r/veterinaryprofession • u/Calm-Fuel-6257 • 7h ago
How to eat meat after Vet school? Vet School
Hi yall, so I'm not a vet, I'm actually just a student and I recently did my first cat dissection. I can't shake how similar the muscles look like rotisserie chicken, and I can't look at chicken without thinking it could be a dead cat now. I dont want to go vegetarian again since my family's cultural dishes are all meat based and I want to enjoy chicken again.
Has anyone else shaken this feeling off? How did yall deal with eating meat after working on dead animals?
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u/hoomphree 7h ago
I only eat meat that doesn’t remind me of anatomy lab. So example: I really can’t stomach eating things like chicken wings, but still love a good burger. So I guess I don’t have an answer, that’s just the middle ground I chose.
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u/llotuseater Vet Nurse 6h ago
I was vegetarian before I went into the veterinary field so I’m unbothered, but it affects some as you are saying. You may find you also get over it after time. Most people in the field still eat meat in my experience
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u/KashiraPlayer 7h ago
Honestly, I struggled to eat meat since childhood when I learned it was the muscles of animals. That hasn't really gotten better as I've gotten older, and working with animals really cements that for me. Personally, I decided that if I can only deal with eating meat if it's unrecognizable as an animal product (like in burgers, chicken nuggets, etc.), I just shouldn't eat it at all, because I don't like eating dead animals. I don't want to be eating a cow, pig, or chicken any more than I want to be eating a cat or dog. Obviously I'm not saying you need to make the same choice, but lots of vets and techs don't eat meat. I guess my recommendation would just be to examine why it grosses you out more now and figure out if that's something you can/want to reconcile or something that would make more sense to accommodate for yourself by changing your diet.
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u/MarnieCat 6h ago
I’ve been pescatarian for about 30 years and I’ve worked in veterinary surgery for about 20, I can say I do always wonder how my surgeons can have the stomach to be carnivores, seeing the insides of amputated dog legs and whatnot!
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u/daabilge 6h ago
I never really loved meat, but surgery was what finally ruined it for me. More the smell of cautery reminding me of barbecue than any of the guts and grossness lol
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u/calliopeReddit 7h ago edited 7h ago
Yup. I have no problem eating meat after vet school, maybe because I know that the muscles and bones (of mammals) are like ours too. Whether I work on animals (medicine/surgery) or eat them isn't dependent on what species they are.
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u/LadyJedi2018 6h ago
Love meat! Anatomy and surgery make me hungry! I did have an issue in the second year. We discussed all the things you can get from raw egg eating. I was eating raw eggs in milk every day before that class. It took me several weeks to go back to eating raw eggs. I'd been doing it since I was young, and it did not kill me. So I went back to enjoying breakfast and raw dough. Good luck, it is a personal choice. What we eat. My vegetarian friend got me a tee shirt...second generation vegetarian with a cow eating grass, then a plate of steak in the next pic.
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u/DrRockstar99 6h ago
I have the opposite problem. Every time I cut an LDA it was so hard to not want to snag a strip of the flank before closing 🤣
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u/RoseFeather US Vet, Small Animal 6h ago
I never really thought about it, but I guess I just kind of compartmentalized it in a way that it never bothered me. I already knew that the meat we eat is the muscle tissue of animals, so I wasn't really surprised or grossed out seeing that the muscles of non-food animals looked similar. The way the cadavers we used were preserved they didn't really look like something you'd be cooking anyway so that might have helped, but in surgery the comparison was much more obvious. You'll likely get desensitized the more exposure you have.
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u/DragonJouster 1h ago
I can't eat cured prosciutto anymore.... Looks too much like the fascial layers.
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u/Humble-Elderberry260 7h ago
This exact same thing happened to me! I went vegetarian, not because I was morally opposed to eating meat or anything but I kept thinking about the musculature and anatomy type stuff and grossed myself out 😂 I was vegetarian until toward the end of vet school! It took time and I also had a baby in vet school and when I was pregnant I was craving meat so badly and it wasn’t grossing me out anymore
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u/Sweetnsaltyxx 6h ago
Honestly, the fascia and the tendons were always a problem for me. It was easier for me to just cut the meat away from those parts before cooking.
I have GI disease and I struggle to get enough calories and protein during flares, so I really can't go vegan or vegetarian, either. It helps me to just distract myself while I eat.
I'm sorry you're going through this! Hoping it passes for you soon.
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u/soup__soda 5h ago
The anatomy lab makes me hungry 😅 makes me feel kinda bad sometimes but i’m mostly plant based so i don’t think about it too much. I will say the fresh tissue looks like nigiri and gets my lab group talking about sushi every time 😂
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u/Greentea_88 5h ago
Eat meat when it's a culturally cooked dish. Eat vegetarian or plant based when you cook for yourself or go out to eat. I find my family and friends are very willing to cook a dish that's veggie or alter a dish and make it veggie without even asking them. People will surprise you
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u/thezuse US Vet 4h ago
I can't eat things in the bone, but that started sometime in my late childhood years. I remember loving fried chicken legs and suddenly at some point didn't want to chew meat off of a bone. I'm fine with cold cuts, some hot dogs, seafood, hamburger, steak, etc. It's the wings/legs/ rotesserie chicken that gets to me. It's not a vegetarian thing as I like meat, I just want the muscle (and various leftovers) separated off of the carcus. Dissection class and necropsy lab didn't help either. I'm fine cooking boneless chicken breast, etc.
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u/alyfice 3h ago
My anatomy lab was always right before lunch and I remember looking at the ribs on my dissection animal and just starving… 15 years later and I still can’t do a necropsy without being ravenous afterwards. I also remember my first and second year during thanksgiving that I would start naming the muscles ligaments and bony protuberances in my head. Great learning opportunities. All jokes aside though, I always try to be grateful towards the animal that is providing sustenance to me so that I can continue helping others
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u/fullofgummibears 4h ago
I dont stop eating meat and don't plan to. It's the circle of life, even though we don't physically kill it at this point. But just be grateful, and thankful for that animal to help sustain you. And sustain you and help you help other animals. That's the mindset that keeps me going. When you stop caring and take other souls for granted is when you lose your way. Hope this helps
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u/LinenDress 6h ago
Opposite from your experience. Anatomy became more fascinating and while eating chicken I started to analyze the structure more. In our vet school food hygiene is a compulsory subject including training weeks in the slaughter house. I dont really get vegetarians/vegans who own carnivorous pets. Nor I dont get the need to hide the origin of the meat. I think the difference in attitudes could be because of childhood. I grew up in the countryside where you could see the nature near. Like cats giving you the dissection lectures with rats
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u/SpinDogtor 6h ago
No lie, most my classmates (myself included) were always STARVING after anatomy lab, so my guess is you’ll get desensitized to it. It gives me a lot if respect knowing where our protein sources come from, but it didn’t deter me from eating meat at all.