Vetnews | November 2024 48 « BACK TO CONTENTS By the time you get to read this, I will be starting my 51st year in private practice. One is inclined to look back on all those years; years of hard work, years of sunburn at the side of cattle crushes; years of manipulating animals to perform for film-makers, years of seldom seeing the kids due to the call of the profession and one has to ask is it all worth it? I don’t doubt it – the wonderful clients I have had, the successes and the failures all result in a richness to life that few other professions can boast about. Have things changed? Most certainly. In those early years we were “vets” there were no specialists; that idea was only starting to take hold. We did everything and I do believe we did it well. From eye surgery to fractured bones to soft tissue surgery – all done by the same vet. The facilities we had were also in most cases very limited with very few practices owning scopes and ultrasound had not been invented; some had primitive x-ray machines and photos were developed in tanks containing solutions that did the job. And once a month a guy would come around to buy the used solutions from which he extracted the silver residues. Prices were also very different. A small animal consult was about R1.00 and a spay was around R10. At R25 to R30 a horse castration in most instances involved a general anaesthetic – standing castration was the vogue but very few vets were doing them routinely. Equine dewormer was done by tubing and there were no oral pastes until sometime later. Very few practices had the privilege of owning bloodanalyzing machines and the ones that were available were very primitive and demanding with limited spectrums. Sterilized dogs, particularly males were in the minority and fencing was on the whole poor so dog fights and motor accidents were all fairly common. Most practices were general practices with all the vets dealing with all natures of animals. This was particularly the case in the more rural areas with some designated practices being seen in some of the more developed areas. However, these practices were rapidly gaining ground with many vets selecting to do certain animals only. Another part of practice that has changed drastically is the attitude of the public to vets. In those years the HRSC always recorded the vets as the most respected of the professionals. This sadly has dropped severely to a very low ebb, with vets now being regarded as rip-off experts. A very sad connotation. One must ask why. Is it perhaps the fees charged? This is a constant complaint in my practice with most clients asking “How much is it to cost” And many saying that they just cannot afford it. What happens to the poor animal then? A question too dreadful to contemplate. Many vets today have extended credit plans; something that was not common although extensive book debts were part and parcel of those early days but very few were bad debts. CPD was not heard of – and this was probably one of the more important and valuable of the ”new” order. Many of the vets of old had not opened a book in ages and were responsible for amazing and questionable activities. Another huge change is the spectrum and availability of drugs now, with perhaps the greatest advance being made in game capture drugs. To see what these practitioners are doing today is amazing and something we should all be very proud of. The wildlife industry owes the veterinary profession a huge debt of gratitude for what they can now do with reasonable safety. Years back my practice was fairly committed to the wildlife film industry – Chaka Zulu, Zulu Dawn, some of the hilarious Shuster films and many adverts used vets to ensure the animals' safety and that of the actors. Today that is no more with computer-generated filming having taken its place. We won't go down the road of the change in the Government Veterinary services and the OBP vaccine department. Years ago I recall Dr Max Bachman, the then Chief State vet for Natal proudly saying to me that the entire province of Natal south of the Tugela River was CA-free, And now! We are all caught up in the wheel of life and as its pace hastens many of us have no way of getting off. v Life plus 25 without parole Mike Lowry Mike Lowry has been in veterinary practice for "life plus 25" years. In this column, he shares his experiences and opinions. Regulars I Life plus 25 +25
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTc5MDU=