The Incredible Dr Pol~not so incredible?!? Nat Geo has a show on a vet in rural MI called "The incredible Dr Pol." I think it accurately depicts large animal vets in rural MI, but others have called him outdated and barbaric. I do think he is a bit outdated, but I also think the way he operates is fairly standard for a large animal vet in rural MI....but NOT so accurate for most small animal vets. Anyways...just wondering what other people's POV is on Dr Pol is?!? On another note...I would love if Nat Geo further explored Veterinary care in other areas. I think it would be great to see a show on the cutting edge veterinary work that's being done at some of the universities. I remember one show on TV that briefly talked about animals getting prosthetic limbs and another show where stray cats were donating kidneys for kidney transplants and they would often end up going home with the cat they donated a kidney to. The kidney surgery was something like $20,000. I think Nat Geo would be doing a bigger service to the veterinary community and animals in general, if they showed the many possibilities in vet care now...not that they can't show Dr Pol too...but it gives people and unrealistic perception on what standard large and small animal vet care is/should be. What do you think?? |
I just couldn't stomach the Dr. Pol show and hoped and prayed it wasn't indicative of standard large animal vet care! His lack of sterile conditions and offhand/offbeat way of handling some startling things put me off so badly I couldn't get through the first show. I cannot stand to see animals suffer or in distress so it was hard to even try to watch it but wow, it was worse than I thought it was going to be and his attitude and ways sent me flying. I do check back here and there and can never stick watching for but a few minutes. |
I have never seen it but I do agree with you about the need for more veterinary shows. Shows that do not focus on "reality drama" like so many of these shows do these days. I used to watch Emergency Vet when it came on Animal Planet then I got to meet Dr Kevin Fitzgerald and he is as amazing and kind as he was depicted on his show. :) |
On New Years Day there was a Dr Pol marathon. My husband was watching it for hours. I finally told him I was sick of seeing his arm up to the armpit stuck in some poor cow's/horse's butt or vagina. Unsanitary conditions to say the least. I guess rural farms are not interested in cleanliness. |
I actually like Dr Pol, it's very typical to "look" like a lot more force, because with large animals such as horses and cows, they require a lot more strength, so there is no time wasted letting the animal die. These larger animals have extreme strength to them, and so that is what it takes to treat them. I grew up with a vet named dr Jansen, and he used many of the same procedures, as I always had around a dozen horses at a time, and he was the best there was in our area and is still highly regarded. In his office, they had a small animal vet as well, just like Dr Pol has Dr Brenda. I have seen that on the show Dr Brenda has a much more gentle hand because she mostly dels witch smaller animals. I still go to my same horse vet Dr Jansen , and it is still the same, they have. Small animal vet, and a large farm animal vet. But I don't think anything Dr Pol is doing is out of the ordinary on large animals, as I have grown up seeing many of his methods used by my equestrian vet in the same manner. It does look like a lot of force is being used on the large animals, and that's because that is what it takes to treat them, due to their size and power. I absolutely trust my trust my vets office ad have for 30 years, they ave yet to injure even one of my animals. They are the vet I went to when I rescued Gizmo and saved his life even though he was already in a coma. I often tell my husband that Dr Pols practice reminds me of my own vet, because they use a lot of the same techniques and can treat any size animal. I would rather have a vet who is prepared for any animal, rather than a vet that nly treats one type :-) I guess that is just my 2 cents. If you were to have to save the life of a horse or a cow, how gentle do you think you would be able to be? You have to make sure that you are safe as well as the animal, and I think Dr Pol does a great job at achieving this. I just think the show is very realistic, and a lot of people don't understand what it takes to treat large animals. He shows also the realities of treating them whether its good or bad outcomes. Most shows like to make things look all perfect but we don't live in a prefect world :-) I also loved that show emergency animal vets, I wonder what happened with that show. |
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I love Dr.Pol and watch him every chance I get. We saw the marathon and enjoyed it! I remember my uncles dairy farm in Wisconson YEARS ago...the vet that came to his farm and cared for his cows and horses, worked with the speed and efficiency of Dr.Pol....and pulling calves out of cows, while floored me when I saw it, that is what must be done.....and when we had horses in the '70s, and had a couple of still born foals, the vet that was attending the birthing, delivered the babies and began to swing them to clear mucus....I love watching him....and his clients all seem to love him....he does sedate his small animals for surgical procedures, no anesthesia or ET tubes....I cant see taking my Yorkie to him...but my cows, horses, pigs or MAYBE even large hunting dogs may do just fine under his care....My son just asked me the other night as we watched Dr.Pol, "Wonder what the folks on YT would think about THIS"!!! I agree about the opportunity Nat Geo could expand on with multiple shows on the emergency vet care and the development of vet medicine/procedures, etc. |
I love Dr. Pol also. reminds me of many of the Vets I have met along my path of life. He presents a very believable look at what a large animal vet would be. I remember when my mare foaled and he left us with some sort of vaccination that needed to be injected over the heart to this little baby. I couldn't do it my husband did he was raised on a farm. Me raised in suburbia. I had a lot to learn and not all of it was pretty |
I don't know about standard for large animals, but for dogs, cats? Heck NO would I go anywhere NEAR a guy like this. Disgusting. His bedside manner is horrible (i.e. I've heard him say 'stupid dog' to an anesthetized animal, NOT that the animal will care or hear, but it's just the point) He never wears a cap, I hardly even see him in gloves, just unsanitary conditions all around. His sterilization technique is horrible, anesthesia monitoring...???, pain relief, etc? Not to mention he was on probation as were ALL the other vets in his hospital. Veterinarians Behaving Badly: The Incredible Disciplinary Action |
There was an episode of a show called something like,"The dirtiest Jobs on Earth"...that may not be the correct name but I am sure those that are familiar with the show, will recognize it. Anyway, the "star" of the show said he had something to share, something that taught him a very valuable lesson and he wanted to share that point with the rest of the world. He was referrences the castration of lambs....the rancher put a lamb on the chopping block, show the "star" how to cut the scrotum, reach in and grab the testicles, pull them out, and then benmd down and bite them off the lamb!!! The "star" was shocked and stupefied and said he just could NOT do that procedure. The rancher put the lamb down on the ground, where it bleeted a couple of times and then ran around like nothing had ever happened. The rancher said there was another way, the "way the animal rights activist insisted it be done, with a rubber band." The rancher grabbed another lamb, put him on the chopping block, rancher twisted the band tightly around the scrotum....rancher put the lamb down, where it staggered and fell and stumbled and fell and staggered around, bleeting pathetically, for 20-30 minutes..."star" asked how long that was going to continue, and rancher told him the testicles would necrotize and drop off from lack of blood supply in about 3-4 days...."star" was dumbfounded. The "humane, civilized" way to castrate lambs was clearly torture to the lamb, waiting for his testicles to rot and drop off....where as the lamb the rancher had rapidly bitten the testicles off, was up and running around in no apparent discomfort, almost immediately after the procedure. The "stars" whole point is that often times the more civilized, kinder way to do something, was actually more barberic than the way ranchers and farmers have been doing thing for hundreds of years. I remember my father telling me something about cows bloating up and they will die if the bloat is not relieved and the stomach decompressed...they used to take a knife and stick it into the cow, back behind what I call that hip bone, and that bloat wouyld disappear....I dont know if this is what Dr.Pol is correcting by turning a cow on its back and stitching the stomach to the belly of the cow.....but maybe you farmers out there can tell me! |
Obviously the way to artificially inseminate a cow or a horse widely varies from AI'ing a Yorkie. They make gloves that go all the way up to your shoulders, and sometimes that how deep you are. And yes, "steering" the bulls is cruel if you band them. |
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I live in a fairly rural area of BUS but we have a wide variety of veterinary care to choose from. Anything from a large animal vet that sees small animals on the side to Cornell Veterinary College. I remember many years ago a friend of mine had a Husky she wanted to have spayed. She knew of a retired large animal vet that did that type of surgery on the side. We drove about 30 miles up into the hills to find this guy. He had a lovely country home but the place he did his work in was a small converted garage. Very, very small. His operating table was in the same small room that the cages were in. I was beyond appalled at what I saw. Being a person who had always been very sensitive to animals I knew right away this was not a place I would leave one of my pets.....not even for a moment. That poor Husky had her surgery there and almost died from infection. When my friend called to tell the vet that her dog was sick he didn't even want to see her but told her to pick up some pills for the dog. That poor Husky suffered needlessly because this vet decided to make some extra money at the animals expense. Needless to say my feelings about large animal vets was badly tainted. Over the years many people continued to go to this man for various procedures. He charged less than half the price other vets charged. While many animals did get spayed and neutered that might not have been otherwise, from time to time I would hear the horror stories from people who had lost or nearly lost their pets at his hands. I probably would have always had a bad feeling toward large animal vets if I had not read the wonderful James Harriot books about a very dedicated country vet. I doubt there are many left like him but I sincerely hope the new large animal vets are far more adept and caring than the "retired" one that caused so much suffering in our area. Now I travel past at least 3 other veterinary clinics to get to the one I feel confident allowing to share in the healthcare of my pets. I really do not have any desire to watch veterinary care on TV. While I have taken part in many types of human medical procedures and healthcare I still get stressed dealing with the suffering of animals. That is not entertainment for me. Too much reality. |
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