This is a podcast I could have made a long time ago. Maybe I was in denial. I've been retired from clinical veterinary practice for six years now, but I have only just relinquished my practicing certificate. Why did it take so long? They never mentioned this at vet school.

It seemed so final, ticking that box on the veterinary council registration page that said Retired. I'd been doing enough vet-related work to keep my knowledge current — but why was I even doing that? Now that I've ticked the box, I think I can finally tell you why.

Identity. Pure and simple, identity. I was Bryan Gregor, the vet.

Times change, treatments change, and medications change. If you have been in an industry for a long time, at the start of your career you mix with colleagues who are at the end of theirs, so by the end of your veterinary career you have a direct line to methods and treatments that are perhaps 80 years old. Some of them have passed the test of time. Some of them perhaps not.

They never mentioned this at vet school. Life as a veterinarian is never boring. What happens when a dog is locked in a garage with a commercial volume of wine for the night?
Have a veterinary story you would like to share? Contact me at [email protected]

As a veterinarian, it is not uncommon for a pet to be presented to me on behalf of a frail older person by a friend or family member and having the forceful if not somewhat chilling statement made to me “this wee dog is all that is keeping mum alive. If the dog dies, mum will have nothing to live for, and she will probably die”. Unfortunately, and quite soberingly, on more than one occasion, not long after an elderly client’s beloved pet has passed away their name will appear in the death notices. It would appear their pet was all that was keeping them alive. 

The animal/human bond is strong, but it appears to be even stronger in Senior Citizens. In this episode of The Vetpodcast, I have a closer look at the relationship between senior citizens and their pets.

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 lights misses an obvious diagnosis or overcomplicates a simple procedure in one of the many reality veterinary shows screened now.

After a bit of thought while making this podcast I believe they are actually are a good thing for the profession.

If you are in the United Kingdom or receiving veterinary news from there, I am sure you have heard about, and quite possibly viewed The BBC Panorama documentary on the price of taking your pet to the vet, and probably more specifically the effect the rise of corporate practices are having on the cost of veterinary care.

Now, as I am in New Zealand and also retired from veterinary practice I am not really in a position to comment too much on this but it may be an opportune time to replay an episode I published a couple of years ago on the price of veterinary care.

Come on a journey with me as I look back at the history of The Vetpodcast, listen to some of the funnier moments, tell a couple of my "Better Work Stories" and ponder the exciting future of The Vetpodcast. 

Welcome back to another episode of Better Work Stories by The Vet Podcast. I'm veterinarian, Dr. Bryan Gregor. Now, relaying bad blood results to clients can sometimes be difficult and stressful for veterinarians. But this [00:01:00] discussion with a client just takes the cake. Can you imagine, or more likely not imagine, What was going on inside this poor old guy's head?

This is, this is one of these situations where you really have to wonder what the client was thinking. It was a busy afternoon and I got a phone call from my receptionist, got a call from my receptionist and she said that Mr. Smith's on the phone and he would like to talk to you about his. Yep, that's fine.

Flick through my files and found a file there for a cat belonging to Mr. Smith. Now these cat results, blood results, didn't look particularly good. They indicated end stage kidney failure. The cat was stuffed, not too much to do so. Picked up the phone and, uh, Mr. Smith, how are you got through the normal pleasantries?

He says, right, tell me about the blood results. So I said, look and went through them. The kidneys aren't that flash and went through all of the parameters and anemia and all this sort of thing. And he was okay. So what do we do about that? I put on my best bedside manner and said, um, look, I think. Probably the best thing that we can consider would have to be euthanasia.

I think it's just the kindest. It's going to stop any suffering, which is if not happening already, will be happening soon. There was a stunned silence on the phone. Nothing. It was just dead. About 10 seconds, 15 seconds later, he came back to me and he said, Can you do that? And I said, do what Mr. Smith? And he said, Euthanasia.

And I said, yeah, of course, euthanasia is not a problem at all. Um, we can do it whenever you want, actually. And my advice would be sooner rather than later. Again, a stunned silence. And I said, Oh, do you want to book that in? Or do you just need to have a think about it or have a talk to the family? And he says, Oh, look, I would actually really, really like to talk to my family about this.

This is a huge step. I did two things. One, I didn't know you could do that. And two, I wasn't expecting these results from the blood tests. All I did was called into the doctor for my regular six monthly blood tests. And I said to him, hang on a minute, what do you mean called into the doctor for your six month blood tests?

And he says that, well, I called into the Highfield Medical Center to get My blood test taken. Then the penny [00:04:00] dropped. We are the Highfield Veterinary Center and just by coincidence we had run some blood screens on a cat belonging to a Mr Smith and this poor old bugger thought that I was suggesting that he be euthanized.

Better work stories everybody.

If you are a veterinary professional and you have your own better work story, why don't you email me at [email protected] or search your socials for vetpodcast. If you can, why not tell the world? Better work stories, eh?

After almost a year off (for reasons you will find out in the podcast!) I am back. I am Dr Bryan Gregor, a veterinarian from New Zealand. During my long life as a veterinarian, I have seen a lot of weird, quirky funny and just down right bizarre stuff! This is just one of them.
Follow me on social media @vetpodcast and as they say, like and subscribe to my podcast... The Vetpodcast

When undertaking a scientific study on the efficacy of CBD in pain relief in dogs an issue that didn’t occur to me was the problem of getting the CBD across state borders in The USA without being tagged as a drug dealer. The answer – move the study to Canada.

We again catch up with Dr Kelly Diehl, Senior Director of Science & Communications for The Morris Animal Foundation to find out about some of their latest studies including:

·         The efficacy of CBD in pain relief in dogs

·         A hiding place for cats

·         Who cares for the carer? What is the effect on the wellbeing of being an emotional support dog on the dog?

·         An upcoming study on haemangiosarcoma

For more information on these studies and mamny more visit The Morris Animal Foundations website:

https://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/

or listen to their Podcast "Fresh Scoop"

https://www.morrisanimalfoundation.org/articles?animal_type=All&topic=496