Hey friends,
This week Iâd like to share one vetty/ vet-related thing Iâve learned and one life thing that will hopefully be useful or interesting to you.
One vetty thing - Puppies are generally kept with their mum up to
8 weeks old to ensure they receive enough colostrum, maternal antibodies and to facilitate proper social and behaviour development. However, in the event that the pup becomes an orphan before that age, when handrearing pups, it is important to teach the pups
self-control or
how to deal with âfrustrationâ. For example, after feeding the pup its first meal, wait for the pup to get hungry for its second meal and start âcryingâ for food. At this point, try not to be tempted to feed it, the squeals will be painful and youâll feel like a horrible person, but instead set a timer for 30 minutes, make yourself a cup of tea and feed the pup after the timer is done. This is to mimic how the pup is reared by the mum, as she doesnât always feed the pup when it cries and hence teaches âfrustrationâ naturally. Failure to teach the pup how to handle its own tantrums can lead to behavioural aggression later on in life. This is explained better by the late Dr. Sophia Yin, an amazing vet and applied animal behaviourist, on
her legacy blog here.
Seeing the rise in puppy ownership during the pandemic, I hope that more people are aware of this (if they are handrearing their pups) to prevent any unwanted consequences in the future.
One life thing - Dealing with burnout. Since graduating from vet school, I have been recharging by spending time at home with family and catching up on sleep. As a person who tends to worry about the future and tries to plan for everything, I am trying to put measures into place to avoid getting burnout when I start my new job. Itâs as if the YouTube algorithm can hear my inner thoughts and recommended
this video to me. The key takeaways for me were:
- When I feel overwhelmed, anxious or suddenly having a bad mental-health-spiral moment, asking myself âWhat am I afraid of and whyâ and writing it down on paper can help me actually define what problems I am facing clearer, and work towards a solution (instead of it just nagging away at the back of my mind and interfering with my daily activities). âThe things that we are afraid of are usually the things that make us uncomfortable but can also help us progress.â I try to think of it positively, so the sooner I can identify and confront with whatâs actually bothering me, the quicker I get to help myself progress!
- The Eisenhower Matrix - although not a new idea, but a useful reminder on how to prioritize my tasks as I can foresee life getting much busier in the following months, and if I want to keep up these side hobbies (YouTube, newsletter), I would have to plan and prioritize in advance. This framework is pretty useful to know especially if youâre a student starting university in Autumn, terms do get busy quite quickly and Iâd highly recommend investing in a physical planner or using your phone calendar app to make sure you stay on top of things!
PS: If you are applying to vet schools in the UK, I hope youâre aware of this
article. It comes with a guide containing information vet schools wished applicants knew!
PS: I am still figuring out the format of this newsletter, so if you have any feedback on how it could be better Iâd love to hear it! Just hit reply and let me know what you think.
Hope you are staying safe and getting vaccinated (if you havenât already), see you in the next issue!
May xx
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