In one joke, a woman shows up at the vet's office with a poodle. And the vet takes the dog and runs a series of tests. When he's finished, he leaves and says: “That's it, your dog is doing very well.” The poodle's owner, happy with the result, asks how much she owes her, to which the vet replies 120 euros. After paying, the lady asks the vet: “And when do I have to come back?” To which the vet replies: “If you still have 120 euros.”
This very bad joke somewhat sums up the current vision of veterinary work. But nothing could be further from the truth because not everyone will choose to pursue the practice of veterinary medicine. First, veterinary medicine is a direct way to complete the scientific process; Then there's the other thing, the difficulty, when it comes to working with animals, and that's what English veterinarian James Herriot's testimonial book is about, an entertaining work called All Creatures Great and Small (Blackie) “, in which he recounts his adventures and misadventures in the English countryside. .
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It all begins in 1937 when, after completing his veterinary studies, Herriot accepts a position as assistant to Siegfried Farnon of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in Yorkshire, a county of heather-covered hills where the stone farms appear robust to the eye. The view and full of animals. Almost a hundred years ago, an ancient time when, in addition to the use of healing ointments and various hand tools such as syringes, forceps and surgical forceps, veterinary work was primarily carried out manually.
One example was the case of a cow with uterine invagination, a complication that occurs after calving when the uterus hangs outside. It is complex, especially because the cow never goes into labor and it is very difficult to reposition the uterus. It's hours of non-stop work. Although epidural anesthesia numbs a large part of the body and allows the cow to anesthetize itself, the same problem arises every time anesthesia is needed: the cow has to sit up so the veterinarian can find the epidural space. Once the anesthesia is administered, you will need to clean the uterus and use your hands to put it back in place by pushing it through the vagina. a slippery gait that reaches a length of 30 cm in cows.
It should be noted that the difficulties Herriot faced in the late 1930s were the same as today; Little to nothing has changed in the work of a rural veterinarian. It's a tough job that requires calling and a great sense of humor to know how to handle it. The conditions in which they work are complicated and, perhaps for this reason, there is an increasing shortage of staff in rural areas. Today, the veterinary profession is developed mainly in urban clinics, and it is no joke that we take care of our health by preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases in animals.
The majority of our diseases are zoonoses, i.e. infections that are transmitted by the animals themselves, either through direct infection or through insects. It is amazing to see how the veterinary profession is one of the pillars of our health and how little this is questioned. That's why books like Herriot's touch our critical conscience.
The stone axe It is a section in which Montero GlezWith a penchant for prose, he makes his special attack on scientific reality to show that science and art are complementary forms of knowledge.
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