Matt Owens Rees

Why veterinary surgeons face problems.

Yee is a very experienced vet and is popular with all her clients, most of whom of course are Thai. She has built up a successful small animal practice and she shows a genuine love for her clients’ pets.

Her charges are reasonable, she makes a healthy profit but it has not gone to her head.

She drives a small car and often comes to the surgery on her motor bike. She is not at all “hi-so” with the usual airs and graces and a showing-off attitude.

As Talley was due to have a neutering operation, we took him to the surgery last night for a blood check, the results of which will be available later today. Hopefully there will be no problems and the operation can go ahead next week.


Yee normally got on well with Talley. I am sure no pet looks forward to a visit to a vet but Talley has always liked Yee, wagging his tail whenever he saw her.

Last night was different. She tried to wrap a piece of linen around his jaws to keep them closed when she took the blood sample. My dog does not bite and he has had injections before. It was a sensible precaution.

However, Talley was having none of it. The vet had been too quick in trying to tie his jaws together. A few soothing words and a pat on the back first might have got him in a more cooperative mood.

The more she tried to use the cloth to keep his mouth closed, the more he resisted. I was surprised she had no muzzle.

Why veterinary surgeons face problems.


All vets, wherever in the world they practice, have situations like this. I imagine they rack their brains to find a solution or perhaps get a colleague to see if he can regain the animal’s confidence.

But Yee is Thai. She walked out of the consulting room without any explanation, returning a minute or so later. Took a look at Talley and then went out again.

She was exhibiting the Thai trait of walking away from a problem which she did not know how to solve. And she also did not want to lose face.

I’ve seen it so often in Thailand though I will admit to not thinking it would have applied to Yee.

Cruelty at Zoos and Animal Shows

I went to the local market to buy a muzzle and held Talley myself while he had his blood sample taken. It took about two minutes.

When paying the bill at reception, I made a point of making a fuss of Talley and, more importantly, getting Yee to do the same. Talley was wagging his tail and that made her feel better about the entire episode.

By playing this little game of praising and patting Talley for being a good boy, I was ensuring that Yee was not losing face. A Thai would do that instinctively. I’m slowly learning to do it too.

The resulting blurb sung the praises of what the zoo was doing. Talking about the new animal arrivals on loan from foreign zoos. Giving details of the more interesting exhibits. Everything seemed very positive.

Then someone asked how well the animals were treated. It was a reasonable question but it got no answer at first.

Circuses and zoos throughout the world are regularly scrutinised in this way.

As expected when responses appear evasive. the floodgates opened.

Posters chipped in about cruelty they had seen in both foreign and Thai zoos. They spoke of tigers being put on show and visitors being allowed to enter their enclosures so that photos could be taken of them stroking and sitting alongside the animals.

Arguments followed on whether they had been drugged or not. One poster claimed he had been assured by the owners that it was not the case; their tigers were trained and anyway were very well fed.

Quite a lot of off-topic flames on dual pricing then followed. Not a civilised debate.

A Thai commented that he could not understand why farangs were so naïve to think that wild animals would not have to be drugged when near humans.

He asked why they seemed to accept so much on trust.

Provided that you don’t treat everything as gospel, the forums can make interesting reading and there are some helpful and informative posters.

The Drummond site is one of the better blogs to read. He does not mince his words but does concentrate on the negative aspects of Thailand. Given the number of travel blogging sites that only show the good side of the country, I suppose his site at least gives a different perspective.

http://www.andrew-drummond.com

https://mattowensrees.com/202510/28/lying-is-essential-in-thai-culture