Planning for people and pets during crises, making pet adoption equitable, and more citizen science for pet owners

Dr Sonja Olson baked the banana chocolate chip muffins from the Vet Cookbook to fuel her morning run. Loving the oven mitt!

This week, I want to share a few resources which may be of interest.

You may not be aware, but one of the negative aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic has been an increase in reports of domestic and family violence. Lucy’s Project, founded by the tireless Anna Ludvik, is hosting a webinar about the Concurrent Crises we are facing on August 17 at 1pm.

The webinar will explore how we can plan for animals during bushfires, droughts, pandemic(s) and other crises, as well as safety planning for families with animals who are experiencing DFV. The webinar is available free of charge but participants are welcome to make a donation. Click here for more info.

This webinar is part one of a three-part series.

CARE – Companions and Animals for Reform and Equity – is a US-based organisation established to address organisational and personal biases within animal welfare and advocating for a more inclusive path to pet adoption. The website contains some harrowing but ultimately uplifting stories of companion animals being adopted by those who initially faced discrimination or inequity. Check them out here.

Our colleague, Wingham and Valley Vets veterinarian, Dr John Dooley, retired earlier this year. He contributed an incredible personal essay to The Vet Cookbook, as well as some brilliant tips for new graduates in the CVE’s Recent Graduate Survival Seminar. He has been an advocate of mindfulness and meditation, as well as mentoring, in the veterinary profession. In an era where the attrition rate of veterinarians is high, and where there are shortages of veterinary professionals, its great to read about a 45-year-long career in this comprehensive article in Dr Dooley’s local paper which you can read here.

Finally, whether you work in the veterinary profession or not, if you identify as a pet owner, parent or guardian your knowledge can help citizen science. The study is exploring the risks and benefits of pet ownership during a pandemic.

To participate, click here.  

You can also opt-in to the very first longitudinal study tracking pet owner wellbeing and animal welfare.

Why vets, nurses and other health care professionals need to go to the doctor

Sometimes vets need to go to the doctor.

I used to think that the well-being of people who care for others (human and veterinary health professionals) was a side issue. But when you look at the stats, it’s a major One Health issue with potential to impact us all – so worth doing something about. 

One thing I think every veterinarian and veterinary student could do to help is to get themselves to the dentist, GP, psychologist, physiotherapist, skin cancer clinic, optometrist or whichever health professional meets their needs as early and as regularly as possible.

According to figures compiled by the Association of American Medical Colleges (and this is just one source), health professionals have high rates of stress, 

burnout and suicide.

In one US study, 45.4% of physicians had symptoms of burnout in 2011, increasing to 54.4%in 2014. 15 per cent of medical students were suffering moderate to severe depression. Only 2 in 5 with suicidal ideation sought care. The prevalence of depression in medicine residents varied from 21-43% (you can read more and check out the AAMC’s resources here). 

Physicians are twice as likely to commit suicide than members of the general population. Veterinarians are four times as likely to do so. When our mental health is impacted, the welfare of those around us – including animals and the environment – is impacted. In one study, one third of physicians had no regular health care. This is not a side issue. If health professionals aren’t engaging in health care, how can we expect the general population to do so? What message does that send about our beliefs about the importance of health care?

Sure, making appointments that fit in with our schedule can be a drag. Welcome to the world of our clients!

What if there’s nothing wrong? Establishing a relationship with a health professional or two is helpful, for when things really go wrong. Of course they might never, but it’s hard to plan in advance for health crises.

I’m not a fan of going to the dentist. But I’ve found one who can understand that anxiety and work with it. Knowing we can have a laugh is an incentive to attend check-ups. He also discovers binary asteroids on the side which doesn’t necessarily impact my oral health but it’s cool to know he’s a well-rounded human being with an awesome hobby. He also doesn't mind when I sing him the Little Shop of Horrors song. I digress.

Going to visit health professionals is a way of taking care of ourselves and of learning what it is like being in the client’s shoes. If you’ve put off that appointment all year, consider clearing a block in your schedule.

If you aren’t convinced that your own health is worthwhile (which it is!) treat it as an exercise in professional practice. What can you learn from the bedside manner of your fellow professionals?

The advice of veterinarian and counsellor David Foote is “don’t say you’re okay and everything isn’t. You can read his article here.

In other news, we’re approaching the deadline for the Vet Cook Book. This is a well-being initiative which involves sharing food, sharing a story and submitting it for others to read.

Today we’re sharing Gwen’s Awesome Pick-Me-Up Banana Cake, submitted by Gwen Shirlow in Canberra. If you’d like to share a recipe, please email vetcookbook[at]gmail.com for instructions and we will send them your way.

Gwen's awesome pick-me-up banana cake.

I was gifted this recipe (minus a few modifications I have since made) by a vet nurse I worked with as a new graduate vet in a busy rural mixed practice. It came after a weekend on-call that had started out well only to descend into back-to-back calvings, colics and stitch-ups which kept me occupied late into each night. Come Monday morning I was struggling on another busy workday when one of the lovely older nurses put a slice of this banana cake in my hand with a smile. I will be forever grateful to her. I now make this cake regularly for the nurses and vets at work and it never sits in the staff room for very long!

Ingredients:

1. 125g unsalted butter
2. 1.5 cups caster sugar (can substitute ¼ cup brown sugar)
3. 2 eggs
4. 1 cup mashed banana
5. Vanilla essence
6. 1/8 tsp ground allspice (if you don’t have allspice you can make it up with whatever you have – I often use ground ginger, clove, garamasala, cumin etc)
7. ½ tsp salt
8. ½ tsp ground cinnamon
9. 250g plain flour
10. ½ cup buttermilk ( or you can use regular milk with a squeeze of lemon juice)
11. 1 tsp bicarb soda

 Topping ingredients:

1. 3 tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts
2. 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
3. 100g butter
4. 3 tablespoons brown sugar

Instructions

1. Butter and flour a 20cm square (or round) tin and line with baking paper (I often leave out the paper)
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
3. Soften but don’t melt 125g unsalted butter plus 1.5cups sugar.
4. Cream until pale and fluffy
5. Beat in 2 eggs, 1 cup of mashed banana and a few drops of vanilla
6. In another bowl sift together 250g plain flour, 1 tsp bicarb soda, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp ground cinnamon and 1/8tsp ground allspice
7. Add dry ingredients to butter mix, alternating with ½ cup buttermilk (or the regular milk with a squeeze of lemon in it)

 Topping:

1. Combine 3 Tablespoons coarsely chopped walnuts, 1.5 cups ground cinnamon, 100g soften butter and 3 tsp brown sugar
2. Scatter over uncooked cake and bake
3. Bake for 45min or until clean
4. Often need to cover with foil after 40min in oven or will burn the topping

Topping quantity can be doubled per cake if desired

Follow the VetCookBook on facebook here https://www.facebook.com/vetcookbook 

Great advice for vets and other news

Dixie does her best to blend in to the rug.

Our colleague Dr Jim Euclid runs Vetx.com, a fantastic free blog/vlog/forum for veterinarians. Recently we’ve been watching his fantastic interviews, including with Professor Richard Malik and Dr Charles Kuntz. These contain advice for recent and experienced graduates that is definitely worth a look, as well as fascinating insights into veterinary career trajectories. Registration is free. Find it here.

If you’re in Melbourne and interested in health (human or non-human), consider coming along to the Future Health Leaders dinner on Saturday night. Aside from great food and great company, there will be a great talk (I hope so – I’m the speaker) about the importance of One Health. Tickets are very reasonably priced and available online.

We’re still working hard on the Vet Cook Book. In the interests of gender balance, we are hoping a few more blokes share the culinary skills we know they have! Check out our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/vetcookbook

Fuel for the week: Dr Mark Westman shares a recipe with a compelling story behind it

Dr Westman shares his  recipe with the team from the Veterinary Faculty Office.

As many readers will know, we’ve teamed up with colleagues Deepa Gopinath and Asti May to compile The Vet Cookbook. So today we’re sharing one of our recent submissions, a recipe from Dr Mark Westman, inspired by his friend Jessica Robinson.

Even if you don’t cook these treats, you might be interested in the story behind them. This is Dr Westman's submission.

Biography:

Veterinarian with a special interest in shelter medicine (nine years working for RSPCA NSW, four years working for Animal Welfare League NSW), animal welfare (memberships with the ANZCVS) and virology (PhD in feline immunodeficiency virus and feline leukaemia virus). Co-founder of Pets in thePark, a charity concerned with caring for pets owned by homeless people around Australia. 

About this recipe:

During my mid-twenties I started getting fat. Not obese fat, but isn’t-life-great-pass-me-a-second-dessert fat. I am tall (6”4) and consequently I think I was able to conceal my excess weight pretty well. Until one day when I saw myself in my sister’s wedding photos with a gut, and a short time later a brutally honest nurse at work said very gently “Mark you’re getting fat”.

Like any typical male middle-class Caucasian faced with the reality of getting fat, I reached for the sweatpants and headband and started running. I used to hate running. I thought runners were idiots. As a kid I lived by the ‘I’ll only run if I’m chasing a ball’ mentality. But I persisted, because I thought it was the most efficient path to weight loss. And I started enjoying it. My aim was to be able to run 10km without stopping, three times weekly.

One night after running 10km with a friend at a slightly slower pace than normal, I realised I wasn’t tired. I decided to go out and do another 10km loop. It was the first time I had ever run 20km. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was on my way to becoming one of those people I used to despise. An ultrarunner.

Eight years later and running is now an essential part of my life. I run five times per week, and to date I have completed thirteen marathons, two 50km runs and five 100km races. Running keeps me physically fit, but even more importantly running helps keep me mentally strong and resilient. Life is always better after a run. I run when I am sad to make me happy (or at least less sad), and I run when I am happy to make me ecstatic. Even during the chaos of my PhD thesis submission, I still stopped and made time for a late night hour long run before sitting down for an intense writing session. Running reminds me that no matter what happens, the sun will rise the next day.

Two years before writing this entry I was involved in a fairly serious motorcycle accident. I broke a stack of bones, including multiple vertebrae, and was lucky not to be paralysed. One of the hardest realities I had to face was that the neurosurgeon who fused five of my vertebrae together told me I would never run long distances again. I accepted this and tried to be grateful to just be alive.

The biggest lesson I learned during this period was this: It is easy to be positive and optimistic when everything is going well, but it is infinitely harder to be positive and optimistic when you are being pushed in a wheelchair and shitting the hospital bed because you can’t go to the toilet on your own. The challenge during this period was to be that positive and optimistic person that I wanted to be, and always hoped I was, when everything wasn’t going well.

Dr Westman (in hospital with friends) spent a long time being a patient.

I was reminded during my recovery of a quote that I saw during Year 7 on a friend’s Slazenger pencil box, and later appeared under my profile in the Year 12 yearbook: ‘Now that the roof to our house has burned down, we have a clearer view of the moon’. My efforts to be positive during this period were assisted by messages of support and encouragement from friends and colleagues in the veterinary industry (including Dr. Laura Taylor, pictured), and even Phil 

Fawcett took time out to send a card of encouragement and photo of himself.

Twelve weeks after the accident, as soon as my boot was removed (I had multiple right leg fractures), I started running on a treadmill. Six months after the accident I entered and finished my first 10km race with my aunty. Ten months after the accident I completed a 50km run, and less than one year after the accident I finished a brutal 100km ultramarathon through the Blue Mountains. I sent my neurosurgeon a bottle of scotch and card to thank him for his excellent work.

Two years after the accident I am fitter and stronger than ever (20kg lighter than when I was at my heaviest). I have set new personal best times for every race distance from 5km to 100km. This recipe is for the bliss balls that help me through my ultramarathons. I recently attempted my first 100 mile race, and was on track until I got lost at the 83km mark. Unfortunately I didn’t realise I was lost until I had reached 93km. I didn’t have the willpower to run 10km back to the 83km checkpoint, which would have added 20km to the total race distance for me (I figured 175km was enough without adding 20km). Although disappointed, at least no animals or people were harmed, and sure enough the sun still rose the following day. A minor setback which I will one day be able to rectify.

Instructions for recipe:

Mix the following ingredients in a food processor/blender/Nutrabullet type contraption (my apologies -amounts are vague because as you may be able to tell from my getting lost story, I am a bit of a vague, imprecise runner sometimes)

• -      Dried Turkish apricots (75% of total dry volume)
• -      Pitted dates (15% of total dry volume)
• -      Handful of desiccated coconut
• -      Half a handful of cacao powder (cocoa powder for the poor students)
• -      Zest from two lemons

Take spoonful of mixture, press it into a ball, and coat with desiccated coconut.

Repeat until the mixture has been completely used.

Refrigerate.

Eat, enjoy and run ultramarathons.

Thank you Mark for letting us share this. You can read more about the Vet Cook Book here, follow us on facebook here and send submissions to vetcookbook [at] gmail.com