The Vetpodcast - They never mentioned this at vet school!

It’s the end of what has been for most of us a very trying year so rather than dive into a technical topic for this last podcast of 2021, lets listen to some of the words of wisdom (and out-takes) from our many and diverse guests over the past year or so. There are a few “did they really say that” moments and a few comments that hit the nail on the head as well as a couple of ill timed interruptio...

How about a treatment that circulates oxygen around the body dissolved in plasma rather than haemoglobin that diffuses oxygen into those hard to reach spots like damaged tissue with poor blood supply and deep seated infections? How useful is that! I talk to Annette McFadgen VN from Town and Country Vets in Nelson, NZ about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. ·         What is HBOT? ·         Is it consider...

We talk again to UK exotic vet Benjamin Kennedy. This time about birds, both how to keep them and for the vets and vettechs tips and tricks to help you examine and treat them. ·         History of keeping birds as pets ·         Do they have personalities ·         Housing including enrichment and UV ·         Nutrition ·         How to tell if a bird is sick ·         Differences between individu...

I have always been of two minds about veterinary programs on television. In truth, the reason I took up this wonderful profession in the first place was my love of the James Herriot books and the original television adaptation of them. Without James Herriot, who knows what I would be doing now. On the flip side, I have found myself screaming at the television when a vet dazzled in the camera light...

Exotic pets are becoming quite common in the world. They don’t take up much space, they don’t eat much, and you don’t have to take them for a walk every day. We catch up again with UK veterinarian Benjamin Kennedy and we discuss exotics as a pet. The first half of the podcast; we discuss the husbandry of them, and we get a little bit more clinical in the second half and talk about the veterinary c...

Not all animals have fur, but vets can still treat them. Ever wondered what to do with a sick spider or a sluggish snail. UK veterinarian, Benjamin Kennedy discusses what veterinary science can do for invertebrates. We ask:         What are invertebrates? (Note that the 7X comment is an approximation!)          Do they make good pets?           Do they have personalities?          Special conditio...

I am working on a couple of interviews at the moment that aren't quite finished so I have delved deep into The Vetpodcast archives and pulled out a couple of short recordings that hopefully will be of interest to our pet owning listeners.  How do you get the most from your visit to the veterinarian? In this episode I discuss how to prepare for your visit to the vet and things that will make the vi...

Think of the microbiome as a lawn. It has weeds, requires fertilizing and it is possible to carpet bomb it killing all the good microbes if you aren’t careful.  We chat with Jess from nutritionRVN about what has been referred to as the second brain, the microbiome.

Around the world, hundreds of animal welfare organizations are striving to improve the life of millions of animals that have no other access to veterinary attention. All too often, a main obstacle to providing such treatment is a lack of adequate veterinary health facilities and clinical personnel, resulting in widespread animal suffering. Vets Beyond Borders (VBB) is an Australian registered char...

Genetic testing is now commonly used for screening for and diagnosing health issues in dogs and cats, parentage confirmation, establishing breed, identification, forensics and even help in creating new coat colors. We talk DNA testing with George Sofronidis from Orivet.

The tables are turned in this episode of the Vetpodcast. Someone else asks the questions. Alex Avery is a veterinarian in the neighboring practice to my old one. In a town the size of ours, what’s the chances of us both being veterinary podcasters. Alex produces a podcast named CALL THE VET and he approached me to have a chat for his podcast so of course I said yes and then flogged it. So.. Alex a...

When you hear the term veterinarian, what animals immediately come to mind? Chances are you will think cats, dogs, cows, horses or maybe sheep. How about bees? They are production animals, and they also have health issues. In this episode we talk bee vet Juan Molina Santiago about an area of veterinary medicine you probably didn’t even know existed.

CSI is being re-released so why not re-release our animal forensics episode. We talked to George Sofronidis from Orivet Genetic Pet Care a while ago about DNA, dog attacks, dodgy meat, ownership disputes and dog poo on the lawn. 

As a veterinarian in general veterinary practice, I would occasionally get asked for advice on sick fish. Our training at Vet School on aquatic medicine was pretty sparse and when a call came in for a goldfish floating upside down or an unsightly growth on the side of a guppy, I would try to look really busy or head for the door as if I had somewhere else important to be. If avoidance didn’t work,...

A year ago we talked to Sarah-Jayne, a vet from Marwell Zoo in the UK. We talk to her again and ask what effect the pandemic has had on the animals, conservation and the viability of zoos. We ask: • Were there any physical health issues in the animals due to covid? • What effects has lack of visitors had on zoo animals’ behavior? • Do zoo animals show normal behavior anyway because most are born i...

With so many options on what to feed your pet and so many people offering advice, let’s discuss pet nutrition with Jessica Joosse, @nutritionrvn , Registered Veterinary Nurse and Animal Nutritionist from Melbourne Australia.  We ask: -What do cats and dogs need in their diet?  -Can you balance a raw diet?  -What is AAFCO? -Does the diet need to be consistent? -What are breed based and lifestyle di...

"They never mentioned this at vet school." Having now retired as a veterinarian, it is time to reimagine the long-standing Vetpodcast. Thirty-five years of practice. The veterinary curriculum covered the animals. It said nothing about the rest of it. The dog that came in blind drunk. The client I nearly poisoned with cyanide. The time I ended up as an impromptu taxi service — don't ask. And now? A...

If there is only one episode of The Vetpodcast you listen to please let it be this one. In the UK, suicide in veterinarians is 4 times that of the average population. This needs to stop. We again look at the causes of this scourge on the veterinary profession. What are the underlining causes and what can be done to help. 

With the 10 year anniversary of the Christchurch earthquakes just past and as chance would have it, as I am finishing this podcast, the North of New Zealand is getting hammered by a swarm of earthquakes and there is a tsunami warning in place, we ask the question “can animals predict earthquakes?”

Veterinary medicine is constantly advancing but it wasn’t that long ago that with a little knowledge and a few drugs the vet became the magician. I browse a couple of 100-year-old veterinary manuals.

Terminal disease and euthanasia are things a lot of pet owners have to deal with. They are not easy topics. There are now practices set up that deal solely with end-of-life matters. We discuss what owners need to consider when faced with a terminal diagnosis for their pet, how to recognize pain and how to decide when the time is right to say goodbye with Dr Melissa Trupia from Faithful Friends Hom...

If you have poultry in the UK, you really should listen to this. Viruses have played a huge part in all of our lives this year. If Covid isn’t enough, now there is an outbreak of Avian Flu in the UK which has ramifications for all chicken and poultry owners and yes, chickens are now joining us in lockdown. In this episode of The Vetpodcast we discuss Avian Flu with our resident exotic animal vet,...

Here is a question for you. If you had 2 rabbits, one male and one female and you left them to do what rabbits do, at the end of a year how many rabbits would you have? You would be amazed at the number! In this episode we talk rabbits with some words of wisdom from Richard Rice-Grubb, a kiwi vet working in the UK. 

Acupuncture has become pretty much accepted in both human and veterinary medicine over the past few years and a number of vets are embracing acupuncture as part of their day to day practice. We talk to veterinarian and acupuncturist Dr Jessie Dreyfuss.

Some of you may have seen the new series of All Creatures Great and Small. Just like the series, I have revisited an old podcast. I talk to Jim Wight, son of Alf Wight (the real-life James Herriot) who is also a vet, about old time vetting and The World of James Herriot.