Are You Killing Your Veterinarian? What You Should Know About Suicide!

I’ve wanted to write about this topic for a long time. I’ve needed to write about it. I’ve long been encouraged by a multitude of colleagues to broach the topic. After all, we want pet parents to know about it. We need them to know about it. So, what is “it?” Well, “it” is the scarily high rate of suicide among veterinarians. A 2014 survey of 10,000 veterinarians conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found one in six American veterinarians has considered suicide! In the United Kingdom, veterinarian suicide rates are four-to-six times higher than those for the general population (and at least double the rates of dentists and human medical doctors).

I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to sit down and write this post. I’ve lost too many colleagues who have died by suicide. Maybe I was trying to purposefully avoid the topic because some of the truths may be hard for many to hear. After all, potentially upsetting pet owners isn’t exactly the smartest move for a pet-owner education blog. But, I’ve come to realize the main goal of CriticalCareDVM.com is to educate pet parents even when the topics could make one uncomfortable. So, I hope you’ll read this week’s post with open minds and hearts to learn about this exceedingly critical topic. Happy reading!

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Veterinarian Suicide – Why is the rate so high?

There is no single root cause of veterinarian suicide. The problem is truly a multi-factorial one. These factors can cause intense psychological and even physical pain. I’m reminded of a statement made by Dr. Carlin Jones, a Maine Veterinarian who once contemplated suicide:

“As veterinarians, we do view death as the end of pain. That’s what we’re taught – when the pain is too bad, euthanasia is the one thing left we can do. So, when we’re in that much psychological pain, we’re going to look at it that way.”

What causes veterinarians such psychological pain? Some factors that degrade a veterinarian’s spirit are:

Perfectionistic Personalities:

Veterinarians are highly intelligent individuals. Some of my colleagues are truly geniuses, and I’m jealous of their immense intellects. Most of us have been called “the cream of the crop” our entire lives. We got As, not Bs, in school. We tend to be leaders, not followers. We’re passionate. We don’t leave our job at the hospital; the job comes home with us. Importantly, we’re not used to failing. So, when we feel like we’ve done just that – for example, when a disease wins – we’re crushed. We’re truly devastated, and are left quite emotionally vulnerable.

What you may not appreciate is this defeated feeling can easily be compounded by pet parents. A colleague recently shared with me a story of a client who chose to say to goodbye to her fur baby due to its terminal illness. The pet parent, herself, was living with end-stage cancer. After the humane euthanasia, she told my colleague she was going to go home to die since she no longer had anything or anyone for which to live. Can you imagine the concern this created for my colleague? For veterinarians, such emotional statements from animal owners are not uncommon. We understand the intense feelings experienced by families. We feel them too. But, as most veterinarians are introverts, we internalize these feelings, a practice that can become toxic to our souls.

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Veterinarians bond with their patients, and they can feel like failures when a disease wins

Mental Health

In the United States, one in five adults has a mental health condition – that’s about 40 million people, more folks than in the states of Florida and New York combined. Unquestionably, veterinarians are not excluded from these astonishing statistics. Sadly, most American adults with mental illness don’t receive treatment for a variety of reasons, including self-denial due to societal negative stigmas and lack of access to care.

Compassion Fatigue

Veterinarians, just like other healthcare professionals, experience compassion fatigue. This condition is defined as “the emotional burden that health care providers may experience because of overexposure to traumatic events that patients are experiencing.” We have a keen awareness of our tremendous responsibility for the life and death of our patients. Indeed, I teach my students to never forget “there is a life at the end of every decision” they make. In many parts of the world – especially here in the United States – pets are increasingly thought of as members of the family. This growing belief adds a unique facet to the relationship between pet parents and veterinarians. For some veterinarians, such parental attachment creates emotionally draining relationships because they simply aren’t adept at managing people. Some don’t and can’t sleep properly. Some withdraw from work and life. Others self-medicate to cope. Combine this with the fact most veterinarians have trouble saying no to clients. We overcommit. We work late hours. We spend hours on the phone with pet parents without expectation of compensation for our time (do you expect this of your personal doctor or lawyer?). We only see family and friends on weekends. To top it all off, when we try to set reasonable limits with clients, we’re berated and branded as “uncaring”, “inaccessible”, and “only in it for the money.”

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Image courtesy of EquiManagement

Financial Debt

Veterinarians – in general – have very little business acumen. We don’t effectively convey the value of our services to pet parents, and thus we have (too) many grumbling about costs. Frustratingly, there’s a prevailing belief veterinary fees are expensive and veterinarians must be very well-paid. So, let me take a minute to address these “alternative facts.” In 2016, according to data from the American Veterinary Medical Association, the average debt for veterinary school graduates was $167,534.89, and more than 20% had debt of more than $200,000. Contrast these numbers to the 2015 mean starting salary of $67,000 for graduating students accepted to a full-time position in private animal hospitals. Financial experts recommend a ratio of student loan debt to earning salary of 1 to 1.5. Currently, this ratio in veterinary medicine is at least 2.5 (and often higher for veterinarians). With such a bleak financial outlook, why do so many people still seek to enter the profession? Yup, you got it! They love animals, and simply want to help families care for them. For this reason, impugning our integrity about our intentions is deeply insulting and infuriating, and only serves to drive cynicism and create barriers to collaborative partnerships.

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Bullying

Veterinary medicine was once a revered profession. Yet, as society has become increasingly cynical and its members have grown exceedingly entitled, there has been a concurrent and marked dropped in the respectability of my chosen career. A colleague recently commented, “Animal owners like us, but they don’t respect us.” Statements like, “You’re not a real doctor”, “I read on the internet that…”, and “My breeder said…” are quite disrespectful of a veterinarian’s education, training, and experience. As I mentioned earlier, veterinarians are incessantly accused of only being in it for the money. Being blamed by owners for forcing them to kill their pet because they can’t afford veterinary care is perhaps one of the meanest and harshest things I’ve ever heard. This is a wicked form of emotional bribery, and is entirely unacceptable. In the age of social media where pet parents can post anything they want if they don’t get their way, veterinarians are emotionally exhausted because we can’t reasonably fight back. Just know one’s 1-star review on Google or Yelp chastising a veterinarian for not providing free care because you couldn’t afford it bruises our soul and contributes to psychological pain.

Veterinarian Suicide – Why did I write this blog post?

Writing this piece was – in a way – therapeutic for me. Sharing this information helped me get thoughts out of my head and onto proverbial paper. Most importantly, I was able to share with pet parents information on a topic about which they likely knew very little. Knowledge is power, and I’m hopeful highlighting the topic of veterinarian suicide will ultimately help to strengthen the partnership between pet owners and veterinarians.

To close this post, I’ll leave you with words written by Dr. Tamara Vetro Widenhouse, a veterinarian who recently posted a powerful piece of prose on social media about legitimate bullying veterinarians experience daily. I was deeply moved by her candor and wanted to share it with you.

“Every Time”

Every time you say vets are money grubbing or ‘too expensive’ or just in it for the money,

Every time you decline all diagnostics, yet demand to know “what’s wrong with my pet”,

Every time at a social function or other completely inappropriate place you find out that someone is a vet you ask them for free advice about your animal,

Every time you feel justified posting a s&^**y practice or vet review when everything was done according to the standard of care but your pet died anyway,

Every time YOUR lack of preventative care resulted in your pet’s early death, yet you blame the veterinarian,

Every time she gets in early and stays late and works an 80-hour week because your pet that had been ill for days suddenly becomes an emergency at 5pm on a Friday, and you demand to be seen, claiming these heartless vets won’t treat your baby,

Every time someone says, “Why didn’t you become a real doctor?”,

Every time someone complains about the cost of veterinary care, comparing human medicine and insurance subsidies to pet ownership,

Every time someone doesn’t pay their bill and thinks they are entitled not to because pet ownership is their “right”,

Every time someone walks in to a clinic and threatens to “sue your ass if you make one mistake with my baby”,

Every time a graduate vet looks at the hundreds of thousands of dollars in crippling debt and listens to clients driving Mercedes and BMWs complain about the cost of a spay using good anesthetic care and adequate pain management,

Every time – You are part of the problem.

The problem is suicide in veterinarians. Most of us went to veterinary school because we care. We have a calling to care, but there is a dark and expensive cost to compassion.

Think before you act or speak.

 

All who read this blog consistently know I’m a staunch proponent of abiding by Dr. Widenhouse’s final imperative – THINK before you act or speak! Are your words and actions Thoughtful? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind?

If your answer is no, then I respectfully say, “Be aware. Be compassionate. And shhhh!”

Wishing you wet-nosed kisses,

cgb

81 Comments

  1. Thank you for writing this post. I have heard about the high rates of death by suicide by MDs and DVMs, which is really so tragic. Your insights into this difficult problem are appreciated and go a long way to building awareness and compassion.

      • Lisa Millman

        Thank you for writing this post. I was completely unaware of the suicide rate among vets. I have been a pet lover/owner all of my life and have always been fortunate to have exceptional vet care for them. I was also shocked to learn that owners actually disrespect their vets. It has always been my belief that it is much more difficult to be a vet than a human doctor because of the diversity of the patients. I, for one, am grateful to those in your profession.

        • Thank you for reading this post. I’m truly hopeful increased awareness will help improve the partnership between pet parents and veterinarians. I hope you’ll consider sharing this information with other pet parents.

      • Thank you very much for writing this post so clearly for the well-being of the profession as well as to boost the morale of the veterinary medicine practitioner. Indeed, its the need of the hour just to clear misconception of pet owners and also to establish a good bond of relationship with them.

        • Thanks for reading Dr. Baruah! I’m hopeful this post will be an effective first step in improving partnerships between pet parents and veterinarians.

    • Shellie Morefield

      I am very lucky and proud to say I have one of the most compassionate veterinarians around. We love her and so do our Beagles! Thank you for a well written article to make others aware.

      • Thank you for reading. I hope you’ll consider sharing your words of praise with your veterinarian (if you haven’t already done so) – such a gesture means more than one can adequately express in words.

  2. Wendy

    Thank you for writing this article. Veterinarians are humans too and their emotional toll is horrendous. I understand and am compassionate about how my vet feels.

  3. Maureen C. Allen

    Venting our frustration, grief, disappointment, pain does nothing for our pets’ condition but devastates the doc who’s providing the best care with a hopeful heart. It is NOT true that vets–or any doc–are somehow inured to our pain because they see more than the average person. They differ only in the long, complex, difficult training they undergo in order to devote their lives to helping the animals we love. It’s in the best interest of our animals, ourselves and our veterinarians to show them appreciation, support and compassion.

  4. Joyce Brown Wagner

    We have been blessed with excellent vet care for all of our fur babies. Expensive,yes; worth it, absolutely. Since our animals are a part of our family, they deserve the same medical care our children do. Thank you for this article.

  5. K. Kivi

    Thank you for this post. As a veterinarian of 15 years, it has gotten harder amd harder over the years. I have had my moments for sure. A strong support system is the only reason I havr made this far….. that and that I love what I do despite the pressures. We may have special skills but we are still human. We care deeply and feel deeply too. Tennessee DVM

    • I’m glad you liked it. I was really nervous about posting it, but ultimately felt I had a responsibility to share the information with pet parents.

  6. Laura Blandford

    I’m a pet owner not a vet. I just want to tell you all I so appreciate everything you guys do. Thank you. I shared this. I hope you all take care of yourself.

  7. Dr. Cynthia Becker, DDS

    Sharing. I have the greatest respect for the vets who care for my animals and others who are my personal friends. I am struck by the similarities between veterinary practice and my own, which is dentistry. A few words chosen differently, and you have expressed my own thoughts about my profession and the changes in patient perception and expectations. (I have been in practice for 35 years and colleagues have taken their lives in that time). You are exactly right.

  8. Melanie Crovo

    Thank you. I have wanted to write something like this for over a year. Your words were perfect.

    Melanie Crovo, DVM

  10. Lana Abraham

    thank you for writing this article
    I have always appreciated the great and compassionate care from my vets…I cringe when I hear people complaining about the costs…I remind them of the cost of human health care…my experience with vets has been nothing but good and I try to always say thank you. It is a tough but worthwhile career and I for one am very thankful

    • Thank you for reading the post. I hope you’ll share it with other pet parents. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to share your words of praise and encouragement with your veterinarian. It will mean the world to them!

  11. Heather Herrington

    I want to print this post and hand it to every single person who asks why I walked away from veterinary medicine. It’s so, so much harder than people realize. Thank you for writing this.

  12. Brooke

    Thanks to you, and all your colleagues. A very hard, emotional job at some times. Probably more than not.
    Thank you for opening up eyes on this subject.
    Our fur babies need good Dr.s too!
    God Bless.

  13. Linda Thornton

    This is whynI didn’t become a vet! I wanted to work with
    Animals but I didn’t want to see sick ones!!!!!!!😢😳

    Love my vets AND vet techs!
    Linda C Thornton

  14. Tina

    Firstly, thanku from from the bottom of my heart for taking the time to post this.
    I ache for you and all your colleagues and hope and pray your post has made, and will continue to make, a big difference to all the current and future ‘pet parents’.
    We have family in your profession and this has brought a very real understanding for us.
    God bless.

    • Thank you for reading and sharing your kind words. I hope you’ll consider sharing it with other pet parents you know. Increased awareness could truly help!

  15. Margaret Berry

    I am actually contemplating posting this on our hospitals facebook page. Unfortunately the clients who go to our fb are not the ones that need to read some of the hurtful comments made.

    • Thanks for reading this post! I really hope you’ll share it on your hospital website. It will undoubtedly go a long way to help increase awareness.

  16. CatsandERmedicine

    From a fellow veterinarian, thank you for creating public awareness of this problem in a candid and poignant essay. I think that in general, veterinarians are so giving, and tend to be introverted, making it difficult to advocate for ourselves. Thus, the general public likely has no idea of the varied and pressing problems veterinarians deal with each day, since vets tend to focus so much of their energies on caring for others. I think it’s both brave and necessary to start a discourse about this. Thank you. 🙂

    –INFJ ER vet in Maryland

    • Thanks for reading the post and for sharing your word kind words. I’m hopeful increased awareness will be a positive step toward improved collaboration between veterinarians and pet parents.

  18. Alyssa Zulueta

    Thank you for writing this! I only recently heard about the high rate of suicide for veterinarians, and it is heartbreaking. My personal experience has almost always been that vets and their staff are some of the most caring, loving, and compassionate people on Earth. I think it takes a special person to be a vet/vet tech.
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings on this!

  19. My mother wanted me to become a vet. I said that I couldn’t do that – because sooner-or-later someone would come in with a dog that was severely beaten (by them) and I’d euthanize – no, – that’s the wrong word: EXECUTE them – and then I’d be in jail for life.

  20. Kirsti Haaka

    Thank you for your article. I think every profession deals with colleague suicide. May I remark that a person does not make a choice to die by suicide. “Chosen to die by suicide”.
    A person suffers from a debilitating mental illness that in the end leads to suicide.
    As a veteran police officer who has investigated many sudden deaths you are correct that death by suicide is a very complex series of events. Prevention and support are even harder for professionals to source out and accept. It is difficult to fight the stigma often associated with mental illness. But we must try to reach out, if you are suffering get help. Talk to a trusted friend. If necessary get yourself to emergency services. Your life matters.

    • Thank you for sincere comments. You’re absolutely correct about the term “choose” and I have updated the post accordingly. I appreciate you calling my attention to this phrasing. I was determined not to use the phrase “commit suicide” because dying by suicide is no longer a crime as the term and history of it implies. Thank you again for your share of encouraging words!

  21. Wendy L.

    I left Veterinary medicine after almost 20 years of service. ” It’s just a dog.” “I can’t feed my kids.” I got tired of the disregard by some of the clients. Sleepless nights worrying about patients, verbal abuse by clients, and the extreme psychological pain of loosing any fur friend finally wore me down. Thank you for this article. It is long over due!!

  22. Melinda

    This is a huge concern. Having worked in the Veterinary field for 20 years, I’ve seen this occur all to often. Let’s also remember the Veterinary staff. We may not have the high loans for college, however we get hammered with all the other stuff as well. We get emotionally beat up as well. We get or like me, have compassion fatigue. Suicide with staff is increasing as well.

  23. Aireal

    Thank you for this, RVTs usually get out with very little debt, but because we earn so much less then our human counterparts (even though we do so much more) we do feel pain in the bank account as well.
    As for the rest of it, our angle of the relationship is somewhay different, but we feel so many of the same pressures, as well as are treated just as poorly by clients. We feel the pain with you.

    • Veterinary technicians, assistants, and client service representatives undoubtedly experience similarly pain! Thank you for reading and sharing.

  24. France

    Thank you for opening my eyes to this issue. When I first read the reasons for suicide I thought one reason would be the fact that vets may treat some animals that don’t receive adequate care. Their owners refuse to pursue treatment and their pet suffers and dies. I hope this doesn’t happen often.

    • Thank you for reading the post! I believe a family’s inability or unwillingness to heed a veterinarian’s recommendations is unquestionably a stressor, and contributes to psychological pain. In my mind, this type of stress falls under the category “Perfectionistic Personalities” because while we truly try not to judge a family, we don’t like losing for our patients.

  25. ColoradoWildflower

    Interesting writing. Everyone has their character defects. Just hope it is not posted on a Small Business owners Facebook, not such great advertising for your fellow employee’s putting in their best and working hard for NEW clientele to enter your business.
    Your employees strive to keep your client’s happy!
    Posting this on your business social media is pure unprofessionalism.

    • Thank you for your share of words. While I respect your opinion and appreciate civil discourse, I very much disagree with your statements. It’s my hope all veterinary hospitals, animal advocacy groups, rescue organizations, veterinarians themselves, and yes, even pet parents, will share this information on their business social media sites, as well as their personal ones. I don’t believe such a distribution of information is unprofessional at all. Rather, increased visibility and awareness could help bridge the gap to more effective partnerships between pet parents and veterinarians.

  26. Almudena Vaquero

    Even though, we are proud to be Vets, don’t we? Thank you for write this post and share.

  27. Onecutebyrd

    The one issue I have about veterinarian education is a lot of these schools are compensated by large pet food companies and the vets are swayed to recommend some of this pet food or pet supplies. A lot of these products are not good for animals and they end up making animals very sick or they lack a basic nutrient your pet needs. Having said that I have a very good vet I have gone to for years. I will be very sad when she retires as she is one exotic specialist I trust with my parrot.

    • Thank you for your comments. I certainly appreciate hearing the opinions of others, and do appreciate civil discourse. With that being said, I fear you may not be pleased or ready to hear my response. I’m not going to comment on your believe food produced by these companies is “not good for animals” because I’m not going to allow anyone to hijack this important post with unsubstantiated safety claims. However, I must comment on your statement that “a lot of these schools” receive funding from large pet food companies. This is correct. However, your assumption veterinarians are “swayed to recommend” the food produced by these companies is simply rubbish. It’s a prime example of ‘relationship implies causation’ fallacy or ‘cum hoc ergo propter hoc.” Sadly, it’s also one veterinarians hear repeated over and over to them with no evidence from the accusers to back their erroneous statements. What you may not realize is such accusations are entirely disrespectful. They impugn our integrity as legitimate medical professionals and patient advocates. They imply veterinarians will alter medical recommendations because of corporate influence. Can you not see how insulting such accusations are? This is bullying, and I hope veterinarians will stop tolerating it. I hope they will unwaveringly start calling out pet parents who make these false claims. I hope they’ll start more effectively educating the pet-owning public. In this blog post I shared a statement from a colleague: “Animal owners like us, but they don’t respect us.” By saying veterinarians are “swayed” by pet food companies, you sadly prove my colleague right. You malign veterinarians’ medical expertise because you’re ignorant about pet nutrition. Maybe you think grains are bad for all pets. Maybe you believe chicken or bone meal is inherently unhealthy. Maybe you believe misleading information from the pet food companies themselves because they’ve done an incredible job brainwashing pet parents into believing bad information to sell their products. I believe it would be wonderful to see pet parents take the advice of their pet’s doctor – an actual experienced medical professional – over that from fancy pet food commercials or online support groups with no medical or nutritional substance to back their claims. Just some food for thought…

  28. Norma Corsini

    I have good reason to love and respect all my veterinarians. It hurts me when they are unjust criticized. Thank you for giving me arguments to defend them!

  29. Marc Mitchell, DVM

    Very well done! The fact the you respond to everyone’s comments speaks volumes to the kind of person you are. You clearly go the extra mile like so many vets (and other professionals). It’s that kind of caring that can burn people out as you outlined so well in the article.

    • Thank you so much for reading and commenting. I appreciate them very much. I hope you’ll share the post with your clients so they know the severity of this problem in our profession.

  30. CatDoc

    Thank you so much for speaking out on behalf of our profession. On those days when it all feels hopeless, it would be helpful to have clients understand some of what we are dealing with.

  31. Elisa Salas

    I have lost colleagues to this terrible illness. Suicide leaves eveyone questioning, “Why?”

    The pain of recriminations is real. I found practice to be too high a cost to my mental health. I would make recommendations for the best medicine to only have people who lacked my education or expertise question my motivations.

    Although popular with clients and staff, I left clinical practice. I enjoy diagnostics due to the rarity of these types of interactions.

    I hope all reading remember in all interactions, most people are only attempting to do their best.

    • Thanks for reading and sharing words Dr. Salas. Your statement about all trying to always assume positive intent is very important (and often hard to do).

    • Jen Welch

      10+ years in the industry as support staff and management. We must also remember that depression is a diagnosable and treatable disease. We need to educate on this. Although I am very sensitive to this issue, I believe that articles like these may not always be helpful to our plight as they pit us against the pet owning public. I believe that if you reread your article, you may find that instead of discussing the true issue of depression and mental illness at hand, you instead list all of the things that the pet owning public does TO veterinarians, as though those are the causes of veterinarian suicide. They are not, depression and mental illness are the causes. We cannot do anything about the public, but we can teach boundaries, coping skills, and signs and symptoms of depression and encourage them to seek treatment. Consider your title, “Are you killing your veterinarian?” Of course not! Depression and mental illness are killing veterinarians, not the pet owning public.

      • Thank you for reading and sharing words. I respect your opinion, but simply don’t agree with all of your suppositions. Further, mental health science proves some of your statements are simply inaccurate. The goal of my blog post was not to discuss depression and mental illness. Rather it was to highlight some of the documented factors that contribute to my colleagues dying by suicide, one of which is mental illness. However, to state every veterinarian who dies by suicide has depression or a mental health disorder is an inaccurate and potentially dangerous generalization. People who attempt suicide are often acutely distressed. Mental health experts agree the vast majority are depressed to some extent. With that being said, I believe it’s important to remember this depression may be either a reactive depression that is an entirely normal reaction to difficult circumstance OR it may be an endogenous depression that is the result of a diagnosable mental illness with other underlying causes. Of course, it may also be a combination of the two in some individuals. What my blog post does is bring to the forefront some of the factors that contribute to the current epidemic of veterinarian suicide. I agree veterinarians should be provided resources to teach coping strategies and self-care. But I argue we can do something with the pet-owning public. I’m truly hopeful that increase awareness of these factors could go a long way toward enhancing the partnership between pet owners and veterinarians.

  32. John C

    Thank you for addressing this difficult topic. My oldest brother had been a practicing veterinarian for many years when he committed suicide. I miss him!

  33. Robert Foglia DVM

    Thank you for helping to shed some light on what is a truly tragic reality in our profession. I have lost colleagues to suicide, and it is devastating. This can be a very stressful profession and I’m sure most of us have experienced many of the points you mentioned in our own lives. We all cope differently with stress, but hopefully this will be one more steppingstone towards a better understanding.
    Thank you again,

    • Thanks for reading Dr. Foglia. I appreciate your insights and share of words. I share your hope that this blog will be a positive step forward.

  34. Kathy Rasmussen

    I have been mostly fortunate with the vets I have gone to, they are caring people that want the best for my babies. When I don’t agree with the vet we talk it over and come to an understanding my current vet has even asked me questions about raw feeding after seeing how healthy my dogs are and while they don’t promote a raw diet they do accept it. They have also continued their education and added some holistic training.

    • Thank you for reading and sharing words. I believe it is truly important for pet parents to recognize veterinarians as medical experts. Too often pet parents form opinions about medical issues based on inaccurate and unsubstantiated information from other pet parents, friends/family, breeders, and/or the internet support groups. Despite their inability to substantively back-up their opinions with sound medical evidence, these pet owners hold steadfast to their opinions, are unwilling to hear sound medical advice, and often become argumentative, completely dismissing the educated and expert medical opinions of their veterinarians. While I appreciate civil discourse at times, in my opinion, such behavior is completely disrespectful of the expertise veterinarians bring to the proverbial plate, and only serves to drive unhealthy relationships between veterinarians and pet parents.

  35. Rose

    Your words are inspiring, they help make some sense of the colleagues that each and every one of us has lost to suicide or those who simply chose to walk away from their vocation.
    Sadly those who read it and connect are the good guys, the pet owners who respect us and value our skills.
    No matter how many thank you we get it is the accusations that cause us disproportionate pain and self doubt. Managing that seems to be the art to surviving the world of veterinary medicine. Value yourself above all else.

  36. steve miller

    Thanks for publishing this post.

    I must say, I have found myself thinking some of those thoughts especially with respect to the cost of vet care. I have not experienced the thought my vet was not competent. Quite the opposite.

    I have an excellent vet who has diagnosed correctly much more than not. However, he is expensive when compared to another vet I’ve used. They are both excellent vets, yet one is 1/3 the cost.

    For example a tooth extraction is $1100-$1200 with one vet; and $350 for the other. And they both use anesthesia. I would use the less expensive vet more often, but he’s located 60 miles away.

    I understand the business side of having to run a practice. Quality/experienced staff comes with higher costs.

    • Thank you for reading. You are correct by stating state-of-the art equipment and facilities, as well as highly trained and experiences doctors and support staff come with certain overhead costs that must be covered. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

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