Is it possible that a human doctor could treat an animal in an emergency? (ie stabilize a dog or cat hit by a car on the way to the vet, maybe relocate a dislocated leg, etc) my friend and I have been debating this and I thought a professional opinion was in order
Most of the stories I know about human doctors ‘having a go’ at veterinary patients have been horror stories.
Giving paracetamol (Tylenol) to cats
Putting antibiotic eye drops into a dog’s eye for weeks before bringing it in, when it actually had a grass seed stuck behind the 3rd eyelid
Declining heart medication and I think writing themselves prescriptions for heart medication they thought the dog should have, judging by the ridiculous amount of frusemide and no pimobendan it ended up on at death’s door.
Refusing to transfer a critical patient, immediately after having part of its duodenum removed, to a 24 hour emergency center and instead taking it home so ‘he could watch it’ - without fluids, pain relief, antibiotics for the peritonitis that had started, or antacids, anti-nausea, etc - and instead lying about taking it there, which we only discovered 18 hours later.
Even if they are a trustworthy doctor without an arrogance issue, they are highly trained for just one species. They’re not going to be able to replace a dislocated joint, that’s hard enough for me to do with a patient under anaesthesia. They might place a bandage for a short time, a lot of bandaging material isn’t that great when it comes to furry skin, and if they have equipment like flow by oxygen they may use it (certainly paramedics in my experience have done so), but would a human doctor find a vein on a dog or cat? I’m be curious if they knew where to look.
Really I wouldn’t be expecting much beyond basic first aid that a non-medically trained pet owner might do, albeit with more finesse.
Not every doctor owning pets has been a pain in the backside though. I’ve had several as clients which have been excellent, patient, listen to instructions, talk shop, (I quite like the talking shop) and are perfectly able to do extra things like intramuscular injections in an emergency after being shown once.
But not all doctors are created equal. I saw one who didn’t seem to understand pancreatitis, even though it’s really similar to pancreatitis in humans.
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