The fact that this particular post was from a college student made it especially relatable at first, however when I clicked and read the comments most people were more concerned with the student than the animals. From the initially question, I thought that the debate would be more about the ethical challenges, or emotional toll that being a Vet takes on a person, and whether or not it will be worth it to help the animals; the actual reasoning behind the question was whether or not there is a successful future for someone in Veterinary Science who does not go to Veterinary School.
While this is not what I expected, I was still intrigued. Having taken a Veterinary Science Colloquium my freshman year, I know many paths that are accessible for a Vet. Sci. major who does not want to go to graduate school. All of the comments, however, were encouraging this user to choose ANY other path. The reasoning behind these arguments all had to do with the amount of effort that the degree requires versus the lucrativeness of potential occupations.
Of course that is important, but personally I had never considered that as a main motivator for this degree, but rather the general well-being of animals. One interesting point that stuck out to me was that if you can't handle Medical School, you definitely can't handle Veterinary School. You learn all of the same things, but in Veterinary School you have to learn it 200x over, because every species has a different anatomy.
As I previously stated, I did not expect topics such as this to be so prevalent on the Reddit forums, but once I started reading I became way too involved. I may have taken the negativity towards veterinary science a little too personally, and while I disagree with what the majority said, I understand where they are coming from. People are deterred from this discipline for the same reason they would be deterred from any medical profession.
USDA, "A veterinarian in field with cattle", via flickr 09/27/2007, Attribution-2.0-Generic
As I tried to cool off after reading that post, I came across an article that looked light-hearted and fun, Dr. Tony Buffington, a professor at Ohio State, was doing an AMA about cats! His username on Reddit is DrBuffCat. No joke. As a dog person, I figured it was only fair to try to educate myself on cat people (and why they are the way they are).
There were students asking for help with exam questions, general pet help, asking how to tell if their cat loves them more than their spouse, and plenty of other ridiculous questions. I was just really attracted to this article because it wasn't so serious, like the rest of them. As I enter into a profession that has a lot of stress associated with it, it is nice to see that not EVERYTHING has to be approached with a stoneface.
Anyways, I wanted to learn more about "cat people" and I did. They are nuts. There were so many strange questions that make cats seem like such complicated beings. I could give my dog a piece of rope that he has never seen before and he will be happy for a week. Apparently cats get pissed if you put a pen on the table and assert their dominance by swatting it off...
George, Ellie, "Riley", 2015 via SnapChat/Instagram
While I still think "cat people" are crazy, I enjoyed reading this thread overall. I thought it was especially cool to see this Veterinarian and college professor, two titles that imply someone is serious, being so silly on Reddit. He interacted with inquirers in an informative and friendly way, the way I would want my vet to speak to me if (heaven forbid) anything happened to my dog.
Sullivan, Matthew, "I'm not a cat person..." via flickr 11/21/2014, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
No comments:
Post a Comment