The Vet Nurse Hacker Podcast

The Hidden Burden: Chronic Illness in the Veterinary Profession
Five years of constant pain, fifteen years of chronic illness, and what it’s really like to work behind the scrubs when your body won’t play along.

💬 What does it mean to work in a profession built on care when your own body won’t cooperate?

In this deeply personal and powerful episode, Vicky opens up about living with hemicrania continua — a rare, constant migraine condition — and fifteen years of navigating chronic illness as a veterinary nurse.

She explores the invisible reality faced by so many veterinary professionals, sharing the latest research, practical ways to support yourself and your team, and an unfiltered look at what real strength actually means in our profession.

Whether you’re living with a chronic condition yourself or simply want to better understand your colleagues, this episode is a love letter to the quiet resilience that keeps veterinary medicine running.

🕓 Timestamps / Chapter Guide

0:00 – Welcome back + Vet Nurse Day reflection
2:25 – Imagine living with pain until 2030
4:00 – The day the migraine started
6:30 – Two and a half years to diagnosis: the long road to Hemicrania Continua
9:00 – Managing the unmanageable
11:45 – The invisible workforce: chronic illness in the vet profession
20:10 – Supporting yourself at work when your body won’t play along
27:15 – How to support a teammate living with chronic illness
33:45 – Redefining strength + why “pushing through” isn’t the goal
37:00 – The Hidden Burden survey: why your story matters
40:15 – What chronic illness has really taught me
44:30 – A message for anyone living with something invisible
44:00 – A message for anyone living with something invisible

💌 If this episode resonated with you, please take a few minutes to share your experience in The Hidden Burden: Chronic Illness in the Veterinary Profession survey.

Your voice matters — and every response helps create a more compassionate, inclusive profession for those living and working with chronic illness.

🧠 Take the survey here: https://forms.gle/XwNPHumqBK6L2hFo9 

Follow Vicky on Instagram @vickythevetnurse for behind-the-scenes stories, survey updates, and upcoming episodes of The Vet Nurse Hacker.

🐾Follow @vetnursehacker for updates on upcoming episodes and exclusive podcast content!

💬 “You don't need to be pain free or symptom free or have everything figured out to still be amazing at what you do.” 

This week on The Vet Nurse Hacker, I’m sharing something deeply personal — five years of constant migraine and fifteen years of chronic illness. This episode is for every vet nurse, vet, and student who keeps showing up when it hurts — for everyone who’s ever felt invisible behind the scrubs.

🎧 Listen now: The Hidden Burden: Chronic Illness in the Veterinary Profession
💌 Take the survey: https://forms.gle/PHE9MJuYYgPRetMm9

Ticked Off: Inside The Ehrlichiosis Epidemic With Dr. Peter Irwin - Part 2

📄 Episode Show Notes

In Part 1 of this series, Dr Liisa Ahlstrom helped us understand what ehrlichiosis is, where it’s spreading across Australia, and why prevention is so different from paralysis tick disease.

In this episode, we take the next step with Professor Peter Irwin, internal medicine specialist and one of Australia’s leading experts on vector-borne disease in dogs. Peter was directly involved in the very first confirmed cases of ehrlichiosis in the Northern Territory back in 2020, and he brings decades of experience in research, teaching, and clinical medicine.

We dive into:
🩸 Why Peter ranks ehrlichiosis among the top three most serious canine diseases worldwide
🔬 The pathophysiology of Ehrlichia canis — how it causes widespread inflammation, immune complex disease, and systemic illness
📈 The phases of disease (acute, subclinical, chronic) and how dogs present in each stage
🧪 Key diagnostic clues for nurses to watch for on CBCs, blood smears, and biochemistry
⚖️ Differentials and co-infections — when babesiosis or anaplasmosis might also be at play
💉 Treatment pearls: doxycycline, supportive nursing care, blood transfusion considerations, and the controversy around corticosteroid use
🏥 Surgical implications in endemic regions — pre-anaesthetic platelet checks and monitoring for delayed bleeding
🐾 Ehrlichiosis in cats — what’s known, what’s theoretical, and what to watch for
Between Part 1 and Part 2, you now have the full ehrlichiosis picture:
 from prevention and epidemiology to the clinic floor and patient care.

🔗 Resources mentioned in this episode
Australian Government DAFF ehrlichiosis resources
Fourie et al. 2013 – Transmission within 3 hours of tick bite
Stanneck & Fourie 2013 – Seresto preventing E. canis transmission
Jongejan et al. 2016 – Comparing repellents vs systemic tick products
💬 If this episode gave you a lightbulb moment, share it with your clinic team or tag me on Instagram @vetnursehacker or @vickythevetnurse.

Your feedback and stories help keep this community strong.

Ticked Off: The Ehrlichiosis Episode with Dr. Liisa Ahlstrom

Ehrlichiosis is here—and it’s not your usual paralysis tick story. In this warm, technical chat with Dr Liisa Ahlstrom, technical vet at Elanco for Seresto, we break down what ehrlichiosis is, where it’s showing up across Australia, and why prevention looks different when transmission can occur in as little as three hours. This is Part 1 (the what/where/prevention); Part 2 brings Prof. Peter Irwin for diagnostics, differentials, and nursing care.

📄 Episode Show Notes

Most of us on the east coast know the paralysis tick all too well — but did you know there’s another tick-borne disease spreading across Australia that looks completely different? In this episode of the Vet Nurse Hacker podcast, I’m joined by Dr Liisa Ahlstrom, technical vet at Elanco for Seresto, to shine a light on ehrlichiosis.

We unpack:
✅ What ehrlichiosis actually is (and how to pronounce it without tripping over your tongue)
✅ The difference between the brown dog tick and the paralysis tick — and how their diseases show up so differently in patients
✅ Why prevention for ehrlichiosis is a whole new ball game, with transmission happening in as little as three hours
✅ How this disease arrived in Australia, where it’s spreading, and what that means for clinics everywhere
✅ Key myth-busts and takeaways for vet nurses, techs, and vets on the frontlines
This is part one of a two-part ehrlichiosis series.

Today we set the scene with the what, where, and how to prevent it. In part two, I’ll be joined by Professor Peter Irwin for the clinical deep dive into diagnostics, differentials, and nursing care. If you’ve ever pulled a brown dog tick off a patient and thought “phew, at least it’s not a paralysis tick” — this is an episode you can’t afford to miss.

🔗 Resources mentioned in this episode (Links Coming Upon Upload!)
Australian Government (DAFF) ehrlichiosis resources: Ehrlichiosis in dogs – information for clinics, owners, and rescues
Fourie et al. 2013 – Disease transmission within 3 hours of tick bite: Vet Parasitol. 197:595–603
Stanneck & Fourie 2013 – Seresto preventing Ehrlichia canis transmission: Parasitol Res. 112:S21–S32
Jongejan et al. 2016 – Comparing repellent vs systemic tick products for ehrlichiosis prevention: Parasit Vectors. 9:348
💬 Got a question, case story, or lightbulb moment from this episode?

I’d love to hear it — DM me on Instagram @vetnursehacker or @vickythevetnurse, or email me at [email protected].

Beransa Backlash: Sorting Science from Speculation

Guest: Babs Tasker, Emergency & Critical Care Vet Nurse, Veterinary Territory Manager
Host: Vicky the Vet Nurse

Length: ~1 hr 21 mins
🔍 Episode Summary: This episode dives head-first into one of the most contentious conversations in vet med right now: the backlash surrounding Beransa (Librela). With headlines, social media spirals, and speculation dominating the narrative, it’s time to pause, unpack the science, and get curious—not chaotic.

Our guest, Babs Tasker, is a powerhouse ECC vet nurse with over 30 years in the industry and now a Veterinary Territory Manager at Zoetis. She's here to share insights from the clinic floor and the regulatory world, addressing concerns around Beransa’s safety, the now-infamous Farrell study, updated labels, post-approval data, and the truth behind those adverse event reports.

This isn’t a sponsored episode. There’s no editorial input from Zoetis—just two vet professionals having an open, honest, and evidence-based conversation about how we can advocate for our patients through clarity, not fear.

💬 What We Cover:
What Beransa (Librela) is and how it works as a monoclonal antibody
What the updated APVMA and FDA labels really mean
How post-approval pharmacovigilance works (and why it matters)
A breakdown of the Farrell et al. (2025) case series and its limitations
The dangers of correlation vs. causation in the age of TikTok and fear-based posts
How to navigate misinformation, emotional backlash, and clinical bias
Real-world success stories from clinics using Beransa
How to use client information sheets, monitor side effects, and report concerns
How to hold space for concern without discarding innovation

🛠️ Resources & Links: COMING SOON!!! (One Spotify uploads episode! Stay tuned!)
18.1M Dose Pharmacovigilance Report (Zoetis)
Zoetis Client Information Sheet
Bedinvetmab vs Meloxicam clinicial study
Beransa Canine OA Flow Chart
Zoetis response to recent publications re RPOA
Read the Farrell et al. (2025) Case Series in Frontiers in Vet Science

✉️ Got Questions?
We want to hear from you. Email us at [email protected] or DM @vickythevetnurse or @vetnursehacker with your questions or feedback. We’ll be adding follow-up resources in the show notes as needed!

💌 Final Word: If you’re a vet nurse, vet, or student feeling overwhelmed by the noise—this episode is for you. It’s okay to have questions. It’s okay to be uncertain. But let’s commit to staying informed, open, and always advocating for what matters most: our patients.

Just a Vet Nurse, Asking to Be Seen: Laura Bennington on ECC, Leadership & Changing the Game

 🩺 Episode Summary:
In this deeply honest and empowering episode of the Vet Nurse Hacker Podcast, we sit down with Laura Bennington, RVN, VTS (ECC)—Emergency & Critical Care specialist, educator, and founder of VEST (Veterinary Emergency Specialty Training).

From her early days in general practice in the UK to her move to Australia, Laura shares the winding, wonderful (and at times wobbly) path that led her to advanced certification, founding her own CE platform, and becoming a fierce advocate for vet nurse value.

We unpack the must-haves for your crash cart, triage mistakes to avoid, how to grow confidence in emergency settings, and why leadership doesn’t require a title. And then we go even deeper—into what it really means to say, “I’m just a vet nurse, standing in front of an industry, asking it to value me.”

Whether you're a seasoned ECC nurse, new to the game, or somewhere in between—this one will hit your heart and your clinical brain. 

🧠 What We Cover:
Laura’s journey from Scotland to Australia—and from self-doubt to VTS
What inspired her to launch VEST, and why nurse-focused CE matters
Must-have items for every crash cart (yes, including suction!)
The art of rapid triage and managing five blocked cats at once
The real difference between experience and empowerment
How to build confidence, speak up, and advocate in high-pressure environments
Why retention isn't solved by pizza—and what vet nurses actually need
The problem with title protection (and how unqualified roles hurt all of us)
Hope, burnout, identity, and why ECC is more human than we think
⚡ Rapid Fire Fun:
If ECC was a cocktail? 🍸
The weirdest (and most satisfying) foreign body story
One thing Laura wishes every vet nurse knew
Her guilty pleasure post-shift ritual
Why “Pred Before Dead” is a thing (sort of)
📲 Connect with Laura Bennington:
Instagram: @laurarvn.vest
Courses & CE: invest.thinkific.com
Email: [email protected]
🐾 Loved this episode?

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For more real talk and deep dives, follow @vetnursehacker and @vickythevetnurse. 

Check out Uncage Me — our signature course for veterinary professionals ready to reclaim their joy - www.vetxir.com