Diary of a Back Alley Doctor - Entry 3 - Hunters Agnotology

Headaches, Headaches, and More Headaches

I just want to smash

My head into a brick wall

I'm going insane

Not that I've looked down on veterinarians before going into medicine but after taking the smallest of glances at the amount of texts I eventually forced myself to read, in spite of the fact they get to work with cute animals all day, I definitely am NOT envious of their field now.  I'm currently surrounded by so many books that it might actually warrant a fire hazard. Good thing these Vvilk eyes don't need too many candles lit to be able to scour through all these texts.

Human anatomy is difficult enough. So much so the medical field has been forced to separate itself into multiple subsections and specialties because of just how much information there is to memorize. Not just the body itself but one specific part of the body. I thought general practitioners had it bad enough. But that and taking into account the physiology of different species? The amount of general anatomy veterinarians need to memorize doesn't just border on mental. It is actually mental. Like, the amount of mental energy you need to remember everything is legitimately insane. 

For basics, I decided to look into diet since that's one of the most important tenets of a person's health. Human or Vvilk. Really any living thing.

I thought this would be simple. Just brushing up on the things every dog owner should know. Don't feed your dog chocolate, onions, garlic, grapes. Or rather the seeds in grapes.

Turns out. For Vvilks. Diet isn't anything basic at all.

Didn't expect the gastrointestinal tracts of humans out of all things to be their super power. Sure maybe humans can't really eat things like parasite infested carrion like Vvilks can but there's a whole menagerie of foods humans can eat that we take for granted which I and every other Vvilk are painfully (and potentially dangerously) finding out the hard way.

Worst part about this whole experience? I've read and reread and rereread these books multiple times over. Vvilks aren't just composed of dog/wolf/human DNA because of course it has to be more complicated.

No.

Because the Vvilk virus is a derivative of the Rabies virus it can affect a multitude of different mammalian species. And it's a virus prone to carrying fragments of the genes from its animal hosts into human organisms. Hence the mutations caused by the horizontal gene transfers the virus is notorious for. It also doesn't help that it isn't just one virus. If my textbook from my college days is still up to date, it's something like 4 or 5 viruses working in tandem? Each of those viruses bringing about it's own unique set of genetic mutations, and each of those genetic mutations are influenced by the animal host that carried it. Hence why so many Vvilks look so radically different- Unless they happen to have been infected by the same Vvilk.

From what I can garner, because the Vvilk virus is so similar to the Rabies virus in so many ways, what a rabies virus can infect, a Vvilk virus can also likely infect.

Aside from wolves which are the primary carriers of the Vvilk virus ( hence the Lechian word for wolf which is wilk ) , racoons, bats, foxes, and skunks are the second most common carriers for the Vvilk virus and are the first most common carriers of the Rabies virus. Hence, why I look like an oversized racoon in Vvilk form and why Redd looks foxier than usual.

You've also got your standard domestic animals that can carry it. Cats. Dogs.

Less common but still potentially infectious bears along with a multitude of other primate species.

Also cows and horses for some reason. Which actually explains the existence of minotaurs and fauns come to think of it?

Basically, almost anything that's a mammal. If it's a mammal it can probably carry it.