Nothing big this week, other than, oh yeah, I HAD A BABY! Whoa! So this week is going to be a short one, just a few pictures of pets dressed up in Halloween costumes to give you a smile. Enjoy! Oh yeah, and don't give your pets candy this Halloween!
Catch you later! I'm hearing a five minute nap call my name....zzzzz.
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We live in a technological world, and thank God for that in some ways as technology can make our lives much easier. However, technology can also complicate our lives. Gone are the days where you go on vacation for a week and no one can contact you, or you receive an email or Facebook message and it could be a couple of days before you check them online. I’m a typical millennial - very rarely is my phone not attached at my hip. Fifty percent of the time, I am on call. I could also go into labor at any moment, so I need my device to reach someone to drive me the 40 miles to the hospital. More importantly, I need to be able to send inappropriate emojis and curse word-ridden memes to my husband for doing this to me when the pain becomes unbearable (No, not really, I’ll just call him and drop a few F bombs). Veterinarians and many other young professionals are more accessible to their clients (or non-clients) than ever before. This can be helpful in a lot of ways as veterinarians can reach their clients via email or social media if they so choose. Compassion fatigue is also at an all-time high in our profession. Is this a coincidence? Probably not. Veterinarians often get inundated with pet-related questions during their off hours via social media, email, or text message. Many times this also happens in-person at the grocery store after work. A colleague of mine even noted, “My biggest peeve is the massage therapist who wants to talk animals. There’s no relaxing during the time you’re paying someone to aid in relaxation/meditation.” Apparently this massage thing is more common than I thought, as a different colleague noted, “I’ve had two massages where I spent the hour answering pet questions. I even listed ‘self employed’ on the the paperwork the second time and explained why when she kept pressing about what my job actually is.” With the constant queries flooding our devices (and sometimes our ears during a massage), many find it difficult to unplug and rejuvenate. I’ve discussed this subject at length with many of my colleagues, and it seems no one is immune to this difficult situation. Most of us who struggle the most with this issue are those that practice in small towns or rural areas. This is likely because in a small-town environment, the lines between your professional relationships and friendships get blurred. I personally love practicing in my hometown and also love the fact that many of my clients are my friends and feel comfortable talking to me. The problem is, most of the people veterinarians receive Facebook messages from aren’t regular clients or close friends. Many times, it’s someone from high school you haven’t spoken to in ten years, and they have questions about their friend’s cat. Every veterinarian approaches this issue differently. Some have DVM facebook accounts that are separate from their personal accounts. Others refuse to add clients as friends on Facebook (which is easier to do when you practice in a big city). Some veterinarians are very open, even giving out their cell phone numbers to select clients. Others keep things very separate and professional, even limiting when their staff can call them after-hours with questions. My approach has certainly evolved in the four short years since I’ve graduated. I never give out my cell phone number to clients. Ever. Luckily, our clinic forwards calls to our phone, which eliminates the need to do that. For those clients that ask, “Can I just text you a picture of my pet instead of emailing it to you?” The answer is no. I’m onto you. When I first graduated, I would often hear that characteristic “ding” on my phone, followed by, “Hey! I hate to bother you on here, but…” By the way, if you have to preface a sentence with, “I hate to bother you, but…” then you’re probably bothering someone. I would reply to these messages almost immediately at first. When you’re young and fresh out of school, you don’t quite know how to or feel comfortable with creating boundaries. You may not want to spend your evenings that you would normally be spending with family replying to messages, but you want to show people that you care about their pets (because you do). Once the volume of questions got too high or I had enough of my evening pet conversations, I adjusted my approach to waiting until the following business day. Then I felt as if the Facebook messages were distracting me from caring for and treating my patients in the clinic. I found that while my efforts to answer every question and please every person were honorable, it wasn’t sustainable. Many times, the simple act of replying to these messages would encourage the behavior even more, giving me less and less time to do what I enjoyed doing when I was off work. Instead of social media being a place where I could keep up with friends, it became a 24/7 Pet Advice Line for many people. With age and experience comes wisdom, and eventually I said, “Enough is enough!” I now completely ignore all Facebook messages with pet-related questions. If you’re a close friend or family member that should know better (but doesn’t), I may reply but will likely tell you to call the clinic or bring your pet in. I have found that most veterinarians choose to ignore these messages as well. I assure you that we’re not trying to be rude, and it’s not that we don’t care about your animals. Most of us just need our time to be just that, ours. Additionally, most of us cannot diagnose a problem via pictures or Facebook conversation. Look, I get it. We live in a society of instant gratification. We see bald spots on our pet and want an answer about it immediately. We remember at the end of the day that we need to get our dog spayed and are curious about cost. Most people don’t realize how consuming those “quick little questions” can be. They forget that veterinarians are humans with hobbies and interests. And no, we don’t work all the time (even though there are weeks that it seems like it). But let’s not lose our sense of boundaries. Facebook is not an appropriate forum to contact your doctor or other business professionals unless they have made it clear that they conduct business via Facebook or other forms of social media. So this is my plea: Stop the insanity! If you get the urge to message your veterinarian or other business professional with a question, put it on your to-do list and call them during regular business hours. If it’s an emergency, Facebook is also probably not the best option for contacting someone who can help as quickly as possible. Call your veterinary clinic and you will likely be instructed on how to reach a veterinarian after-hours depending on that clinic’s policy. Your veterinarian will thank you for it. If you’re close friends or family members with a veterinarian, try asking them about their hobbies, their thoughts on world events, and their life outside of work. It’s okay to ask them questions about your pets from time to time, but it’s not okay if that’s the only thing you talk to them about. Let the veterinarian in your life be a whole human being and not a robot that spews medical facts. My advice to fellow veterinarians is this: Set boundaries that you feel comfortable with and can be okay with it. If you’re new to the profession, you’ll learn a lot of lessons the hard way. Don’t overextend yourself so much that you lose all your free time, your sanity, and risk developing compassion fatigue. You can’t be the veterinarian you need to be when you’re burning the candle at both ends and letting people take advantage of you. The older I get and the closer I get to becoming a mother, the more I realize that I need time with my family and separation from my job to be healthy. I used to feel guilty for setting boundaries and wanting my time to be my own, but you know what? Life is short. We have chosen a great profession, but there’s more to life than just veterinary medicine. I will also sum up my advice to clients and pet parents:
This is by no means a lecture. Just a reminder. In this age of social media, I’ve caught myself doing the same thing in various cases, but sometimes we all need reminders that texting or Facebooking a business professional, such as the OBGYN when I ate too much spicy food and I’m 99% sure the baby flipped back to breech position, is not the most polite thing to do during dinner time. Otherwise, this week at least, call the office as much as you want (because I’m not on call, bwahahaha). This blog is a little bit different from the other posts, but it’s for a good cause. As you look at the title, and if you’ve read many of my other blogs, you might assume this is just a humorous title about one of my food binges at a conference buffet, but no, this is a more serious celebration, more serious than my other two favorite days of the year: Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast day on February 18th and Buy your Veterinarian a Drink Day on December 4th (I made the second one up, but I’m hoping it catches on). October 16th is world food day, a day when individuals and groups can commit to ending hunger by donating, organizing food drives, or planning for the future of their food production that includes the commitment to end hunger. On October 16, 1945, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the Union Nations was created, which then spurred the beginning of World Food Day in 1979. It has been joined by individuals, groups, and farmers across North America. I know many of my clients are involved in the fight to end hunger in some way or another, so I thought I’d use this blog to highlight some ways to get involved in World Food Day and the fight to end hunger all over the world. Many of the large animal producers in this area donate the processed meat from their livestock to food pantries. Other clients, with acres upon acres of crops or just small gardens, donate produce to food pantries across the state and local organizations that serve low income families. To find your local food pantry visit http://www.foodpantries.org/. It’s a great way to give back to the community and allows the producers and individuals to share their harvest that might otherwise go to waste. Not to be cynical or anything, but there are also tax credits for donating to the local food pantry, so if that’s what convinces you that it’s a good idea, do it. Check out the Department of Revenue requirements for this tax credit at http://dor.mo.gov/taxcredit/fpt.php. The more money you save, the more you can give back, right? And your accountant will think better of price-gouging such a nice person when they see what a generous giver you are at tax time. There are also other ways for people to help in this campaign to end hunger. Check online and find organizations that help with these endeavors. Local readers can check out http://sharefoodbringhope.org/howard-county/ to find organizations to donate to, how to help school children through the Buddy Pack Program, or find events in the area that help support these same efforts. Many of my clients also use their hobbies to help end hunger, and deer season is just around the corner. They donate venison through the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Share the Harvest Program. By taking it to an approved processor, they only have to let the processor know how much of the meat to donate, and it’s taken care of from there. There are some counties that assist with processing fees too. Check out the Share the Harvest website to find out more information about this program: http://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/species/deer/deer-share-harvest. There’s no better argument for why you are spending so much on hunting gear than donating the meat to help others. If you still need more convincing, think about some of these statistics:
Please visit http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/ to learn more about World Food Day. World Food Day is a day to “declare” your intentions to help end hunger, not just a day of action, so please, share your comments below, declare your intentions, and spread the word. Anyone else notice I’m becoming a softy closer to my due date. I might need to head out to the gun range. I can’t hunt though, too much down time, but maybe I’ll use my nesting phase to run out to Aldi, buy a ton of food for the food pantry, then volunteer to organize their shelves. Think about it… 1.) Do you give your pets treats on a regular basis? 2.) Do you give them scraps from the table? 3.) Do you feel like an Italian grandmother, serving love when you serve larger than normal meals to your pet? 4.) Do Felix or Fido seem to have grown around the midsection from all this pampering? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you might be overfeeding your pet and causing them to become overweight or obese. This isn’t just a human problem across America; it’s a pet problem too. Studies have shown that 34-41% of companion animals are obese or overweight, so as Americans, we are reflecting our obesity epidemic onto our pets. Of course, just as in humans, obesity in companion animals can lead to a whole host of other issues: 1.) Diabetes 2.) Hypothyroidism 3.) Cushing’s disease 4.) Oral cavity disease 5.) Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) 6.) Urinary tract disease 7.) Hypotension (decreased blood pressure) 8.) Heart disease 9.) Lung dysfunction 10.) Increased incidence of certain cancers Basically, if your pet is obese, many of these issues could plague your pet’s health and significantly alter its lifespan. Check out this body condition scoring system to determine if your pet is overweight: Veterinarians use this body condition score system to determine if your pet is too thin, overweight, or in an ideal weight category. If you notice from the charts above for both feline and canine body conditions, the ideal condition has palpable ribs. Many owners think this might mean their pet is underfed, giving them an excuse to cover their dog food with bacon grease or fill their kitty food with milk, but these are mobile animals and muscle mass won’t cover their ribs. Feeling ribs is okay, but seeing them visibly might mean they are underweight. If you notice an absence of a waist or an abdominal distention, then your pet it definitely obese. If you are unsure or know your pet is not in the ideal category, please bring them in for a nutritional consult. Treatment for Obesity So what do you do if your pet is overweight or obese? The best place to start is to have your pet examined by a veterinarian. Weight problems can sometimes be caused by certain medical conditions, like hypothyroidism in dogs. It’s good to rule out certain medical conditions. In rare cases, pet owners get off the hook at least a little bit for causing their pet’s weight issues. However, most of the time your pet’s expanding girth is caused by a combination of inactivity and overfeeding. Your veterinarian can assign a body condition score and determine how much weight your pet needs to lose. From there, your veterinarian can help formulate a plan that works best for your pet. Sometimes the solution is something simple like eliminating table scraps and reducing the amount of dry food your pet currently gets. Other times, pets have to be placed on special weight loss diets in order to lose the amount of weight needed to be healthy. Currently, my favorite go-to weight loss diet for dogs and cats is Hill’s Metabolic. What I like about this food is it works differently than the high fiber, low fat, low calorie diets (coined “starvation” diets) we were limited to in the past. This diet is quite similar to the Mediterranean diet commonly used in people. So if you’ve been pouring a lot of bacon grease on your dog’s food, you might look that diet up as well. Ingredients are high in antioxidants, which help boost metabolism. Along with diet, exercise is an important tool for weight loss. Taking your dogs on walks, taunting your cat with a laser, playing fetch with your dog, or even buying toys that encourage exercise and foraging behavior can get your pet to burn calories and lose weight. If you have an overweight dog, walking, running, fetch, swimming, and play dates with other dogs can get them moving. It’s simple enough to get a dog to exercise, but if you have an overweight cat, you might be wondering how to encourage increased activity. Remember,cats are predators and a way to get them to play is to encourage them to use hunting behavior. Buying toys that imitate their prey, like mice, birds, lizards, or rabbits is a good way to get their attention. Skitter a laser across the floor. Buy a wand toy and imitate a bird flying and taking off, but don’t just flap the wand toy around quickly. Birds don’t fly like that and cats aren’t easily tricked. Foraging toys are also a great way to get your cat more active and make them work for their food a little. This can also provide enrichment and fight boredom for your cat. These are containers that your cat manipulates in order to get treats to dispense. I would recommend filling the forage toy with a low calorie kibble like the Hill’s Metabolic diet or the Hill’s t/d (a dental diet that is also low in calories). Please take the time to check out your pet’s body condition. Making a few changes to their diet and getting them back to an ideal weight can add two to three years to their lifespan. If you find it difficult to stop overfeeding your pet, I can set you up with the local support group that tackles the common mom issue of overfeeding to show love. They’ll understand you! When I first graduated veterinary school, I couldn’t imagine anything more challenging than finding suitable yet flattering work clothes for a mixed animal veterinarian. It took me years to find clothing that was durable enough, comfortable, and the right fit, yet looked professional. The clothing industry is seriously lacking in women’s work clothes. Is it an impossible concept to design sturdy, somewhat stylish clothes for professional, business/wrangler women like veterinarians and kindergarten teachers? I would order veterinary shirts from distributors that were a half body width too wide and about three inches too short (I have a long, narrow torso, or used to at least!). After a lot of trial and error, the perfect work shirt I found was actually a Nike women’s golf polo that I could get custom embroidered: perfect length and fit made of moisture wicking material (just in case other fellow mixed animal practitioners are on the hunt for work clothes). For my work pants, I ended up buying a casual khaki pant from Old Navy. I later found that the Old Navy pants were a little too cheaply made and not quite durable enough for my job, so I ordered some higher waisted Red Cap pants from the veterinary apparel magazine that work very well. Durable and stain resistant. Stylish? Not so much. An employee of mine that was in high school at the time pointed out that I looked like a soccer mom in these high waisted pants. I came to the conclusion that there are certainly worse things I could look like. In addition, the high waist helped me not look like a plumber when I practically have to crawl on the floor to examine an animal. Don’t get me wrong. I like to go out on the town and dress to the nines from time to time, but when you’re covered with cow crap and animal fur half the time at work, you get to the point where you really don’t care how fashion forward your work uniform is. In other words, after about three years of trial and error, I finally found the perfect work uniform for me. When I found out I was pregnant earlier this year, little did I know that I was in for even more of a challenge. Finding women’s work clothes was next to impossible. Women’s maternity work clothes? Now that’s a whole different ballgame! Because we all know pregnant women don’t work. I had actually been saving a series of photos of this wardrobe journey throughout my pregnancy with this specific blog post in mind. Due to the unfortunate event of my smartphone completely biting the dust, I lost all of those photos. This was a timely lesson for me to learn before Baby Pip gets here. No worries, folks! I now have Google Photos, so this should not be a problem in the future. However, for this post, you’ll just have to put up with my vivid descriptions and disturbing photos of me trying to fit into pre-maternity clothes. First Challenge: Maternity Pants For someone who has measured small consistently throughout pregnancy, I had to start looking for maternity pants quite early in the pregnancy process. It turns out the high waisted work pants I finally found did not lend themselves well to pregnancy. As early as eight weeks of pregnancy, I was having to unbutton my pants when I sat down in my vet truck. As my belly grew more and more, I tried to make my work pants last as long as possible, using the rubber band trick. I purchased long, maternity spaghetti strap shirts to cover the top of my pants, and of course I would wear a belt to hold them up. As I moved through each belt hole, it became clear at about 14 weeks gestation that I needed to start looking for maternity work pants. I came to this realization during a wardrobe malfunction while delivering a calf. I was reaching the maximum capacity of my high waisted work pants when I got a call one Friday afternoon around 4:45 P.M. (typical). A cow had been calving all afternoon without much progress, so they needed a vet to come out. My belt no longer even fit at this point, so I was relying on my maternity undershirt to cover up the fact that I could no longer button my pants (Yes, I realize I was in denial for awhile about needing maternity pants). No big deal, I thought. I’d just put on coveralls to cover everything up. My looser coveralls were already dirty, so I settled for my more fitted coveralls, which luckily still fit (barely). We went out to the farm and I was delighted to see the cow in an alleyway leading to a chute. Yay! At least this wouldn’t be an end-of-the-day rodeo. I checked the cow in the chute, and realizing the calf was big, decided to tie her up outside the chute for the calf delivery (It’s best to avoid a cow going down in the chute at all costs). We found a somewhat suitable post to tie her to, put a halter on her, and let her out of the chute while simultaneously reeling her into the post. I got the OB chains on both front feet and my assistant Omer and I started to pull the calf. As we pulled with more and more force, I heard a disturbing sound. That sound was the sound of the zipper on my coveralls giving way as I tightened my core and strained to pull the calf. I kept my poker face on and kept on working, and we eventually got the calf delivered. After tending to the cow and the calf, I looked down to see that yes, the zipper on my coveralls had given way, revealing my pants that were half buttoned and only partially zipped. I’m not sure if the producer didn’t notice, or was just being polite, but I appreciated them not acknowledging the wardrobe mishap. After this embarrassing experience, I knew it was time to find better work attire for my changing physique. I started in the department stores that had a reputation for a decent maternity selection in my quest for the perfect khaki maternity work pant. I searched the aisles of Target, Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, J.C. Penney’s, Sears, Dillard’s, and even the Motherhood Maternity store in our local mall. The maternity khaki pants I found were quite dressy and paper-thin. They were better suited for long walks on the beaches of Playa del Carmen and likely would not have lasted a day in clinical mixed animal practice. Since I didn’t foresee many beach strolls in my future, I put the pants back on the rack and started searching online. I reluctantly bought a pair I thought would work from Amazon. When they came in, I tried them on and surprisingly they fit! They were also made from thicker material that I felt would last at least for the nine months of pregnancy. For fellow veterinarians or people who are wanting a durable maternity work pant, here is a link to what I’ve been wearing to work everyday: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083RKCG4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 After experiencing the wonders of the stretchy waist band, I don’t know why I waited so long to get maternity pants. They’re heaven. In fact, I think I’ll keep them around after pregnancy for special food-gorging occasions like Thanksgiving dinner. Maternity Work Shirts Luckily, my Nike golf shirts lasted a little longer than my pants, partly due to me putting the wardrobe change off once again. I first started to notice that my shirts were feeling shorter and shorter. Luckily, I had purchased the long, maternity undershirts to wear underneath that gave me the length I needed. However, my husband recognized sooner than I did when it was time to purchase maternity shirts. He would try to drop hints like, “How much longer do you think you’ll be able to wear those polos?” to, “That polo is working awfully hard today,” to the even less subtle hint of, “I don’t think that shirt is going to last much longer if you keep wearing it.” Finally, I got the hint and ordered some maternity scrub tops. Luckily, the selection process for the maternity shirt wasn’t as challenging and drawn out as the maternity pants. It was pretty darn simple, actually. I ordered a selection of small and medium maternity scrub tops (some for my current size and more for later), and they fit just fine. I can’t stress enough ordering plenty of maternity undershirts. They helped with my pant fiasco but also kept clients from seeing down my shirt. Scrub tops are very comfortable, but they have the potential to gape open at the v-neck, revealing more than I’m showing my husband these days. A colleague of mine notes, “It seems 75% of maternity tops are low cut (Look! Your boobs are bigger! You should show them off!) Well, when you’re leaning over a Labrador to get a TPR (temperature, pulse, respiration), you’re giving clients a good show…” Maternity Clothing Stockpile I have also discovered the importance of having a stockpile of maternity clothes at work. I’m not sure why this caught me by surprise as I kept extra pre-pregnancy work uniforms at work. In my job, you get covered in cow crap, blood, and guts a lot. On a busy day, it can be hard for your staff to keep up with the laundry you produce. There were several occasions where I would come in from a farm call, walk back to my work closet, and nearly cry because I had already used the last of my maternity pants. At this point, I would either have to wear my dirty maternity pants for the rest of the day, settle for non maternity pants that quit fitting a long time ago, call my husband to bring me some if I was lucky enough to have this happen on a day he’s not working, or drive home and pick up some more. One particular Saturday we worked about 25 calves on a farm in the rain. I came back soaking wet to find no dry maternity clothes. Luckily, my husband doesn’t work Saturdays and could bring them to me. I was well into my pregnancy at this point, so I had to walk around the clinic (or hide in my office, more like it) with my pants half unzipped until my replacement maternity clothes arrived. I’ve found that for someone who gets as messy as I do at work, the magic number is about three to four replacement uniforms to keep in the work closet. Coveralls… Luckily, the many pairs of coveralls that I collected during veterinary school were pretty loose fitting, so I was at least able to get by during spring calving season and cattle work. However, as summer approached, it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to wear them the same way that I used to. Most of my lighter weight coveralls are made of blue cotton, with a zipper and snap buttons. I figured out zippers were dangerous as demonstrated in the wardrobe malfunction mentioned earlier in the blog post. I learned to zip up my coveralls just as far as they would go and then use the snap buttons to close the rest of them. However, I found that as soon as I started doing any kind of work, like castrating or delivering a calf, the snap buttons would snap open. Then I decided I would just snap them on the top and bottom and leave a gaping hole for my stomach to stick out. Not the most flattering, but it made for a good conversation piece with producers. Another colleague of mine who is a mixed animal practitioner in Kansas used the same method with her coveralls. Once that got too awkward, she said, “I just started stealing my boss’s coveralls. They don’t mind.” When you’re pregnant, having larger men in your practice that you can steal apparel from can be quite handy. Unfortunately, my associate is about 6’4” and probably weighs a little less than I do at this point, so the odds of me being able to steal and fit into any of his coveralls are slim to none, especially without having to roll the pant legs five times over. So consider yourself lucky, Dr. Potter! I won’t be stealing any of your work clothes. Footwear I am fortunate that I haven’t had to deal with my feet swelling at this point. My only footwear problem is actually getting my boots on in the morning. Ironically, the hardest part of my 4-mile runs that I’m still doing is putting on my running shoes beforehand. However, a lot of things can happen during the last month of pregnancy, so I’m preparing for the worst. Other colleagues of mine have struggled with swelling feet. You can get to the point where your boots don’t fit. One of my colleagues wore lace-up hiking boots that allowed more expansion and better support. You can then use rubber overshoes for farm calls. Me? I’m going to keep praying I don’t have this problem. My feet are pretty big to start with (I never grew into my feet), so I really don’t need to go up a shoe size. If my feet get much bigger, my fantasy of someday buying the Christian Louboutin black patent pumps with the red bottoms will be lost forever. They probably don’t make those in a size 11. The good news is shoes like that aren’t Great Pyrenees-proof, so that is likely a fantasy that will never come to fruition anyway. To all the readers, please let me know what other troubles I’ll have in the time that I have left. I’m currently in the nesting phase, so I have that mad determination to get things done by sheer will or iron death stare. I can get it taken care of in a jiffy. |
Jessica Stroupe, DVM
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August 2017
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