April the humanitarian

A lot of people ask me what I want to be when I grow up.  A lot of people already see me as grown up.  Two problems here...

1. I am not grown up and probably never will be
2. Most people want an answer in the form of a money making career choice.

In short, I want to be a software designing veterinarian.  Yeah...try to roll that together.
The long answer is...I want to major in software design but my career path is veterinary...sort of.  In fact, I want to be a vet but not more than I want to open an animal shelter.

As far as software design, I really just want to work on operating systems and help the world get connected.  I dont think we should have to pay to have a brain.  Information and education?  Yes.  A brain?  No.  Did I pay for the AprilOS that runs inside me?  Nope.  Did someone pay for my education?  Yes indeedle.  So why pay for an OS at all?

Anyway...my master plan.  Everyone says "oh dont share that.  You will never make money if everyone has the same idea!"  Look.  Im not going to vet school to make quick cash.  No I actually want to help animals.

In short, here is what Id like love for things to work.  Make it commercial/chain?  Awesome.  Even better.
My main income is based on a veterinary hospital.  I havent thought much of it being an emergency hospital but a hospital at least.  All animals from guppies to Clydesdales will be treated with my (hopefully) team of veterinarians/techs/assistants.  This main branch will serve as just that, a hospital with wholistic focus but a touch of modern medicine.  A neighboring branch will be served as a rehabilitation center for injuries and such.  This area will include massage therapy and so on.
And on the other side of the pasture, a full on shelter.  Again everything from mice to horses are welcome.  I specifically want to focus on mustang gentling and racehorse rehabilitation as well as animal surrendering and blacks.  Yes you read that right...blacks simply because black animals tend to be the ones on death row the most regardless of breed.  Id also like to offer free surrender.  Maybe someone surrendering their pet has lost everything and doesnt have the money to officially surrender an animal at the shelter so they dump it.  Not here! Just put them in a kennel that has a door facing outside, fill out some paperwork located next to the door, then lock the door.  They wont even have to talk to anyone.
I passed around an idea in some forums and such and got a lot of thumbs up.  If someone else wants to pick up this next idea, let me know!  I will gladly donate.
A huge problem I see is with people that need help that dont get it.  A family may want their precious dog neutered but may not have a car to get to the vet.  How about the family that wants to get their cat spayed but doesnt have a way to a low cost vet at 7am.  What to they do?  Nothing.  Pump out more unwanted pets unintentionally and get called irresponsible.  Id like to set up a spay/neuter clinic that can pick up animals and deliver them back the next day.  Id like the clinic to operate on a "low cost" basis with an extra fee (very small) for transit.  I also notice there is a large amount of people that dont want to breed but note the issues with altered animals or dont like how castrated males look.  Id like to offer vasectomies and tubal ligations as an alternative as well as testicular implants.

I also want to open a feral clinic that can capture cats themselves and either have them TNRed or put in our adoption center for people looking for barn cats.  Heck maybe they could work around the shelter.  One thing is for sure, I dont like how ones that cannot be found barn homes right away and that have to be moved are put to death.

 And last but not least, I want assistants.  The hardest part about going to vet school is getting the hours needed to get there.  People are fighting for volunteer positions to rack up enough hours to go straight to some schools.  Id like to open a program for people (hopefully 16 and up...depending on insurance) so they can get experience.

? In loving memory ?

Freeway - the dog that never gave up

--/--/1998* to 02/13/2010

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thoughts on vegan vegetarian pets

Anyone that personally knows me knows that I am always up to something.  Sometimes that something is harmless while other times, it leads up to something bigger.  Im not going to say what led me to this but in short, I was wondering what would happen if one of my dogs acquired a severe oral problem and they couldnt rip/chew/gnaw their raw meaty bones.  Maybe Id grind it up.  Maybe, Id feed them vegetarian!  While reading about vegetarian dogs, I noticed a few things.  Some vets are total quacks that believe any animal willing to chew on something like grass can be a vegetarian.  Some vets even suggested having a vegan (yes vegan) cat!  After sorting out the quacks, I came across people claiming to have dogs in the double digit age that have lived their entire life vegan/vegetarian.  I noticed that all of them had a lengthy amount of supplements given to them and so on.  They needed their teeth brushed and such.  Here is what I think about that.

1. Supplements?  Whats that?  My dogs dont need them because protein is easy to digest and vitamins are easily acquired from them.
2. Teeth.  Wolves in the wild dont brush their teeth and neither do prey model dogs.  Vegetarian dogs do though....
3. Fiber is really hard to digest and nearly impossible for even true omnivores like people (thank you college nutrition class!)  low and behold, it also makes some vitamins harder to obtain from plants which is why vegans should consume supplements.
4. poop.  I almost forgot what that looked like till dearest loving Adam gave Loki an apple.  My dogs poop more when they sneak plums and like fruits that have fallen on the ground.
5. Dogs dont eat fruit because it is good for them.  They eat fruit the same reason why a small child would eat chocolate.  Who cares about the health benefits?

In other words, I believe that a proper diet doesnt involve supplements and that, if one is eating correctly, nothing else is needed.  This doesnt mean I reject alternatives or anything, however.  Im allergic to fish for example.  Hemp is an awesome alternative for omega 3.



Now now pro vegan/vegetarian owners, dont go getting your panties in a bunch but hear me out.  Two dogs that died recently on the longest living dog record were either vegetarian or meatatarian (I guess you could say.)  My answer to this is that dogs now have access to what they didnt have years ago, supplements.

Before you vegetarian/vegans get super pissed at me, I think we could both agree one one thing, COMMERCIAL FOOD IS KILLING OUR PETS!!!  Most companies dont give a flying flip about our babies!  And Id never shoot down anyone that didnt feed meat to a special needs dog by the way.  I understand that dogs nowadays are being born faster than weeds are growing in unkempt lawns.

Cats...now that is completely unacceptable.  Im sure vegan cats do exist but its more like eating Soylent foods...just all multivitamin without actually being food.

Id also like to note that Im extremely shocked in how stupid vets can be.  There was a test done where cats were fed rabbits to see if theyd survive.  All of them got sick.  Lets say vets were required to take a nutrition class.  Rabbit starvation much?  Too much lean meat will kill anything!

Anyway, I still think vegan/vegetarian dog diets are a little on the iffy side (unless you have one of those cases where your dog is allergic to a crap ton of common meats out there.)  However, as a person into science and into medicine, I can say maybe I will try it someday with the whole supplements and lack of meat.  Will it be like feeding a filler with supplements or would the food be fine by itself?

Also Id like to note that I applaud human vegetarians.  Good work!  Im working towards being one myself!  However not everything is like a human.  Not for ethical reasons however (if it lived, it has a soul to me) but just simply for land management and a better me.

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