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Myself [ left ] with Alex [ centre ] in a vet clinic in Moscow

People who know me will be aware that I am very interested in other languages and cultures as well as the internet and of course veterinary medicine, put these elements together and you have recipe for some interesting experiences in life. One such experience was when I formed a friendship with a Russian veterinary surgeon called Alex who lives and practices in Moscow.

A few years ago I invited him to visit England, he sat in on consultations, watching operations and generally observed our clinic in action. I first met him on the internet in a specialised veterinary medicine chat room and we exchanged information about our respective lives. He has visited us a couple of times and he reciprocated by inviting me to visit Russia as his guest. Of course I saw the sights in Moscow, spent time in the rural Russian countryside but I also visited his clinic and have had the chance to observe first hand how Russians treat their animals.

Modern veterinary medicine in Russia has its roots at the time of Peter the Great at the beginning of the eighteenth century which was a time of change in general for the Russian people. Prior to perestroika there was free treatment for small animals such as dogs and cats, this was delivered via state clinics but the main centers were in large cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg and rural and remote parts of Russia had little or no access to such facilities. Probably the communist government was more interested in food production animals such as cows and sheep and private vets did not exist as such.

Post perestroika things have changed, there are private small animal clinics springing up in the large cities such as the one where Alex works in Moscow. At my last visit I was impressed at the facilities which included x-ray and ultrasound and the building was maintained to a high standard as well. One of the main differences between vet medicine in the Uk and Russia is that Russians generally do not seem to make routine appointments for such things as dental work, mainly they only visit the vet when some extreme incident has happened such as a road traffic accident, or the animal is very ill indeed. There is no appointment system and Alex and the other vets stay at the clinic on a shift basis and sleep there as well, clients arrive at any time day or night. Veterinary medicine in Russia was not and it seems to me is not a high profile profession compared to the situation in the UK, although they are addressed as Doctor it is a low status occupation, but things are improving as the profession is modernising.

There are a great many institutions in Russia which undertake veterinary education, Alex thinks there may be more than three hundred as opposed to the seven universities which run veterinary courses in the UK. Alex spent five years of study at the veterinary academy in Moscow which is regarded as the best place to study. The existence of so many vet schools has led to problems, so there are now a great many unemployed young vets in Moscow who at the moment are seeking a clinic to work in, eventually some of these graduates will find work other than in veterinary medicine and never practice the profession they were trained for.

I asked Alex what are the best and worst changes which have occurred within veterinary medicine post perestroika. His reply was that the best change was the move to private enterprise, this has improved the standards of small animal medicine by allowing more investment and more resources in private clinics. The worst changes are that there are now more unemployed vets than previously but at the same time many unqualified people including vet students and even human doctors are treating animals without having the necessary experience, medications or knowledge. This is leading to general poor standards of animal care outside of the new clinics. This practice is prohibited by the state but is nevertheless widespread. Also it is regrettable that it is now not possible for people of limited means to obtain free treatment for their pets.