In the veterinary publications that I read, there's concern about a decline in visits to see veterinarians.  Most of the are couched as concerns that decreasing veterinary visits will imply a concomitant decline in animal health, and wonder what can be done about the "problem." Being able to afford to take care of your animals is a problem throughout the veterinary profession.  People are going to avoid taking their … [Read more...]

In case you didn't know, many of the most ancient reports of medicine being practiced on animals pertain to the medicine of the horse.  In ancient times, horses were extremely valuable, as companions, as sources of food, as engines of war, as transportation, as entertainment, and as beasts of burden. *  Since people have been writing about horse medicine for a long time, they've come up with some colorful terminology to … [Read more...]

Sometimes, I think I'm speaking Greek. POLITICALLY CORRECT ASIDE:  Not that there's anything wrong with Greek, of course, and there are many wonderful people who speak Greek.  Still, it's not that useful a language in the barns of southern California, at least the ones that I most commonly frequent, so, if I were speaking Greek, people would have a very difficult time understanding me.  Which they seem to … [Read more...]

One of the great classics of English literature, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, was written by Lewis Carroll, in 1871 (Carroll's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, in case you have a Trivial Pursuit game or a try-out for "Jeopardy" scheduled).   Among the many immortal characters that Carroll introduced to the world were Alice, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, and the Mad … [Read more...]