Look after yourself this Christmas

When an owner walks into your consult room with his or her pet for its annual vaccination and check-up, what are the basic questions you ask? How is Fluffy?

Then, if the owner does not immediately launch into why his or her darling furry friend is “just not himself”, you’ll probably reel off a list of standard questions without thinking:

• Is he eating okay?
• Is he drinking a normal amount?
• Any vomiting recently?
• Any diarrhoea?
• Is he weeing normally?
• Is he exercising normally – any lethargy?

If any of these are abnormal, you’ll then start taking a more detailed history about the colour and consistency of the aforementioned bodily fluids, and the cogs will start turning. If everything is okay, and the pet hasn’t brought up any areas of concern, you’ll vaccinate the unsuspecting ball of fluff and it’ll shortly be on its way.

You probably do this several times a day, but how often do you ask yourself the same questions?

Practice what you preach

We judge the health of our patients on the surface by their very basic needs – food, water, exercise, sleep, painlessness and, less obviously, happiness. It’s hard to determine how happy an animal is, so we rely on its owners to know the animal well enough to tell us if it is anxious, restless, aggressive or nervous.

So, ask yourself the same questions (adapted for vets):

• Are you eating normally? Do you have enough time to actually have breakfast, lunch and dinner? Are you eating “junk food” or a balanced diet?
• Are you drinking normally? Tea is usually not in short supply in small animal practices, but are you drinking enough water? Do you get headaches from stress and dehydration? If you are in large animal practice, do you have enough time to keep yourself hydrated?
• Have you had an upset stomach recently? Bugs and food poisoning occur occasionally, but what about stress-induced gastritis? Could you have a stomach ulcer? Do you feel sick at the thought of coming to work?
• Are you getting a chance to use the toilet when you need to? In large or equine practice, you may find yourself so rushed off your feet, you don’t get the opportunity to stop somewhere to use the toilet (I’ve definitely got the end of the day and realised I haven’t had a chance to pee all day).
• Are you able to exercise regularly? The NHS recommends we should have 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week (equivalent to a brisk walk or cycle). Divide that how you wish, but that could be 50 minutes 3 times a week. Do you manage that?
• Are you tired all the time? Do you get enough sleep? Do you wake up several time during the night?
• Are you happy?

Make YOU a priority

These questions form the basis of history taking to determine whether an animal is unwell or “not normal”. So, if you were one of your patients, would you be worried about your health?

Some things are difficult to change, and you can seemingly get into a cycle of not looking after yourself very well – and, therefore, feeling rubbish. You are not going to be able to care for your patients if you are not well in yourself.

As a favour to yourself and your patients, have a think about your basic human needs, outlined by the above questions, and try to be a bit kinder to yourself this Christmas.