Dr. Molly Says... some crazy sh**
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Hey guys, welcome back to Friends and Enemas. My name is Lindsay. I'm your host. And who do I have with me? I am Dr. Molly Brinkman and I'm a veterinarian. So you're a human. I mean, oh my God, here, we're already starting off wrong. You're an animal doctor. I am an animal doctor. Tell us a little bit about where you're from, why you went into vet med and so on.

So I am from Franklin, Tennessee, which is close to Nashville, and grew up there and always wanted to be a vet. Like since as long as I can remember, that's what I said I was going to do. And I did it. That's really cool. That's really cool. I grew up wanting to be a vet. Unfortunately, I stepped away from it. But you know, I was like... Although many people have the same story. I know. And I think for me, I think I've said this before, but...

But for me, I was working as a kennel tech. I used to say a vet tech. That was wrong. But at the place I was at, that's what they said. So I thought I got ruined in the comments one day. And I was like, my bad, guys. I didn't know. But I was a kennel tech. And was a pre-vet for almost four years. I really, really enjoyed animal science and everything about it. But unfortunately, the vet I followed was pretty...

negative about the space, which like you could say for any career, even, you know, in healthcare with humans, same thing happens. And I still became a nurse, but what, what's your experience with that? And I guess like, what kept you going? Cause did you see any of that while you were in school or?

Yeah, I think it's talked about more now. But when I was in like undergrad, I mean, that's what I went to college to go to vet school, right? And I did animal science too at Tennessee. So I was like determined that's what I was going to do no matter what. But I definitely had friends in undergrad who wanted to go to vet school and basically got talked out of it and went to human medical school or veterinary.

I had a couple that went to like PA school. So I definitely had friends change their mind. And I think some of that was because of the negativity about the profession. And sadly, it's only like gotten worse. That was like 15 years ago that I was in college. And so a lot has changed since then. And I think there's has been even more negativity around all of it in the last few years. Oh, yeah. Just as things like the economy have gotten worse and the cost of vet school is getting worse.

I mean, worse, right? It's crazy. Yeah. That was a huge factor for me too, because when I was looking into it, you know, I'm paying out of pocket for my, or loans, student loans. And whenever I would do the math on what I found online or whoever I talked to as a vet, they were like, no, no, no, don't do it. You'll be in debt for the rest of your life. I remember them saying that. And I was like,

As like a 20 year old, I was like, that's scary. I don't want to do that. So what, what do you, I guess, is that changing? Is there any grants? Is there anything that can help that? Is it getting worse? I mean, you're just asking. It's such a big question and a complicated answer, but yeah.

I try really hard to encourage people that if they want to be in veterinary medicine, there is a way to make it sustainable and you can make a good living and you can pay off your loans and, and,

There's good and bad with the way the profession has evolved. And I do think there are a lot of opportunities for people to make extra money and work as vets the way they want to. A lot of relief positions are becoming more popular. So veterinarians can work on their own, do freelance veterinary work, and they pick up per diem shifts and they get paid really well for that.

there's good and bad. They don't have the benefits that you would in a steady job. Um, ER doctors, ER veterinary work is, has grown a lot and ER doctors can do really well, but they work, you know, terrible hours and it's really hard work. Um,

I was telling somebody the other day, if I was, if I went back and I was a new vet again without kids, I would totally be picking up like extra ER shifts, relief shifts on top of a job just to like make that extra money early on. And so I, I am glad that vets have those opportunities now, but, um,

But yeah, the cost of vet school has gotten, it's out of control. Yeah. It doesn't make a lot of sense. There's some vets on the internet right now talking about like, where's all of that money going? Like, what is that paying for? Yeah. It doesn't make a lot of sense. No. And I have the same questions and concerns, but it is what it is right now. And-

So these students take on $300,000, $400,000 in debt to go through just grad school. And that doesn't even include undergrad. And so that does feel, I think, insurmountable for a lot of people. But there are ways to pay that off strategically. And there are some government grants available.

that will forgive loans if these vets go out and work in underserved areas. I firmly believe there needs to be a lot more of that. You know, the...

government initiations don't focus on veterinary medicine a whole lot right now yeah I'm hoping that that changes pets are very important to Americans absolutely so I'm hoping that that my pets are my baby yeah I know I know so I think that will change and I think there there has to be something that helps yeah otherwise it's just like it's gonna be ran into the ground if nothing changes yeah yeah and people will stop going to

to vet school. Yeah. And there are some people who think we have a veterinary shortage right now.

That's a very kind of disputed thought. Same with nursing. There's a whole talk about it. And there's the new thing that's happening in the vet school world is private veterinary schools are opening in the U.S. several. There have always been some. There are 12 new vet schools opening, I think, in the next few years that are already in the process. And I think most of them are private schools, which means tuition is a lot higher than the big public universities. Yeah.

And so that's like a whole nother layer of more debt. And a lot of them don't have clinics. Oh, wow. So that's another thing. So is accreditation the same? Yeah, it is. But they it's I think it's harder for them to get accredited when they don't have a hospital because they basically farm the vet students out for rotations to other hospitals and private practices, which again, there is some good and some bad from that.

But they it's it is different from what we who go to the big public universities that have big teaching hospitals. It's just there's more oversight of what you're getting from the hospital when it's all in one place. Yeah, it's a it's a bit different from the traditional path. But I guess at least for prose section, it's at least another option for people because I read that there's only like 33 students.

Public vet schools? I think 33 right now that are open and accredited, something like that. But it'll be, I mean, I think we'll get to 50 quickly. Well, I looked it up because I was like, well, what's the difference between that and like nursing schools? And I think for nursing schools, there's like 140. So like it is a huge difference. And obviously like doctor versus nurse, I don't mean it like that, but for schools. Well, there's a lot of MD schools too. Yeah, exactly. It's over a hundred. So I was like,

Okay. So there is some disparity there. For sure. And the class sizes are not very big. No, they're not. Most of them are around a hundred. Yeah. And people drop like flies from what I hear. So it's like, dang, it's a lot. It's a lot of, like you said, like there might not be a shortage versus like resources to get there. Yeah. And I think there's, this is a big debate in the vote right now, but there's, I think pockets of shortages and there's

of vet med where there aren't enough vets that want to do that, like shelter medicine and working in rural areas and doing large animal medicine, which I used to do, but most people like quit doing it and go to small.

So there's pockets of shortages, but I'm not sure that it's because there's not enough physical people. I think there's just not enough people that want to do those things. And that's where like some government help of, you know, giving people some loan forgiveness or extra funds to go do those jobs would be helpful. Beneficial. Yeah. Well, what's a day in the life look like for a veterinarian?

Yeah, so I work in a general small animal practice. So we just see dogs and cats. I'm the medical director of my practice. I do have some admin roles. But when I work, it's either an appointment day or a surgery day. And so on my appointment days...

I see lots of pets throughout the day. We make appointments about three an hour usually. Oh, yeah. And then I'll have two either techs and or assistants that are basically like assigned to me for the day. So we're like a team for the day. And yeah, Vet Med is crazy. You just never know what's going to come through the doors. It could be anything we do. It's wild how much we do in general practice, especially. Absolutely.

At my dog's last annual visit, my vet has like a turtle. They have two turtles that they have like on display. It's like outside of the clinic. Are they alive? They're alive. Oh, okay. I know, right? They're alive. They're alive and well because they were humping each other the whole time. Science class at the vet clinic. Oh, yeah. Science class. My dog would not leave the window. I was like, this is so inappropriate. My dog should not be watching this. He's underage. Turtle born.

I was dying laughing because I was like, wow, okay. We have big windows in the hall where we have bird feeders. So there's squirrels and birds everywhere and the dogs love it, but we definitely don't have humping turtles. No humping turtles. Maybe you should get it. Maybe you'll have, you know, you never know. It might be a good business plan. Yeah, we don't have that. So you said you work with mainly cats and dogs. What percentage of your job is actually working, I guess, with the animals? And then like, what's it like when charting? I'm sure you guys have charting like we do. Yeah.

Yeah, vets are pretty hands on. So that's a big difference. I feel like between a lot of human doctor fields and veterinary fields, because we just don't have the same kind of amount of support staff or sort of like the way it's organized. And so I'm definitely like drawing blood and putting catheters in sometimes. Not all the time, but definitely more than human doctors. I do know how to do those things. They're going to come for you. I'm actually very good at those things because I was an assistant before I went to vet school. But yeah.

Yeah, I know most vets don't know that stuff very well when they go to vet school. But yeah, we're pretty hands on. So like we're in the floor helping with nail trims sometimes, expressing anal glands. Like we do some of the gross stuff too. So we're not, you know, we are in the trenches sometimes. My assistant Ariel is in the background. You guys can't see her. If you're watching, but her faces are killing me.

She's like anal glands. Oh my gosh. So we can totally talk about anal glands. I know how to do it. I remember I was a kennel tech. Yeah. And of course you do. The first time they showed me, they're like, number one rule is you face them away from you. Maybe towards the corner. Yes. And I was like, what are we doing? I'd never seen it before in my life. And they popped two fingers in that booty hole squeeze and the stuff I saw that came out and the smell I bought hit the floor. I was like, that sprayed me in the face with anal glands one time on purpose.

On purpose? Yeah, when I was like in undergrad. Was this like hazing? Yeah, I was like shadowing him. I don't think we're supposed to use the word hazing, but you know what I mean. You know what I mean. Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah. That is not fun. Yeah. I'm glad we don't do that to people.

Yeah. People don't have anal glands. Ariel, you don't need yours expelled. Oh, okay. You had a vet. What did you expect? She's like, wow. Yeah. We don't have those. They're scent glands for dogs and cats. That's what they're there for. Since we're on the topic of anal glands and since I have you here, I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. Do they express them themselves? Yes. When they're scared? Yes.

Yeah. Well, yeah. Anytime there might be some clenching. Murphy, my dog. Does he? When he's scared? When he's nervous. And he's a pretty anxious dog anyway. But like every time I feel that I smell that fishy smell, I'm like, are you kidding me? So they're supposed to express them every time they poop. Like it's supposed to come out. Okay. Like the turd puts pressure on the... Whoa. They're actually... This is a good bit. Okay. They're actually called anal sacs.

Oh. But nobody likes to say anal sex because if you say it really fast-

So that's a proper medical term is there are anal glands which are located inside anal sacs. Oh, I'm going to tell my about this next time I was here. Yes. And the glands produce the fluid that fills up the sack. Oh, and then and then when the bowel movement, not the turd comes out, it puts pressure on that sack and that makes the fluid come out. So it's supposed to like be on the poop.

So that like, you know, Fluffy was here. But yes. Fluffy was here. But yeah. So if they're like stressed or whatever, they can like spontaneously express them. Interesting. Well, cats do that too. Oh, cats I'd be scared of. Well, they're spiteful about it, I feel. I would think so. They're much smarter than dogs in a sense. Yeah.

My dog, last time he went, he had to get his expelled. This is Schmidt now where Murphy was fine because he just does it all the time it seems. Schmidt, they said it was so thick. And I was like, you know what? I can handle a lot of things. I don't think I need to know how thick his...

Mm-hmm. You know, gland stuff was. It can be like clay. That's what she said. And I was like, but why was it? I was like, does he need a supplement? I don't understand. Yes. Give him Glandex. See, there you go. You heard it here first. Free vet care.

You're welcome. Well, I always get questions about, you know, when someone finds out I'm a nurse, they're like, oh, I have this rash. Could you look at this? And I'm like, yes, I don't really want to. So I assume that you get a lot of. Someone asked me about question at a funeral once. And I was like, are you seriously? We just need a camera on. A reaction. Yeah, they like turned around. It was like about to start. Oh, I'm like, OK.

That's a little embarrassing. I'm not going to lie. I mean, what do you do? Nothing surprises me. You're like, yeah. And it was a dumb question. There's no such thing as dumb questions, but sometimes there really, really is. Can you not? In the context of being at a funeral, that's a dumb question. Sure, sure. Well, what's your favorite part of working with animals and your least favorite part of working with animals? My answer is the same. Okay.

My favorite part of being a vet is working with also the people. But sometimes that's also my least favorite part. Yeah. Right. A lot of vets are like, I'm a vet because I hate people. But that's not me. I love people. I also love animals. No, I love surgery. I do a lot of surgery. And I would have made a good ER doctor probably because I love like emergency surgeries, which we do. Yeah.

If we're open. And I just love that like instantaneous reward of like a hemo abdomen. I'm like, we're going to fix it. Get in there and cut them open and fix it. Maybe not forever, but like save them in the moment. And yeah, I like love that part of it. And just because you're like saving someone's baby. Someone's baby. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. No, I get that. I think like same for me as a nurse. Yeah.

my favorite part is helping people, but my least favorite part is working with people. And I'm like, you know, obviously that's part of the job. I should have known what I was doing going into it. But sometimes people make or break your day. And I'm just like,

I realize that you're in the worst pain of your life, but you don't have to be an asshole because a lot of people are in the worst pain of their life and they're not an asshole. Yeah. And I know everyone, you know, gets, I guess goes through pain differently, but that really irks me when I'm trying to help you. Well, pets are the same way. And of course they're not deciding to be assholes, but they are assholes sometimes. And that can be frustrating because you're like, I'm trying to help you. Why are you trying to eat me? Yes. I had a, um, I had a, a little, um,

A little dog that I was fostering. I fostered her for a whole year because she was a little bit of a trauma case. And when I took her to the vet, I was like, she won't bite you. She's been so good. Famous last words. Famous last words. I would never say it again because I was like, she is a demon outside of my house. Literally, the vet, she looked so sweet, was wagging her tail, ears back. Vet went like this, jumped up and bit her. I was like. Land shark. I am so.

It's okay. You know, I'm sure it does. But she looked at me like doesn't bite. Was she part chihuahua? No. Oh, okay. She was a pibble. That was a very terrible assumption. She wasn't. That was a good assumption, though. But she was a little pibble. But I didn't say what breed she was because people have such a thing against them. Yeah. And it was her past. It really was the way she was treated. So I was just like, leave her alone. Yeah. They're scared. Yeah. They don't know why they're in this weird place. No clue. Someone's poking them. No clue. Yeah. But after that, I was like, okay, can I get a muzzle?

Oh, yeah. And this is embarrassing. Party hat. That's what we call it. A party hat. Yes. But you deal with people's family too. So that's like me dealing with clients. Yeah. Very similar. It can be really difficult. But I have found I feel like a lot of the disconnect when I'm feeling tension in the room is miscommunication or no education. For sure. Do you feel the same? A hundred percent.

Yeah. I feel like especially with Betso, I was talking to Dr. Sarah Courtright. She was on here recently. She's so sweet. I really enjoyed her. We still haven't met in person. We're like, we have to be real life friends. It's 2025. It's happening. I could see you guys being friends. But she said, I think she said something similar to like a lot of people just don't know any better. But sometimes...

In my opinion, sometimes you're trying to teach them and they don't know what they don't know, but they don't want to listen to you because I'm the nurse and you're the doctor, but you're also a woman. So like, do they really believe? Yeah. And there's like definitely...

some preconceived notions that people have about just vets in general. Like, it's not, I feel like it's not the same inherent respect as like with a human doctor. And there's this like terrible American sort of trend right now of like vets are, you know, there's this like secret motivation that's money, but like industry. I've seen that on TikTok. Yeah. I'm like, yeah.

It's really sad because I feel like growing up, I always, you know, vets were like these like highly regarded parts of the community. Like everybody loved their vet. Yeah. Which was part of why I like was so excited, wanted to do that, you know? And because I love community and like, I want to, I want to see my clients at the grocery store. Some people don't want that. I would like that. I do. But, and now it's just sort of evolved into this like.

questioning, which is in human medicine too. But I feel like a lot of clients come into their appointment with me, not me, but just with their vet with this idea that like, oh, whatever they say, I need to like question everything. Oh, very. Yeah. And I'm like, did you go to school or did they go to school? And I know a lot of them are so worried. Well, my vet's charging so much money. And so that's why like the prices keep going up. So that's why I'm like, if you ever talk to your vet, which you should, I'm

The amount of free services that every vet I've ever come in contact with gives out is insane. Yeah. Tons of volunteer work, especially with like rural communities or like houseless homeless pets. And I'm just like, wow.

Why are you still complaining? Which I understand everyone's financial. Everyone can have different financial issues. But sometimes I'm like, why? Why are you blaming the vet? Well, yeah, because everything is really expensive right now in the world. Right. And there was actually saw like a census of what people spend their money on.

And what they spend their money on, like people with pets, the amount of like percentage of their money that they spend on vet care is actually very, very small. It's like lower than almost every other category. Oh, wow. It's very interesting to me. Yeah. Because it's like, well, why are we getting picked on? Why aren't the grocery stores getting picked on? Why aren't like rent rates? It's me. Right. So that's hard. I mean, I feel for people like I feel inflation. Absolutely. So there's just like a lot. There is a lot to it. And yeah.

It's like more layers than people give credit to. So that's why I'm like, I understand that everyone can be in a different financial spot, but like being so shitty towards your vet, it's not a conspiracy. It's just how things are. - And vet med is weird because it's so different from human med because of like the insurance, y'all have such so many layers between you and billing because of insurance.

And we're like a direct-to-consumer service. Yeah. So it's a transaction. And, like, I have to talk about money and prices. And, you know, human doctors don't really talk about that. No, no. And we don't want to have to, but we do. And so that makes it, you know, it's like bargaining with your medical provider. Yeah. It's a weird thing. Right. Yeah. And you still have to, you know, pay...

the overhead and other people that are working there. It's not just you getting that money. So I'm like, our costs are just as high as anything else. And it's like, it's a hard thing for vets because it becomes like this internal ethical dilemma. Like,

I know I'm supposed to offer X, Y, Z. I don't want to like piss someone off by offering, you know, $500 worth of diagnostics. But if I don't offer them and we miss something because we didn't run that diagnostic, like that gets complicated. Absolutely. And I like envy, I'm like, oh gosh, sometimes I envy human meds.

Because the doctors are just like, okay, we need to do ABCDEFG. And there's no like, well, what does that cost? It just happens. Right. And it's like, if you have a problem, talk to your insurance. It's not talk to me. Yeah. It's like rad smack CBC on everything that walks in the ER. But we have to talk about all those things. Right. And I bring this up because I'm not sure if this was on the brief or not, but it's something I like to bring up with all vets or vet techs or anyone in animal medicine that comes here is that

Yeah.

And you guys also just, it just makes me sad. So that's why I bring this up with like the financial issues and people arguing with their vets about it. Like, I don't think they realize how that sits on you guys. Well, and people are people, I read people say, you know,

Why couldn't a vet just help me? Like they would rather my pet be euthanized than save them just because I can't afford it. And like, yes, if you're talking about that one situation, it is like we trust me, it's just as hard for us. But one isolated incident is so different from like so many. Like we did that for everybody. We wouldn't exist. Right. And.

That sucks. Like it's terrible. And there, and there are people help trying to help that and talking about like spectrum of care and vet med and like, how do we meet people where they are and still take care of their pets? I'm very passionate about that. You know,

You know, I love to offer people a menu of options of what we can do. Yeah. But it is hard and it's heavy. And people that work in vet med, they have life outside of their work. And so when you come into work with things from life and then you deal with that all day. Oh, yeah. And sometimes you probably take it home with you. For sure.

Yeah. So it just compounds. Yeah. And I'm very fortunate where I practice now. I don't have to have a lot of financial hard conversations. Yeah. We really do not have to do any economic euthanasias at my practice. And like, I'm very privileged. I don't have to deal with that all the time. Yeah. But I have worked in places where it was an issue and it was...

very emotionally draining. So I understand why that just really feels hopeless. Yeah, I can only imagine. I worked in...

I'm from Oklahoma and I worked with a rescue there and very hands-on with them for a little over a year. And I saw like the hardships that you have to deal with and just rescue. And I was like, I just can't imagine what you guys have to go through because I'm always taking a dog to one of those vets who's giving their care for free. And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is just one rescue, one dog, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And I think we've been conditioned to just subconsciously feel like we're not really supposed to make a lot

Yeah. Right. And like, you shouldn't feel good about making a lot of money if you are. And I'm like, it's still a job. You still have bills to pay. Yeah. And a lot of vets do get paid on production. Yeah. And people seem to on the Internet, like find that out and act like it's this big secret conspiracy and it's terrible. And I'm like, oh, like this is just the way it is. Right. A lot of vets get paid on production. A lot of human doctors get paid on production. That's how most jobs work. Yeah. So it's just like very complicated subconscious guilt. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, switching topics a little bit, a little lighter. Less sad. Yeah, less sad. What is your most unique animal you've treated? You said cats and dogs, but you... Yes, that I have done all the things. So I worked in a practice that saw everything. So horses, cows, goats, sheep, pigs, dogs, cats, reptiles, all the things. Oh, cool.

And we had a client. So this is we had a client and she had like a it wasn't a petting zoo, but she just had I don't know. She just collected weird animals like no one could go there. But she had kangaroos.

And so we took care of kangaroos and it was cool. Yeah, it was cool. And they, but they're, they're like not very nice. I've heard kangaroos are assholes. Yeah, but they can, they're funny too. Like they're, I always tell the story. There was one kangaroo, a female, and she was like a pickpocket. Like she would pickpocket you. And so they had, they had, is the peanut gallery laughing? Yeah.

So they had like kangaroos and llamas and alpacas all in the same field. Oh, wow. I loved, I still do, treating camelids. So alpacas and llamas. Oh.

Oh, I was like the camelid vet of the Western slope of Colorado for a couple of years. Yeah. So I was like there looking at an alpaca or something. And the lady's like, okay, now listen, I can't remember the shaker's name, but we'll, we'll say it's a boy and call him Joey for the story's sake. She's like, watch out for Joey. Cause if he gets close to you, he'll pickpocket you and you won't even know it. And I'm like, what?

"Hey, what am I supposed to do? I need a bodyguard." - That is so funny. - So sure enough, I'm like working on an alpaca. The kangaroos are like gathering around to witness.

And because they're kind of human. Yeah. They're just like upright. Yeah. And so they're like getting close and I'm like, can we shoo them away? Are they going to like kick me? What's happening? And all this, when we go to leave, I had like put some like scissors and different things in my pockets. It was all gone. Everything was gone. Did he put it in his pouch? Okay. Yeah. No, the story doesn't work if I lie and say he's a boy. Cause it was a girl. Yeah.

You're right. Because she had a pouch. I was going to say, if they're selling your stuff, where'd they put it? Yes. That's why she was the pickpocket. I just can't remember her name. Okay. Janet. Janet. Joey and Janet. Janet. She took everything. She robbed me bare. That is honestly hilarious. So like just in her pouch, she's got all kinds of like medical supplies. Yeah, and then she like hopped away. And so I had to go get the lady and be like, Janet took my stuff.

She got it back for me. Hilarious. Yeah. And then we had Joey. That wasn't his name, but the male kangaroo. He coded on us. I resuscitated Joey the kangaroo once. You gave like CPR on him? Yeah. He crashed. He's okay. He lived. I don't know if he's alive now, but he lived then. He dislocated his shoulder. Oh, no.

So we sedated him with an alpha two to get it back in. Dexameter is what it's called. You can use that in kangaroos. And it's a reversible sedation. So we sedated him. We put his shoulder in place. We like put it in a sling.

That's kind of cute. But we didn't reverse him because he was a mean kangaroo. And so she was like, you don't want to wake him up here. Like just put him in the car. And so, or the truck, I don't know. And so he had a bad reaction to the sedation and she like got a few minutes away and she was like, um, should he be like moving more? And we were like, yes. Because we had waited a while. He was like starting to wake up and then all of a sudden he was very not awake again. Oh no. We were like, come right back. And he was like coding. Oh no. And I...

I was like, how do you perform CPR on a king? But we did and we got him back. Wow. He got epi and natriene and compressions and he came back. Do they have a barrel chest?

Yeah. Well, actually, their chest is not that their actual chest is not that big. They have big shoulders. Oh, yeah. They can be ripped. And their legs and their tail. Oh, yeah. Joey was ripped, but he was young, so he wasn't huge yet. OK. OK. So anyway. That is really interesting, though. But I am in no way like an exotic. I don't know what I'm doing. Honestly, the exotic. I'm like, how did you choose this life? What? Their life is cool. It's cool. It's so cool. It's just interesting. I'm like exotic vets like they have to know so much.

Oh, yeah. More than because all those different anatomy. Oh, it's crazy. I'm sure medications for reptiles or rodents. I don't know. Well, and exotics have...

a lot more like medication sensitivities. Like there's like medications that you will definitely kill them with if you give it to them, the wrong thing, like wrong antibiotic. Oh my gosh. That is so crazy. So they're like, they're the genius vets. Wow. Okay. So that's okay. That's interesting how you guys like label who's who, like, you know, in our world, it's like the neurologists, like the lady spine docs of the world. Right. Well, and we have specialists, but the, but the exotic sense they're, they're good. Yeah. Yeah.

They're the secret geniuses. Have you seen that TikTok of that little tiny owl? Oh, it's here in Arizona actually. She's so cute. She's like this big. I don't know what kind. Are little screech owls? Aren't they little? Maybe. I don't know anything about owls, but I'll have to show you the video. And if you guys are watching on YouTube, I'll add it here too. But it's this owl. And when she turns, she has like the most seductive eyes. I'm going to have to look it up. She's so cute. I love owls. So I was going to say like, I would love to have an owl. I would actually love to own a bird.

But unfortunately, in human medicine world, I found out that bird poop can cause lung cancer. Oh, I have had. So I worked on transplant unit and I had three that I can remember lung transplants from a patient or from a patient that owned a bird. And it was from what kind of cancer?

I'll have to look it up. Okay. Interesting. That's embarrassing. I should know. It's not like mesothelioma, is it? No, but it's its own specific kind and they can trace it back to the bird poop. I probably was taught this and I don't remember it. Well, it's okay. That is interesting. I thought it was interesting too. So I was like, well, but moving on from bird talk. Yeah.

Okay, so there's a new human medicine show, once again, St. Dennis Medical Center, I'm sure. But there's no vet shows like that. And I really feel like that would be comical. I agree. I think we should make one. I want to make one. And you have like a whole idea for it. I feel like that would honestly be really funny. And it brings like people... Once again, you could bring education into it for the general public, for people who are not in it. But I bet there's so much humor because...

And with human medicine, there's a lot of humor too, but you can't really talk about it because it offends a lot of people, which I understand people are in dire needs. But with animals, it's people. But like with animals, the same stuff happens. And sometimes it's just funny. Yes. Do you have a funny story that you can think of? Because you guys don't have HIPAA.

Like we do. No, we don't have HIPAA. I think I'm like, obviously you don't like the dogs not like, excuse you. Thanks for talking about my medical condition. Right. And there's like an unspoken sort of like layer of like clients would be mad if you were just like talking about their pet's case. But there's no like real legal action. Yeah. Like they probably would leave your practice if they were mad. But.

Do you have like a funny, embarrassing new grad story is like what I like to call them or any, any funny story you can think of that won't get you canceled? Yeah. I'm trying to think I helped with this talk for new grads. It was like dumb things I did when I was a new grad that like, it's okay. Everybody does dumb things. And I'm trying to think of what they were because they are funny. I was reading a new grad story on my last podcast. So

So you guys might remember this one, but long story short, the gist of it was a new grad was helping change a patient who was needing to pee. He said, I need to use the bathroom over and over and over. They're running. He's a male. So they're looking for the urinal. Can't find the urinal. He starts to pee. She grabs his penis and closes the hole, puts her thumb over the hole. She pinched it off. She pinched it off. I was like, it's not a hose. You can't do that.

But I was like, it's a person. It's a person. It's a penis. Also, just let them pee themselves if he gets to that point. You can just clean. That's hilarious. That's like what went through her mind. Cleaning the sheets would be better. The bed would be better than that. Right.

I'm like, were they alert and oriented? Did they know this was happening? That's so funny. I, okay. That reminded me. See, I have a crazy, I have a crazy story. Okay. When I was an intern, I went to Western Colorado, the Valley of Aspen, and I did an equine surgical internship. I thought I was going to be a horse surgeon. Okay.

And equine internships, especially in like a surgical practice, are crazy. Like you don't sleep. You work like 100 hours a week and it's like insane. I would never know that. Oh, yeah, yeah. It's a whole thing. We can talk about it. But...

This is a crazy story. This is kind of a famous story, but you haven't heard it. So I was the intern. It was the end of my internship year. The surgeon that I was working with, her name is Joanna. She's my very good friend now. She's hilarious. She was a new surgeon, like just out of residency. She's like, Molly, I have this cool case. I'm going to let you do it. I'm like, okay. So fun fact, you can physically remove a bladder stone from a female horse with your hand.

You put it like up there, urethra? Yes. So you can give horse... How's the peanut gallery? You can give horses like caudal epidurals. It's not actually caudal, but you have an epidural where their sensory to their like perineal region and all that is down, but they can still stand. So this mare was going to be standing in stanchions on like a CRI of mild sedation,

And given an epidural so that I could like dilate her urethra. And Joanna was like, this is rare where like you can do this, but I'm going to let you do it. It was like my end of my internship gift. My in-laws happened to be in town and I was like, come watch me do this cool procedure.

So we're in a barn, the treatment barn. We're all set up. My in-laws, my husband's parents and his grandparents, two generations. I'm going to watch your hand go up of horses. Yeah. They're like, oh, this is cool. So we get ready. I go in. The bladder sounds pretty big. It's like this big. And I can, I get like into the bladder, like with my fingertips, I can feel the stone and

And I'm like, oh, Joanna, it's really big. I'm going to have to like put my whole hand in the bladder to get it. She's like, okay, grab it. So I get my hand in the bladder. I grab the stone. I can't get it back out. Oh, no. And the owner of the horse is watching too. I have a whole peanut gallery. It's like Grey's Anatomy. And I'm like, Joanna? I'm like whispering to her. Okay.

And she's like, yes, you can. If you got it in there, you can. You can get it back out. And I'm like, no, I really cannot. She's like, just do it. And so I'm like pulling my hand as hard as I can. And I can like feel my metacarpals like crunching together. I'm like, I'm going to break my hand if I force this. She's like, oh, God.

So for an hour, I am firmly attached to the backside of a horse while she's trying to figure out how to get my arm out of this horse. Oh, my God. So if you can even imagine this scene, this is a, you know, giant. She was a huge mare. She's in these like metal stanchions. I am in her bladder. I am attached to her. That is weird. So if she goes, she lays down like I'm going to.

break my arm like I'm gonna get very injured yeah and like the the vet tech that was running the sedation she's like not really understanding what's happening and this horse is starting to get wobbly and we're like Sandy

Slow the CRI down. And she's like, oh, okay. I'm like, you're going to kill me. Oh, my God. So an hour later, we she redid an epidural, I think is what we ended up doing. And finally, I got my oh, my. Oh, yeah. The in-laws. My mother-in-law is like praying in the corner. They're crying. Oh, my gosh. So we finally get my handout. It's like a gush of bloody pee comes with me.

and we're like okay it's over like i'm all good no we look at my hand and there's like this severe like line of demarcation like it was a tourniquet basically and my hand is like dusty oh my god i'll show you i'm gonna lose my hand well it's like swollen and like gray oh my god so joanna's like you gotta

Yeah. Like, what am I going to tell them? So I go to the ER in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, which is a ski town. So, you know, they've seen it all. So I like go to get the triage nurse comes and she's like 60. She's been doing this forever. She's like, what happened? And I go, you're never going to guess. And she was like, oh, try me, honey. Like, I've been doing this forever. I was like, okay. So I told her how my hand was like that.

And she just like, like I could hear the blink audio. Blink, blink, blink, blink. She was like, and I go top five. She was like, she's like, let me go get a doctor. Oh, my God. So like within like 30 minutes, there was like a hand surgeon, a vascular surgeon. They thought I had compartment syndrome in my hand. I was like, do not cut my hand. Do not break this.

I was like, well, this is my livelihood. I was afraid they're going to have to do the like fascial release thing. But they didn't. And it was okay. But it was like quite a drama. I want to see a picture. Not right now, but we're done. Okay. Okay. That's insane. Yeah. So there's a crazy new grad story. That is a crazy new grad story. Something that you said made me think of, you said there was bloody urine. Do you guys do CBIs or continual bladder irrigation on animals? Do you put a foley in there and just...

Well, so cats get urinary obstructions and we do put indwelling urinary catheters in them. We don't really flush it out though. Like we relieve the obstruction. A lot of times we like flush the stones, little sludgy stuff back up

into the bladder with the catheter and fluid but then we and we leave it in for a few days while they recover oh I see but we don't usually like flush it out I shouldn't know if it was interesting yeah I was like oh bloody urine are you gonna do CBI but didn't hear yeah yeah it's not a thing I mean maybe it is I just I've never heard of it for for cats

Do animals decompensate quickly? Are there different types of animals? Like, you know, with people, kids can look fine until they're just not fine immediately. But they can always come back pretty quickly versus like adults. It's much different. Yeah. So like certain breeds and sizes of dogs, definitely. Yeah, they can like get bad faster than others. But yeah.

There's some diseases or issues where, yeah, that definitely happens.

across the board. Like certain things can make them crash fast. Yeah. And then if we have like elderly, like senior patients and really juvenile patients, those are ones that can get really bad really fast. And the young ones can bounce back fast. Yeah. But there definitely are some like breeds that it's like, oh gosh. Like a pug. I assume a pug. Yeah. How do you fix that? Yeah. So all the brachycephalic dogs. Yeah. Everything's just more complicated. Okay. Because they can't breathe. Yeah. Yeah. In normal life. Yes. Yeah.

They're just struggling in daily life. And they get overheated and yeah. What's your best advice to a pet owner? I'm sure you're like, oh, let me give you this book. Oh, my best advice to a pet owner. My best advice to pet owners is to get pet insurance. I was just about to ask you about that. Yep. If I had to pick one thing to tell pet parents...

Pet owners get pet insurance. Okay. Because a lot of times it helps as soon as you get your pet. Yeah. Because I know that, um, like I wish I would have done it whenever my dogs, when I first got them, but you know, they're old now and it doesn't make sense for them to have the pet insurance that I was looking at. And I was like, Oh, this is why.

I should have got it when I first got them. Yeah, because it doesn't cover pre-existing conditions usually. And I'm like, they're already lumpy. So they ain't going to cover those lumps. Yeah. And then is there any misinformation that you see happen like across the board with where you're at? You're like...

Yes. I would say there's more misinformation than good information amongst a lot of pet parents. Yeah. Like out in the wild. Yeah. They just find something on like TikTok. Like one I've seen. Ooh, this might be controversial. Tell me. Also, if I ever bring something up and you're like, I don't want to talk about it. Oh, yeah. I'll tell you. What is it? Raw diet. Oh, yeah. Happy to talk about it. Do you like it or no? Yes. Tell me more. Yes. No. No.

Oh, pet food is like the biggest debate right now. It is. It's the biggest debate. And it's, there's just a lot of like voices involved. So you have pet parents who are, I always say this to clients in the room who I'm having to have a long conversation about nutrition and pet food with. Usually it's the most dedicated pet parents that,

are confused or doing the wrong thing with that food. Because they read something and they think, oh, that's better than what I'm doing. And so they want to try it. And a lot of times they don't realize like how it can be harmful. It always surprises me. And I don't know that it's

I guess it's ignorance or just people don't realize like how much goes into formulating a diet. Veterinary nutrition is a boarded specialty because it's so complicated and pets do eat the same thing most days. And so there's just so much that goes into formulating diets, the safety of diets, quality control, like making sure they are complete and balanced and everything that's supposed to be there is there. Yeah.

And I see so many people who just like, oh, I read online. And so I just started making my dog's food. Like I literally had this conversation a couple of days ago, the sweet lady and like her dog has this weird like joint issue that I think could be because of its diet that she's been making for five years. Cause she's just kind of put meat and veggies and rice together and like very nicely explained to her. Like, I think that that could be part of the problem.

And she was like, well, I don't understand. It must be balanced. There's meat and veggies and rice. Micronutrients. Yeah. Yeah. And so people get very like ingredient focused. Yeah.

And then there's people who are, you know, pet influencers on the Internet who aren't medically trained and they're giving a lot of information and advice and they're very confident about it. There's like courses and certifications out there that aren't in

any like that are not good education. They don't actually qualify a person to make a diet. Yeah. And they like call themselves, you know, different titles and make pet parents think like they are qualified to be telling them what to feed their dog. Yeah. And a lot of those people are raw food proponents and feeding pets raw is not necessarily like horrible. Yeah.

I have not been convinced with any like research and literature that the benefits outweigh the risks of feeding raw food because of like possible contamination.

I do. I'm a huge fan of whole fresh cooked food. And I'm so glad there's like commercially available diets now like Wynwood and Just Food for Dogs. They're formulated well. They follow a lot of pet food guidelines we want them to. Yeah. And so what I tell my clients, if they want to feed raw, they are just dead set on it. I try to meet them where they are. So I'm like, OK, if you want to feed raw.

you can't just go get raw meat from the grocery store because it's very contaminated with bacteria. And so I will try to point them towards commercially produced raw food. So there's companies that make raw food, they have nutritionists formulate the diets and they have kill methods. So they go through a process after it's made to- For the bacteria. For the bacteria. Yeah. And they test and things like that. So if we're going to do it, I'm like, let's do it as safe as possible. Yeah. I think a lot of people are like convinced that

you know, this dog nutritionist on TikTok told me that this one special diet is going to work for my dog. But like you said, like it's a lot about, I bring it up because this happens in human world too, where, you know, someone will find

that they have some, I don't know, cardiac disease or anything, and they'll find one little thing on the internet. And I'm like, that's just one story and it doesn't mean it's gonna work for you. And I hope it does, but most likely you're missing a whole bunch of the other stuff. But I brought this up again because I saw another TikTok that was talking about how her vet is like, you know, doesn't want her dog to eat.

anything but kibble and all this stuff. And I think I was like, no, it's probably more so that your vet is worried that your dog's not getting all of the nutrients and they don't know every individual's knowledge. And, you know. Yeah. They're good intentions. I do think there's a lot of

I think that like the posture of veterinarians can improve when it comes to pet food because for a long time, I think everybody was just like, oh, just feed kibble. Yeah. My like opinion, I've become so much more open-minded about it over the last five years. I was definitely one of those vets that like internal eye roll and someone brought up something other than just like a balanced big brand kibble.

And it's not there's myths about like no one we were not like taught that in vet school. Like, yes, the big companies have are involved in vet schools. But like I wasn't brainwashed by Purina in vet school.

So that's a myth. And so and they didn't pay for vet school. You know, people say that people will say that. I've seen that before. Yeah. Like, yeah. No, I'm still waiting for those checks if that's the case. But yeah. So like I definitely have changed my posture about it. And I try to remember that the people who are maybe arguing with arguing about it or just kind of being defensive about it.

It's because they think they're doing what's best for their pet. And so, like I said, I try to meet them where they are. I try to explain to them, like, I'm only telling you this because I don't want your dog to get sick. Right. And I want to help you do it the right way. And that's becoming more accessible. Like vets and nutritionists who can formulate diets for people, they want to make it at home. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

So this reminded me of another topic we were going to talk about. So it's a little bit of a pivot. But what is this? 129. 129. My soapbox right now. I want to hear about it. Tell us all about it. Okay. I want to know.

So the short version is there is a somewhat small group of people in the vet animal space. Some of them are in the animal welfare space, actually, shelter kind of world, who have been pushing to create a

it's called a VPA position in veterinary medicine. So I think it's called, it's a veterinary practice associate maybe, or practitioner associate or assistant. I can't remember VPA. And they are kind of presenting this as being a position that's akin to like a human PA or a human nurse practitioner. And they,

So in Colorado, three years ago, this kind of group of people, mainly the Dumb Friends League, which is the worst name ever, but it's a non-profit. Dumb Friends League? Yeah. Okay. I don't know. I think they're changing their name. Okay. But they've been around a long time, and they have done a lot of really great things. They have low-cost clinics. They have shelters. Yeah.

they get tons of money in donations. Like the CEO, her name's April Steele. She's behind a lot of this. And she said on a podcast last week that they have like $65 million in reserves when they get their bank. So they're a huge organization. So they kind of teamed up with the ASPCA.

And some other people to try to get this passed and change the practice act in Colorado to allow for this new position that can have much wider like spectrum of not spectrum of care with scope. Oh, yeah. Yeah. To be able to do a lot of things that doctors do.

And they believe that this will help our field because they believe there's a veterinary shortage. And so they think rather than making more vets, it would be better to create an abbreviated education program.

Yeah.

the way they're doing it, but they want them to do surgeries, like perform solo surgery. Oh, wow. The wording of like the legal measure they just passed is very vague. So they're going to like go through a legal process to create more guardrails and like specify more. But the people that are pushing it have said publicly they think these people can do spays and neuters and laceration repairs and tumor removals.

And dentistry, which is kind of wild for them to suggest because dentistry is like very kind of complicated and difficult and nobody wants to do that all day. But they – so three years ago, they tried to get this passed as like a legislative measure like within the Colorado government. And it got – it didn't pass. There's a Colorado legislator who is a vet and she's very against this. And so –

They were like, yeah, no, we don't want to do this. So they couldn't pass it the right way. And so this year they got it as a ballot measure for the public to vote on in Colorado, which is a thing that Colorado does. I know all about it because I used to live and practice there. And it's really a terrible idea. And so the general public got to vote on whether or not the Veterinary Practice Act could change. Right.

But the general public doesn't know a whole lot about the med world. Correct. No, they know. At the beginning. Because of all the misconceptions we just talked about. And so the Dumb Friends League...

I know it's a terrible name. They donated, Dumb Friends League donated like $1.2 million to this lobbying pack or a pack who paid a lobbying group to pass out flyers and knock on doors to the general public in Denver. And basically they told people this is going to make vet care cost less. Oh, no. And it's going to be easier to get into a vet if you vote yes on this, which was very much misleading. Yeah. Yeah.

It does not change the cost of veterinary. It will not change the cost of veterinary care. Right. And I can explain why, but it doesn't. Well, and it's not, I think something you had mentioned too was that it might help with the numbers of like, well, we don't have enough vets. We don't have enough vets. That's what they're, yeah. But-

Sorry, keep going. But we do have enough vets. There's a new paper that came out that we have enough vets. We will have enough vets because of all the schools that are opening. But April Steele, who kind of is spearheading this, she was on a podcast last week. She got asked a lot of hard questions. And she basically acknowledged that in a private practice, like the business of veterinary medicine, there's really not a logical way that it could reduce the cost to the consumer, to the client. Right.

She kind of said, well, in subsidized clinics, it's going to help, which subsidized clinics means like donors or the government is helping pay for the cost. But that doesn't have anything to do with who's actually performing the procedures. Yeah. So anyway, it's like very complicated. But so they passed it passed. The Colorado public voted yes. And so now a lot of people in veterinary medicine are vaccinated.

Very upset. Absolutely. Veterinary technicians are very upset about it and they should be. I'm the most, I think frustrated for them. They're saying like vet techs will be great candidates to go do this program, but they have to have a bachelor's degree to get into the program. And a lot of veterinary technicians do not have that. We looked at some statistics. I think it's 10%. Oh, wow. Yeah. And so really it's just cutting them out. Once again, it's like, you know,

And they say like, oh, well, down the road, we're going to make an exception to like grandfather in techs. They can come to the program if they don't have a bachelor's. But like, OK, so who's doing it now? Right. And the vet tech world is a mess. Yeah. I think Pete talked to you about it a little bit. He did. They don't have license protection. It's not universal. It's very confusing. Their title is different. There's not title protection. It's different in different states. Right. Their scope of practice is different in every state. Right.

It would have been, I think, you know, an elevated tech physician like this would work. We already have that to some degree, their VTS program. So vet techs can specialize. And that's underutilized and underappreciated. And I think they could have focused on all of that and done this. Versus coming up with a whole new program. And like vet schools could have just added more seats for vet students. Yeah.

And then it gets really like, it's kind of shady. Like Colorado State University is behind it too. Like they, they're who has the program they're rolling out. What's interesting is they don't have a vet tech school. Oh. They have a, yeah, they have a vet school and now a VPA school. Instead of working on the problems they already have, they're going to just create a whole new problem. A thousand percent. Yes. Because-

I find that so strange. Like, it's pretty much like a PA, like you said, a physician's assistant, what we'd call or a nurse practitioner. Yes. But without enough schooling to really have...

the knowledge to do what they say that they're going to be able to do. Yeah. Well, and the scope is different. And the people pushing this are trying to make the public think, oh, it's just the same as a PA. And so people are like, oh, well, I see a PA. They're great. Like, this makes sense. But it's not. And there's a lot of reasons. Some of it is the education. Some of it is the scope they're going to give them. PAs are not performing solo surgeries. And like a spay, a spay and a dog or a cat, that is a...

It's much bigger than a neuter. Yeah, it's a hysterectomy. It's an ovario hysterectomy. Like it's a huge deal. I just last week I was spaying my mom's cat and I dropped one of its ovarian pedicles and I had to like open her whole abdomen up and go find this teeny tiny little vessel that was bleeding. Oh my God.

And I just, all I could think about was a VPA. Like, I feel bad for them if they're in the situation because they are not prepared for this. And then the other thing about PAs, human PAs versus this position is in, and you know this, in human medicine, there's a large gap in the education and the pay between a PA and an MD. Unless we're talking about like a family, like a PCP. Sure. It's closer there. But like most MDs make significantly more money than PAs do.

And so it's like it pays off to become an MD because you are going to make maybe twice or three times as much as a PA. And it's attractive to PAs to do that if they maybe don't want to commit, you know, 12 years of their life to become an MD and work like that. But in this situation, they're saying the VPAs should make $100,000 a year. Right.

And the average vet salary in the U.S., I think, is like $140 right now. And so it's a very small margin. And I definitely know some veterinarians who make less than $100,000 a year. And so and then the VPA program is still like two and a half or five semesters after their undergrad, after a bachelor's. Three of them are online. They're going to take anatomy online. No, not anatomy. Yeah. Yeah.

And then they'll have some, like they say, clinical rotations, which is another thing because vet students at CSU, it's probably going to like, they're going to have to compete with the VPAs for like clinical stuff. Yeah. And I don't know that, but. I mean, but that's already, it's already a thing. I mean, there's only one hospital at CSU, so. Right. And then, yeah. And so, yeah, five semesters. And then they're like.

free into the wild yonder. So I don't think the time is that different than a human PA, but looking at the curriculum between the two, there is a big difference. And I don't think PAs are taking anatomy online. I don't know. Are they?

I highly doubt it. I don't think so. I hope not. But also, RPAs are not performing surgeries. Well, right. Exactly. Yeah. That's where it's like, I mean, even if they do take it online, they shouldn't be performing any surgeries. You know, it kind of reminds me of a cosmetic surgeon versus a...

board certified plastic surgeon. Cause that's like a thing, right? Oh my God. It's a thing. Some cosmetic surgeons like were dentists. And then they went and took like a class online or something. I'm speaking out of my ass, but pretty much. And then they can all of a sudden do a boob job versus a board certified plastic surgeon who went to school. Yeah. And it's like, well, I don't want that. Yeah. And I like, there's a place I think where like the people pushing it say like, Oh, this is going to help shelter medicine. Yeah.

Which I understand what they're saying because they can have like multiple VPAs instead of the same number of vets or less vets. But shelter medicine is very emotionally tolling and most people don't stay in shelter. Like animal shelters. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Animal shelters. So they, you know, I think my job is hard. Their job is really hard. Yeah. It's very tolling and a lot of people don't stay in shelter medicine because

And I'm just like, well, if vets don't want to be in shelter medicine, why do we think VPAs want to be? Yeah. I mean, I don't, I just don't see how that's going to solve that problem. Aren't shelter medicine, isn't that like government funded as well? So maybe they're wanting to pay less for these PAs. Yeah. I mean, totally. I mean, that's the,

That's what it is. And then the overarching concern of a lot of the vet community is that corporate vet companies are going to take advantage of this. Yeah. And they are. They, I'm sure, and, you know, some of the ones, some bigger chain corporate vet clinics, maybe the first one you think of, I won't say it out loud, but they might be next to pet supply stores. But they are going to, they have a hard time hiring vets for a lot of reasons. Yeah. We know that's a thing. And so...

I think they will take advantage of this. And I think the general public will maybe not always be aware that they're not

not seeing a DVM. It sucks because I think long term it could create more mistrust between general public and vet. Yeah. That there already is. There's already weird conspiracy theories that are not true and myths that aren't true. Yeah. And I just don't see how it's going to be cheaper for the consumer, for the client. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that really sucks. I know. I feel like we're Debbie Downer about vet med. I love veterinary medicine. It has, there are so many wonderful things about it and it has become such a

a great career for women who want to have families. Yeah. I am going to be a practice owner and a mom. And like, I can do both of those things and I can make a great living and then some salary as a doctor, which is okay. Yeah. And, and,

I, there, the culture of veterinary medicine, like within practices is improving. Corporate veterinary medicine is not all bad. Some, they have sort of pushed some of that because, you know, people want to work where they're treated well. Right. So they push private practices to do better with benefits and, and hours and things and quality of life. And so it really is like a wonderful place. We, we have issues. Just because we're talking about bad or not even bad thing, things that,

could have more cons and pros. A lot of this is to get a lot of this is to get information out there so that people are aware before they go into it. Because I think it's more so when you're slapped in the face with these other things that have never been talked about. Yeah. That's when it's like, oh, because every career has their has their shit. For sure. So it's like it's not just vet med. Right. But I do think like what would you tell someone that's really wanting to become a vet? You know,

that's scared because like i told you before we started um recording that there's obviously reddit is like the worst place ever for good information in my opinion it's always negative but i was reading through the reddit and i'm like damn this just looks just like the nurses read it on here too like it's so negative yeah but with more positive people talking like this is why you should you know continue what would you tell them well and i i would

First, I would tell them that people who have had negative experiences are usually the loudest, which is why I try to be very loud on my platforms about how much I love what I do. I think anyone who is interested in veterinary medicine should really, before they get diagnosed,

even before they go to college, like get as much experience in our field as you can. So many people change their mind, even in vet school, what they want to do. I thought I wanted to be a horse surgeon. Yeah. And I didn't know I didn't want to do that until I got into my internship. The cool thing about vet med is the world is your oyster. There are so many career paths in vet med. Like I have so all of my friends who are vets, there are probably 30 different

actual things that they do. Oh, well. Beyond just clinical practice. Yeah. There's industry jobs and consulting and management. And now with all the corporations, there's like leadership and, you know, practice development. There's so many things people can do. And people can pay their loans back. They can be smart about that. And they...

they can love their job. Yeah. So many vets love their job. Yeah. You're living proof. Yes. And it's a magical thing when it's, when it's good. And I also encourage people, especially like new grad vets. I've been a vet for almost 10 years. I've changed jobs six times. Oh, wow. Yeah. And you know, some people might call me a job hopper. I'm, I'm like stuck where I'm not stuck, but I'm like staying where I am now. But people around me have always been like, Oh God, you're changing jobs.

But I, looking back, like I have never changed jobs and look back and think, oh, I shouldn't have done that. Like it all, it wasn't necessarily better in the long run where I went, but I've learned so much at each one. And like, you can, you can just change and do something else. And I encourage people that are new grads or in vet school, like don't stay somewhere if, if you're not happy. Like, I do think there's some good about like persevering and figuring it out, but I

I just think there, you, you can figure it out. Be brave. I tell people, be brave and be

you know, as long as you're like working hard and taking care of yourself, you'll, you'll find where you're supposed to be. I love that. I mean, the same as with nursing, you know, a lot of people are like, no, you need to stay on that specific specialty unit for a year. And I'm like, absolutely not. If you are struggling more than you are thriving, it's totally okay to leave. You're going to get experience at another place. You might get better experience, but like you said, bouncing around too has helped. I've bounced around a bunch.

You know, I didn't know what I wanted to do for like seven years in college. I was like, oh my God, I'm just wasting money. But I also just learned a lot about myself. And then when I'm in nursing, moving around, you learn so much more at different practices because people do things differently everywhere. And so it's not always a bad thing to jump around. Yeah. And vet med is so much that way. Like you can go in five different practices and it's like five different worlds. Yeah, exactly. And I...

My first job out of internship was horrible. And I left eight months in because like I hated the person that I was. I was so grumpy, even outside of work. And like at work, I was like not the fun, like. Who you wanted to be. Yeah. Yeah. What?

And it was just because it was a toxic environment and a bad place. And I'm so thankful that I didn't try to stick it out. Yeah. I think that's a good message. I'm going to end the episode with some fun little questions that are commonly asked questions on Google. So there are probably some stupid questions. Why do dogs eat grass?

um some dogs eat grass just because they're weird just because they're like this tastes good my dog cooper is like a cow he just munches yeah he just like choose call it the salad bar through the yard yeah yeah okay so there's no reason most dogs okay people always think they'll call my dogs eating grass like his tummy yeah and they will eat grass and vomit sometimes it can be like a nausea thing but most of the time they're just they're just weird okay

Why do cats need? Is that when they're making biscuits?

Oh, we don't know. We don't know? Oh, my gosh. Cool. Do you follow Dr. Matt McGlasson? I will. Oh, my. Okay. He's like the cat man. Okay. But he has like a half million followers on Instagram. He has all these cats and he like rates cats. He's coming out with a book about rating cats and like the way they make biscuits. And he has a cat who like, it's so funny, but he like talks about like their job is like making biscuits and like...

That's what I want to say. It's so funny. But yeah, I'm sure someone smarter than me knows why they do it. Okay. But I don't think it's an openly known thing. It's just a cat behavior. They're just making biscuits. Cats are... Cats are so weird. I've never owned a cat, but I want a cat.

I love cats. My husband is so allergic, so I can't see my sister was allergic, so I couldn't have one. But now I'm like, yeah, I'm going to get one from the cat distribution center. I told my husband the moment one pops up on my doorstep. Oh, yeah. The cat distribution center is very it's just shares with everybody. It will come around. But also they're in shelters, too. So you can go there. It might be a comfort thing. I'm reading this next one. It says, why do dogs lick? Where did you get that?

She's like, what? It's a good question. Like lick their... Just lick in general. You...

Well, we know why they lick their penis. It's to clean it. A lot of dogs lick their feet. Oh, actually, this is a great question. This is becoming a medical question. She's like. So many people do not know that dogs, most of the time when they're licking their feet, especially if it's like all of their feet or both of their front feet, it's because they itch. So licking is a major sign of pruritus. My babies. Oh, okay. Keep going. I'm learning. So a lot of dogs that have allergies will lick their feet. Oh.

They can also lick areas that hurts. Like dogs will lick their like a joint that hurts. Like if they have arthritis sometimes. It can be like a, we talked about like a nervous thing. Yeah. Like some anxiety manifesting and they'll lick like the same spot. Okay. But yeah. A lot of times it's itchiness. Yeah. So it's like. Oh. Yeah. That's how a lot of dogs show that they're itchy. Interesting. Okay. I have a bonus question to that. After my dogs eat, they like to wipe their beards. Yeah.

So many people, maybe I've heard you say this online. Maybe, I don't know. Maybe I'm just seeing it in your stories.

Yeah, I don't know. I think he's literally just wiping his mouth like a napkin, but it's always my bed. And I'm like, can you not? My dog, I have a black lab, an old man, sweetest thing, Cooper. And he, if he spots, like if I dare, I leave a bath towel, like on a lower than like hanging surface, he will find it. And he just rubs it. He's like, I need to be on this. Yeah. That was so weird. Okay. How long are dogs pregnant for?

Six. Well, about two months. Yeah. Two months. That's it. Oh, okay. I don't know why I thought it was longer. Why do dogs like to roll in dead things? Because they're nasty. Okay. They're just weird. Yes. And it's like a marking territory thing. I don't know. They just like it. It says, is my pet overweight? Probably. Mine definitely is. He's on a diet though, in my defense, and he has lost two pounds. Do you want me to give you a quick body condition guide for your dog? Yes. Okay.

Dogs should have a body condition score of five out of nine. Oh. There's a scale. Okay. You don't need to know what the numbers mean. But what I tell people is if your dog is at the ideal weight, you should be able to feel their ribs with very gentle pressure. Okay. So if you like put your hand on their side where the rib cage is and there's like you feel like...

Yeah. A layer of fat. Oh, okay. They're overweight. Okay. And so the amount of fat goes into what their body condition score is. But a perfect dog that's five, five is my favorite. That's my perfect. You should like with gentle pressure, be able to feel the ridges in their ribs. Now, if you can see them,

When they're just like at rest, they're probably too thin. Okay. And then they should have a waist. Okay. When you look at them from above. They should have a little. There should be a divot. Okay. So that's not all that goes into it. But for like pet parents. Yeah. I tell them those are two things that you can easily like measure. Okay. See, my boy Schmidt, he gained some weight, but he's been on a diet and we've

My husband literally just said the other day, he's like, I think he's lost weight because we can see his waist. And I was like, there you go. Your husband's body condition is winning him. Okay. He doesn't even know. Most dogs are overweight. Yeah. It's a problem. It's like, it happens obviously not so fast, but when you're with them every day and you're just looking at them, I'm like, yeah. Oh my God, you're fat. Yeah. I noticed it when our groomer, I was telling Ariel this the other day, she excellent, she shaved him. And I was like, I thought he was fluffy and he's flabby.

i was like i am so embarrassed because i like pride myself on my dogs and i was like no one can see this it's okay no one can know he's he's losing him we're good um our dog's colorblind

Not completely, but they don't see all colors like we do. I recently read too that they see more colors than we used to think. Yeah, I think I did read that. I was like, hmm. I think their colors are also like muted. Yeah. They're less vibrant than ours. That's sad. Sad for them. I know. Bummer. They don't know any different. That's okay. So let's see. Is there anything else you want to add? Anything else that we didn't talk about that you wanted to throw out there?

Okay. I think we covered everything. We talked about a lot. We did. We talked about a lot of things. Prop 129, that's a hot topic in Vet Med, right? Oh, we talked about dog food too. That's big. That is a big one. Yeah. Well, that's all I really have for you. This is so fun. Good. I'm glad that you came out. You're here for a vet conference. Yeah, like a weekend about a...

Okay. Well, very cool. Learning about things. I'm excited that we finally got to meet because it's cool. It's so weird, right? Yeah. Like you meet someone that you like sort of know. Like I watch you already. And we like DM. Yeah. It already feels like we're friends. I feel like I knew you already. Yeah. So it is, it's a funny, funny experience though.

Well, where can everyone find you? So I am on Instagram, TikTok and Facebook. And it's all Dr. Molly says. Perfect. We're going to leave her social media links in the description. And did you want to talk about your podcast? Yes. So very exciting. I am launching a podcast. Love it. And it's going to be the Dr. Molly says podcast. And there's a lot of vets and techs that have podcasts that are sort of facing the vet world.

And this is going to be for pet parents. Awesome. I'm so excited. We're going to talk about medical topics, but kind of like this. Okay. What pet parents want to know. Yeah. And we'll have some guests, but sometimes it'll be just me and we have some really fun things planned. That's awesome. Well, thank you so much again. Thanks for having me. Yeah, you're welcome. Bye guys. Bye.