Be Kind To Pets, Vet case studies, Photography tips, Travel Stories: TALK TO FINAL YEAR VET STUDENTS - YESIN VET UNIV, MYANMAR

YOU CAN BE A VERY GOOD VET IN MYANMAR
- Belief, Passion, Drive, Perseverance and Focus.

Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
Founder of Toa Payoh Vets, www.toapayohvets.com

40 years ago, I was a final year veterinary student like all of you. I had to buy veterinary books and subscribe to veterinary magazines to acquire skills and knowledge to be a competent young and inexperienced vet. Now, you have online sources of information and much more distractions like online gaming, online movies, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter taking up your free time.

Veterinary medicine and surgery is too large a subject compared to human medicine and surgery as there are so many animals involved. The people expect you to be able to diagnose, treat, X-ray and perform surgeries in all animals unlike the general practitioner who refers difficult cases to the specialists.

So, how can you be a good small animal vet? Or a very good vet in Myanmar? My opinion is that you must have at least 5 attitudes - Belief, Passion, Drive, Perseverance and Focus.

BELIEF. A feeling that something is good, right or valuable.

PASSION. A strong enthusiasm or interest for something or about doing something.

DRIVE. A determination to always try very hard to achieve something and be successful.

PERSEVERANCE. A continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure or opposition.

FOCUS. To concentrate on something and pay particular attention to it

All these 5 attitudes must be present to achieve success and be a knowledge-able vet..

Some examples from my past years are

1. The military German Shepherd Guard Dog with a heart problem. Mentor.

2. The racehorses are not in good form. Adding value to your employer.

3. The dog breeders want more than cheap Caesarean sections. Probity.

4. The internet opens doors to all vets. Proximity and competition from groomers.

5. Intense competition. Strong financial investors set up more veterinary clinics. Financial knowledge of young employee vets. Niche marketing. Social media marketing.

6. Increasing number of complaints on negligence and incompetence. Bad-mouthing the vet through social media.

7. Self discipline and common sense. Wearing slippers to work. AWOL. .

8. Hard work and work-life balance. No hunger in the young generation of Singaporeans..

FOCUS
Need to focus on the bigger picture.
End of the day, nobody in Myanmar know who you are if you are still young.
Office politics. Need to gain skills and experience. Not a household name unless well financed vet.
Client education e.g. Depo-M injections no longer used in other countries. -- pyometra
Stay the course to be a small animal vet Engage children to be kind to pets. What is your mission?.

BELIEF
Something you believe in and you know you want to do and do it well.
You believe you can help in curing diseases of animals and you want to do it well. Money is secondary. Playing politics with the officers and head nurse.
What goals do you set for yourself in 5 years' time? Get married to a rich spouse. Be a homemaker? Open up your own practice - >60 vet clinics in Singapore. Rich parents. 100 in Yangon?

PASSION
Motivation (internal or instrumental?)
Internal - self motivated.
Instrumental - make more money.

PERSEVERANCE
Secrets of success. Persevere. Attracts referrals. Intense competition from deep pocketed, big practices. Your reputation of delivering results and good outcomes (e.g. no dogs dying under anaesthesia during spay) and referrals over many years sustain your practice.

DRIVE
Energy. Marketing. Pleasure enjoyment. Research read. Healthy. Social media. Pet owners will mature and gain knowledge from the internet. ,.

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1. Practise in Niche areas like hamsters and terrapins as most vets are too busy with too many dogs and cats

1.1 HAMSTERS
1.1.1 A You Tube video on lateral ear canal resection in a dwarf hamster with ear warts by Dr Sing Kong Yuen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxJ2AH0raKk

1.1.2 Show actual video from laptop at the talk, as the internet may not be stable.

1.1.3 Background to surgery

As the ear warts are deep inside the vertical ear canals, I advised opening up the lateral (side) wall) of the ear canal. This will provide access to removal of the warts and provide ventilation and drainage. The two lady owners are happy with the outcome as the hamsters have recovered fully, without any more ear scratching.

Lateral ear canal resection is a very rare surgery in dwarf hamsters. The danger is a high anaesthetic risk as the hamster is very small in size. The vet needs to be very alert and careful not to kill the hamster with anaesthetic as owners will not be happy with this death outcome and bad-mouth the vet.

1.2 TERRAPINS

1.2.1 A You Tube video on ear abscess drainage under anaesthesia in a terrapin performed by Dr Daniel Sing of Toa Payoh Vets.
http://youtu.be/fj_eBwMGtns
1.1.2 Show actual video from laptop at the talk, as the internet may not be stable.

1.1.3 Background to surgery

The slim lady owner googled for "ear abscess terrapin" and came to Toa Payoh Vets to get her terrapin's ear abscesses treated. She saw a similar case done in Toa Payoh Vets.

This video shows the treatment of the ear abscesses by Dr Daniel Sing of Toa Payoh Vets Zoletil IM was given and isoflurane gas top up enabled the abscess to be drained without the terrapin struggling.and withdrawing his head inwards. It is not possible to lance the ear abscess and drain all pus properly in a terrapin without anaesthesia as the terrapin will be in great pain and withdraw his head under the shell..

The You Tube Toa Payoh Vets ear abscess terrapin seen by this lady is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtbQ0ZJDoCo
As at August 7, 2014, I googled "ear abscess terrapin" and the results are as follows:
Toa Payoh Vets appear in the top 3 rankings:

About 114,000 results (0.33 seconds)