Self Vetting

I have no problem with self-treating humans or animals, to a degree. I have a 20+ yr background in healthcare as a Respiratory Therapist and Medical Assistant, however there are certain things- broken bones, surgeries that I would leave for the professionals. Also with things such as infections, cultures would need to be done, so that would also require a professional.

ive owned/had family pets all of my life. we've always taken our pets to the vet at the first signs of illness or discomfort (its been easier with dogs, obviously). gizmo has been my first pet just by myself. his first injury was a tooth infection from a fall, then a broken tooth, and just recently a URI. i would never "self vet" any of those, mostly because i have no idea how. when Giz recently had his URI, i contemplated using left-over baytril from his tooth infection. but without knowing the proper dosages, or if there was anything else to be done, i didnt take those chances.

personally, i would probably be ok with taken care of cuts and scrapes (minor surface ones), but thats honestly about it. in terms of dry/small poops, i'd probably do a bit of massaging, a bit of run time to see if it gets the gut moving, but more than a day of that, i would take to the vet. in my eyes, if something is going on INSIDE the body...and i cant see it, then i want an experienced vet to take a look. i think large breeders have a better ability to self treat, mostly cuz they know (at least should know) the species inside and out and know what to look for.

granted, chinchilla injuries are not like something we'd need Dr. House for, but going to the vet to get a proper diagnosis seems the most sensible to me. i was about 95% sure giz was getting a URI. and i had the Baytril in my fridge. but i know that if something worse developed, id be upset with myself.

Luci said:

granted, chinchilla injuries are not like something we'd need Dr. House for,

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:hilarious:

when it comes down to blood or broken bones i would call the vet immediately. i would also go to an emergency vet if one of my chins was suddenly lethargic.
i have called or texted my vet for advice for smaller things like a watery eye. I have come here for issues like a dry patch or something skin related. some things i try and evaluate myself and do everything that i have done in the past for a critter with a similiar symptoms, such as soft poop or decreased eating with no other symptoms.
If that doesnt clear up the issue I then bring the chin to a vet. but these are all non life threatening situations. i do keep meds on hand such as trimeth sulfa as well as blu kote, and essentials for life and/or critical care in the event of a chin that will not eat.

Amputation is NOT something you do at home, I thought it was just common sense and people would figure it out themselves but I guessed wrong AGAIN. Amputation at home is ANIMAL ABUSE, pure and simple.

ticklechin said:

Amputation is NOT something you do at home, I thought it was just common sense and people would figure it out themselves but I guessed wrong AGAIN. Amputation at home is ANIMAL ABUSE, pure and simple.

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*Facepalm* Do I even want to know what happened for this to be brought up? Probably the same person as last time.:wacko:

ETA: Nevermind, found it. That makes me sick. :hair:

I think if you are educated and know what you are doing you can "self vet". I don't think a diploma makes someone capable of treating an animal--their knowledge does. And you don't need to go to a formal school to get that knowledge, it's already all written down. School is just a system that makes it convenient to learn all the information you need to and lets people know what information you learned and to what standard you were held.

I have a pretty good knowlege of alot of things dealing with chinchilla heath, and I still learn things from my vets since I am constantly asking questions by email, phone and in person and will NOT self vet certain issues, that and that pesty thing called prescriptions you can't DIY.

caiti said:

I think if you are educated and know what you are doing you can "self vet". I don't think a diploma makes someone capable of treating an animal--their knowledge does.

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But it certainly makes it more legal than what some people are doing!

caiti said:

And you don't need to go to a formal school to get that knowledge, it's already all written down. School is just a system that makes it convenient to learn all the information you need to and lets people know what information you learned and to what standard you were held.

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Where do you draw the line at being "educated and know what they are doing"? How long would it take any normal lay-person to acquire the knowledge you think is required to be able to "self-vet"? How many people think they "know what they're doing" when they realize they've been doing things entirely wrong?
And how many people are going to go read the large number of huge, expensive volumes on veterinary medicine, physiology, pharmacology, bacteriology, pathology, etc., etc., etc. Most people believe any old thing they read on the internet and don't bother to read peer reviewed scientific articles or textbooks. <--This is what is scary to me when it comes to "self-vetting"

IMO- I would never put "convenient" in the same sentence as vet school. But my derriere is a little sore from the parasitology exam we just had.

I finally found a vet that has very reasonable prices, even for surgeries. I try to self vet anything that I can and my vet is very good about helping me to take care of my own animals if I can since I have so many. If I am not sure about something I will of course go to her. One thing she showed me how to do was to trim teeth. I have a guy that lost his 2 top front teeth so his bottom 2 front teeth have to be trimmed because he can't wear them down without the top 2. My vet showed me how to trim the chins teeth and let me buy a vet quailty heavy duty trimmer from her. It works great and I trim them once a month leaving 1/2" of teeth.

Sycamore Chins said:

And how many people are going to go read the large number of huge, expensive volumes on veterinary medicine, physiology, pharmacology, bacteriology, pathology, etc., etc., etc.

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This is what I meant by "convenient". That someone doesn't have to read all that literature and instead are taught the most important information from it. Do you think it would be easier to acquire all the information you've learned in vet school on your own with no help? I mean convenient in relation to the alternative.

Where do you draw the line at being "educated and know what they are doing"? How long would it take any normal lay-person to acquire the knowledge you think is required to be able to "self-vet"? How many people think they "know what they're doing" when they realize they've been doing things entirely wrong?

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The line I draw is probably similar to the line most people draw with vets. You can't say exactly how long it would take one person to become a vet or how many will think they know what they are doing only to realize they inadvertently killed a patient. I'm not saying it'd be easy to learn all the things you'd need to learn to self-vet; I'm just saying I think it's possible. I'm not trying to give a free pass to anyone who wants to try and experiment or be cheap with their animals but I think someone can know information without having a degree, is all.

People who read articles that aren't corroborated or peer reviewed and apply the information from that in a medical venue are not smart in my opinion.

I usually do what I can on my own, with the chins I've only had to go in a few times. I am used to treating serious injuries/illnesses from rescuing dogs/cats, and most of the time, if I have to take an animal in, I can usually tell the vet exactly what the problem is, and they just perscribe the medications. That happened with my cat, Drama. With the chins I've handled everything from fights, to eye infections, to absesses. I have taken several in, expecially when the virus hit the herd, but all I ended up with was a necropsy saying "heat stroke" when a living chin that was also sick had a temperature so low it wouldnt even register. So in that situation the vet was absolutely no help. Most of the vets in this area I could probably run circles around, even the exotic ones. But I also had VERY good mentors.

Here's the deal. I know for a fact that I would be completely incompetent if it came to an issue where the chinchillas needed vet help and I would get them to the office. I would be able to administer antibiotics and such but there is no way I would feel comfortable personally taking on a lot of the issues my chins might face. For that I would go to a vet.
However, I know that there are a lot of very experienced chinchilla owners on this site who can handle just about anything without the help of a veterinarian. I don't know that there's any way to separate those who know what they're doing from those who think they know what they're doing but for those who actually do - more power to them.