Hello and welcome to Idiopathic Issues!  

Idiopathic: relating to or denoting any disease or condition that arises spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown.

I went into the veterinary medical profession excited about working with animals and performing tests and finding answers. Every patient had a mystery ready to be solved, a disease pathway to be explored, or a laboratory adventure to be taken. And sure, some days you feel like a superhero solving crimes against the body. Other days you just want to know why, why did this happen to my patient? The truth is, you are going to encounter an idiopathic diagnosis way more often in practice than you might like. The answer is often, no one knows. Kind of like no one knows why males have nipples, or why dogs eat grass or why some people don’t like chocolate. So weird. Our goal is always to find an answer, to fix our patients or at least give their owners peace of mind.

For many veterinarians in training, your reasons for going to vet school are idiopathic. The thought arose spontaneously probably when you were a little kid, but sometimes the calling comes later in life. Becoming a veterinarian is just that; a calling, a necessity, a goal that must be fulfilled because you were put on this earth to help animals (and their human counterparts, like it or not). It is like a disease, one that can only be treated by the addition of three little letters after your name, D V M (or VMD for you Penn folks, you know you’re special).  

This is a blog for veterinary students making their way through the craziness that is veterinary school. Congratulations on your acceptance by the way. You will be joining a very prestigious and exclusive club of highly trained and extremely valued professionals. But before you do, you will have to navigate through four years of intense stress, studying, and sacrifice. Blood, sweat, and tears will be shed, along with testicles, feces, anal glands, slobber, feathers and a significant amount of mucous. It’s a rewarding profession, but no one ever said it was pretty or smelled nice.

Here at Idiopathic Issues we will focus on topics that are pertinent to veterinary students, from case studies to client education, to finding a job and of course preparing for that giant beast of a test in your future, the NAVLE. We will have study tips, light-hearted stories and some serious discussions, all in the name of helping you maneuver through this very intensive training.  

Welcome to the veterinary profession!  

Dr. G