Dr. John Hunt: Veterinarian and Author

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Dr. John Hunt: Veterinarian and Author

Musings of a small town Veterinarian

29/11/2025

Entry 28 - Vet medicine behind the scenes
This is a pyometra - an infected uterus in an unspayed dog - it weighed several pounds - another reason to spay your dog

28/11/2025

Lucky Turkeys having breakfast Thanksgiving morning

27/11/2025

Entry 26- Angelic Sally- YEA RIGHT!!!
That sweet looking dog , one of the best dogs I’ve ever known, snuck off Thanksgiving evening and got to into the garbage bag with the turkey carcass in it and ate the entire thing!
I know this for a fact, because a few feet away Sally vomited it all up .
Lucky for her but not so lucky for me-YUCH
HAPPY THANKSGIVING 🦃 Everyone

26/11/2025

Entry 25- Surgery
I did most of my surgeries on Weds and Thurs mornings. Mainly spays and neuters but I tackled anything that was needed, including ACL repairs, splenectomies, pinning broken bones, tumor removal , intestinal surgery, etc.
As you can see I practiced aseptic technique. I never had any problems with secondary infections in routine surgeries

25/11/2025

Entry 24: Innocence of Youth -what was I thinking
I was 19, a freshman at UCONN, and I decided to go to England , by myself, for February break. I made no plans other than a plane ticket. A typical 19 yr old bonehead move 😁.
I was at a museum trying to look interested in tapestries, paintings, and midevil armor when a man of about 35, balding, anf casually dressed, struck up a conversation and we ended up walking around together. As we left the museum he asked me if I wanted to come to his flat for tea and biscuits. That sounded very British, so I said yes. The “ never take candy from strangers” lesson i learned from my parents never crossed my mind. Why? You guessed it : I was 19.

I went to his flat, which was nice one bedroom apartment , and had tea and delicious biscuits. And I left. And never saw him again.

On the surface this is a nice little story about getting to know people in a foreign country.
On the other hand I could have been robbed, r***d , murdered , or worse!
In this case being a cocky, yet naive, 19 yr old didn’t get me killed, rather i got to experience how people lived in London.

PS- if one of my kids did that i would kill them ! If they have already, I dont want to know.

24/11/2025

Entry 23-Initiation into the profession
Before getting into MSU vet school I worked for a mixed animal practice in Lansing. The large animal vet , Dr Smith ( that was his real name -honest) asked me to go out on a farm call. I was so excited I had my overalls on and was in the clinic truck before he finished asking me !
We pulled into the driveway to a small house with an old barn nearby: a typical farm in the Lansing area. The owners were at work but left a message that a new litter of piglets needed castrating. “Oh boy! “ I thought, “James Harriet here I come.”
As we entered the barn I saw a large pen with about 15 piglets all piled on each other sleeping. Dr Smith, with a straight face and professional tone said, “ you go in and grab a male and bring it over here, hang it by its hind legs and I’ll castrate it .”
“Sure thing Dr Smith.” I thought this was going to be like grabbing a sleeping puppy .
I got into the pen, but when I went to grab a piglet all hell broke loose . They woke up and scattered like ants on a disturbed ant hill. I started chasing them around the pen trying to grab them around the chest . The piglets were squealing, running every which way. I tripped and fell in the dirty straw. I looked up at Dr Smith who had his hand covering his mouth stifling a laugh. “ why dont you try grabbing one by the hind leg,” he suggested, trying not to laugh.
I did what i was told. At first i thought he was kidding. But it worked. After the 3rd piglet i got pretty good at it.
Dr Smith never teased me about it. I figured the humiliating initiation didn’t need a punctuation.

23/11/2025

Entry 22- If you knew my two older brothers and I as kids you would never guess who was going to be a veterinarian.
My brother,Bill was forever bringing home dogs. He claimed they followed him home for no reason.
My other brother , Steve, was, according to my parents, “so good with animals “.
And ME ?? From my brothers perspective , I was going to grow up to be a nuisance to society.

PS -Bill became a pharmacist, and Steve became a computer analyst.
And me? Yes , I was the one who became a vet, but I’m also a nuisance to society ( according to my brothers😁),

22/11/2025

Entry 22- 😂😂😂😂
The staff at this bar, just outside of Yellowstone National Park, thought it would be a funny prank to put two Christmas tree bulbs on the stuffed Bison. The owners loved it!! Good olde western humor .

20/11/2025

Entry 20 -My first “BUNCH “
When I set up practice in Bucksport , Maine, I had to quickly adapt to the local Downeast vernacular when it came to pets.
The first time someone asked to check their dog’s “bunch” I must have looked like a deer in the headlights. Foruntely the pet owner pointed to a large mass on the dog’s back.

As a new grad in Connecticut, the first time I had to check a bunch was a nightmare in my mind.
After only 2 months of being a vet, my boss left for Hawaii , leaving me alone . I was a nervous wreck. I had all this vet knowledge in my skull but no practical experience to use it.

I found myself standing over a black lab checking my first bunch on a dog’s rump.
The owner observed a young man feeling , manipulating , squeezing and sticking needles into to the growth. In my head I was in a panic. I had no clue as to what it was or what to do about it , let alone what to tell the owner. My excessive probing was simply a stall for time.

I had to come up with a diagnosis and plan. Make something up? Purpose surgery or radiation or chemotherapy?

I examined the needle aspirate under the microscope to see only fat cells. It was a lipoma!! A benign fatty tumor.

I returned to he exam room where a very nervous owner was waiting .
“No worries Mrs Smith it’s just a fatty growth that we can remove only if it gets bigger. “ I said with relief.

Mrs Smith left happy and I collapsed in my office chair, exhausted.
I made it past my first bunch by myself.

19/11/2025

Entry 19 - Don’t let your dog lick the crumbs from an empty potato chip bag. They could suffocate by breathing in and sealing the bag around the neck .

18/11/2025

Entry 18- Enjoy Your Pets and Don’t Forget to Give Them a Hug

16/11/2025

Entry 17- Vaccine Reactions-
That’s my arm several days after a flu shot. Yes, it hurt. Yes, I felt like s**t for 3 days. But that’s how I react to vaccinations . It’s not some nefarious plot to kill me. And yes, I keep getting vaccines because they work and are safe.
Dogs and cats react to shots individually too. Some go on as nothing happened, while some lay low for a day . Most animals get a small bump at the injection site - sometimes it’s painful . But these are normal side affects.

You should have see my reaction to the shingles vaccine! 😮 But it was worth it. I dont want to get shingles!

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