There is no surprise when one meets a veterinarian who says he, or increasingly she, loves animals. Indeed, most people tend to think a veterinarian must necessarily love animals. But Hitesh Swali, well-known practitioner in Bombay’s western suburbs, is not that veterinarian.
Dr Swali is a fan of Dr Asthana aka Maamu, the immensely popular character from Rajkumar Hirani’s superhit directorial debut film Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. (2003). Like Dr Asthana, he believes doctors must be practical and not get emotionally attached to their patients. Echoing the character, he says, “If I start loving my patient then I will not be able to even administer an injection because I will be thinking constantly about the pain the injection will cause more than its benefits.”
Hitesh Swali graduated from the Bombay Veterinary College, the city’s only such institute, and began practising in 1995, but he was involved in animal care since the age of nine, when he began accompanying his father, Dr S.G. Swali, to his clinics in Chembur in the eastern suburbs and Juhu in the west and receiving hands-on training, which piqued his interest in the profession. The senior Dr Swali was among the handful of veterinarians in Bombay back in the 1960s, when the city’s population was still under 50 lakh, and only a fortunate few kept pets.
“The journey of animal interaction and service started when I was nine,” Hitesh Swali recalls. “I learnt more ways of dealing with unwell animals and how to treat them with patience. While I was doing my undergraduate studies, I was also assisting my father in small procedures in treating animals.”
Hitesh’s first clinic, Animal Care Center, was opened in Juhu by his father. Now he runs two clinics—in Andheri (West) and in Juhu. His sister, Dr Parul Parpani, is also a practising veterinarian.
In a career spanning 29 years, Hitesh has handled many interesting cases. One that he remembers vividly involved a dog in whose excreta the owner spotted an iron nail. “We ran some tests and the ultrasonography revealed the dog had swallowed 30-40 nails!” he recalls. “My consulting veterinary surgeon and I decided to give only husk (natural fibre) and some laxative to the dog. We saw that the nails had not harmed the animal’s internal organs and were in the intestine moving towards the rectum. Of course, we were ready for any emergency, but the natural treatment helped and all the nails came out in the excreta over the next few days.”
The case reinforced Dr Swali’s belief in the use of natural methods. “We should not complicate things by getting anxious,” he says. “I tell the pet parent clearly about the ailment, counsel them if need be, and tell them my first line of treatment and emergency treatment. After this, it is their call.”
His bluntness is not always liked, however, and Swali reveals he has often been criticized for being straightforward while speaking to pet owners. “Calling a spade a spade is not appreciated all the time,” he says. “People have complained about me and I have lost clients. But that doesn’t bother me now.”
A major problem vets face these days is that pet owners often need counselling as much as their pet needs treatment. Many owners need detailed explanations as they come with many pre-conceived notions, mostly picked up from marketing gimmicks. This process, he says, can be exhausting, particularly when owners refuse to accept anything against the “regular image”.
“Pet parents need to be strong and have faith in the doctor,” he says. “More often than not, pets replicate their parents not only in behaviour, but also emotionally and physically. I have seen cases where the pet was diagnosed with the same illness as the parent. This includes cancer and even conception of a baby.”
Interestingly, unlike in the human medical profession, where patients often worsen their situation with self-diagnosis and self-medication, the internet is a saviour for veterinarians. “Many a time, an animal may show certain symptoms, but the root cause may not be obvious,” he says. That’s where the internet comes in handy.” The internet also comes to the rescue when pet owners sometimes delay treatment as they consult multiple veterinarians for a second and a third opinion. “In such cases we tell the pet parent to look things up on the internet to get a better idea,” he says.
Since the past eight years, Dr Swali has been treating only dogs and cats, but early on in his practice he used to treat goats as well. “Although goats are not common pets now, in the early days they used to be,” he says. “Many Maharashtrian families kept goats and used goat milk regularly.” He was quite adept at handling goat illnesses. “The area where I lived had many goats and I have seen many interesting cases,” he says.
An allied subject that Dr Swali takes a keen interest in is pet food. “There was a time when my car used to be full of pet food and accessories,” he says. The accessories were something he loved collecting as he was always curious to to see what new products had come into the market. But the interest in food was deeper.
“I have seen pets suffer because they are forced to eat foods meant for humans,” he says. “So, I used to carry dog foods and discuss those with my fellow vets and with pet parents.”
While he is happy that awareness of the importance of pet food is growing, a lot remains to be done, he says. “The biggest competitor of pet food is not rival companies, but home-cooked food,” he says. “In an attempt to treat the animal as a member of the family, pet parents give it home-cooked food, which is often not nutritious for the pet. For example, it is difficult to explain to a dog owner that their dog may be allergic to chicken, because the common perception is that dogs like bones.”
Then there are the vegetarians whose dogs survive on flat bread, vegetables and dairy. “It is funny and painful at the same time to try and explain to them that their dog is a carnivore,” he says.
In today’s marketing-driven times, the life of a pet is also the victim of advertising. “Given the lack of awareness among pet parents, many have used that vacuum for their benefit by bringing in products like ‘organic food’ and ‘vegan food’ for pets. It is no longer amusing to see that while the companies are manipulating pet parents, the parents are not only succumbing to those gimmicks, but also exposing their pet to unhealthy, unnatural food. They should simply get normal pet food for their pets.”
Another pet peeve (pun unintended) for Dr Swali is that people keep pets without understanding the animal’s natural instinct. “Cats are not herd animals, but there are people who have 12 cats at home,” he says. “They think they have given their pets company to play with, but cats will fight when left unsupervised. There is a condition called stress UTI [urinary tract infection]. This happens when cats are not in a favourable environment. The condition does not show any symptoms and is difficult to diagnose. It takes strong doses of medication to treat these cases.”
A similar issue involves people who keep dogs of different breeds together. Doing this means different “parenting”, food and behaviour, “but pet parents have the tendency of loving their pets ‘equally’,” he says. “I have observed that humans start behaving with their pets like how they would behave with a human child, which is ill advised. No two pets are the same. They need different vaccinations at different ages, different diets, some require more physical activity.…” If these aspects are not taken care of, it can lead to conditions like obesity, he says.
Dr Swali has not cultivated any hobbies as he says he has hardly any time left, given that he also works on Sundays. He sometimes mixes business with leisure and extends a conference into a vacation. “When I go to any good country for a veterinary conference, my family joins me after the conference and we extend the stay into a small vacation,” he says.
For entertainment, he loves watching movies. “Any movie from any era, any genre, in any language is good for me,” he says. “I just want to shut my brain and watch something light and entertaining.”
He doesn’t read many books outside of those related to his profession. “Every chance I get, I want to relax mentally, and there is nothing like watching a movie that doesn’t require too much of thought and decoding. Even if I do watch a complicated movie, I leave it to the movie to unfold and wait for the climax without getting anxious.
“There is no dearth of stress in my profession. I get calls at odd hours to attend to a recused pet and I work six and a half days a week, so all I want is to ‘chill’,” he says, smiling.
While he does not have a pet at home, Dr Swali is a part of The Feline Foundation and provides medical services for stray and rescued cats. “It is difficult to do anything on my own, but I offer my services and am associated as a vet with many animal NGOs,” he says.
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