Rolf's Animal Clinic

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Hannah Wynne Richards — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 15:45:54 GMT

Pat You're like me -it's disconcerting when I feel old enough to be a Specialist's mother -they're like policemen-it's (unfortuneately ) a sign we're getting old when they look young

Wynne

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Anthony Dennison — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 13:38:22 GMT

[quote user="Pat Morris"]Is it me - or are specialist vets getting younger and younger ?[/quote]

I'm 24 and I'm special!

at least that's what my Mum tells me

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Pat Morris — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 20:14:51 GMT

Not sure Jo - but he perspired an awful lot - thought i was going to have a cardiac arrest on my hands.

Re Rolf though I think the public respect him generally - and he certainly has some empathy with the animals and the vets .

I don't think there will be much mention of costs - there seldom is.

Having been on a few (daft quiz TV programmes a few years ago - I do know how much editing etc goes on.

Is it me - or are specialist vets getting younger and younger ?

Pat Morris

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Jo Cobbett — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 18:03:15 GMT

[quote user="Pat Morris"]

Even better - overweight young Dax I told owner (also overweight) to take jogging. Owner came back in a month for weighin of dog -complete with jogging suit, trainers etc - dog had gained 4 lbs. I enquired if owner had actually taken dog jogging - and he said Yes he had - and it was bl**dy heavy !

[/quote]

Brilliant! Had the owner lost any weight?

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Pat Morris — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:59:08 GMT

Overweight dog - owner definitely the problem.- seemed to think it was funny and had got dressed up for the cameras I suspect.

I used to print huge notices 'You are killing me with kindness' and make the owners stick them over the dogs feeding area. Best case was a labrador who I managed to get 2 stones off (28lbs) and owner then came in and moaned the'' d*mned dog wants to go for walkies now'' - and let it put all the weight back on.

I do think Rolf is majking rather a better job of this than the Battersea perogramme with Paul O'Grady (who I like) but there were an awful lot of missed opportunities in that one and bits glossed over .

Pat Morris (M.R.C.V.S. ) Happily retired from the fray !

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Utlendigur — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:48:19 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]I was not paying full attention but the Irish vet scanned the foal and it had a heartbeat not that long before the foaling. I imagine the the foal's viability was being monitored - or should have been in such an environment. [/quote]

That was my thought too - they made such a big thing of monitoring the heartbeat, giving the impression they were doing it frequently, then the foal is not just dead but falling apart?

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

patrick murphy — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:57:24 GMT

I also thought that mention of money, as in both of those cases was conspicuos by it's absence

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

patrick murphy — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 12:40:27 GMT

but did you see a guy creep in with scrub suit and wellies, although not in camera, maybe he was the boss?

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Michael Woodhouse — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:51:55 GMT

[quote user="Robin Grimmer"]I disagree. The staff seemed to be doing a thorough job of monitoring 24/7 by the cctv, I'm sure senior staff were available if needed. Plus, I'm no expert on foalings, but I have done plenty of calvings. Surely a Caesar on this mare would have been highly risky and you don't want to do a Caesar with a dead foetus, so surely this was the best outcome to have a live mare at the end that didn't have to have surgery?[/quote]

I was not paying full attention but the Irish vet scanned the foal and it had a heartbeat not that long before the foaling. I imagine the the foal's viability was being monitored - or should have been in such an environment. Thought the common method was using ECG actually.

If it was so dead it was rotting that should have been picked up.

If the foal had 4 legs coming together I do not believe anyone could perform a vaginal delivery without significant use of an embryotome.

I'm sure the chap was out of his depth. I really don't care if he is a member on here - I'd say that to his face. Clearly inexperienced in obstetrics. 4 years foaling mares doesn't necessarily mean that many actual foalings. Most horses get on with it very quickly themselves. Maybe a farm vet with decent obstetrical experience might have flapped less, taken time to establish what was really happening and at the very least put on some waterproofs, gloves and used lubrication.

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Robin Grimmer — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:17:56 GMT

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]

If I was the owner I would definitely be sueing If referral centres don't have enough senior staff to give proper cover they shouldn't see referral cases

Wynne

[/quote]

I disagree. The staff seemed to be doing a thorough job of monitoring 24/7 by the cctv, I'm sure senior staff were available if needed. Plus, I'm no expert on foalings, but I have done plenty of calvings. Surely a Caesar on this mare would have been highly risky and you don't want to do a Caesar with a dead foetus, so surely this was the best outcome to have a live mare at the end that didn't have to have surgery?

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Hannah Wynne Richards — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 09:26:48 GMT

If I was the owner I would definitely be sueing If referral centres don't have enough senior staff to give proper cover they shouldn't see referral cases

Wynne

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

vs0u — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 23:09:16 GMT

I think it's a shame the opportunity has been missed to educate the public about the cost of these procedures. Rolf could quietly say in the background 'And the surgery on that dog's leg cost £4000', thereby keeping expectations real!

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Anthony Dennison — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:47:47 GMT

[quote user="emma o'connor"] At Bristol the students on equine rotations weren't even allowed in a stable for any reason if not wearing a skull cap. [/quote]

Yup, because Jenny Mason (nee Griffiths) suffered that fate, so she's very H&S nowadays, also have to have safety boots on at all times.

Saying that, a lot of us found that the skull caps could be a bit of a hinderance - made our blind spot that little bit bigger so we'd often get caught with a swinging head.

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 17:34:54 GMT

[quote user="Gareth C."]Time to get of the lance armstrong quote martin?!!

[/quote] Already been said Gareth. His Lanceness is still a hero, what he achieved was remarkable with or without a little pharmaceutical help, he didn't invent doping, they were all at it so it was a case of it you can't beat 'em, join 'em (albeit do it even better maybe), he would have risen to the top regardless. If I disregard Lance I will disregard virtually every other racing cyclist since the day dot and a lot of stars from other sports as well who haven't been caught because their sports are not so diligent at testing or investigating. And what about horse and greyhound racing - hardly known for being squeaky clean are they. So as said before, the signature stays.

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Gareth C. — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 16:36:33 GMT

Time to get of the lance armstrong quote martin?!!

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

emma o'connor — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:03:52 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]The student with the rope wrapped around her hand nearly getting kicked in the head. [/quote]

Made my heart jump with fear when watching how close she came to a kick in the head. Why don't they wear skull caps??? At Bristol the students on equine rotations weren't even allowed in a stable for any reason if not wearing a skull cap.

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Martin Atkinson — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:44:09 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]

I think alot of that was edited together to make it more dramatic

[/quote] As said I've not watched it and almost certainly won't but having experienced the TV cameras in my practice, a morning of filming edited to a few minutes distorted what happened and what I actually said, a bit like Monty Python's, Neville Chamberlain, 'Peace in our time' sketch. The clever bit is how they seamlessly edit it in minutes to make it look like that is what actually happened.

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

David Mills — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:41:23 GMT

[quote user="Michael Woodhouse"]

[quote user="Louise Alexander"]Did anyone see yesterday's programme? I've never worked in equine practice, the foaling mare was very dramatic, I think it's the music which revs you up! Sad outcome though :-([/quote]

The foaling was a mess. Every time he put his hand in he said something different. Do we not wear gloves at Liverpool? The student with the rope wrapped around her hand nearly getting kicked in the head.

A complete shambles.

[/quote]

I was wondering about this too, catching some of it between on call things. As far as I could see, the vets in charge of the case where the mare had been hospitalised specially for specialist treatment consisted of some guy 3 years qualified (or spent '3 years foaling mares'), a 24 year old intern/resident and a lot of small vet students who couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag.

The cringe part came when the guy with his hands up there said 3 different things 2 minutes apart. I've never foaled a horse but I've calved a fair few cows and things don't normally change that quickly IME. He then faffed for another 10 minutes before getting her to surgery, pissing around with ropes on the floor.

If I was the owner, who'd had their horse hospitalised for specialist intervention in what was likely to be a difficult foaling (could it ever have expected to foal normally with an abdo tear?), having seen that I'd be asking questions and possibly considering legal action - effectively a pretty newly qualified grad and a wet behind the ears intern were left in charge? Come on. Of course there's a precautionary here that this is a TV program and so the timings and descriptions may be dramatised slightly and edited strangely, but still, it looks bad. Really bad. And that's from someone who effectively has only touched a horse in the last 5 years to vaccinate it.

I agree the ortho guy was impressive and, for a bone-cruncher, came across as refreshingly modest!

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Anthony Dennison — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 14:37:46 GMT

I think alot of that was edited together to make it more dramatic

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Alan Tevendale — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 07:20:17 GMT

I'd agree with you there Michael. I was sorely disappointed by the performance shown on the programme. I wonder how much of that is down to the editing and how much is actually the staff involved?

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Michael Woodhouse — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 23:20:57 GMT

A complete shambles.

Not impressed by the farm vet either.Next week - ringing a bull!

The ortho chap came across well. Even with his plastic bone DIY!

Rolf - the word is VETERINARY.

I thought episode 1 was a lot better.

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Louise6732 — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:54:30 GMT

Did anyone see yesterday's programme? I've never worked in equine practice, the foaling mare was very dramatic, I think it's the music which revs you up! Sad outcome though :-(

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Martin Atkinson — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 08:56:32 GMT

[quote user="Mark Holmes"]This is not entirely fair, would you happily amputate an RSPCA dog's leg for free? Which is kind of what you are asking him to do. Although it would probably take you considerably less time.[/quote] I know if he responded to every request for his services for free he would never have time to work but the response could have been a bit more, shall we say, charitable. Of course I don't suppose his fee for this series is entirely dictated by his philanthropism and love for animals either!

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Mark Holmes — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:44:44 GMT

[quote user="Martin Atkinson"]

[quote user="Hannah Wynne Richards"]Rolf obviously cares deeply for animals-and this makes him one of the good guys as far as I'm concerned[/quote] I presume this was not said sarcastically so I will respond by reporting that when we asked Rolf if he'd paint a near life size plastic cow to be auctioned for charity (VETAID) his agent allegedly (I use that word in case in the light of other threads on this forum Rolf or one of his associates is a member) effectively said he would not get out of bed for less than £10,000. Considering we were expecting to raise considerably less than this doesn't sound like the response of a charitable man who loves animals. Of course I could be wrong and my alleged source could be lying.

[/quote] This is not entirely fair, would you happily amputate an RSPCA dog's leg for free? Which is kind of what you are asking him to do. Although it would probably take you considerably less time.

Re: Rolf's Animal Clinic

Emily Nightingale — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:37:04 GMT

[quote user="Jo Jones"]

[quote user="Iain McAllister"]

Loved the woman who was "pleased" her 15kg overweight Staffie had "lost" 200g!!

[/quote]

Was that when it went for a wee?!

[/quote]

They took the leather brass studded harness off the dog this time =)