The most important thing what I wanted to tell
was, in our profession, we would equate our entire
patient relationship to something called an investigative
approach. For example, a child cannot tell anything,
there is any pain experience or anything, the
maximum the child is going to cry. Probably the
parents will tell some history, but it's not
going to be very related with the thing. So our
job will be non -parallel to the pediatrician.
So this is a kind of investigative approach where
you need to solve the case. No much of symptoms.
Whatever said and done, the dog or cat is ultimately
not going to eat. That's the main symptom that
the owner is going to say. So we have investigative
approach to diagnose the thing. Trust me, no
two cases are the same. I should start with a
confession. I've never had a pet or never kept
a pet in my life. So I've not had the occasion
or the joy of interacting with veterinarians.
But my son and daughter -in -law have a couple
of kittens and they have mentioned how hard it
is to find a good vet to take care of their pets.
We'll see how Dr. Barney's journey into veterinary
science has been the defining aspect of his life.
understand what the career journey involves.
Dr. Barini, great to have you on the show. Good
afternoon, sir. It's great to have you too. Let's
start with a simple question. The inspiration
for your veterinary clinic, it's the Ark. So
is it from the legendary biblical reference or
did you have some other? thoughts in mind people
and clients who always have the same question
like as you do because every other clinic here
will have either the veterinarian's name or either
the pet's name or sometimes the area's name for
it could an example it could be a Thiruvanmure
veterinary clinic or Chennai veterinary clinic
Dr. Rajesh's clinic as you see in the north you
will see a lot of names and with their family
names also. But we wanted to make a difference.
The bleakly and the ark was the Noah's Ark. Took
all the animals that was actually in despair
and... Provincial rain and storm, they finally
saved a whole lot of... Which is what you do
day in and day out. How did you get into... veterinary
science was it slow understanding or is it something
that you wanted to do and then ultimately found
your way into it before that i would like to
congratulate on your topic that you've been highlighting
every week on my first profession this is the
essence of everybody's life right could be their
passion or it could be their bread and butter
it's totally different but the profession is
very important i wanted to be very honest with
you all so i never wanted to become a vet definitely
contradictory one but it was way back on 89 90
and 91 those period when we used to finish our
12th and we had marks because i wanted to be
a medical person i wanted to be an internal medicine
of medical specialty but like everybody used
to say i missed that by 1 .5 marks because at
that time we don't have system like this it is
purely on merit and and marks and so i had to
opt Either dentistry, agriculture or veterinary
science. I seriously didn't want to become a
dentist because seeing the tooth every day and
for years until life is not my actual passion.
Agriculture, I wasn't much into it. I didn't
know much. But veterinary science, yes, I had
an inclination as a choice. Historically, my
grandparents in my villages had goats and cows.
And very interestingly, my parents who... I mean,
still living in Trivandrum. But when they were
in Teinagar on the main road, they used to have
three cows. The Teinagar was supposed to be a
hub of all business and every activity here.
Starting from those days, Nalli Silks and Pondy
Bazaar. I remember people coming from long distances
shopping here. But my parents, I don't know why,
they had the inclination of having cows here.
It was a sheer business loss and there is no
model in it. The money they spent over the cows
was tremendous and the milk was very, very less.
But they wanted to have natural milk. From that
time, I was in acquaintance with animals. And
then I got Doberman dogs too. One is Bruni and
one is Pinto. And unfortunately, I lost one of
the dogs during 91, 93. Yeah, if I'm right. I
used to get my dog to other veterinarians. They
had a viral infection. Nobody could actually
solve the case. And nobody could actually take
him out. He died. At that time, I was very irritated
on veterinarians because they couldn't save my
dog. But in profession, even today I get a viral
case, I'm not able to do much because there is
no antiviral access. So even though there are
medical limitations, we do try to do our best.
That journey started like that. But when I joined
Vettori College, I made myself involved in it.
Towards the third, fourth year of curriculum,
I was very interested in clinics because I wanted
to be a doctor. And so I used to stay with people
who practice. And there's something called casualty.
part of the medical field. That's a 24 -7 emergency
center. From fourth year, I used to be there
almost every other day because I wanted to acquaint
with cases and try to play the doctor job to
meet the dog already. And invariably, we used
to get a lot of animals there, not only dogs.
It could be cats. It could be cattle. It could
be elephants. Suddenly, you'd see a snake from
the Vandalur Zoo. Yeah, so we kind of... If you
can just tell us a little about how the course
was structured. How was it? anchored? What is
the curriculum like? What do you learn first?
What are you exposed to? And how does the course
progress? Fortunately and unfortunately, two
sides of the coin, our structure is a huge syllabus.
A person who can pass out of veterinary science
in five, six years, stipulated, is very, very
eligible for a UPSC exam. There's such a tremendous
amount of infra, the knowledge and the database.
on which they teach in the first three years
of basic sciences. It'll start from statistics.
Because I hated maths, I didn't want to come
into the engineering side. But on the veterinary
side, I mean, to my shock, the first year I had
statistics and honestly, I didn't do good. I
just passed, that's all. Then biochemistry, physiology,
anatomy, and we study species by species. For
example, if a human doctor is studying, let us
say, a palm, the hand of a human being. So he
will have the entire anatomy, physiology, disease
concepts, everything of the particular palm.
As veterinarians, we see the palm of the dog,
cat, horse, fowl, that's a poultry, and then
the wild species. So it's called a comparative
anatomy. That's why the subject becomes huge
and huge, humongous. Then finally, they become
a master of all trades. How do you manage to
retain all this? It must be quite a job memorizing
some of these things and diagnosing it. During
1980s to 1990s, the term veterinary profession
was supposed to be a very cumbersome subject.
If you, I don't know, people have heard of something
called AMIE and all that courses in engineering.
Yeah, so they were very, yeah, they're kind of
supposed to be very tough. The other name for
that was appearing many times in examination.
Like that. I used to know my seniors who've been
studying for God knows 11, 12 years. People used
to come from Nigeria internationally. I remember
still, they'll be like real fathers and big personalities
in kind of age factor. And they'll be studying
in the second year, third year class along with
us. But now it's been refined and people have
started a lot of education because of all this
technology and all. And yeah, there are two sides
of the coin. Fortunately and unfortunately, we
know lots and we do not lot. That's the thing.
So we are not concentrated on one particular
factor. Right. Do you have anything that you
remember from those days as to one particular
case, something that a lecturer said, something
that helped you, you know, sort of anything that
comes to mind from the early days of education
and anecdotes that you remember? Yeah, lots.
See, those times, the professors were kind of
unique and they have a pattern. like when they
enter the class the whole class stands up for
till and wait for him to say sit down so those
were the days and but now when i enter the class
nobody stands up also so i'm a professor and
it is it is all the other way so those times
when our professors used to teach it will always
be with anecdotes and examples of cases so especially
emergency cases where we had I mean, I would
remember a case where the puppy, it's a new puppy
and you know how it goes in. I think if you get
a puppy yourself, you'll feel that, that it is
going to be a part of your family and for the
first three months, it is going to be joy everywhere.
So everybody returning from office, homes and
whatever work, the puppy goes and dies on them
and shows full love and they are fine with the
dog on their sofa. Dining cable, whatnot, everywhere.
Bathrooms. But point is, after the dog grows
and people get slowly, you know, kind of irritated
by all the actions the puppy does. That's how
human psychology is. After one year, they'll
say, don't come into my bedroom. But the dog
does not understand, right? Now, this puppy actually
swallowed a diamond ring. My God. Yeah. So, the
lady... The wife didn't want to have a puppy.
The husband wanted to have a puppy, plus the
kids. So the wife was totally against dog raising
hair and the dog entering home. When she found
out that a diamond ring was missing, they rushed
to the clinic. I remember the x -ray was taken
where we can see the diamond ring in the stomach.
It was a slightly bigger version, so it wouldn't
pass the duodenum. That means it was just stuck
there in the stomach. So we gave them options,
like the anecdotes of the, we gave them options
of surgery. If the ring does not pass out through
the poop for the next three days. So they agreed
to that because diamonds have a very sharp edge.
You can never say, you know, sometimes they can
cut through the. It can cut through the, yeah.
Yeah, but the owners, once they were in. Once
they actually calculated the surgery cost and
all the headache there, they actually wanted
to wait for the thing to come out. So, yeah.
So, the funniest part was the wife who hated
the dogs was almost 24 -7 behind the puppy for
the next three days. And because the puppy would
anytime poop the drink off, correct? And it had...
quite a kind of restrained space for the walking.
Like if you see in Chennai, most of the VDIPs,
if you've seen, they have a special permission
to go on walks on certain parts of the boat club,
certain parts of the governor's bungalow. Like
that, the puppy was taken for special walks.
And everybody was having gloves in their hands
and digging up the poop. Talking about five times
a puppy actually poops badly. Five times into
three days, it was more than 15 times. Then finally,
we had to give an enema to take it out normally.
The poor guy would have been under so much of
pain, right? Unfortunately, the puppy never showed
any signs at all. There was not even a vomiting.
My God! Yeah, so it's very strange. Ring stuck
inside him and didn't show any signs. Very strange.
These dogs, they have so much of... the physiological
processes by nature that they can actually, I
mean, kind of take care of certain things. Like,
you see a stray dog on the road that eats everyday
chicken biryani with staples in it. Wow. Okay.
It doesn't, it can't, yeah, it can't separate.
Correct. So, they cannot separate the staples
and the biryani. So, that's how they go. So,
that, I thought that would be a best anecdote
because... That's an amazing story because this
is not something that you expect to hear about.
Okay. So let's say five years later, you pass
out of college, decide that. So what were your,
you know, once you passed out of college, what
were the things that you had in mind? What were
the options that you were considering? The most
important thing, what I wanted to tell was, our
profession we would equate our entire patient
relationship to something called an investigative
approach for example a child cannot tell anything
there is any pain experience or anything the
maximum the child is going to cry probably the
parents will tell some history but is not going
to be very related with the thing so our job
will be Non -parallel to the pediatrician. So
this is a kind of investigative approach where
you need to solve the case. No much of symptoms.
Whatever said and done, the dog or cat is ultimately
not going to eat. That's the main symptom that
the owner is going to say. So we have investigative
approach to diagnose a thing. Trust me, no two
cases are the same. This is actually what pursue
my postgraduate in medicine. I lead with veterinary
science. Then my PhD was in again medicine. So
that was the part where I wanted to, I was actively
involved in cracking the case out of investigation.
So how would you follow an investigative approach?
Can you give me an example? You can just give
us two or three instances of what, you know,
tells you that this could be a possible reason.
Yeah, very comically, we would associate certain
cases, owners and the veterans. We have a small
team. along with something called our doctor
house episodes. Have you seen those? Yeah, doctor
house, yes. Typical scenario, he used to send
some persons for investigation behind the patient's
property. Very small examples are like, I had
a case which was typically vomiting for a long
time and nothing definitive could be concluded
in the blood test and the x -ray. Everything
was clean. Then I asked him to... shoot a video
of their environment where they had recently
done manuring and planting over that herbicides
and the insecticides place which was not there
before a week they showed me a video of their
environment i could see new potted plants and
as i mean it was done and then slowly we investigated
and there was one person was spraying these plants
every day with mechanicals oh We eliminate them,
then the dog starts the vomiting stock. Most
commonly, nowadays we have patients who are on
a lot of drugs, including the diabetic drugs,
the anti -BP drugs, the routine ones. There might
be a kidney patient who is taking immunosuppressants.
Now, all these tablets are on the table, so it's
never safe to have it. We have a lot of cases
where accidental ingestion of these tablets,
where... The client wouldn't open up, but we
would know after a distinctive investigation.
It's amazing how, like you said, no two cases
are the same, but you have to start from some
point and you have to notice that there is a
difference and pay attention. I never knew that,
you know, I think you brought in some lovely
perspectives about one, that imagine that this
is from a pediatric angle. The other, the investigative
part. Because it's almost as if it's cut and
dried, the dog. But like you said, the dog can't
say it. The owners can't tell you. They can only
present saying that, okay, this is the symptom.
And how do you figure out what's that? Your time
in casualty, the one that you spent, what are
the kind of cases that you saw then? Okay, a
couple of cases I can recall. There was one cow
that was actually presented with... difficulty
in birth it's called dystocia so the milkman
had recently purchased before the couple of months
and then normal calving time the the cow found
some difficulty and so he brought it to the cash
holding the first we guys were trying to the
term is called dystocia that is difficulty in
birth oh i don't know if you've seen it it's
very difficult part of the veterinary gynecologist
to actually take the calf out without complications
to the calf and the mother It is not like in
human grounds, they have 10 people around, they
do a CSN, you can take it anywhere. We were actually
trying to take this calf out. After 15 -20 minutes,
it was very difficult and I had help. I was there
alone. There are different specialties in veterinary
science now. Like, I am a general medicine guy,
I was posted in the casualty, but I am actually
not very professional in taking the calf out.
But I need to attend the case. Plus, I could
get help from my seniors and the professors.
But I had to do it. After 20 minutes, I had,
I think, zero glucose in me because everything
was drained. We were trying to pull out the calf.
This owner then, who was holding the calf, just
left away. We were searching for him for half
an hour. He was never found out. Then, finally,
my attendants found out that already he was talking
to the other people on slaughtering the cow.
My goodness. So he was talking in terms of money
on negotiating on how much the cow should be
sold to. Then what happened was at that time,
I actually called up my seniors. Then that time
we don't have any Google videos to refer upon.
So we called them up and they gave us instructions
from a different place. We kind of sedated the
cow and there was something called a breach presentation
that we need to rectify inside the womb. correctly
then we have some anchors that could you know
the eye orbits those are the place to actually
pull the calf through so we have so called gadgets
we can actually put it in the eye without causing
a problem into the eye orbits and we restrain
we turn we actually pull the calf out like over
a period of 2 hours this took 2 hours to do yeah
by then 5 or 6 people had already come to point
they all left after seeing me This is the big
difference between a cattle owner and a dog owner.
These are the way medicine or veterinary science,
like you said, is practiced. It's almost like
it becomes a transactional thing as far as the
farmer's concerned. Yes, there is concern for
the well -being and stuff like that. But at the
end of the day, it's about saying, OK. This should
not be a complete loss or something. So it's
hard not to be judgmental, but I guess they have
their own compulsions for doing what they do.
And that I've seen not only me, a lot of veterans
actually are taken aback by this decision by
the owners. That's sometimes very hurting. It
is. And especially when that cow has been part
of the household. So whatever you say at the
end of the day, like you said, you started off
with your... Parents who had three. And even
if they didn't give much milk or whatever, it
was always part of the household. Something that
you look. And so to see this would obviously
be very distressing. What about your experiences
with wild animals, which is even more difficult
because as it is, they are so terrified of humans
and humans are not somebody things that they
come across. How do you even begin to deal with
animals? So wild animals, they have their own
specialist. It's called a wildlife vet. So they
actually. specialize in a course called wildlife
medicine and surgery. And that's how they are
put. But as you rightly said, in the area of
casualty, you have to be a master of all subjects.
You cannot expect anything. So yeah, once we
had a snake, it's a 12 -foot python. It had some,
it's called a ball axis. That is, they cannot
move much because there is a lot of ball -like
abscesses inside their whole tummy. And they
become sick. That's a disease by itself. So that's
the first time I'm actually handling a python.
And it was a nightmare. The snakes, they have
a tendency to just crawl very slowly. And if
they want to actually curtail you or want to
restrain you, they can do it easily. Nobody can
stop them. It was scary. Then we admitted the
python and we got specialists and all. Likewise,
wild animals like you're right we used to get
monkeys which are strapped by people so most
commonly the it's a kind of a wire that is around
the neck and it has been tightened up so badly
and the monkey actually escapes from the hunter
or whatever and then they can't remove it because
it's just knotted with the the steel wire So
the steel wire slowly gets cut through the neck
muscles and they'll day by day and cause a sepsis.
And I got a case like that, which we had to anesthetize
completely and surgically remove it. The monkey
was fine after a week. Some of the, this is,
I don't remember. And you guys are okay with
the latest COVID. We had to rush up to print
the COVID lines. That was really clean. Yeah.
So. You want to hear about that? The lions tested
positive for COVID when you... So we had some
12 lions tested positive for COVID. The lions
come under a family called cats, C -A -T -S,
big cats. Right. Okay. Actually, felines. So
like how a cat gets COVID virus, the lions can
also get a COVID virus. One of the zookeepers
had COVID and he passed on to the lion. So the
lion, we had 12... lion's head was positive for
COVID and we needed to treat them. It took us
one and a half days to actually organize a treatment
for them. Because you cannot restrain them. They
are horribly aggressive. Plus they are sick.
We had different gadgets and in fact, some of
the major things we did here, which nobody does
throughout the world, is we actually pulled the
lion's tail through the cages. We have people
for that. And we connected something called the
huge boar cannulas that we use for humans, let
us say for a dialysis or any other procedure.
So those cannulas were collected in the coccygeal
vein of the tail, bandaged good, and we had given
medications every day through the boar cannulas.
That is quite interesting. And all of them recovered?
No. Three of them died. Okay. Died and the others
recovered. And it is like they get you into the...
Now these COVID enclosures are totally different.
It's not from the normal zoo. They are in a different
place. So they get us there by a vehicle. And,
you know, remember those days we had to wear
full COVID suits? Right. During the hot sun.
And we can't breathe also. accessing, you know,
to hold a particular thing will be very difficult
because you're entirely gloved. Yeah, the gloves
will slip as well, right? It's hard to get a
grip. Yeah. So the zookeeper was also, I mean,
equally dressed with a COVID suit. So handling
the animals is very difficult. And I still remember
like the first day I entered the cage, there
were two lions. When they coughed, I was like
shocked. And it was totally... The coughing is
like, like a human being coughs like during a
COVID. It will be thousand times more than that.
The sound of the cough was pretty scary for the
first two days. Then I got used to it. But I'm
saying, you know, as it is, people during COVID
were not getting out of their houses and here
you were trying to wrestle with lions in the
peak of that hole. Were you vaccinated at the
time? Yes, we were vaccinated, but you know what
happens. Even vaccinated people got it. My entire
family was going there and treating lions because
you don't know what happens. So out of 13 -14
minutes, only three of us volunteered. Because
everybody is scared, correct? But it's a different
experience by itself. It's like I felt like...
I felt that you were a COVID warrior during that
time. No, but hats off to you, doctor, because,
you know, at a point when the whole world was
worried about the amount of people who are falling
victim to COVID, you actually found within you
the power to heal a lion which is inflicted with
COVID and actually managed to save quite a few
of them. Because these are the stories that never
make it to the media because they don't. talk
about these things at all the statistics are
all about human interest stories whereas this
is okay a lion died because of covid and that's
it but like you said that yeah this is really
what differentiates so yeah at the same time
there was i mean covid spread in the one of the
bronx zoos in the u .s so you know what they
did they just isolated the lions and nobody went
near the lions for 20 days. Because they didn't
want to take a risk. Yeah. Here we wanted to
treat them. No, I mean, it's so hard to... Yeah,
I guess people will have their reasons and they
have very valid reasons for not going into the
whole thing, but to show the kind of empathy
that you did and for so few people to know about
this. I really hope the people who watch this
understand, you know, there's this whole, I used
to read these books when I was young about Gerald
Durrell, this veterinarian who, Gerald Durrell's
books, All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures
Great and Small, it was a vet in an English village.
And that seemed like, you know, like an idyllic
kind of life. It was one of those things where
the only thing was waking up early in the morning,
the cold and things like that. But what you're
giving me is primal. It's almost as if, you know,
I can't even begin to imagine the kind of, you
know, experiences that you have had. And it's
not as if you'll expect gratitude in return or
you'll expect that, you know, the animal doesn't
even know what is happening. And here you are
after practicing veterinary science for what?
30 years now almost and... Yeah, almost 22 years,
yeah. Wow. Hats off to you, doctor. I mean, it's
wonderful to talk to you and just understand
the depth of, you know, what it means to... There's
one thing that people talk about in terms of
a commitment to a career. And in most cases,
the commitment to a career is staying up late
in the office. And it's not, you know, it's not
about these kind of things where... Yes, your
mind is utilized, but here it's like a combination
of so many things. It's the mic is being utilized,
the body, you have to diagnose, you have to treat,
you have to figure out what is available and
then still do it. So each one of these. So, okay,
let's move on to something which is a little
lighter. I think we've gone on to pretty heavy.
What happens when you see the dogs and cats and
how do you manage them, the urban owners that
you happen to see on a regular basis? Oh my God,
now it's you. yeah it seems to be i don't know
how many people yeah i want to listen to this
but with i'm talking about pet parents but the
craziest what i have noticed for the past i would
say 10 years is that you know those days of the
dog taking care of the owner have gone if you
see the owners perspective of treating the dog
feeding the dog and at the start of the family
yes agree this is where I think there should
be a small line a demarcation on how to balance
both but it is slowly gone to the other side
now you won't believe we have had handful of
divorce cases because of BPEC Now it is like,
fighters, do you want me or the dog? Yes, it's
obviously the dog, not you. My goodness! They
kind of find this unconditional love from the
pet and which they don't find from the opposite
side, obviously. So now the dog has become an
integral part of the family and it's more than
that now. People have gone on to making more
for these pets and not having pet suspects. So
it's become one step earlier, more and people
are trying to do more than they can do. If you
notice out of, let us say, household, a row of
10 houses that have dogs, I would be surprised
that none of them actually bark at a stranger.
The breed, basically like Labradors and, you
know, but fine, even once upon a time, they're
barking at strangers, but now it's totally gone.
have built their own compound, cage, kennel systems.
You take all the integrated cameras, surveillance,
everything for the dog. Yeah. And it's crazy
about some of the exotic species which are brought
into, you know, environments which should not
be... I mean, I've seen a husky here in Chennai,
which I think is crazy for the dog, right? You
can't be surviving in a... a tropical climate
for a dog that is used to the arctic or something
which is very the best part is it's been banned
by the government but still in use and it is
it's not a wise thing they cannot most of the
huskies don't survey more than five six years
here because so what do you think is happening
doctor do you think that this has become more
of a you know like you said the love for the
dog has become more of a kind of a status symbol
rather than a genuine affection for the species
or is it simply that look like I can flaunt my
car or I can flaunt something else I can flaunt
my dog yeah the status symbol yes it's been there
for historically dogs have been status symbols
also not only now like if you go to the middle
east now like last time I went I could actually
see one person racing penguins in the middle
of the desert. He's invested so much of money
to build a small Arctic or Antarctic or whatever
you say, within say 2000 square feet for the
birds. So likewise, they have fancy cheetahs
and leopards because they don't know where to
spend the money. Likewise, in India, we have
status symbols. People always think that imported
dogs, the fancy ones are always better, which
is actually not the case. So veterinary science
in India, how does it compare to the rest of
the world? What is it that you have seen and
how would you make an assessment? See, for a
long time, veterinary science in India has been,
you know, slowly accelerating. You still have
to do a lot of things. Whereas when you compare
abroad, anywhere in Europe or the US, the scenario
is totally different. Now, the point is, almost
all the dogs and all the pets abroad are insured
medically. So, they have the medical insurance.
So you want the best of the best to be done to
your pet, right? All the costs, even though they're
higher, they get actually reimbursed by the insurance
company. So, but here we don't have the concept
of insurance dogs. I guess even humans, it's
slowly taking. If you ask your friends, they'll
be, they have invested, they have invested lots
in life insurances. Like what happens after you
die? What is the big difference in whether we
get one crore or one rupee or thousand million
or one million after you die? These people nevertheless,
these people having a proper medical insurance
for their health. Whereas in abroad, I think
life insurance is a bit lower, but they are more
medically insured. So the paying intensity of
the owner for particular diseases, everything
depends on, like, if a person from the US or
Europe who's finished his DVM or his veterinary
science there, he practices in India, so it's
very, very difficult. Right. Yes. So you're now
a professor at the veterinary college. What is
your view of the people who are entering the
profession now and what is it that they seem
to be? thinking about and what do they want to
do with their lives? Okay, honestly, I would
say somewhere around 10 to 15 % of the students
who join now are seriously interested in written
science. I think the rest of the students are
like me, who didn't want written science and
they ended up here and all that. But, averagely,
I've been seeing students, they have a long vision
nowadays. They've been very clear on the future.
For example, if you ask a 14 student on what
they want to do, they will say, I want to do
a PhD in microbiology. Right. So they have almost
14 years left, but they're actually trying to
make hold of the target. That's good, actually.
So some of them want to go into veterinary science,
some of them want to go into civil services,
and some of them want to go into government jobs.
So at the level of third, fourth year, they're
very concentrated on their objective. Okay. Okay.
And what do you think is the temperament of what
is the ideal? Like you said, you know, it's not
because you like animals or something that you
got into it. But what do you think in order to
be a good veterinarian? What is the kind of temperament
that you ought to have? The investigative part
was, you know, now that you mention it, it's
obvious. But when you first brought it out, I
thought it was a wonderful way of showing what
are the things that... qualities that are innate
that you need to have yeah so the like we talk
so talk about temperament in dogs now sir has
brought up the temperament and wits the topic
so yeah you you have to have all qualities of
a proper psychiatrist to begin with you'll have
to have the patience to listen to what the owner
is saying For example, you are asking, what happened?
So the order starts from 5 .30 in the morning.
So it's going to be a few minutes of a consultation
rate, but you need to just sit straight and listen
to them. Whether they are going to say the correct
history or not is a different question. So patience
is the first thing, temperament -wise. And number
two is, you should have the inquisitiveness to...
take this animal out of the thing. So that should
be our objective. Right. So it'll have to be
very, very sound in subjects and it'll have to
be very, very sound in differential diagnosis,
the way of how you use gadgets and how you interpret
X -rays, ultrasounds and scans. So that will
concentrate on the subject. And the third thing,
you need to be actually brave because there's
going to be a really, really fierce dog that
come into a clinic. And you need to do some treatment.
So you have to physically pull and push. See,
even the attenders are humans, correct? We cannot
expect everyone to be brave. But for the client,
if you're not going to be brave, he's going to
go to another vet. So what are the techniques
that you have learned? How do you handle a very
fierce dog? What are the ways in which you try
to calm them down? You have to establish some
kind of a way of, you know. He has some gadgets
which can actually help in controlling dogs.
But point is, for everything, we need a collar,
we need a leash, and we need somebody to pull,
push. We have something called a sedative that
works out very, very good. But even for the sedative
to be given, it's a mode of injection. So, my
idea of approach is, more than the dog, The owners
will be seriously panicked. The dog will be keep
on barking at one decibel. And over that, the
owners will be shouting. So it creates a big
commotion. Now what I do is quietly I ask them
to wait on the reception. So that actually clears
90 % of the job. So what do you say? In most
cases, the owner is the problem, not the animal.
I cannot tell that exactly out of the horse's
mouth. Actually, yes. See, like if you get your
kid, I am sure when your young parents and our
kids keep on crying, we don't know what to do.
We are very panicked. We take to the hospital.
And for example, the doctor wants to take blood.
He first asked us to wait outside. Because it's
very difficult handling both of them. But more
than the pediatrician here, a veterinarian's
job is seriously very, very cumbersome when tackling
the owners, shouting owners and the barking dogs.
Okay. It's kind of experiential learning. There's
no textbook that will say that. Because all this
management and... It's not, it's more of a psychological
science, you know. And before even you can ask
this question, I'm going to talk about cats.
Right. Cats was on the list, yes. Please tell
me. It hurt me. So, very difficult. So, what
are we doing? Most of the cats we treat are inpatients.
We ask them to admit the cat. We take a list
of the history. We actually say goodbye, bye
over the reception. Then come back, take a serious
look of the cat and treat the cat and all. That's
the only way it works. Okay. So do you find exotic
species in the cats as well? Or is that, you
know, you get more of the normal look? Some of
the cats down the lane called Bengal cats. Have
you seen them? No, I haven't. I don't. I think
they're more artificially made for this kind
of indoor. You should see them. It's like a mini
tiger or a mini leopard. My goodness. Much larger
than the normal cat is what you're saying? Bengal
cats? Yeah. Oh, okay. No, I haven't seen that.
That is one of the so -called exotic species
that's recently come in. And other radical cats,
Persians, Persians if you take left and right.
Now, all middle -income groups, if you see towards
the northern side of Chennai, people who live
in tax -gross so -called slums, they have Persians.
And very lucky, low -income people who couldn't
afford something called a balcony are starting
to have pugs. Chinese invasion is into this pet
practice also. Just in the mobile phones, okay?
But that image that you... you know, drew of
the Persian cat in Northern Chennai in a thatch
hut is an exact inversion of the James Bond movies
where the villain used to stroke the cat in the
den, the Persian cat. It's like different environment.
Now, like every other house, you got a Persian.
It is like, it's like 15 to 20 ,000 per kitten,
but they still afford that. Wow. So that is one
of the things. I think you must have also seen
the uptick in the cat food and the dog food and
everything else that people are now, you know,
there's a complete industry around that. When
these industries come into play, they have a
very good understanding. They have a team who
does R &D on this economics and how viable is
it. So more than they spend on medical part or
the veterinary part. They do spend the monkeys
on accessories. So any powerful accessories hanging,
they'll immediately think of the dog. And any
person from the US will try to bring some attractive
accessories. Even if it is available here, that's
not a problem. It is a huge billion dollar industry.
Yeah. And it's, I guess that's the other part
that these days. people are looking at they lavish
a lot of attention and love on their pets because
it's one of the things that they can do in like
you said huh cats and dogs used to just grow
up at home and be fed scraps from the table but
these days that has changed completely you know
the the whole the thing which is there where
do you think this is going how do you how do
you see this how is your practice changed in
the last 10 -15 years, you've seen these changes.
Honestly, good for us because we do good practice.
It's not much of the money involved. We're able
to read lots. For example, you get a vague brief.
I need to read about the brief to take care of
the brief. So it keeps us updating. Like I said,
no two cases are going to be similar. Otherwise,
like if you take a diabetologist, he will have
a minimum of 40 cases per day. you know, in the
queue. And if seriously he's seen him working,
it is terrible. So, he will not examine the patient.
He will not stand up. Maximum, he will have a
pen and a paper. He will just jot down everything.
For everybody, it will only be the same exercise
and idli, upma food. Okay? But our case is slightly
different. The veteran is, if he actually enjoys
the profession, it is actually very good. Right.
No, the variety that you're talking of is phenomenal.
Okay. So do you still attend cases for farm animals
and things like that? That is part of the, or
you don't find the time these days? We concentrate
on only companion animals, that is dogs and cats.
Dogs and cats, right. Okay. And the other thing,
like you said, in rural, there are doctors now,
veterinarians who are specifically meant for
wild animals. And there are those who look at
the more, let's say, the commercial, whether
it's cattle or chicken. There's a separate thing
for that? There are separate vets for poultry.
For example, the complete vaccination programs,
you know, they deal with all diseases, post -mortem
and all. And it's again a huge industry by itself.
But if you're going to actually show him a dog
which is suffering from fever or vomiting, he
cannot actually diagnose much on that. And it's
a reverse. If you ask me about poultry, I don't
know much. I know the basics, but not much. Okay.
Okay. Well, it's nice. Like you said, the companion
animals, there's almost like there's a whole
set of things which come in, which is very clearly.
What about birds? Do people have pet birds? Yeah.
That is again, I think after the COVID, people
have started to raise a lot of pets. Because
now if you see, post -COVID, we've seen very
huge increase in the Shih Tzu breeds which have
come. And small breeds that can be raised in
the flat. And exotic birds, they start off from
African parrots to budgeris, tall colored birds.
But that is an offense. It's not very legal that
people breed them and have in cages. So when
I get a case of all these colored birds in a
cage, I will very quietly advise them to release
off near the zoo or in a forest area. I will
up to them and it has happened also. It's not
fair in curtailing a bird and treating that.
It never works like that. Wow! This has been
quite a journey, doctor. I think it's an hour
and I've not known it bypass because you... It's
been a real pleasure talking to you. Thank you
for sparing the time and for giving us a glimpse
of such a different life because one tends to
think of vets as having very gentle, quiet, but
the way you depicted it is something where you're
learning something new every day. And the contrast
between the owners and the pets, the way life
itself has changed over the past 20, 30 years,
and how pets have come into the family and brought
about a massive change, even within family ties.
Okay. Thank you for sparing the time. And what
is your advice to people who are looking to join
or get into veterinary science? What would you
ask them to be most prepared for? Yeah. So I
have been having a lot of people and students,
relatives, friends, you know, friends, sons and
daughters who always want like animals. They
are, you know, towards not like an animal activist,
but they are fond of animals. But that actually
qualify for to become a vet again. So like I
have asked him to come to the hospital, just
be with it for one or two hours, see what we
do, what work. Then I think most of the people
change their minds. Yeah. So only people who
have a strong heart and if they see diseases,
for example, you see a dog and it grits 20 times
per day, but you need to treat them. You don't
have to become an animal lover for that. You
just have a conscience and go ahead with the
treatment. And I would definitely encourage kids
to join veterinary science because it's a different
profession. And as you know, at the end of the
day, any profession, it is... how you take it
up and how you put it forward. Okay. Wonderful.
Thank you for sparing this time and giving us
such a deeply felt, experienced and compassionate
glimpse of the kind of life that you have led,
Dr. Parneda. Thank you for everything that you
do. Thank you for the acts of grace that I don't
think people are seeing. You're really managing
the arc. And the sad part is that there aren't
too many people who see what's actually happening.
Thank you for watching. Yes, thank you. Thanks
a lot, sir. That was Dr. Bharni Dharan and what
an experience it has been to understand the life
of a veterinarian, which we think by reading
some of the books and bestsellers that they are
gentle, easy professions. But like he said, spend
time in a clinic, not as an owner, but as the
doctor. and understand what is really involved
in pursuing a career in veterinary science. Next
week, we'll have a group of youngsters. We're
planning to do this on a monthly basis where
we talk to three young people who are setting
out into their careers and then decide what is
it that they want to do from here on. Next week,
see you once again.