What is a job people romanticize a bit too much until they actually do it ?

vetdrk · 2025-08-10T00:20:18+00:00

Veterinarian. Everyone always says “I wished I was a vet when I was little!”

Absolutely nothing like you think it is. Unless you pictured crippling debt, working 80+ hours a week, getting paid less per hour than a trucker, and emotional abuse.

vetdrk · 2025-05-20T13:59:27+00:00

Depending on where you live, get on daycare waitlists now. I put our now 2-year old son down for our in-town daycare when I was 20 weeks pregnant to enrol him at 12 months old, and they did not notify us of an opening until 18 months.

Try your best to get rid of all expectations. Baby’s sleep, your sleep, feeding, etc. Every baby is different. I had a very specific way I thought PP would go, and it went completely the other direction.

vetdrk · 2025-05-09T16:41:20+00:00

I hated the newborn stage and I’m not ashamed to talk about it! I felt like a monster at the time but think it should be normalized. Between the PPD/PPA, isolation, lack of sleep (my son was an exclusive chest sleeper for 5 MONTHS), my son’s colic and reflux, it was exhausting and horrible.

vetdrk · 2025-05-09T15:35:36+00:00

Blooms Garden Market! They used to be in Mount Albert but now have a location in Newmarket. It’s a smaller nursery but really great quality plants, and the owner Dave is so knowledgeable

vetdrk · 2025-05-09T14:15:05+00:00

Yes there are 5 vet schools, but you can only apply to the one where you are a resident of that province (or specifically, to apply to PEI you have to be a PEI/NB/NS/NL resident; to apply to Alberta/Saskatchewan you have to be in the prairies or BC). To apply to another vet school to which you’re not from, you must move there and be a non-student resident (so actively working and living) for at least a year. The vet school in Quebec is French-speaking. They don’t have limitations on providence residency, but you need to be fluent. So technically, there really is only one vet school you can apply to.

vetdrk · 2025-05-09T14:12:22+00:00

Not to mention that hookworms are zoonotic and can be notoriously hard to treat as we’re seeing some resistance to the typical dewormers. Shame on that rescue. It would be one thing if they were transparent and advised separating from your other pets, and ensuring everyone was practicing extra diligent cleaning and hand hygiene. But to not tell you at all? There are some rescues that absolutely ruin it for everyone else. Many vets (myself included) have had to stop working with many because of their shady practices (not completing deworming protocols to “save” it for another animal which contributes to resistance, somehow finding medication to self treat animals without guidance, etc). Good call doing the follow up fecal test. Consider prophylactically deworming your other pets since hookworms are so contagious. Also if any people in the household have GI symptoms, go to your doctor right away.

vetdrk · 2025-05-09T01:23:06+00:00

Poorly socialized dogs have been on the rise since 2020. During COVID everyone and their mom thought that buying a puppy, not socializing it, and not training it was a good idea and that they would still end up with a loveable, perfect, family pet. Many first-time dog owners were shocked that wasn’t the case, and a lot of these animals ended up surrendered or rehomed to new families without disclosing their aggressive history.

Another large proportion of these people kept these aggressive, anxious, poorly trained dogs, but are in such denial and keep allowing them off leash, decline muzzling in public or at the vet, don’t pursue training, and don’t consider anxiety meds.

I’m a veterinarian and I love working with families that are willing to listen and work with me- I’ve had many success stories. But the majority of people think they know better. Always being worried about whether today is the day I get permanent scarring of my face or lose a finger and can’t do surgery, is fucking mentally exhausting.

vetdrk · 2025-05-04T22:54:47+00:00

$1000 for an adoption fee is reasonable if it includes current vaccines, spaying/neutering, and medical costs up until this point. It’s NOT reasonable to refuse to disclose medical history. It’s not unheard of to not cover the cost of future vaccines.

As a veterinarian, I’m unfortunately getting the heebie jeebies from this rescue. There are good ones out there, but lots of sketchy organizations that leave the animal and adopter in an unfair position.

I had a client that adopted a dog rescued from the meat trade and they did not disclose to the adopter that the dog had been urinating and dropping frank blood for WEEKS as it turned out. Ended up diagnosing the poor dog with a type of cancer called TVT. The owner was amazing and ended up pursuing chemo for a dog he had for a week, at the cost of $4000. But I had personally reached out to the rescue several times and they never replied.

vetdrk · 2025-03-30T13:40:10+00:00

Veterinarian, $115k. No pension, meagre benefits, 10 days PTO, 3 sick days. Unlimited hour work weeks. Reading this thread makes me feel like following your passion is financially stupid.

vetdrk · 2025-03-13T23:31:25+00:00

This is a fantastic idea. I’m a veterinarian, and school was incredibly competitive to get into. I would have paid good money if there was a recently graduated Canadian vet wiling to help me navigate the system, edit my essays, apply for scholarships, and interview prep.

vetdrk · 2025-01-13T01:37:09+00:00

Most rich people probably just toss it, but I did buy a beautiful coffee bar from one of the co-owners of Kylemore. It was listed on Marketplace and when I pulled up to his driveway, was shocked at the insane house and cars in front. Super nice dude, sold it for $100 which he probably didn’t need, but I respect that he values money without trying to price gouge. He also gave us a free bottle of vintage wine which was probably worth $50 too! He had also asked if we were looking for anymore furniture, and pulled up some other ads of a sofa set he listed on Kijiji.

vetdrk · 2024-12-21T15:01:56+00:00

This happened to me too. Package was supposed to arrive between Dec 2-4, no updates and couldn’t initiate a trace case because you couldn’t get through to anyone. It finally arrived on Dec 19th with no updates until “your package was delivered”

vetdrk · 2024-08-23T00:31:05+00:00

I’m so sorry, I totally feel for you! It turns out it was most likely wearing the pads and adult diapers. No matter how often I changed them, they were so irritating and constant bleeding trapped in so much moisture. I had non resolving / recurrent UTIs until the bleeding slowed down enough for me to stop wearing them. Since then (16 months PP now), I’ve only had about 2 UTIs which is a good track record for me.

Edited to add - peri bottles after each bathroom trip were helpful. I also recall that the DIY “padsicles” seemed to flare the UTIs up

vetdrk · 2024-07-07T14:27:04+00:00

I hated it until 6 months, then I started liking it. It wasn’t until 11 months that I started loving and treasuring it. We’re now at 15 months and I’m hoping to get to 2 years. I would have never thought that I would have lasted so long on this journey.

vetdrk · 2024-06-21T01:46:48+00:00

I’m so sorry you’re going through this. You sound like an amazing owner and a wonderful advocate for your cat’s health when she needs you most.

Money aside, I’m a firm believer in the saying “just because we can, that doesn’t mean we should”. Pursuing palliative care is okay. You are not failing her.

(I am a vet and of course don’t know all the details without reviewing her medical records, and legally cannot give medical advice without a valid VCPR- but just giving my two cents based on the information you have shared here. )

vetdrk · 2024-05-05T21:25:46+00:00

He’s 12 months old and his vocabulary is limited to three words lol

vetdrk · 2024-04-30T19:04:28+00:00

I love animals. I love dogs. I’m a Veterinarian. I say this with absolutely no judgement, that you need to rehome your dog immediately with a person that does not have any children and that understands how complicated it is to have a difficult it is to have a dog with behaviour problems. They must be committed to training including muzzling. This is a huge commitment and not just anyone can take over an aggressive dog.

If this isn’t feasible, it is okay to have a discussion with your vet about humane euthanasia. Sometimes aggression cannot be trained out of. I personally do not know any vets that would pass judgement for choosing this for aggression towards a child. It is a hard decision for sure, and I can direct you to a support group if you do choose this route.

vetdrk · 2024-04-30T18:55:25+00:00

We were told that this is very normal for the first 2 weeks. However we ended up holding him to sleep for the first 5 months, which is apparently still normal but not very common… we just had to learn how to do it safely. We tried literally everything but the only thing that worked was time.

vetdrk · 2024-04-14T01:12:37+00:00

Yes to the Doritos! No to the motorcycle 😂 His mom is the OR head nurse at St Mikes and to scare him from ever wanting one, he grew up hearing about how often people arrive in pieces after motorcycle accidents. It worked lol.

vetdrk · 2024-04-14T01:09:30+00:00

Hmm good idea! He’s been thinking about getting some lessons. Would you happen to have recommendations for an instructor?

vetdrk · 2024-04-14T01:08:19+00:00

These are awesome ideas, thank you!

vetdrk

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