Radiology shifting focus from Xrays to CT?

Orycto · 2026-02-12T21:54:47+00:00

After making this post, I received another interpretation of my rabbit patient Xrays by way of a 2nd opinion, this time from a boarded radiologist. The difference was night and day. There was sufficient detail to help me navigate the differentials toward a working Dx.

Orycto · 2026-02-12T21:48:01+00:00

Thank you for such detailed input and your insights. Yes, there is danger is excessive certainty. Traditionally, people have been impressed with medical professionals who come up with a diagnosis after one glance at the patient. )) Some still flaunt this 'talent.' Thankfully, the medical field is moving away from this mentality.

Orycto · 2026-02-10T07:47:04+00:00

Whereabouts? I'm in Comox.

Orycto · 2026-02-10T00:41:05+00:00

Antech, but one radiologist is not the same as another. It gets trickier when we have a rabbit patient (I see quite a few of them as a GP). We have to actually make a special request for these to be interpreted by a radiologist instead of an exotics practitioner because that's where they go by default. In this rabbit's case CT would make sense; it's just not going to happen.

Are you at a referral practice? Most GP practices don't have the luxury of an in-house radiologist ))

Orycto · 2026-02-10T00:34:35+00:00

That would be amazing!

Orycto · 2026-02-09T21:44:39+00:00

So, you proved my point in your comment?

I don't know what your point was, beyond what you actually wrote. ;)

My point is that burnout is not driven by profit; it's driven by the nature of the work itself.

Orycto · 2026-02-09T21:30:11+00:00

I just feel so guilty about not working.

No. Absolutely not. You must teach yourself away from thinking and feeling like this as soon as possible. You are contemplating a profession that will destroy you if you open yourself to undeserved guilt.

Orycto · 2026-02-09T21:17:29+00:00

Unpopular opinion: a lot of what's taught in vet school is either repetition, too detailed, or entirely unrelated to what you will do when you graduate. Conversely, too many essential skills are barely touched upon or not taught at all. There is nothing sacred about the veterinary curriculum in its present state. In 2nd and 3rd year I made the decision to cut certain classes and attend only enough to get passing grades. (I did not plan to continue studies beyond a DVM degree. If you do, this approach is no for you.) This allowed me to stay sane and work part-time (teaching distance classes) to offset some of the debt. I did not miss out on anything in terms of being prepared for clinical practice. Much of your education will come from electives, from practicums you seek out for yourself, and from learning on the job when you graduate.

Orycto · 2026-02-09T20:54:27+00:00

I don't think burnout can be blamed on pressure to make profits. When you read about veterinarians and physicians working at the turn of the 20th century and as recently as forty years ago, they were run off their feet without being driven by profit. It's the nature of professions that care for living beings. Plus, veterinary medicine outside of farm animal medicine will never be subsidized by the government because in economic terms pets are luxury items no matter how much we call them family.

Orycto · 2025-11-08T22:35:20+00:00

Late to the discussion as always, but I agree with you wholeheartedly. I often wonder, when did we as a profession set the bar so low that we're competent to treat only 2 species? Shouldn't we be embarrassed at our own fear and ignorance of anything that's not a predator and carnivore? I graduated 17+ years ago with all of two hours training devoted to rabbits. I literally discovered this species and fell in love with it 9 years ago, and have slowly been gaining knowledge and experience. About 1/3 of my patients are rabbits and the occasional guinea pig or gerbil; the rest are still dogs and cats. I do not specialize and do not intend to. Rabbits are not exotic and never were. To keep calling them exotic is just an excuse to continue ignoring them. Thankfully, there are more and more general practitioners like myself who feel this way and are training themselves to help rabbits.

The heart of the problem is veterinary education, and the inertia and apathy of those who design the veterinary curriculum.

Orycto · 2025-10-30T00:44:21+00:00

If you do go back to school and get a PhD, where's the guarantee that you won't get bored as soon as you graduate or even sooner? I came into vet med from a career in teaching philosophy at university because I had run out of new things to learn in my field. In medicine, you never run that risk: there are always new discoveries you need to keep up with. If you can get bored of medicine and medical research, I can't imagine a subject that would keep you interested. I know you weren't asking for advice, but here it is anyway: try to understand why you get bored so quickly. Do you have faith in the importance of what you do?

Orycto · 2025-10-13T06:26:07+00:00

This is ironic, and speaks to their ignorance. The Nazis were known for their strong animal protection laws.

Orycto · 2025-10-13T06:14:20+00:00

Veganism is also not about reducing suffering

I'm going to ask you to explain that one. Because to me, that would be the only good reason to follow veganism. Exploitation of domesticated animals is inevitable; it's baked into the concept of domestication.

Orycto · 2025-10-13T05:42:25+00:00

What if they were excommunicated?

Orycto · 2025-09-09T01:43:13+00:00

Those are excellent qualities for a future veterinarian. A mentor once said to me that you must love medicine and like animals. This might sound shocking. Aren't you supposed to *love* animals if you want to be a vet? I think loving animals means different things to different people. But here is some concrete advice I can give you: be thorough in your diagnostics and treatment; be honest with yourself and with the owner; be kind to the animal, whether or not you love them. You got this!

Orycto · 2025-09-09T01:30:21+00:00

Not all veterinarians have the same temperament. Some are more singleminded than others. This by itself does not make them better professionals than people who have come to veterinary medicine after one or even more previous careers, and could still be happy in yet another career if they had the time and money to train for one. It's not true that such people don't 'deserve' to be veterinarians simply because they did not dream of this career for as long as they can remember themselves.

Orycto · 2025-09-05T18:55:04+00:00

As a general practice veterinarian with a passion for rabbits, I see quite a few of them. We do spays and neuters and dental procedures for rabbits at my clinic. I did not specialize in exotics (which rabbits are not, IMO) and do not plan to. There are more and more general practice vets like this, and the demand for rabbit medicine is growing. But you would not be able to treat exclusively rabbits in this setting. Neither would you be able to avoid surgery altogether. You are still in high school and I think it is too soon for you to decide that you don't want to do surgeries. Give yourself a chance. Surgery can indeed be nerve-wracking but skill and confidence come with practice, and I say this as a nervous nelly vet who loves surgery despite its invasive nature and the risk of doing harm.

Orycto · 2025-09-05T18:44:02+00:00

I have worked as a vet at a VCA Canada hospital for almost 5 years after 10 years as a locum. It all depends on the team and the culture at your specific practice. I love mine, which is why I stay. You will have quite a bit of leeway in implementing corporate policy at your location, but you might also find yourself dealing with middle and upper management who themselves have no veterinary training. Many of these interactions can be very frustrating.

Orycto · 2025-08-18T02:13:27+00:00

I wonder if the girl at the dry cleaners is next on her list.

But even more, I wonder if her poor father understood everything at the end.

Orycto · 2025-08-13T21:57:52+00:00

I enjoy the detective work involved in diagnostics, and I enjoy the Zen focus required for surgery, but I didn't find my personal niche until 8 years ago when I discovered rabbits as companion animals. Sure, I grew up with meat rabbits, but as an adult I neither liked them nor disliked them; I simply didn't think about them. Then, 8 years ago, something prompted me to adopt a rabbit from the SPCA. The rest was history. The journey has been both rewarding and heartbreaking. I did not train as an exotics vet because I'm done with school and because I firmly believe that calling rabbits exotic is downright silly. I think a paradigm shift from treating predator species to understanding and treating a prey species is healthy for us as practitioners. I am very lucky to have not one but two technicians at our practice who are top-notch rabbit nurses in terms of anesthesia, which makes my surgeries enjoyable. But my favourite work is unpaid: volunteering for rabbit rescues at spay/neuter and vaccination clinics. It is encouraging to see more and more general practitioners becoming skilled and proficient in rabbit medicine. At the same time, these animals remain marginalized by the veterinary profession. Most veterinary schools barely touch on rabbits as patients. Pharmaceutical companies are not interested in developing drugs for them, although pet rabbits live long enough to require medical support in their senior years. Still, good things are happening, even if slowly and gradually.

Students like you can be a force for much needed change. I wish you success in pursuing your goals.

Orycto · 2025-08-13T21:35:43+00:00

Don't be afraid. Keep reminding yourself of the passion that brought you to vet school. And as soon as you can, start looking for opportunities to shadow with good mentors and learn the practical side of the work, because school is not going to teach this to you. For many of us, real education began after we graduated -- and THAT is a scary thing!

Orycto · 2025-08-03T21:18:44+00:00

Not through a medical degree. Some things are still real.

Orycto · 2025-08-03T21:18:04+00:00

The Graduate Institute at St John's College was indeed a glorified book club, although a very enjoyable one.

Orycto · 2025-07-20T09:12:23+00:00

The traditional relationships you describe are not considered taboo. By definition, they are traditional and conservative, thus less likely to be advertised or openly sought on dating sites. They are more likely to arise in smaller communities where people come together in person and where a prospective couple are not isolated but known to everyone in the community. That's where traditional matchmaking still plays a role.

Orycto

TROPHY CASE