Dr. Kate Alucard, DVM, MPH

03/31/2024

Today I gave my two weeks notice for my residency.

Welcome to a new era (Kate's version).

03/27/2024

(1:30) ⚠️CW: mention of CSA/child 🌽 ⚠️

As a q***r veterinarian, I'm angry and know the big picture repercussions of this one monster's actions.

The betrayal feeling comes from him being and two of my communities (both veterinary medicine as well as the q***r community). His actions are not representative of our communities and should be publicly condemned.

To make it very clear:
❌ I will not tolerate predators or "MAPs" in my spaces
❌ Q***r people are not inherently predators
❌ Predators are inherently predators

EDIT: As of 3/26/24, AKC has removed him from his judging positions, ACVO is "taking all appropriate legal steps to deal with him", and Pride VMC is "removing him from everything".

***rVeterinarian *xual

03/19/2024

𝙍𝙤𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣' 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 🪨🙃 (swipe for the species - not the patient)
Many different species can get urinary stones but this was one of the most pronounced I had ever seen in a 🤯 My point-of-care ultrasound showed some hypoechoic fluid (urine) and some gravity dependent hyperechoic debris next to a distinct hyperechoic spheroid structure with prominent shadowing (the stone).

Urolithiasis (urinary stones) is a common finding in guinea pigs regardless of s*x. Calcium carbonate stones make up a vast majority of those found, and are radiopaque, meaning they show up on an x-ray. An abdominal ultrasound or CT are sometimes needed to confirm stones. Bladder stones are common but can be within the urethra, ureters or kidneys.

Common clinical signs can include:
• Blood in the urine (hematuria)
• Pain/discomfort
• Weight loss
• Inappetence

So what do we do once we find stones?

Smaller bladder stones may pass, but bigger ones often require surgical removal. Medical management is not a great long term solution, but therapy does include increased water consumption, reduced calcium in diet, and pain management. Oral potassium citrate has been used as it binds calcium in the gut and reduces urinary calcium excretion; however it's not always successful in preventing recurrence or shrinking the stone.

Recurrence is unfortunately common; often the discussion is not "if" but "when". Abdominal surgery in guinea pigs can have higher morbidity/mortality too, so candid conversations about pros/cons of surgery must be had, and a veterinarian experienced with exotic surgery should ideally do the procedure. Due to the prognosis, the high chance of recurrence, the risk of surgery, and sometimes the life-threatening situation of being blocked, some of these animals are euthanized 💔

Luckily my patient was still able to urinate, so they were sent home with aggressive supportive care until the exotics team could take him to surgery a few days later.

Thanks for learning with me 😊



𝘿𝙞𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙖 𝙥𝙞𝙜𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙨𝙩? 🪨

03/17/2024

Hey everyone!

It seems like someone got a little brave today and tried to pretend to be me to scam some friends.

I would never EVER ask for money like this. This is a very classic scam.

If you ever see this happen, please block and report the account, marking it as "impersonation of someone I know".

You can always verify me and my socials in my LinkTree, because if they ever change that's the first place you'd see it.

Thanks everyone for getting this account to disappear before it got out of hand or people got hurt! ❤️

03/09/2024

"By signing this petition, you're advocating for peaceable conditions where both people and animals can thrive without fear or distress. Your signature can make a difference by pressuring national and international bodies into action. Please sign this petition today and join our call for peace, justice, and an end to the humanitarian aid blockade in Palestine."

Veterinary Professionals for Permanent Ceasefire and Aid Access in Palestine

02/25/2024

AAVMP is excited to announce another year of scholarship opportunities to AAPI Veterinary professionals! This year, our sponsor for the Diversity is No Adversity scholarship is VCA Animal Hospital.

A total of THREE $2,500 scholarships will be awarded to individuals in EACH of the three categories:
1) Pre-veterinary medical or technician student
2) Current veterinary or technician student
3) New graduate veterinarian or technician

We will be accepting applications until March 31, 2024 till 11:59PM EST. For more information, link to the scholarships in the LinkTree and also at aavmp.org/scholarships
And as always, DM or email us for more information.

02/19/2024

Introducing Dr. August Nathaniel Lushington, the first Black American who graduated with his veterinary degree from a college in the US.

💚❤️🖤

Dr. Lushington, born in Trinidad, attended Cornell University for his undergrad degree in agriculture and went on to earn his veterinary degree from University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, earning his honor as the first Black veterinarian in the US. He survived the devastating effects of racism, segregation, and discrimination, and he continued to give back to his community both in his clinical practice and in his professional affiliations.

While I deep dove into his story, I found it interesting how much of his history had been muddied - his birth year is inconsistently recorded. Two of his children are rarely mentioned anywhere (most places say he had 3 children). His wife's name is wrong in several places. It hit me how year after year, places and companies post about Black veterinary professionals for Black History Month, but don't actually look into their stories to learn about all of their lives. I wanted to do better than that.

It almost cried when I found the ad he put in the City Directory. Look how embellished the word 'veterinarian' is 🥹 he was so proud.

I think Dr. Lushington would be happy that so many Black veterinarians have come after him, but he would be equally disappointed that racism and bigotry is still a problem today, both in VetMed and our society. We have come a long way, but as we see legislators try to demonize marginalized people again, it's a good reminder to not get comfortable with our progress. We still have a long way to go.

Rest in power, Dr. Lushington.

💚❤️🖤

Organizations that help support Black veterinary professionals specifically include:

• National Association for Black Veterinarians
• Black DVM Network
• Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association

💚❤️🖤

02/16/2024

AAVMC is pleased to announce the 2024 Zoetis Foundation/AAVMC Dr. Catherine A. Knupp Scholarship opportunity.

Named for Catherine A. Knupp DVM, MS, who led the Zoetis Veterinary Medical Research and Development organization for many years. This scholarship commemorates Dr. Knupp's many contributions to scientific innovation as a veterinary scientist and leader in human and animal health research and development.

Two $25,000 scholarships will be awarded to veterinary students who aspire to pursue an advanced degree in basic or veterinary clinical research fields of study.

The application process closes February 12, 2024 at 11:59pm EST.

Learn more and submit at awards.aavmc.org.

02/14/2024

Hey everyone!

It's which means a bunch of businesses and people are going to post some stuff on social media, but some of it is going to feel performative and empty, and once more, I don't want to do that!

If you know me, you know that I actually try to make a difference in the lives of my technicians and assistants that I know, and while last year I was able to send my tech/assistant friends money, this year as a resident that is just not possible. So this year, I'm going to send any/all of you that want one, personalized cards! (and/or videos if you'd rather not give me an address to send, that's okay!) So often staff get cards addressed to the "doctor and staff" because people don't remember their names, etc, and I want to send thank you's addressing the assistants by name ✨ I did this for National Veterinary Technician Week and it was a huge hit, so I'm going to continue the celebration ❤️

The form just allows me to organize the information a little bit better, but it's not going to be shared with anyone but me.

If you'd rather not me write a card, I will also make personal videos that I can either share privately or publicly, just so you know that I'm grateful for you!

I know it may not be much, but I want to truly have the assistants in my life know just how grateful I am for you, and everything you do ❤️

Thank you for being the MVPs of veterinary medicine.

Hi! I'm Dr. Kate Alucard (they/she) and I'm an Emergency and Critical Care Resident. I am nothing without the veterinary assistants in this field, and I want to do anything I can to make that abundantly clear. I may not be the most wealthy human as a resident, but I want to do something that actuall...

02/06/2024

Vet Med Community:

If you see any posts about Chelsea circulating the internet.

Chelsea vehemently expressed that she did not want to become a hashtag re: NOMV, and critiqued the movement as performative by much of the veterinary community.

Please honor her by respecting those wishes.

If you find out about her, Google her name. Read her papers. Read the struggles she went through.

Know that she was the best and brightest of us.

01/20/2024

Today I was removed from a few vetfluencer groups, blocked, etc. In case you see less of me in stuff, it's because of that!

So many people in vet med have told me that I should stay silent cus I'm inviting conflict by talking about both domestic and international inequities. And even more of them have called for harm to be done towards me because of it.

It's weird to call me "the DEI Queen" and then not want me to actually be doing DEI work 😂

I'm not going anywhere ❤️

12/24/2023

Tis the season for toxic pretty plants ❤️
Poinsettias are demonized pretty quickly along with other holiday plants as being dangerous and/or deadly. It's not wrong to call them toxic, but I feel like we should dive into what that actually means. Often when people report poinsettia toxicities, the severity of the situation is (unintentionally) exaggerated, for both pets and people.
When we use the terms "toxic" or "toxin", the average human presumes that means "deadly". Toxic substances cause unwanted side effects, but they aren't all deadly. For instance, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, and skin irritation are generally not deadly side effects (can't say never, but you know what I mean). The same thing as "poisonous" - poisoning is defined as "a harmful effect that occurs when a toxic substance is swallowed, is inhaled, or comes in contact with the skin, eyes, or mucous membranes, such as those of the mouth or nose". Poinsettias are a great example of something that is toxic, but are relatively mild despite its almost century-old existence of being called 'deadly'.
Just because it might be safer than other plants doesn't mean you shouldn't take precautions around pets and children. I wanted to use poinsettias as a good nuanced example (especially around this time of year) to discuss what these words mean.
I took the selfie of me with the poinsettias at the Lyon Air Museum in CA and then saw this HUGE display at the end of my trip (the last photo with "thank you" on it). Stay safe for your holidays folks, and let me know if there're any other toxins/toxicities that you want me to talk about ❤️
*xual ***r

12/12/2023

Excited for this CE event! It's 1 hour of RACE-approved CE for anyone who needs it :)

Join us for "Thriving, Not Just Surviving in Veterinary Medicine", presented by Megan Brashear, BS, RVT, VTS (ECC), on December 13th to learn about ways to weave positive psychology ideas into real-life experiences, both inside and outside your practice.

12/02/2023

The MCVMA has faced significant backlash with this statement, despite it simply being a call to end violence in a region.

Given that it is the *only* veterinary medicine DEI organization to make any statement, or provide a tangible action item for people, they deserve your support.

It costs $25 to be a member regardless of your status in this profession.

Please consider supporting them 🖤

https://mcvma.org/mcvma-membership/

11/29/2023

Hate that I even have to make this post, but in case anything happens to me in the near future, know that I didn't do it to myself ❤️ Stay safe y'all

11/28/2023

Land Back, Free Palestine, and BLM are all interconnected as liberation movements. If you can't see that, maybe your advocacy wasn't as inclusive as you thought it was.

And if you can't advocate for the freedom of oppressed people without being bigoted, you're just a bigot. 🫳🎤

11/27/2023

This video is unfortunately too long to share directly to Instagram or even upload to Facebook as a real but it's a really important one, so I am linking it here.

Ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against disabled people based on the belief that non-disabled people are superior. At its heart, ableism is rooted in the assumption that disabled people require 'fixing' or are 'broken' and thus less than their abled counterparts.

This rhetoric is extremely dangerous and sometimes we forget about it because while it feels like we have come a long way from institutionalizing, incarceration, and forced-sterilization of disabled people, this still happens even today.

While it might seem like over-vaccination as a topic is harmless when it comes to veterinary medicine, it absolutely is not. Please be mindful when it comes to the language we use when discussing our pets and animal healthcare, because while pets may have no social construct or understanding of these issues, the people affected by ableism will hear you.

And if you didn't know about these topics well now you know!

And also. F**k Andrew Wakefield ✨

(Note - Dr. Forbes, the clinician that I stitched, does not think that over vaccination is a problem. They are a veterinarian who is my friend who - unknowingly - perfectly set up this video for me to respond).

122 likes, 31 comments. “ with @🐕‍🦺 Dr. Michele Forbes 🐈‍⬛ (6min) phew - another long video but I'd rather stitch a friend on the topic 🥰 its important to see these discussions through the lens of intersectionality 🖤”

11/24/2023

For this holiday season, I am grateful for the lives saved by gender affirming care ✨ For any q***r person who wishes they had a family to go home to today, I have extra pie for you. I'm your family now 🖤 you are loved and you matter 🌈 the end 🫶
***rVeterinarian *xual

11/22/2023

Some of you may have seen my TikTok or Reel about Serena Pudelski aka The Traveling Tech, and Pet Consultant and all the amazing work she does! This season if you're wanting to upgrade your clinic's reading material, or have a human who might want to know more about being a registered veterinary technician, I highly recommend her book ❤️

Don't forget to support small businesses and creators this year📚 ✨

https://www.serenapudelski.com/optin1682117608418 #

11/09/2023

Hey Long Island University College of Veterinary Medicine!

I can't wait to meet all of you next week ❤️ I am so excited to share some of my story as well as discuss DEI as a focus of my everyday life in vet med!
"Join VOICE & SAVMA DEI committee for the DEI Speaker Series: Engaging in the Power of Diversity.

On November 14th we welcome Dr. Alucard! We will learn about their journey to DVM & why they believe DEI is important in our field!

This year's series is sponsored by VOICE, SAVMA DEI, Zoetis , IVSA, & Community Veterinary Partners"

***rVeterinarian *xual

11/07/2023

My name is Kate Alucard, and I currently am an Emergency and Critical Care Resident in a private practice on the East Coast. My pronouns are they/she, and I am a nonbinary femme (which means while your brain sees me and goes "GIRL", I do not feel my gender identity can be combined into one of the binary boxes that we are often assigned at birth).
I was very focused on Anatomic Pathology for a while but got tired of the industry telling me I wasn't good enough for residency. I shifted paths, and then picked both my ECC internship and ECC residency outside of the VIRMP/match. I try to use my story to show people that your path can evolve and you can still thrive ✨
I sit on several DEI committees and also partake in several other DEI affinity organizations in this profession, and I see them as a tool that can be useful. I served as the national Pride Student VMC president from 2021-2022, so some of you may know me from that. As many advocates will tell you, lots of the work comes from ground up/grassroots movements, so don't feel like you need to be on a bunch of committees to make a difference!
My hobbies include video games, make-up, pyrography, painting, other art media, golfing, and content creation, of all kinds. I've taken a break from my OF for a bit, but I also am a huge advocate for SWers (because it's real work, duh).
My big life lesson I wanna give you is to make sure your advocacy and efforts are not performative. Lots of buzzwords can check off boxes, but if your work isn't actually focused on making an impact, it doesn't mean anything. That means I want you actively challenging systems of white supremacy, misogyny, racism, homophobia and transphobia, ablism, etc. Staying silent is often siding with the oppressors... so my page is gonna help you find your voice, and be yourself.
I hope that by trying to be the best person I can be, that I can help you do the same ❤️
***rVeterinarian *xual ***r

11/07/2023

Hey y'all! I have had a huge flood of non-IRL friends come to my personal page, and while that is awesome that so many people are excited to follow me on here, I would rather have a place where people can follow me freely and I don't have to worry about whether I know you in real life or not ✨ so welcome! It's gonna be fun 💀🖤