cerebeller hypoplacia making the cat walk like a drunk...she was named Cerebro after the funky machene in the X-man. I once treated a cat named Schumacher...name was changed last year to Alonso. One wonders why. But then i dont think the cat cares at all.

Dr HanMRCVS · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 560 Location: Johor Bahru

i recently came across a mongrel by the name of 'chun toi' which literally means scrotum in cantonese! tragically, ah chun as the owner lovingly called him, has got perineal hernia (my whole fist can enter the hernia!), and as such, not only did we fix the hernia, we also castrated the poor chap and as such... no more chun toi lor....

Dr Chong · Joined: 12 Dec 2005 Posts: 666 Location: KL

Hahaha... :lol:

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

I met a dog named "Rabish" (yes, spelled that way), cos the owner found the dog near a rubbish dump.

And there are a few dogs named "No No". Imagine trying to teach them to listen to you when you scold them... "No No... NOOOOO!!!"

Just the other day, there were a pair of dogs, one male one female named "Paris" and "Hilton".

Dr Dunker · Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 464 Location: Puchong,Selangor

Cant wait for som one to com with 'Moe' and 'Ron'

Have three geese at home in sarawak named Lunch, Dinner and Supper (mother's idea). A bunch of rabbits years ago was named DiDi, DoDo, and Dumb Dumb. (My Bro's idea).

Dr Chong · Joined: 12 Dec 2005 Posts: 666 Location: KL

Dr Dunker wrote: Have three geese at home in sarawak named Lunch, Dinner and Supper (mother's idea)

Are you serious??? Hahaha... :lol:

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

I had a hamster named Dumb Dumb once. ;)

Dr. TanDY · Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:48 pm Post subject:

Dr Dunker wrote: Cant wait for som one to com with 'Moe' and 'Ron'

Have three geese at home in sarawak named Lunch, Dinner and Supper (mother's idea).

Wow their pets are so edible.. yummy... haha :D

Dr Dunker · Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 464 Location: Puchong,Selangor

Where i come from ppl giv things like chiken n stuff asuming u wil eat it. My house observe a no kill policy unless it poses a direct and imediate danger to the family and animals under family care. (The same applies to ppl who wish us or the animals harm.) So what happens is, our house have chickens, rabbits and geese which are destined for old age and not the cooking pot. Funkey names are a family specialty. One only have to check out the names of their sons to understand. By the way 'Dunker' is the name of one of my dogs.

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

If I remember correctly, you also have a dog named Itchy, right? :)

Dr Dunker · Joined: 02 Jun 2006 Posts: 464 Location: Puchong,Selangor

Yep, but it was named by my former house mates Lee foo Kong and Abraham. Sadly he pass on due to renal failure aged 10. I had to let him go myself after fighting with him for 3 months and 3 days. It as a trip to hell for me. One can never understand an owners point of view untill one is forced to walk down that road. Thank god i had an army of buddies that help support me. With their help he was on almost 24 hours surveillance and a house was turned into a ward. I had medical supplies comming form 4 different vet clinics! It cost me a bomb, but then money was never an issue. That was the easy part. HOw do u repay ppl for their time effort and ther support?? Things u cant place a price on. I guess it not only makes u a better vet but a better person. A cocky and perhaps arrogent person like me should be humbled from time to time. Humility is somthing no one can teach, only tru life experience...the word wisdom comes to mind.

Funny things, pets, even in death, they teach us things.

Dr HanMRCVS · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 560 Location: Johor Bahru

yep i do agree with dunker here. i recently did a cystotomy on my own cat (ah piau) who had trouble in urinating, vomitting and diarrhoea. after 3 or 4 days of medication, still no improvement, we ultrasound him and saw lumps in this bladder which does not look like stones.

to cut the story short, what we got was angry grape like lesions on his bladder neck. i was so sure it was cancerous that as i was closing him up, tears just welled up and just thought ... it was just too early for him to go.

we then sent a lump to do histopath and it just came back h'gic cystitis with no evidence of cancerous growth, and i was everjoyed!

and i believe its simple experiences like this that makes all of us human and also gives us the ability to care and understand our clients' anxiety when confronted with suffering.

i do recommend this book by C.S. Lewis titled 'The Problem With Pain'. Its quite a tough read, .. in fact, very tough read!