The Incredible Dr. Pol - General Discussion

[smittykins]

I’ve seen ads for his pet food line. He may have been a vet for 50 years, but he isn’t a veterinary nutritionist.

[parrotfeathers]

14 hours ago, smittykins said:

I’ve seen ads for his pet food line. He may have been a vet for 50 years, but he isn’t a veterinary nutritionist.

Agree.  Not buying Rachel's or any other celebrity dog food either.  I wonder if people actually think they own a dog food manufacturing plant and make it themselves.

[LittleIggy]

On 7/14/2021 at 7:11 AM, parrotfeathers said:

Agree.  Not buying Rachel's or any other celebrity dog food either.  I wonder if people actually think they own a dog food manufacturing plant and make it themselves.

I feed my cat’s Rachael Ray’s cat food, and, no, I don’t think she makes it herself. 🙄

Those puppies were so super adorbs! 🥰 

That German Shepherd 😞

So glad Bruiser’s leg healed. That surgery would have cost a fortune that family couldn’t have afforded. I know I couldn’t have. Bruiser’s snaggle-tooth was funny!

[Bastet]

On 7/13/2021 at 1:53 PM, smittykins said:

He may have been a vet for 50 years, but he isn’t a veterinary nutritionist.

Sadly, because it's not part of their core curriculum and what they do "learn" often comes in the form of Hill's propaganda, many vets know fuck all about nutrition.  Some acknowledge this.  Some peddle crappy food.  I'll never let one of the latter group anywhere near my cat on general principle; I don't care what else they know, if they can't look at an ingredients list and know a food is inappropriate, they're not getting their hands on my pet, since I live in an area with lots of choices.

[Raiderred]

13 hours ago, Bastet said:

Sadly, because it's not part of their core curriculum and what they do "learn" often comes in the form of Hill's propaganda, many vets know fuck all about nutrition.  Some acknowledge this.  Some peddle crappy food.  I'll never let one of the latter group anywhere near my cat on general principle; I don't care what else they know, if they can't look at an ingredients list and know a food is inappropriate, they're not getting their hands on my pet, since I live in an area with lots of choices.

Just curious, what do you feed your cat?

[Bastet]

1 minute ago, Raiderred said:

Just curious, what do you feed your cat?

Nature's Variety Instinct frozen raw, the rabbit formula.  She used to like rotating between chicken, duck, and rabbit, but then fixated on rabbit.

Another cat was happiest with Wellness chicken paté.  Wellness has a lot of good canned food offerings.  And their CORE dry food is one of the handful of dry cat foods that isn't sky high in carbs (a cat's natural diet is high protein, moderate fat, and very low carb, but most dry foods get at least a quarter of their calories from carbs).

I just looked up Dr. Pol's food (just for cats, as I don't know anything about canine nutrition), and there's only a dry food option.  I've seen a lot worse, but it's not good, and the recommended amount to feed is obscene - it would give the average cat over 400 calories per day (for weight maintenance, cats should generally eat 20 calories per pound of body weight per day, so a typical 10-pound cat needs 200, not 400).  Sadly, most pet food manufacturers choose profit over health when stating their feeding guidelines.

Topic?  Um, I love Tater.  He shouldn't be allowed loose in the waiting room, but I love his attitude.  I always laugh when one of the vets/techs has to step over him, or when office staff have to reach around him to access their keyboards.

[Raiderred]

16 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Nature's Variety Instinct frozen raw, the rabbit formula.  She used to like rotating between chicken, duck, and rabbit, but then fixated on rabbit.

Another cat was happiest with Wellness chicken paté.  Wellness has a lot of good canned food offerings.  And their CORE dry food is one of the handful of dry cat foods that isn't sky high in carbs (a cat's natural diet is high protein, moderate fat, and very low carb, but most dry foods get at least a quarter of their calories from carbs).

I just looked up Dr. Pol's food (just for cats, as I don't know anything about canine nutrition), and there's only a dry food option.  I've seen a lot worse, but it's not good, and the recommended amount to feed is obscene - it would give the average cat over 400 calories per day (for weight maintenance, cats should generally eat 20 calories per pound of body weight per day, so a typical 10-pound cat needs 200, not 400).  Sadly, most pet food manufacturers choose profit over health when stating their feeding guidelines.

Topic?  Um, I love Tater.  He shouldn't be allowed loose in the waiting room, but I love his attitude.  I always laugh when one of the vets/techs has to step over him, or when office staff have to reach around him to access their keyboards.

Nice!  Thanks for the info.

I don't have cats but many dogs and I only feed raw, meaty bones and organs so I get the raw feeding in your food for your cat. I made the switch to raw over 20 years ago and the drastic improvement I have seen in my dogs is unbelievable.  So many people are in awe over their very shiny coats and very bright eyes.  Their weight is always right on point as I have 3 Dachshunds and they tend to be porkers if they aren't watched closely for weight issues as most would eat themselves to death...sounds kind of funny but true. lol

[Claire85]

Pet pictures? 😁

[parrotfeathers]

I'm really not a Tater fan.  

I like to think they keep him confined somehow or at least out of the waiting room when the cameras aren't rolling.

[ctlady]

Sheesh, either wear masks or don’t. The inconsistency doesn’t make sense. You have the drs going out to he parking lot with masks on, but the owner in the car doesn’t have one, but puts it in for the camera interview. Seriously doesn’t make sense. I’m not no mask police whose going to report you. What I’m more concerned about is them working on these animals removing grubs, squeezing puss, scratching skin infections and feeling eye ooze with no gloves on!

[Rammchick]

4 hours ago, ctlady said:

Sheesh, either wear masks or don’t. The inconsistency doesn’t make sense. You have the drs going out to he parking lot with masks on, but the owner in the car doesn’t have one, but puts it in for the camera interview. Seriously doesn’t make sense. I’m not no mask police whose going to report you. What I’m more concerned about is them working on these animals removing grubs, squeezing puss, scratching skin infections and feeling eye ooze with no gloves on!

I started to comment about this last week, but I think the discrepancies are because you're seeing timelines all scrambled together.  Sequences are shot within various phases of the pandemic last year and then edited together so that you have some with masks, some without, some with a mixture, etc.  But I agree.  Definitely no consistency.  And the mask Pol has on is hardly protective -- it gaps massively.

[Rammchick]

On 7/19/2021 at 4:18 AM, parrotfeathers said:

I'm really not a Tater fan.  

I like to think they keep him confined somehow or at least out of the waiting room when the cameras aren't rolling.

I feel the same way about Charles.

[LittleIggy]

Well, I love Tater! 💕💕 

Olive the Bernese Mountain Dog puppy was so adorable. I wanted to cuddle her when she was tiny and hug her when she bigger. 
We haven’t seen Diane this season yet, have we? Wonder if she stayed away from the office during the pandemic.

[parrotfeathers]

9 hours ago, Rammchick said:

I feel the same way about Charles.

Yes but without Charles we would never have had the TV series.  But I do wish he would shave off that awful beard.

Saw the Felix the cat episode last night (enlarged kidneys).  I realize not everything is aired concerning a case, but why didn't they just give Felix a feline leukemia ELISA test to see if he was indeed suffering from it instead of sending him home with antibiotics for 10 days and waiting to see what happened?

[CrazyInAlabama]

I suspect that much of the diagnostic tests, and other procedures are omitted, and that's why there's that statement at the front of the show saying they only show part of it.     

I think Tater is in the office most of the time, and only goes outside with the camera crew, or when they're filming.   The office is on a main highway, and there's a lot of traffic in the parking lot, and a wandering cat wouldn't last long there.     

Also, I'm sure that a lot of the animal's owners have a small budget, so they say what they can afford, and that limits treatments.    With farm animals, often it's a lost cause to invest extra money in special care, instead of send the animal to slaughter.    It's not like a person with hundreds of cows, or pigs, is going to put a lot of time and money into the possibility of an animal recovering and going back to 100%.         Except for an exceptionally valuable animal, or one of a few animals, most farmers aren't going to take a chance that the animal will be cooperative with getting treated either. 

Edited July 25, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[parrotfeathers]

36 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Also, I'm sure that a lot of the animal's owners have a small budget, so they say what they can afford, and that limits treatments. 

I agree with this and why I rarely criticize Dr.  Pol (and hope I wasn't now).  He does the best he can with what he can work with and does a very good job.

[Minivanessa]

I admit, I focus on the animals when I'm watching this show. But after watching so many episodes, I'm appreciating the people who own the animals, whether farm animals or pets. Last night in particular there was a guy with a cat, and please don't ask me to describe which episode it was, lol. But. He had the most *real* face, the guy I mean, not the cat. Not a Hollywood or TV face; a kind of beat-up weathered face and a frizzy un-styled head of hair. Not very good teeth, what teeth there were. And damn, I loved that guy. He cared so much about his cat.

And as I was listening to his little post-visit TH, I thought about how many *real* people we see on this show. Many of them don't look financially prosperous, certainly not fashionable, and if I were a billionaire I'd try to fund dental/orthodontic care for several of them. Some of them show up at the clinic with pets who they should have brought in sooner, but they all care enough to bring the animals in and get the care they can afford. I believe Dr. Pol has commented that his practice serves an area that's been economically depressed, and they have to provide care as affordably as they can. 

I get tired of seeing farm animals with prolapses, and I get so squirmy seeing them shove hoses up horses' noses that I can't watch that. But then this isn't Vets 90210, and I'm SO good with that. "Toto, we're not in Hollywood anymore." Yay!

ETA: In case the above seems a little too warm and fuzzy, I have reacted badly to a few people on the show who I perceived as not very careful backyard breeders, and IIRC there was one woman who was a lying liar who lied about her cat. She brought him in with a festering mess on his rear end which would have taken more than a week to develop and said, oh he was gone a couple of days and came back like this. Sure, Jan.

Edited July 25, 2021 by Jeeves

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Also, I'm sure that a lot of the animal's owners have a small budget, so they say what they can afford, and that limits treatments. 

Dr. Emily, in her blog post about why she left, talked about the dangers of the clinic's practice of assuming everyone was among the majority percentage of clientele who couldn't afford more than the clinic could provide and not even raising the issue.  I don't remember the pet's condition involved in her a-ha moment, but when she mentioned off-hand, after having not presented this option when outlining what PVS was planning to do, the possibility of a specialty clinic doing something more, the owner jumped at it, did that, and saw a great outcome for their pet.

As she said, PVS doesn't offer the safest or the best care, but is a lifeline for those who can't access anything better. 

That's never to be discounted; something is better than nothing for those who can only afford something and cannot find even something anywhere else.

And, as with any practice, owners are sometimes part of the problem - ignorance, lack of resources, denial, and/or inadequate attention and care can exacerbate a problem before it even reaches the vet, reducing the available options.

But the low pay, unreasonably high number of clients to be seen by each vet per hour, rudimentary practices, defiant attitude towards updated techniques and technology that result in PVS's limitations beyond those naturally resulting from local circumstances -- those are fair game for critique.  On general principle, but especially for a practice that has years worth of TV money at its disposal yet barely changes a damn thing.

[Minivanessa]

19 hours ago, Bastet said:

But the low pay, unreasonably high number of clients to be seen by each vet per hour, rudimentary practices, defiant attitude towards updated techniques and technology that result in PVS's limitations beyond those naturally resulting from local circumstances -- those are fair game for critique.  On general principle, but especially for a practice that has years worth of TV money at its disposal yet barely changes a damn thing.

Good point. I have seen more than once on the show, a PVS vet offering the client the option of referring the animal to a practice that could perform procedures that PVS couldn't. I'm sure I saw Dr. Emily do that more than once. I can't cite the episode(s) but I remember one or more cases where the client took that treatment option vs. what PVS could do.

I think that even if Pol himself won't do it, the younger vets would be aware of those non-PVS options and inclined to disclose them (if only as a matter of professional standards). 

So as with much in life, I have mixed feelings about this show. We don't see the full course of the consultations and treatments, but I think we do see patterns over time. On the show we see some animal owners driving old rusty vehicles, and also some driving shiny high-end vehicles. The clients aren't all poor or uneducated.

I remember reading Dr. Emily's blog about the rushed scheduling of appointments and how she finally had to assert herself and take time to make file notes that were up to her professional standards. I don't remember the comment about not mentioning the options for referral to other practices, but that would be consistent with her description of how the practice was managed. 

And, yeah. The TV money. Pol could damned well afford to remodel the clinic building sufficiently to put the X-ray room on the main level and save all those trips up and down stairs. Which have to be hard on both the clinic staff and many sick or injured animals. That point really sticks in my craw, and I don't consider myself a Pol hater.

[smittykins]

Isn’t the clinic basically a converted mobile home?

(If Dr. Jeff could manage to build a more modern facility, you would think Dr. Pol would be able to.)

Edited July 26, 2021 by smittykins

[parrotfeathers]

6 hours ago, smittykins said:

Isn’t the clinic basically a converted mobile home?

(If Dr. Jeff could manage to build a more modern facility, you would think Dr. Pol would be able to.)

Yes I think even the recent addition is a mobile home too.

[Minivanessa]

Not a "mobile home," but the clinic's original building appears to be manufactured housing.

I saw some scenes in the show when they were adding on to the clinic, and for all I know the addition was also manufactured housing. I just remember them showing the foundations being laid, and some discussion of whether the addition would mean there would be a bathroom for the staff that wasn't a pass-through room. If Pol had loosened the purse strings they damn well could have included a purpose-built room for the x-ray machine then. But that would I'm sure have been more expensive than just plopping down a few more exam rooms, which AFAIK is all the addition consisted of.

[Bastet]

10 hours ago, smittykins said:

(If Dr. Jeff could manage to build a more modern facility, you would think Dr. Pol would be able to.)

Pol is well able to; he has the land and the money.  He chooses not to, partially because he has a dismissive and/or worse disdainful attitude towards progress; he either thinks his antiquated way is good enough so he can effectively handle cases his clients couldn't otherwise afford or defiantly resists upgrades, period, like they're an affront to the broad but rudimentary care he brings to an area that sometimes wouldn't have better options if not for him.

I'm a city gal, so I check my bias at the door, but I still when looking at what Pol offers versus what vets in similar communities offer and then factoring in show money conclude he's problematic.  Neither hero nor victim, but by now certainly not worthy of a TV show.  Yet he remains.

[Claire85]

I used to love this show, but it has worn out its welcome with me over the years. The fact that he had to basically hire 3 people (Nicole, Lisa, Ray) to replace Emily tells me how hard they worked her; she said in her blog she was suicidal at one point. He does not pay employees well, she also said, but he lives in that huge house by the lake. And after watching the Critter Fixers fully suit up for surgery, I’m appalled at how lax PVS is in those practices in the office. 

[LittleIggy]

On 7/26/2021 at 2:44 PM, smittykins said:

Isn’t the clinic basically a converted mobile home?

(If Dr. Jeff could manage to build a more modern facility, you would think Dr. Pol would be able to.)

Dr. Jeff’s practice isn’t perfect either. 

[Texasmom1970]

Just wanted Olive the poor puppy who lost an eye was adorable. Would love to snuggle that cutie.

[Rammchick]

On 7/26/2021 at 10:35 PM, Bastet said:

Pol is well able to; he has the land and the money.  He chooses not to, partially because he has a dismissive and/or worse disdainful attitude towards progress; he either thinks his antiquated way is good enough so he can effectively handle cases his clients couldn't otherwise afford or defiantly resists upgrades, period, like they're an affront to the broad but rudimentary care he brings to an area that sometimes wouldn't have better options if not for him.

I'm a city gal, so I check my bias at the door, but I still when looking at what Pol offers versus what vets in similar communities offer and then factoring in show money conclude he's problematic.  Neither hero nor victim, but by now certainly not worthy of a TV show.  Yet he remains.

We've said all this before.  And yet we're all still watching :D

 

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, Rammchick said:

And yet we're all still watching :D

I quit a while back, but I still have this thread on my forum home page, so I pop in and keep up with the discussion about the show in general.  Habit, I guess.

Edited July 28, 2021 by Bastet

[LittleIggy]

5 hours ago, Rammchick said:

We've said all this before.  And yet we're all still watching :D

 

I watch it because I like Dr. Pol and the other vets working there.

[Minivanessa]

3 hours ago, LittleIggy said:

I watch it because I like Dr. Pol and the other vets working there.

Same here. I don't idolize anybody on these reality TV shows, but if I enjoy watching them, I watch. (I'm really enjoying Critter Fixers the most these days. Those folks make me smile!)

[parrotfeathers]

Anyone seen the new (apparently) dairy cow show with the vet?

[Minivanessa]

14 minutes ago, parrotfeathers said:

Anyone seen the new (apparently) dairy cow show with the vet?

That Hatcher Family Dairy show? I watched part of the first episode. I didn't enjoy listening to the vet and her mother. Something about their voices put me off. And mom was hamming it up for the camera. I just didn't warm up to the people on the show, so I haven't watched it again.

ETA: I'm also kind of over cows. I tend to FF or just not watch the parts of vet shows that deal with cows, especially prolapsed cows. I mean no disrespect to cows or the people who raise them! It's just a matter of what I enjoy watching on TV. 

Edited July 29, 2021 by Jeeves

[parrotfeathers]

1 hour ago, Jeeves said:

especially prolapsed cows

Yes, those are rather awful.

[LittleIggy]

2 hours ago, Jeeves said:

That Hatcher Family Dairy show? I watched part of the first episode. I didn't enjoy listening to the vet and her mother. Something about their voices put me off. And mom was hamming it up for the camera. I just didn't warm up to the people on the show, so I haven't watched it again.

ETA: I'm also kind of over cows. I tend to FF or just not watch the parts of vet shows that deal with cows, especially prolapsed cows. I mean no disrespect to cows or the people who raise them! It's just a matter of what I enjoy watching on TV. 

If you’ve seen one vet’s arm up a cow’s ass, you’ve seen them all! 😏

[parrotfeathers]

I recorded the latest episode for tomorrow, but tonight I saw the one about the pregnant mini horse (foal was dead) and the kitty with kidney failure.  I think I'm going to be able to like the two new vets as much as I did Dr. Emily.  Glad to see Doc Brenda on camera too.

[LittleIggy]

Diane didn’t look thrilled when her husband stuck that mare’s hymen in her face. 😆 

Eau de Cow’s Stomach! Smells like vomit but with notes of grass. 🤢 I like Dr. Lisa. Dr. Nicole, too.

Edited August 1, 2021 by LittleIggy

[LittleIggy]

Poor Caroline. At least she was finally able to experience love and comfort. 😥 

That English Bulldog puppy! 🥰

[Minivanessa]

14 minutes ago, LittleIggy said:

Poor Caroline. At least she was finally able to experience love and comfort. 😥 

That English Bulldog puppy! 🥰

Oh, Caroline. I was in tears. It hit my heart. Caroline was a Shih Tzu with Cushing's disease who had one or more seizures. My wonderful Jasper was a Shih Tzu who was diagnosed with Cushing's at about 10 years old, and didn't quite make it to age 12. His last few months were difficult; he was having seizures and my vet's diagnosis was an inoperable pituitary gland tumor. That was not quite two years ago. I was crying along with Caroline's owner; that woman was an ANGEL for rescuing Caroline and giving her love and comfort. ❤️

[DonnaMae]

On last night's new show, there was a cow that had just given birth, and Dr. Pol discovered she had adhesions that couldn't be repaired.  He said there was nothing he could do to save her.  Then he and Charles left.  I couldn't understand why he didn't euthanize the cow.  It was obviously in pain and going to die, but why let the poor animal continue to suffer?

[CrazyInAlabama]

Some farm owners have their own captive bolt device, and euthanize without drugs.   I think Dr. Pol uses drugs to euthanize.    If they use drugs, then the animals can't be used for food, 

If animals are buried on the farm, and euthanasia drugs are used, you have to worry about scavengers, or other animals being poisoned too.    

Edited August 16, 2021 by CrazyInAlabama

[DonnaMae]

23 minutes ago, CrazyInAlabama said:

Some farm owners have their own captive bolt device, and euthanize without drugs.   I think Dr. Pol uses drugs to euthanize.    If they use drugs, then the animals can't be used for food, 

Thanks for the info.  That makes perfect sense.  

[LittleIggy]

So Pol Veterinary Services has a laser light machine? Cool. Dr. Lisa’s treatment of that poor dog was wonderful. I really like her.

[parrotfeathers]

Nowhere else to put it---another vet show premiering this year about veterinary determatologists.  That means abscesses!!   I love the abscess episodes.

[LittleIggy]

This was adorable night: the adorable little girl who wanted to be a vet like Dr. Nicole; the adorable 19 puppies, the two adorable kids, the adorable Chi-Pom puppy, the adorable calf, and the adorable kitten. I also loved Dr. Nicole’s interaction with the little girl and Dr. Lisa’s joy at all the puppies. 
Rio is a gorgeous horse!

[Rammchick]

Have we seen Dr. Ray this season?  Is he still working for Pol?

[Me Too]

Yeah, I've been wondering about that too.  He was on the first couple of episodes this season  (I remember a dog with eating issues due to a dilated esophagus and a dog with bloody urine) but I haven't seen him since.

[LittleIggy]

New Baby Pol was a big boy! Nine pounds. Poor Beth. She and Megatron, the little dog with the big pups, could commiserate. I’m so glad Megatron’s owner brought her in after two hours of unsuccessful labor. Some people on these vet shows wait forever before bringing the poor dogs in.

[LittleIggy]

3 hours ago, Rammchick said:

Have we seen Dr. Ray this season?  Is he still working for Pol?

He is still listed on their website.

[Minivanessa]

I'm still watching this show, and I like the two newest vets, Dr. Lisa and Dr. Ray. Good for him for spotting that esophagus issue with the handsome standard poodle (or Labradoodle?). I'm glad Dr. Brenda's still on the show too. I love how she talks to the animals she's treating. Dr. Nicole's still fun to watch too. 

I have mad respect for tiny Beth, who gave birth to a nine-pound baby *and* was a good sport about being filmed getting out of the car when Charles brought them home from the hospital. 

Last night I watched a few episodes of a vet show from Australia, Vets on the Beach. I posted a rant about it on the general vet show topic. It made me realize that this show keeps up a pretty fast pace of presenting cases. I haven't tried to count them, but I've learned that if my attention wanders for a few minutes the first time I'm watching an episode I'll likely miss either an entire case or a lot of one case. The Australian vets are all Hollywood-standard good looking but OMG the pace of the show just dragggged! The whole hour presented just a few cases, and those were so routine that they'd barely flash by on this show, except maybe the little dog with a SuperGlue tube stuck to her coat and the zoo lion in surgery. And those were still kind of dragged out too. 

Also these vets in their THs are IMO pretty professional. "The prognosis for Fido is guarded. He's well enough to go home, the owners will give him his medicine, and we'll check him in a couple of days to see how well he's doing." The Aussie vets are into DRAH-mah. "This cat has an infected wound. The infection and abscess under his skin can go all over his body and he could DIE!!" (The cat had such a small abscess that the camera had to zoom in on it. The infection was caught and treated early. This abscess wouldn't have made it into a Pol episode at all.)

Edited September 13, 2021 by Jeeves
Clarity. It's a goal.

[Rammchick]

4 hours ago, Jeeves said:

I haven't tried to count them, but I've learned that if my attention wanders for a few minutes the first time I'm watching an episode I'll likely miss either an entire case or a lot of one case. The Australian vets are all Hollywood-standard good looking but OMG the pace of the show just dragggged! The whole hour presented just a few cases, and those were so routine that they'd barely flash by on this show, except maybe the little dog with a SuperGlue tube stuck to her coat and the zoo lion in surgery. And those were still kind of dragged out too. 

You might want to check out the show on YouTube instead, where it is called Bondi Vet.  It's generally in 30 minute chunks and less padded out.  It also has the added benefit of including some stories about Dr. Scott Miller, from Vet on the Hill.  He's an Aussie guy transplanted to the Richmond area of London (I think his show may be on Amazon Prime Video as well).