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 I think it accurately depicts large animal vets in rural MI, but others have called him outdated and barbaric. I do think he is a bit outdated, but I also think the way he operates is fairly standard for a large animal vet in rural MI....but NOT so accurate for most small animal vets.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.

Most farms work in the exact manner that is on the show, and horses and Cows are not as susceptible to infection as small domestic animals. I had my horses at many different stables over my lifetime, and they are not sanitary. It's much easier to keep an enclosed building clean then it is a farm.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
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.

I have not seen the show but it is true. It is a different way to vet large animals then dogs and cats. You can't get kicked in the head by a cat.

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.

I felt this way when I went to Haiti and saw the way they treated their laboring moms. We had no hot water to scrub up with before entering an operating room, the equipment was antiquated and rusty, their NICU was a closet with 2 old beds and a warming light, and the bedside manner was atrocious. The moms left on the back of mopeds with newborns in tow..... The same dirty moped that dropped them off.

Ha! I just noticed that my post says I live in BUS! I have to watch what this tablet is doing to me more closely.:eek: Should be NYS. You gotta wonder how these things choose for us.:confused:

Don't you just love Autocorrect Fails? :D

The vet practice I go to for Gizmo treats all size animals, and as for large animals, I can say the way a horse is treated and quickly makes a huge difference. I had one wild stud who would break down stalls to get to the mares, and this same vet practice I use now came out and gelded him, the same way Dr Pol does, by just cutting the skin open, pulling them out and utting tem off, then stitching it back up, and he was fine right away. The one time I used another vet, while my normal vet was on vacation, I had a mare who was bloated in the evening, the vet that came out just gave her some medicine and told me to watch her, well she was dead by 5 the next morning. I have never let another vet see my animals since, and I've been going to this practice for 30 years :-)

The thing they are doing when they sew a cows stomach to the side, is because one of the cows stomachs becomes twisted, and it will die if not put back into place and kept there. Cows have 2 stomachs that can easily get twisted. The way I have seen Dr Pol fix bloat in a cow, is with a spike that screws into the cow in very quickly, like in seconds. The spike has a tube down the center of it and releases the trapped gas. Wow this bringing me back some memories :-)

I read about his probation. He claims that the other vet that this person went to is a vet that used to work for him and apparently they had some kind of falling out and they no longer get along and basically the vet made up some stuff to come after him.

A 3rd party veterinarian looked over the case and he said the only thing he could that Dr Pol was guilty of for sure, was bad record keeping. Apparently his staff did not record every time the client called....but which vet or even human Dr. always does that, for that matter.

I am not saying he was or wasn't in the wrong...just that there might have been ulterior motives involved in the accusations against him.

I love watching The Incredible Dr. Pol. He is very typical of a large animal vet. I have grown up around it most of my life and have to laugh at the people that are freaking out about it not being sterile. Respectfully laughing!! ;)

When you have a calf or a foal that is stuck, the last thing you are thinking about is a sterile environment. The number one priority is getting that baby out before you lose both momma and baby. A lot of the time you end up losing the baby but can save the mom. It's sad, yes, but part of a ranchers life. Most of what a large animal vet does would appall most city folks. :)

Like I said, I don't know about normal procedures for large animals. But he should not be treating cats or dogs. IMO. :)

Most large animal vets don't make very good small animal vets. Our vet here in Arco is a large animal vet and I only take my small animals to him in an emergency. There are a few exceptions to that though.

I also grew up raising cattle, horse, and sheep. I was in 4-H, FFA and went to school for horse reproduction. I have only watched the show a few times. He really isn't what I am accustomed to for vet care. I think it's his bedside manner though not necessarily his techniques.

That said, I agree there is a lot to that show, or large animal vetting, that many people do not understand unless you live the life. When a vet is called to the farm, they are at the mercy of the conditions of the farm. Some are meticulously clean, others are less so to put it mildly. It never fails too that an animal is ill or down during the worst weather conditions, and a vet has to work within those conditions. Also, while dairy cattle are frequent to human interaction and can be quite docile, range cattle much less so and can be mean and aggressive. The equipment used to restrain them can look intimidating, inhumane, or cruel. The animal doesn't understand it is to help them and they often fight it, but it is also to keep people safe because they can be unpredictable.

Another thing about farm animals, is horses are considered livestock to some, companion animals to others. Many, many horse people see their horses much like you and I see our dogs, as part of the family. Cattle, sheep, and pig farmers too, but horses are much more sensitive, and their needs much different than other livestock. Many ranchers who have cattle also have horses and will have their cattle vets treat their horses while they are there, and get along fine, but most horse people (around me anyways) want a horse vet when their horse needs one. We are fortunate in my area to have that option. In our area, large animal, one vet treats all clinics, are less known than vets who prefer to practice in one area. Again, a country large animal vet here may treat the farmer's dog and get along just fine, but the average family here with dogs and cats will seek a small animal practice for their pets and a different practice for their cattle/horses.

My vets office treats all, but the office is very clean with great small animal vets. They have different vets on staff for different size and type animals. This is also the case on dr pol, he has a vet in office or the small animals and a different environment than the farm calls. Most vets are trained to treat all animals, no matter the size. In my opinion these vets are much more experienced than a vet that only treats small or big animals.

Doc treats our horses and has for almost 20 years. Doctor Amy treats the dogs. I've only seen the Dr. Pol show a couple of times and I find his methods in line with Doc's. Usually I am Doc's assistant, whether it is castrating a stallion, treating collic (a nice bucketful of soapy water & mineral oil enema), stitches, a difficult birthing, or a dental. Once when we had a couple of wild Mustangs who were very fresh off the range and very mistrusting of people. Being the only one who could really do much with Pistol, I wound up pulling the blook for testing. :D Just call me Doc Cindy.

With large animals, you do what you have to do to take care of them and save lives. Unless you've been there, done that, it's hard to understand how an operation can be performed out in the open on the grass and it all come out ok. Poor Doc has been at our house on almost every holiday except Christmas. He's a real champ in my book!

Now with the Yorkies, it's an entirely different way of vetting. Doctor Amy is so incredible - she even changes the needles on the syringes when she give shots to very short "baby" needles. The dogs all love her and rarely do they even whimper or twitch when she is taking care of them.

Agreed there!!!

I think he is MUCH better at treating larger animals than smaller animals. It seems like most large animal vets are that way though and they seem to do the small animal as more of an afterthought or more of a side thing. In my home town, most of the large animal vets either grew up on a farm and/or owned farm animals and that is what they were passionate about.

It seems like farmers in general, have a very different viewpoint than many of us would with our animals. Their animals are their livelyhood more than another family member...and to them, their animals serve a purpose...even down to the barn cats that keep the mice out of the grain. If a barn cat got kicked by a cow or horse and broke it's leg, they wouldn't rush it in for surgery...it would be put down, most likely with a shot gun instead of going to the vet.

Some farmers do take care of their dogs when it comes to vaccinations and such, but you probably won't find a lot of them taking their pup to a specialist or putting a lot of money into their pet if it gets hurt. I think this minimalist approach to animal care, especially animals that aren't making the farmer money, has bled over to the way Dr. Pol and other large animal vets operate their small animal practice.


I also think that when Dr Pol is working on small animals, he tends to forget that he's not working on cows in a barn but instead, he is working on someone's beloved pet and family member. He might be able to get away with de-horning a goat without anesthesia, but he shouldn't be cutting off a dog's broken tail like that...especially when we DO have the medicine and the ability to make the dog more comfortable. Because many of us have humanized our pets and they are our family members, we expect them to get the best and most humane health care available to them...and with the advancements in veterinary care, we do now have access to vet care that nearly parallels the care that is available to humans. There's no need for a dog to sit and suffer in pain when they don't have to...and there's no need to take some or the risks he is taking when there's equipment and methods to make things safer and he's just unwilling to use them. Definitely not the small animal vet for me, but interesting none the less.

Exactly!!
And honestly, what's scary about him being on TV is that people will think this is 'normal' or 'okay' and many dogs & cats and beloved pets could suffer for it.

I liked the show.. only watched a couple of times. I noticed how cluttered and dirty the office was, but I just don't like clutter.

If any of our calves have bloated, which rarely happens thank goodness, we use a large gauged needle or two and stick the calf right in the side of the belly. It releases the gas that is dangerously building up in the gut. Within 30 min to an hour the calf is back up and doing okay. It usually takes our large animal vet way too long to get out to our place so we have to take matters in our own hands with things like this. Fortunately I have many years vet tech experience but there is a huge difference between large and small animal medicine. :) I get nervous having to treat any of our cattle in a situation like that!

I totally agree. There is no reason for any small animal to have to suffer needless pain when there are an abundance of pharmaceuticals that could spare it such pain.
While I agree farm people have animals for the sole purpose of providing a livelihood their is no reason to lose one's humanity and sensitivity to the suffering of all creatures.

Oh vey. Just saw this clip. He hands the still sedated hounds back over to the owner and puts them in the back of a pick up truck. Wow...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XQNIvpKwkU