Vet Nurse

Vet Nurse | Studied a Bachelor of Veterinary Technology | Beginner bullet journaler, amateur photographer and professional animal lover! | Stationary HOARDER | This is a sideblog - I follow from my main: leumurian-starship

[vexheart]

[academic-vampire]

𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔪𝔢𝔩𝔩 𝔬𝔣 𝔠𝔬𝔣𝔣𝔢𝔢 𝔦𝔫 𝔰𝔲𝔪𝔪𝔢𝔯

[victusinveritas]

[black-crested-jaybird]

I always think of the description I saw years ago: Self-imposed deadlines don't help me, because I know the person who set them, and they're full of shit.

[37q]

[antisocial-transfag]

tags by nothorses

[pusheen]

[pefkaes]

10.06.2026 // digital detox hours

realised that i've been spending way too much time online, so decided to do a digital detox for a few hours (after taking aesthetic photos, of course). my friend and i, sitting beside each other in quiet intimacy at the community library—me, journalling and reading; her, translating from sinhala to english.

[dankxsinatra]

[academic-vampire]

𝔟𝔬𝔯𝔫 𝔱𝔬 𝔯𝔲𝔫

[maureen2musings]

Grassington Snake Walk, Yorkshire Dales

yorkshire_brew

[goldensunset]

idk who needs to hear this but if you have been putting something off bc it doesn't need to be done until the end of the month. we are almost done with the teens we are approaching the big numbers (the twenties). that date shall dawn upon you swiftly and without mercy before you know it. psa for everyone except me i got plany off time

[thememedaddy]

[expressions-of-nature]

by Nikolett Emmert

[fillianore-moved]

so metropolitan museum of art has a register of books they’ve published that are out of print and that you can download for free! they’re mostly books on art, archeology, architecture, fashion and history and i just think that’s super useful and interesting so i wanted to share! you can find all of the books available here!

[vet-and-wild]

you know the obsession with keeping cats indoors is a purely American view of the world? Most Europeans let their cats outdoors without any problems. Many Europeans even think it's cruel to keep them indoors all the time

No, it’s not. European cats aren’t magically smarter and less environmentally impactful than American cats, it’s just more socially acceptable to let them roam. Do you not have cars in Europe? Foxes? Raptors? Stray dogs? Rat poison? Parasites? Diseases? What about the Croydon Cat Killer in England, where the dismemberment of over 400 cats was being investigated, and it turned out that foxes were mutilating the bodies of cats that were killed by cars? Suddenly it’s all ok because it was only horrific death via automobile, instead of decapitation like they suspected? Totally acceptable to outdoor cat owners, who cares if your cat gets hit by a car and dies on the side of the road? There is real concern for the hybridization of wildcats in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but sure, it’s just a US problem. How about how outdoor cats are effectively reducing the protective area of a national park in Poland? How about the increased incidence of lungworms and GI parasites in European free roaming cats? How about this small study from Denmark where 90% of free roaming cats tested positive for GI parasites on necropsy (and the risk was higher in rural areas). Not Europe, but for the sake of completeness, free roaming cats kill ~377 MILLION birds per year in Australia, and 61 million of those kills are thought to be from owned cats. You can also talk to @drferox about how problematic outdoor cats are in Australia. Free roaming cats are bad for the environment, and are put in unnecessary danger. Why don’t you provide enrichment for your cat instead of letting them run around unsupervised where they will kill native wildlife and get sick or injured or die (or all of the above). Other resources from @catsindoors about the impact of domestic cats around the world. Snagged a lot of these links from their blog.

[prettyprettypretty-good-deactiv]

Humans would also be safer and the environment protected if we all just stayed indoors. No passing of parasites, bacteria, or viruses. No harm to other species. No cross breeding either (if that bothers you). Do you want to stay indoors?

[vet-and-wild]

I generally try to ignore responses like this, but I want to address this because I see this ridiculous argument a lot.

The reason that this comparison is inaccurate is because humans have the ability to use reason and make logical choices, but cats don’t. Humans see a car coming and wait until the street is clear to cross. Cats don’t. Humans know not to eat strange food on the ground. Cats don’t. Humans can look up which plants are toxic and avoid them. Cats can’t. Humans don’t eat raw rabbits and rodents that may carry disease. Cats do. Humans who hunt follow laws that prevent them from killing endangered species (besides shitty poachers). Cats don’t.

A far more accurate comparison would be a cat and a toddler. They lack the ability to recognize danger and don’t have the ability to reason that an adult does. I’m sure a toddler would have a great time roaming around the neighborhood, but no one is going to argue in favor of that. People can understand that doing that is irresponsible and dangerous. But no sane person is going to lock their toddler inside and provide them with nothing to do; no one is saying we should do that for cats either. Play with them. Provide cat trees. Rotate their toys. Give them puzzle feeders. And if you want them to go outside you can leash train them. Or build a catio. The options aren’t let them roam vs. never provide them with entertainment. If it is unbearable to entertain and care for a cat that is kept indoors, you probably shouldn’t own a cat.

Would you let your dog roam? Or your bird? How about your rabbit? I’m sure all of these animals would have a great time running (or flying) around the neighborhood, but we generally recognize that this is a bad idea. It’s no different for cats. We are caretakers for our animals, so it is up to us to use our big brains to make logical choices about what they should or shouldn’t do. We have the ability to understand the risks associated with free roaming. Cats don’t. We can weigh risks and benefits before making a decision. Cats can’t.

tldr: Humans have the ability to make logical decisions to keep themselves safe but cats do not.

[scienceshenanigans]

Outdoor cats are also more or less an invasive species. They are such good hunters, they are capable of permanently changing an ecosystem by killing native prey animals. 

Protect your kitty and local biodiversity–keep them inside!

[r33naytealeaves]

I just wanted to tack on that, there is no “more or less”, cats are an invasive species. Domesticated animals are invasive species and allowing them to interact with the local environment without monitoring will harm the local biodiversity. Cats especially. Domestic cats have a very high success rate for hunting. Historically, they have lead to multiple extinctions of animals because people brought cats along as pest control and pets.

[roseate-felidae]

I’m very pro indoor only cat. But sadly, this is not common in the UK, most people free roam their cats despite the dangers.

I’ve seen two cats who were roadkill, multiple poisoned rats that make easy prey, gardens full of poisonous (to cats) plants, and a cat at the vet who survived his arm being mauled by a fox through a catio. Yet people still do it. I’m in a small village, no idea how much worse in a bigger place it would be.

It is entirely cultural. Sadly, it also means people don’t tend to play with their pets and let them free roam as their only enrichment. So they baulk at how “bored” a cat would be indoors. Forgetting it’s not just kittens who need playtime. You are seen as a “weirdo” for harness/lead training a cat here, which I don’t agree with obviously.

Most rescues will not let you adopt a cat if you do not let it be indoor-outdoor. They will even check up on your garden to see it’s safety (like a cat can’t jump a fence lol). Charities do this, too.

I still keep my cat indoors only. My step mum thought I was being cruel until I explained to her the dangers of a cat outside.

I wish attitudes would change here. Please keep your cat indoors!

[robotslenderman]

It’s not even a fucking Yank thing. Here in Australia we do have people with outdoor cats, but most people see them as irresponsible wankers. People actively letting their cats outside are shrinking to the point that I saw an anti-missing poster outside of my doctor’s surgery one day telling people to stop calling them when their cat is outside, meaning that there’s now a lot of people who see an outdoor cat and assume it’s lost by default instead of the other way around.

Across the pond in New Zealand ONE SINGLE CAT drove an entire species to extinction. There are still arseholes over there but they’re generally even stricter than we are here in Oz.

Also it’s fucking weird that people say it’s understandable that we do it because of our ecosystem. Do Europeans not have ecosystems? Or are you just subscribing to the colonialist idea that your ecosystem is a boring default and only “exotic” ecosystems should be preserved?

[orcinus-veterinarius]

hi! i’m curious what degree exactly you got to be an aquatic veterinarian? do you get a vet degree and specialize in aquatic animals, or is it something separate?

Hi! Thanks for the question!

Yes, I have a standard vet degree. Since I went to school in the United States, I'm a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). My undergraduate degree is in zoology, although you could technically get whatever degree you wanted as long as you complete the pre-requisite classes for vet school. Most people choose some flavor of biology degree simply because those classes are built into the curriculum.

Like every other vet program, my coursework focused almost exclusively on domestic animals (dogs, cats, and livestock), with the occasional lecture on exotic species. Essentially everything I learned about aquatics and other zoological species, I had to do in addition to my standard coursework. I was very heavily involved in zoo medicine extracurriculars through my school, including extra classes, wet labs, and lots of volunteering. I also did externships at several zoos and aquariums as well as research projects, both before and after graduation. After my first year in practice as a small animal rotating intern, I finally landed a full-time position in aquatic medicine that is essentially an apprenticeship, where I learn on-the-job from very experienced aquatic vets.

That's a quick summary. I talk about it more in depth here. A new update is, just this year, the American College of Zoological Medicine announced that it will be splitting the zoological medicine specialty (which is achieved only after completing a recognized residency program or 6 years of full-time zoological practice, authoring at least 3 first-author publications, and sitting for a massive exam) into 4 distinct sub-specialties. One of those is aquatic animal medicine, and that's what I will be pursuing in the long-term.

[titsay]

[iprotectyou]

[clevermanka]

Multi-generational vulture nests hold 700 years of human artifacts

Crossbow bolts, sandals, slingshots, and more.

Among the centuries’ worth of eggshells, prey remains, and natural nesting material, researchers identified 226 objects that were either made or altered by humans. These included weaponry like a crossbow bolt and wooden lance, decorated sheep leather, and parts of a slingshot.  Using carbon dating, the team determined that the items also had a huge age range. For example, a shoe made from twigs and grass is around 675-years-old, while a basket is estimated to have been woven about 150 years ago. Beyond the manufactured relics of our species’ past, archaeologists also catalogued 2,117 bones, 86 hooves, and 43 eggshells. They even located 11 hair remains among the nesting layers. More analysis will provide a look into the surrounding area’s past environment, as well as its various flora and fauna.