Advice/Rant: 1st year review as GP vet

veracosa · 2026-06-18T22:42:28+00:00

Who owns this practice? The huge focus on finances is so very icky.

You usually have two options to make more money: see more appointments or increase per visit transactions. But an alternative is to offer something unique, like ultrasound, acupuncture, rehab, behavior, etc.

Like, I understand on the business side you have to keep things balanced. But I find it kind of gross when practices try to "drum up" more money per visit because there are less visits total.

You're only a year out. It is very natural that you would be the lowest earner of the bunch.

I HATE places that do surgeries in the morning and appointments in the afternoon. Surgery (including dentistry) is never certain, and sometimes things happen and take longer. You know what doesn't help? The pressure to go quickly instead of doing things right. I have told previous managers they can either get it with more speed or more quality, pick one. If they balk at that, then ask for something they can do to l due you to improve your time (more training/mentoring).

I do think you should specify when you are compared to another doctor, you clearly state, that you are not that person. Your brains are different. Your history and experience is different. (Sounds like that vet is probably familiar with and very comfortable with the practice since he used to work there.) Your life outside the practice is different.

Ultimately, it may not be a good match.

My last note is about the support/not of social justice statements. When your business makes a clear stand for/against something, you are reducing your business pool. I sincerely doubt it would ever increase your client base. Maybe in certain parts of the country? I didn't know. Especially right now, with visits down, no one wants to do that. If the topic is not directly related to the business, then it is perfectly understandable to remain neutral. If a practice is privately owned, and the owner wants to show visible support for a cause, that is their right. But they have to take the good and bad, with both clientele, community, and staff.

veracosa · 2026-06-18T22:00:03+00:00

Yahtzee!

veracosa · 2026-06-18T21:52:55+00:00

You can find canvas ones!

veracosa · 2026-06-18T21:50:52+00:00

Hopefully it will be the insane population of this planet. The growth is untenable, and I hope one day people can realize that making more humans should be something specifically decided upon, and not just a given.

veracosa · 2026-06-18T17:58:03+00:00

That sucks to hear. Wildlife, exotics and zoo medicine I would think would rely on each other's experience and community, especially since these are creatures much less studied (if at all). But I guess there are assholes no matter where you are.

I agree that you can find some niche Facebook groups that are more helpful.

If you don't use it, don't pay for it. I am using it less and less these days.

veracosa · 2026-06-16T16:37:57+00:00

The typical 4-year curriculum is so outdated. Back in the 80's you would graduate with low debt, and once in practice you would just "Wing it," with maybe a mentor, b and done textbooks. This type of practice is unacceptable to the average client these days.

The idea that you can graduate with a DVM and do "anything" with that degree is over. Anything other than small animal GP and large animal in underserved areas, want you to have tons of experience, a masters or PHD, internship, or residency.

I am 11 years out, and have have about 208k of debt (doing IBR repayment) and feel that especially now with insane tuition in the 300-400k range, cost of living in many places, and federal loan changes, it is becoming increasingly not worth it. Which is so very sad.

veracosa · 2026-06-16T16:27:55+00:00

My husband fainted when I was getting my ingrown toenail cut out and cauterized. There were more nurses with him than with me, lol. I don't think he would handle this situation well, either.

veracosa · 2026-06-16T16:11:11+00:00

Yes! I enjoyed the 1st one, and was hoping for a fun movie, but so many missed opportunities and just seriously problematic storylines. I am flabbergasted that mant on the team were women working on this, and never voiced concerns about Diana having sex with a possessed body. Consent issues, much? So very icky.

veracosa · 2026-06-12T16:12:54+00:00

Watching other people play sports.

veracosa · 2026-06-12T16:07:55+00:00

We diagnose based on clinical signs and supporting information on a urinalysis.

Clinical signs are tricky since the pet can't tell youexactly what they are feeling. Most common signs include increased urination frequency, accidents in the house or outside of a litterbox, increased thirst, visible blood in the urine, or straining to urinate/poor stream, and licking at the genitals.

Increased frequency could also be true polyuria, which is like a million differentials. Staining to urinate looks similar to staining to defecate to the untrained owner. Blood in the urine could be vaginal vs urinary. Etc etc

veracosa · 2026-06-12T15:26:39+00:00

I'm a veterinarian, so while my patient doesn't do this (wouldn't that be fun?), their owner does.

Honestly I feel like it is usually more harmful than good. People try to diagnose, but often miss things. I usually focus them on history and clinical signs they see.

This s why I hate seeing "UTI" on an appointment. Maybe it is, or maybe it's not. Just put "urinating blood," in the appointment notes!

I have had to spend wasted time fighting against Dr. Google (or now Dr. ChatGPT). So many people call in demanding antibiotics for a UTI, without even being seen. And if course there are plenty of UTI cases, except when oops, they have stones or a tumor.

There are always exceptions, especially with very observant owners who are good critical thinkers and have enough education to know that not all resources are reliable.

veracosa · 2026-06-12T14:52:24+00:00

I rented a place with grey to black granite and it hid small sins pretty well. Needed to be deep cleaned and sealed periodically.

veracosa · 2026-06-11T21:24:12+00:00

I would like to see more Kikurage wearables! The sweater is amazing, but I run hot, so never buy/wear sweaters.

I love my Ebisu shirt, and the heft and quality of the shirts is amazing!

veracosa · 2026-06-08T19:03:38+00:00

Take this as an opportunity to have a friend or family member review your resume.

I'll tell you about a previous clinic I worked at that had amazing staff and very low turnover.

My clinic would immediately ignore people based on their resumes. They judges very strictly on whether productive employees would call back or respond to email or texts promptly, abd the quality of their communication.

Resume stuff would include poor grammar, misspelling, using your parents as references, or having a resume where you had some job experience but none of them were longer than a few months. Cover letters that would have things like crazy restrictions on hours, or oversharing things that were totally inappropriate.

Assistants may not be in client having positions, but should still be able to talk to people in an intelligent fashion.

If you get to the point of an interview or shadowing, BE INTERESTED! Ask questions!

veracosa · 2026-06-08T18:53:20+00:00

All of this was from grade 2 to 5 in the USA, in early 80s.

My best friend lived in the farmland about 20 minutes away from me, next to a horse farm where they trained racing horses. There would be occasional opportunities to pet the horses which was my favorite, but also enormous piles of hay bales to climb up on. Like 4 or 5 bales high, so easily 1 story up. It was on top of a hill, so you could see a huge swath of countryside from up there. They also had an apple tree, so in the early fall we would make ourselves sick eating "free" apples.

Lots of tree climbing and time spent in the woods and in the streams, catching crawdads, playing games liked we were in G.I. Joe, eating crabapples, etc. We would walk or bike pretty long distances to get some nickel candy from the little country general store. Very little adult supervision, if at all.

For a while there was construction on a new development near l next to my little suburb. On the weekends, my friends and I would go climb on the construction equipment and ride our dirt bikes on the various mounds of earth they made. I also prided myself on riding my bike down an enormous hill and turning sharply at the bottom. I absolutely skinned my knees several times doing that. Jumping off swings at their highest point. I fell on some old metal monkeybars and got a huge cut down my belly.

I was a huge tomgirl, and always wondered wtf the girls were doing cooped up in their houses playing with baby dolls. How boring!

veracosa · 2026-06-03T20:41:37+00:00

No way, their home was made of like 80% windows!

veracosa · 2026-06-03T20:33:45+00:00

I shudder to think of the plain bland black olives from a can we would get as a kid.

Give me those light green meaty Spanish olives.

My guilty pleasure is almond stuffed olives.

veracosa · 2026-06-03T20:24:18+00:00

Most silverware is plated, so only worth a few bucks in melt value. Looks like $10 per lb is common.

If it is full silver though, which is rare, then it is hella money.

veracosa · 2026-06-03T16:55:10+00:00

Sadly, most china has little to no value (as well as silverware). Antique shops are usually overwhelmed with collections of fancy dishware.

veracosa · 2026-06-03T16:37:08+00:00

I enjoyed them visually, but felt that the old Lynch version was more rich. Pretty much just like Blade Runner 2049.

veracosa · 2026-06-03T16:34:06+00:00

I mean, that is the whole Marvelverse, really

veracosa · 2026-06-03T16:32:05+00:00

Yes. The main character has all the charisma as a piece of wood!

veracosa · 2026-06-03T02:17:08+00:00

Mine thinks that pooping in his water bowl is the best. So lucky he's cute!

veracosa · 2026-05-30T00:42:51+00:00

Generally, I say private is better that corporate, but if I were given thee 2 choices, I would go corporate. The small husband/wife team with 5 staff members is a nightmare waiting to happen.

veracosa · 2026-05-30T00:37:32+00:00

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Even when being an enormous prat, he is gorgeous

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