My name's Jemina, I am a Psychology major at Wilfrid Laurier University. Hobbies include knitting, writing, reading, laying in bed and watching Netflix, and rugby. Lots of rugby.
(opening with IE rather than firefox allows you to download them onto your ipod!)
I am still fairly terrible at cardiac auscultation. If I can hear a murmur, it’s practically a grade VI/VI, haha. Anything more subtle and I’m just standing there listening like, “Hmmmmmm… maybe.”
"If the creative Dr. Frankenstein were to put together a veterinary technician, he’d have to take parts from a nurse, a medical technologist, a radiology technician, a dental hygienist, a pharmacist, an anesthetist, an EKG technician, a surgery technician, a record keeper, a computer operator, an inventory specialist, and several different types of counselors. But he’d have to get the heart from someone capable of unselfish love."
Toronto city council has voted unanimously to require that pet stores obtain cats and dogs from humane societies, shelters and rescue groups.
The aim is to block stores from obtaining pets from puppy mills.
“The goal is to stop animal cruelty,” said Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker. “I think this is a wonderful day in the city of Toronto for anyone who loves cats, dogs, puppies, and wants to ensure animals are treated humanely.”
Council was told the move should cut the number of unwanted pets and discourage impulse purchases of cats and dogs.
“People should be buying from legitimate sources, not fly-by-night operations, and I think this bylaw proposes to do that,” De Baeremaeker said.
It should protect consumers from purchasing an animal from a puppy mill that turns out to be sick, requires costly treatment or has to be euthanized, he added.
“We’ll never shut down puppy mills, there are all sorts of ways people will illicitly raise animals,” he said. “But I believe this will limit animal cruelty in the city of Toronto.”
This will still eliminate puppy mills by cutting off demand. No demand, no reason for or profit in supply. Now all they have to do is extend this to animals other than just dogs and cats (and for the rest of America to catch on) and everything will be just peachy.
Knowing what to do (and what not to do) in the event that your pet suffers an injury or any number of other emergencies is of course very important. Equally as important though is having handy the supplies necessary to administer first-aid!
Below I’ve listed the items that every pet owner should include in their pet’s first-aid kit. Depending on your particular pet’s medical history, they may benefit from the inclusion of additional items too. It’s always a good idea to talk with your veterinarian to ensure that your own pet’s first-aid kit is as complete as it can be.
You can often pick up many of these items at your local pharmacy or superstore. But it may be easier and better just to see if you can purchase them through your veterinarian instead. They likely have most of these supplies in their office, and they may even have pre-made pet first aid kits to save you the trouble.
I’ve been overdue for an oil change for a few months. I know it’s important but I just haven’t had the time to get the car in. So I finally dropped the car off at the shop and left for a few hours. I got a phone call from the shop and they told me that my $50 oil change was going to cost me somewhere around $1,200. My tires were in very bad shape, i.e. dangerously thin, the fuel system needs to be flushed and I need a new part to help regular the air/gas mixing. I was not at all prepared for this, the car has been running just fine as far as I could tell. I also don’t know enough about cars to tell if I am being taken advantage of or not.
A quick Google search told me that most mechanics are crooks and will try and get you to do things you don’t really need. You can find the same part he is trying to sell me for $300 for $200 elsewhere. I became angry and yelled at the mechanic. I told him I knew this was all a money making tactic and he was just finding things to make money off me. If he hadn’t run the diagnostic he wouldn’t have “found” anything to charge me for and the car would be fine. I also left a negative Yelp and Facebook review to warn others to stay away.
Nope. I was very surprised and not at all prepared to hear the news. Thankfully I have some savings just for this very reason so I can afford it although it still hurts. I asked the mechanic if it was all necessary or could I wait for some of it. He told me in his opinion it really did all need to be done today, the tires are just dangerous to drive on and if I wait for the part it could blow debris into the engine making the next problem even more expensive. There was a less expensive part but the mechanic said it wasn’t of the same quality and wouldn’t last as long so I’d be back for the repair again. Maybe I could wait on the oil change but I’m already long overdue and it is possible it could damage the engine. I took a deep breath and told him to go ahead. Being a veterinarian has made me much more understanding of car repairs and other facts of life.
This got me thinking that there are some similarities between taking your car to the mechanic and your pet to the vet. Of course living things are much more complex than vehicles and there is
an emotional component involved as well, but very broad similarities do
exist. Both professions are seen as money grubbing and maybe dishonest. Both have customers that will come in for one thing only to discover a list of many others. When you pay for a mechanic you aren’t just paying for the physical part, but also the knowledge on how to properly install it and even knowing if the part is needed or not. When you go to the vet you are paying for that vet’s knowledge and expertise. The fact of the matter is that both pets and vehicles can seem ok on the surface, especially if you aren’t an expert, but testing or a knowledgeable person can find issues. A
Just like yelling and leaving negative reviews wouldn’t have changed the fact that my car needed help, neither will they change the fact that your pet is sick. Oil changes and tire rotations may seem like ways just to make money but they really do extend the life of your vehicle and help prevent other more serious issues. Vaccinations, monthly prevention, and annual visits are the same for pets. So cut your mechanic and your vet some slack and realize that both are just doing their job.
