It's my life

This is going to be a much shorter post, because time is at a premium right now. I have now completed my first three weeks of school, and I can’t believe how quickly time flies. Iain and I have also been in Australia for just over 5 weeks! We are settling into our place, though we are still lacking furniture. At least now we have a fridge and a washing machine (which is incidentally still sitting in our driveway…it’s too heavy for the two of us to move inside on our own). The dogs have settled in beautifully, and it’s nice because this past week the temperature has cooled noticeably. I would guess that most days it has hovered between the high twenties/low thirties, so it’s much more bearable. The dogs have been enjoying the little park that is just metres from our house, and all the new smells must be pretty exciting!

I have a ton of review to do this weekend, on everything, but particularly on Physiology. We had an utterly mind-melting four-hour lab on Thursday, and a group of us headed to the campus pub afterwards. It was great to just chill out and decompress with a group of great people, all of whom are in the same boat!

Yesterday (Friday), I went to the vet hospital with a couple of other girls to walk greyhounds. We ended up walking Wacky and Chrysler, two dogs who are fresh off the track. The dogs were quite flat in demeanor, and had absolutely no interest in us at all. They seemed excited to go outside, but once we were out there, they did very little- mostly just stood there, or trotted a little, or stared at bushes or at leaves blowing in the wind. I figured out why the experience bothered me so much, and realized that it is because these dogs expect nothing from people. They’ve likely never had a reason to before, and whether it’s animals in shelters or these two beautiful boys, it makes me sad. I gave my two extra hugs when I got home last night.

Yesterday afternoon, I also attended a lecture by raw pet food guru Ian Billinghurst. He is the Australian veterinarian behind the unfortunately-named B.A.R.F diet, which stands for Biologically-Appropriate Raw Food, or Bones And Raw Food. First off, I will say that I do believe strongly that raw feeding is an excellent option for most dogs, and almost all cats (our dogs have been raw fed for many, many years!). I was, however, a little disappointed by the presentation. Dr. B is a lovely man, and I did have the opportunity to chat with him post-lecture. I told him that I had worked at True Carnivores, a raw pet food store in Vancouver, and that he had many fans there (he lectured there many years ago!). It was also great that the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) was offering continuing education points for veterinarians who attended- that is a huge step for a veterinary organization surrounding such a controversial issue! I suppose, given all this, that my expectations were very high going into it.

The biggest issue, and it is an issue when it comes to raw feeding, is the lack of sound science supporting it. Making sweeping statements that cannot be supported sends up the red flags, especially when speaking to a room full of skeptical scientists! I think that it is important to acknowledge the lack of science behind it. This doesn’t mean that the idea behind it is wrong, or that it is not an excellent option for many animals. There should be nothing to hide. If in your practice you have 1000 animals on a raw diet, and 1000 animals on commercial food, even if you yourself can see a huge difference, it is still anecdotal evidence until proper, peer-reviewed studies are published. Calling it anything but diminishes the potential for changing minds, in my opinion. At any rate, I was so glad I went and it feels good to be able to put on my critical thinking hat, even (especially!) surrounding issues that I support.

On a different note (I can almost hear the collective sigh of relief!), there may be an opportunity for me to go down south in the winter (June) for a week or so. A friend is going to helping with lambing on a sheep station, so I may be able to tag along. I know next to nothing about sheep, so this would be a great opportunity. We’ll see what happens!

Take care everyone!