Guest guest Posted January 9, 2008 Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 Yesterday was sad. In vet school, there are daily reminders of how horribly our society treats animals. I can generally cope with that stress, but it keeps me right at my breaking point. Yesterday my class was taught that, because cows have two functional digits per limb, if one is infected, it can be sawed off. Okay. But this is done while the cow is awake, in many cases. This is said without any horror or emotion on the part of the prof, and the class just nods as if this were a perfectly acceptable procedure. My husband and I are basically friendless since going vegan. We try to make friends, and be understanding of people and their " choices " (do the animals they eat get a choice?), but ultimately, we just can't form deep friendships with people who have such fundamentally different views on the world. Our housemate said we were being snobs for limiting ourselves to vegan friends. At any rate, your conversations on this group cheer me up immensely. ~Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 9, 2008 Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 two functional digits per limb? well..wait and see if someone in your class ever gets an infected hangnail, and then chase em around with a hacksaw babbling "come on, you got 4 more digits!!! off it comes..gimmee gimmee gimmee!!" Faith Jan 9, 2008 4:34 AM vegan friendships Yesterday was sad. In vet school, there are daily reminders of howhorribly our society treats animals. I can generally cope with thatstress, but it keeps me right at my breaking point. Yesterday myclass was taught that, because cows have two functional digits perlimb, if one is infected, it can be sawed off. Okay. But this isdone while the cow is awake, in many cases. This is said without anyhorror or emotion on the part of the prof, and the class just nods asif this were a perfectly acceptable procedure. My husband and I are basically friendless since going vegan. We tryto make friends, and be understanding of people and their "choices"(do the animals they eat get a choice?), but ultimately, we just can'tform deep friendships with people who have such fundamentallydifferent views on the world. Our housemate said we were being snobsfor limiting ourselves to vegan friends. At any rate, your conversations on this group cheer me up immensely.~Faith Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance. Confucius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 9, 2008 Report Share Posted January 9, 2008 Hi Faith: Sorry to hear you're down. I'd think it's going to be tough being a vegan vet, unless you are able to totally devote your practice to companion animals. I grew up on a so called " gentleman's farm " where my dad raised pigs and steer for slaughter for family use on a non-subsistence basis, so many of the vets we saw were for these poor animals. I also heard a news report recently that there is a shortage of vets for so called " food animals " (http://media.www.thenews.org/media/storage/paper651/news/2004/10/08/News/Veteri\ narian.Shortage.National.Issue-746306.shtml). good! Regarding friends: I had the unfortunate experience of being verbally attacked by my sister in law this Christmas because my wife and I (her sister) are vegan. She is a card carrying member of the Weston Price Foundation. Look them up if you don't know who they are. She literally said she couldn't be friends with us (her own sister!) because " we're killing ourselves and will kill our children " with our dietary/ethical choices. Her attitude was no different than that of a cult member, and the rest of the family could see it. My point? I think a lot of the opposition/misunderstanding about the vegan lifestyle will indeed prevent others from engendered friendships towards us; the challenge, for you, and for us, is to not let than myopic hatred infect us as a reaction. Nobody likes a know it all, a proselytizer, or a doomsayer, which I think it's easy to become as a vegan or ardent carnivore. My sister in law is an extreme example of a self-styled carnivore; most omnis are not as vigilant, and believe me, in this day and age our type of lifestyle is becoming more acceptable every day, which hopefully will lead to more friendships, more vegans, and more peace on earth. Good luck! Regards, Blake Wilson , " Faith " <tigerpainter wrote: > > Yesterday was sad. In vet school, there are daily reminders of how > horribly our society treats animals. I can generally cope with that > stress, but it keeps me right at my breaking point. Yesterday my > class was taught that, because cows have two functional digits per > limb, if one is infected, it can be sawed off. Okay. But this is > done while the cow is awake, in many cases. This is said without any > horror or emotion on the part of the prof, and the class just nods as > if this were a perfectly acceptable procedure. > My husband and I are basically friendless since going vegan. We try > to make friends, and be understanding of people and their " choices " > (do the animals they eat get a choice?), but ultimately, we just can't > form deep friendships with people who have such fundamentally > different views on the world. Our housemate said we were being snobs > for limiting ourselves to vegan friends. > At any rate, your conversations on this group cheer me up immensely. > ~Faith > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 10, 2008 Report Share Posted January 10, 2008 Hi Blake, I'm feeling much better today. Being a vegan vet will be a little hard, but not as hard as just getting through the schooling. There are a growing number of vets for animal rights including the group AVAR. My husband and I are going to do shelter/livestock rescue medicine mixed with public education, so that part of our lives will be rewarding. We'd like to do something like this group: www.animalplace.org They are amazing. Regarding friends, I'm learning patience with people where ever they are in their process of learning kindness for all species. It is the people who are not interested in that process that I have very little tolerance for. I'm learning. Thank you for the support/advise. Have a lovely day. ~Faith > Hi Faith: >Sorry to hear you're down. I'd think it's going to be >tough being a >vegan vet, unless you are able to totally devote your >practice to >companion animals. I grew up on a so called > " gentleman's farm " where >my dad raised pigs and steer for slaughter for family >use on a >non-subsistence basis, so many of the vets we saw were >for these poor >animals. I also heard a news report recently that >there is a shortage >of vets for so called " food animals " >(http://media. www.thenews. org/media/ >storage/paper651 /news/2004/ 10/08/News/ Veterinarian. >Shortage. National. Issue-746306. shtml). >good! >...hopefully will lead to more friendships, more >vegans, and more peace >on earth. Good luck! >Regards, >Blake Wilson " Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. " ~Margaret Mead ______________________________\ ____ Never miss a thing. Make your home page. http://www./r/hs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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