Thanks, Dr. Coates. This is exceptionally good information for tucking into my phone so it's handy.

Funny looking kid. I'm an MD, no one would really write that on a chart both for appropriateness and since the lawyers are always looking over our shoulder. I'm jealous that you actually can use stuff like ADR, I thought it was slang like FLK until I saw IDEXX offers and ADR profile.

- that I remember from my vet tech days:
BD/LD - Big Dog/ Little Dog. Usually refers to the consequence of a mismatched dog fight.
DFL - Dog Fight Loser.

I don't know why both examples that came to mind were fight related!

Oh, and one doctor I worked with had another one - if there was a "P" written on the corner of the chart you knew he felt like he was talking to a post. In case that's a regional expression, it is the same as talking to a brick wall :-)

Using acronyms like ADR (ain't doing right) really cheapens the veterinary profession and makes us look like a bunch of country bumpkins.

Now it's bad that Idexx offers an "ADR" and, even more silly, "Huff and Puff" blood panels.

I couldn't believe when I first saw it that the ADR panel meant "ain't doing right" and even asked my vet if there was some other meaning for it. She groaned and said how much she hates that they named it that as it is so unprofessional.

Well call me a "country bumpkin" - but I really try not to talk down to my clients.
When I have an animal in the exam room who is "ADR" - I will explain to the owner, "Every couple of weeks we get the dog or cat like Fluffy here, in who isn't acting normally. They are eating, drinking, urinating, defecating normally. They aren't vomiting. They just aren't acting like they feel good. They have an astute and worried owner who typically says words to the effect of, 'I don't know, doc, he just ain't doing right'. We have an acronym for this condition - it's ADR - Fluffy 'ain't doing right' - Fluffy isn't telling us what's wrong - just that something is wrong. We need to run XYZ test to try to figure it out what Fluffy wants us to know so we can help him/her." Usually the client will laugh when I explain what ADR means. It let's them relax just a bit.

One of my favorite (or not) acronyms is saved for the snarling, lunging, large dog - LGFD - "looks good from door".

Instead of using really poor English such as "Ain't doing right", why not instead use the acronym NFW for "not feeling well" or something similar?

Because NFW wouldn't make the owner laugh.

You said the magic words, Dr. Ken...laughter, as Norman Cousins said, is often the best medicine. Personally, I think that the acronyms not only make good sense, but sort of "lighten" the situation, when explained as Dr . Ken and Dr. Coates have done so well. Nothing wrong with acronyms, pneumonic devices, or anything of that sort.
However, be on the lookout for the bad patient/"owner" acronym...shades of that famous Seinfeld episode. :) I often wonder what physicians/vets write in the charts of those of us who are the more outspoken, "I want to be a partner in my own care or the care of my pets') kind of people.

I think it's a great acronym, and it has never struck me that it made my vet seem "unprofessional".

It's just a good summary for that feeling a pet owner gets that it's "just not right", even when it's hard to pinpoint objective symptoms. This is very common in Bassets, who are quite stoic with pain. So our first indication of problems with this breed is often indeed an ADR observation.

By the way, I have a master's degree. I write for a living. And I'm from the Pacific Northwest, not a southern or mid-western state.

Lighten up, folks!

Dr. Coates:

First, why not give us the answer to your question? What does the acronym FLK stand for? It took a comment from your blogship to provide the answer.

Second, obfuscate? This is Khuly's revenge. Why not conceal, confuse or obscure? Obfuscate? Really? Do you use this word often?

FLK = Funny Looking Kid

Some say the acronyms are too casual or illiterate.
Another's strangely upset with Dr Khuly as well as the question about FLK. And oh BTW, the word "obfuscate" is too high falutin'.
No doubt someone else has a problem with "high falutin'".
Can't win for losing today.

Every-One is not the same. Good to know, Our Pet Doctor, Tell us how it is, what ever His says goes. We have total trust in Him.

I love the effort to share out insider veterinary lingo with the pet loving petMD community. I have an additional term that I don't commonly use which fits the bill in this list: PTS (Put To Sleep). I prefer and use the term euthanasia, because we are not actually inducing "just" sleep. Euthanasia is a irreversible/terminal step beyond sleep.
Dr PM
www.PatrickMahaney.com