Today I want to write to you about something very important: the fact that my car is loaded to drive my oldest daughter to college in about 4 hours, she’s upstairs saying goodbye to her sister who has to go to school today, and it feels like a small piece of my heart is shriveling… Read More
Perspective
Vet Medicine as Dark Comedy
Dr. Steve Deels, a New Zealand emergency veterinarian and career coach, joins Dr. Andy Roark to tackle a familiar gut punch: “you can save a life at 2:00 a.m. and still get a one-star review because the wait was too long.” They dig into dark humor as a healthy coping tool, the unrealistic expectations placed… Read More
Unpopular Opinion: Vet Medicine Gets Better With Time
Everyday there are barrels of virtual ink being spilled on the ills and hardships of veterinary medicine. A lot of this ink is well deserved, and some of it comes directly from me. Veterinary medicine is a difficult, complicated, and rapidly changing profession that can take a toll on those who practice. At the same… Read More
High Quality, High Volume Surgery & the Future of Shelter Medicine
Dr. Roberta Westbrook, DVM, takes us inside the world of shelter medicine and challenges what many of us think we know about high quality, high volume surgery, access to care, and animal welfare. From the evolution of modern shelters to the realities of pet homelessness, community responsibility, and the future of keeping pets with the… Read More
Moving Chairs
In one month, my oldest daughter, Jacquelyn, will move out of our house and go to college four states away. Regular readers here will know that I have, to put it lightly, struggled with this upcoming change. My daughters and I are very close, and it’s been hard for me to get my head around… Read More
A Cry For Help From the Pathology Department
Dr. Eric Fish, DVM, DACVP, joins Dr. Andy Roark to tackle a tough question: Why does being a veterinary clinical pathologist feel darker right now, and what happens if AI turns “nice to have” diagnostics into “don’t need to have”? They unpack burnout and pay compression (including pathologists earning less than new grad GPs), consolidation… Read More