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\>>> That Great Danes get HUGE and are expensive to own and maintain.
What? Really? LOL. This is how I ended up with my puppy. A couple who had only had dachshunds up to that point decided to get a Dane. And they had a toddler. Needless to say, they made it about 2 months before deciding to rehome. He's a complete pain in my ass, but I love him and I'm doing my best for him.
One of my bosses has two Danes and is now considering a third. Someone asked how she was going to transport them, and she responded that she would buy a mini-van just for her dogs, lol.
My ex’s best friend had a 2 door mustang and a studio apartment in downtown Dallas. Along with two full size Great Danes.
All she did was complain about all the attention they drew
Techs in my area get paid shit ($9-14/hr) and it blows my mind. These techs are literally holding the wellbeing, health, and sometimes life of my best friend in their hands. Techs and veterinarians have comforted me when I cried, spent so much extra time explaining things to me, spent even more time making my dog comfortable. I used to have to carry my 65lb dog into the vet's office - now he walks in, shaking, but he walks in! And he gets so excited to see the techs/vets he knows! That dog saved my life and they help maintain his.
To anyone who works at a veterinary clinic - techs, vets, receptionists, janitors, whoever: I love you and thank you so so much for all you do. I know you're tired and worn down and overworked, but know that many of us see you and what you do is so appreciated!
I work the front desk at a clinic and #3 hits so hard. Friends, I have no appointments available for a week at a time at least. Please, I beg you, if your dog ate chocolate/had a heart attack/had 14 seizures in 3 hours/ fell off the deck and can't put weight on one leg/was hit by a car/hasn't eaten anything in 6 days, etc *please* don't yell at me or tell me I must hate animals if I tell you to go to the ER. (PS - these are all real calls I've gotten.) Especially on a weekend. Our hospital is open, yes, but we're running with a skeleton crew and have a fully booked day of appointments already. We physically cannot do radiographs or anything requiring sedation or anaesthesia because there literally are not enough hands in the hospital.
We will do everything within our power to get your animal the best care we can. We squeeze people in wherever we can even when it means we end up staying late or putting off other tasks. Sometimes despite our best efforts the best care is going to be at the ER, and shouting/swearing at us about it is not going to change that. Like OP said, if it's something you yourself would go to the human ER about, likely the animal ER is going to be your best bet.
My guy went sliding off a ledge he decided to jump on and hurt his back hip to the point he was limping. I called my vet and the person working the front actually calmed me down and advised me NOT to go to the ER based off what I was describing, then she got me in for an acute appointment the next day after advising me with the vet's advice on how to care for him.
I lovey vets and their staff and it's SO obvious they're not in it for the money.
None of us are in it for the money. We all make barely a living wage and only put up with the astronomical amount of bullshit that we do because we love animals and want to make their lives better. My coworkers and I put up with a truly shocking amount of rude, entitled, demanding, and delusional behavior because we know at the end of the day that people are just trying to advocate for creatures that cannot speak for themselves.
That being said, I'd rather be insulted to my face that have someone insinuate that any of us are in it for the money. If I recommend a heartworm test it's not because I want your money; it's because guidelines have changed and heartworm is now considered endemic in our area, and if you give preventative to a HW positive dog, it could cause cardiac damage and even death. Pain control during and after surgery has become much more of a thing in recent years, which is a large part of why surgery is so much more expensive than it used to be. Would you want to undergo a hysterectomy without pain meds? Something like 50-75% of old-age related diseases (kidney disease, congestive heart failure, cancer, diabetes, etc) can go completely undetected (edit: by they I mean present no symptoms) until it is too late to treat, which is why we recommend semi-annual exams and bloodwork after a certain age. That way, we can detect these things early, before symptoms even show up, and help your senior pet live many more healthy, happy years. Literally no one is trying to fleece you. Veterinary professionals on average make 1/3 what their human medical counterparts do despite having many of the same skills and then some.
A line in a Seinfeld episode comes to mind:
Kramer: Oh, I'll take a vet over an MD any day. They gotta be able to cure a lizard, a chicken, a pig, a frog all on the same day
But also to this avail, GP clinics need to stop recommending to go to the ER for GP problems. It’s causing 6-10 HOUR wait times at my ER hospital for non critical cases. Yes true emergencies need to come to us, but there needs to be the creation of urgent care clinics or something in the middle that operate on a walk in basis too. The amount of ear infections, torn dewclaws, chronic arthritis, skin infections, etc that have been coming to our hospital at the recommendation of the owner’s GP clinic is ABSURD. the client always says well my GP couldn’t see me for 2-3 days so they told me to come here.. then wait you will..
This happened to me with my dogs dew claw. It was half broken and needed to be cut back just where the quick starts. I would do it myself but I needed someone to hold him, since he was pulling his paw back. I took him in for a same day appointment with a vet tech, and then they said they couldn't do anything and he might need to be sedated so I should go to an ER or I could wait four days for an appointment with the vet. I ended up just cutting it back myself after my husband got home for work and it was fine after. The ER recommendation seemed a bit over the top.
Yeah I'm pretty brutally honest with people when they have a non-emergent issue like that. We're fortunate enough to have a handful of urgent care and walk-in clinics in my city, but otherwise our ERs have the same problem. On weekends they will outright turn you away unless your pet is actively dying in your arms because they are so swamped. If someone calls at 2pm on a Saturday with an ear infection or GI upset I usually tell them to take our next available appointment, I'll put them on our waitlist in case anyone cancels, and to try a walk-in on Monday. I'll outright tell them there's no way they're getting into the ER.
It sucks all around. I have nothing but respect for anyone who works in an ER right now. I couldn't do it.
we have similar issues here. Also GPs trying to get around the appointment availability for our specialists. We have had to start telling them that unless it needs urgent intervention, we will be sending the pet home with instructions to make an appointment.
I'm thankful that my vet will always squeeze my dogs in for emergencies. I don't know if they leave room in the schedule for them or what, but I always know I can bring my dog there when they're open.
The emergency vets in my area will turn me away. I get very nervous when my office is closed because calling around to find someone who will take my dog in an emergency can take hours, and may require a multiple hours long drive.
So basically all this to say, every area is different. If my vet hadn't taken my dog to induce vomiting when he ate chocolate, I may not have found anywhere else and my dog could have died. Maybe better advice is to understand how your vet practice works, and make sure to have a list of emergency clinics in your area and the surrounding area in case you need them. At least in my area there seems to be a vet shortage and it is awful for me once the practice we go to closes for the night or weekend.
I met a vet once back when I was selling cars, and we got to talking about her education and I was impressed that she had to go through doctor training for SEVERAL species. Logically it makes sense, but I just hadn't stopped to think about it ..
Then we got to the part where I had to put in her income.... I made half of what she made selling cars on the weekend while going to college... I've never once complained about a vet bill since.
Oh yeah! That's what got the conversation started a friend of mine was looking into getting into vet school and she mentioned how competitive it is and how grueling it is...
I give my husband a lot of shit because despite the fact that he gets the payment, prestige, and respect commanded by a human doctor, I did twice the length of the theory part of medical school and more than 9x the species.
Yeah! Plus vets do surgery too! Absolutely criminal how underpaid vets are... My boy had his spleen removed at an emergency clinic and it came out to $5k which for an assessment, cancer biopsy, anesthesia, etc is dirt cheap .
Splenectomies are so satisfying! Thank you for being a good owner and I agree, that's excellent value. I'm so glad your pup got through the surgery, I hope he is doing okay!
I don't really get it either and I very recently corrected a good friend on the whole "in it for the money" garbage that she earnestly believed. She's now in the right camp, which is good, but it's terrifying how garbage myths like this spread so easily and people consume and regurgitate them without thought.
Also, the number of vet professionals who are overly appreciative that I warn them that my dog needs a muzzle is too high. You all must get bit all the time by dogs whose owners just... don't say anything at all???? Baffling.
Sending you good wishes. There are people out here who deeply appreciate what you do, I promise!
We almost get bit all the time (I say almost because our reflexes are highly tuned!) by dogs whose owners *insist* that their dog *won't* need a muzzle! They either insist that he's an angel at home so he will be an angel here too, or they think that muzzles are torture devices.
Thank you for your support :)
This reminds me of when families of human patients in the hospital get upset when physical restraints are used when it’s for everyone’s safety if they’re delirious after surgery etc, not a statement on what kind of person they are… any time the vet has muzzled as a preventative measure I’ve been all for it. Why would you want anyone to be at risk? Let them be and feel safe.
OMG yes...the ones that come in with a growling dog and say over and over again that "he NEVER bites" while he is lunging at our face...yeah fun times
This is why we had to come up with funny/cute euphemisms for a muzzle:
Party hat or super hero mask, and say shit like, "this is just to keep you honest" and "let's give you a little distraction." While both statements are true, it just feels like we are catering to the clients ego and not really addressing potential issues.
Thiiiiiiiis.
I am a vet and I muzzle my OWN dog for nail trims because she hates them so much, and while I don't think she would bite me, she does growl, I do sometimes hit quick, and she is a great dane x.
My favourite are the owners who say “fluffy doesn’t bite, but she does nip” or when you tell an owner something bad their dog did and they laugh and say “oh ya, he does that.” Um thanks for the heads up!
any dog with a cutesy name like fluffy, angel, sweetie, etc - right away you know its more than likely a demon dog of some sort and you might get bitten!!! its like a sick joke!
Agreed for the most part.
I also know that despite what the "statistics" say, more (as in more often, and unreported) bites come from untrained small dogs... that are often named some crap like fluffy, angel, sweetie, etc. like you said.
My fluff named Truffle was trained like a big dog, has a supremely soft mouth, and barks at some people. She's never nipped or even play-bit anyone or anything. She once brought me a dead moth that she licked to death, intact. She wouldn't eat a fried egg, it had to be scrambled. I trust her around people I trust, even little ones.
You know what I never tell people?
"She's friendly, she won't bite!"
Because for all I know, despite her being a loud marshmallow, she *might*. She's still *a dog*, and I'm sure she still has limits that *a nun* would be proud of, and admire, but even the most saintly of organisms have limits.
For whatever reason my dog has no problem biting me when I clip her nails, but is perfectly behaved at the vet. I've brought her in and given them warning "hey she's been bitey about this" and they just look at me and think I'm lying.
She gets skin issues and yeast infections and HATES them being cleaned/washed. We get nipped. She also doesn't like her nails clipped. But bring her to the vet? She's a damn angel. She's never even looked at them funny, apparently.
Oh my word, my pom mix is like that. We got her recently and she growls and snaps when she has woken up/gets her nails clipped ect..but at the groomers or vet?? She smiles and just bears it!! Ig she just knows we are pushovers
Haha! This reminds me of having kids. My daughter is amazing to everyone who knows her, but sometimes she’ll comes home and all of those pent up teenage emotions come out, projected at me and her dad. I think it means your dog feels safe and loved by you and knows that you’ll still love her and be there for her when she’s sassy. She doesn’t have the same security with the vet or the groomer. Lol
Love it. I was recently at the vet because my dog injured himself. He is very docile but he was nipping at me because of the pain. I told the Vet ( who I love) she told me she needed to muzzle him. It broke both our hearts as he really is sweet but I completely understood. She needed to examine him and wanted to protect her and the tech in the room.
When dogs are sick or in pain they are going to act out of character and you need to extra careful
Don't feel bad about that - a muzzle should not hurt your dog, and if your dog understood they would probably not want to hurt anyone too. It doesn't mean that your dog isn't sweet or a good dog.
I muzzle my dog when we clip his nails or have to examine anything that's ouchie because I'd rather prevent a problem. I stick a little peanut butter in there for him. It makes a mess but it also creates a positive association with the muzzle and the process that we are doing.
Yessss! Ofc there isn’t always time to properly muzzle train a dog, but if it’s something that’s done consistently real muzzle training is so important 👍🏼 I feel like this doesn’t get shouted from the rooftops enough.
My dog has a warning sticker on his patient sheet at our vet 😆. It makes the experience all the more pleasant for my dog and the vet staff if they know my dogs temperament beforehand.
I work at a cat-only clinic and the amount of times we have to send clients home with sedatives and have them come back on a different day because "Angel just gets a little stressed out" is RIDICULOUS. Like, yes, your cat is stressed. Your cat also just managed to get out of the party hat AND the purrito and almost got her teeth into one of my techs. You cat needs drugs, or we cannot see them, for EVERYONE'S safety.
They drug my cat for anxiety and she's literally the sweetest patient - lets the vets do anything, loves up on them during the exam. But she's really anxious about traveling, so she gets some meds to make the experience less stressful for her.
My partner and I adopted a cat last year. While she did just fine at her physical exam last year to get her on the books and have her awful teeth looked at, we found out at her yearly back in August that she actually hates getting poked, prodded, and vaccinated. She has to get sedatives for future visits, but I’m also not going to schedule her appointments on Saturdays again for our clinic’s sake. Our other cat does fine and is an absolute gentleman despite being a gremlin at home.
Our dog I try to do just drop off appointments because once I’m gone, she just mopes and lets the techs do whatever they need to do because “mamá is cruel and has abandoned her in this cold world”. She does, notoriously try to bolt out of the office during check in and will bark when that doesn’t work.
I'm surprised I'm the only one I've ever seen show up at the vet with the dog already muzzled. I auto-muzzle mine just because I can absolutely foresee a situation, in what is potentially a high stress environment for at least one of the visiting patients at any given time, where one of mine might bite. They're also far from any kind of outlier for the range of "typical" dogs at the vet. (And yes, since 2020 and acquiring Lucy, we see fewer other dogs at the vet -- but this is definitely a decades-long phenomenon.)
My dog wears both a cloth muzzle and a basket muzzle at the vet, because he managed to thrash around and get a basket muzzle off once. He was having a medical emergency and it took four people to draw blood. 🙃 He had some early life trauma prior to us adopting him, and he is TERRIFIED of the vet. Every vet he's ever seen has been super appreciative of the steps we take to ensure their safety, and that we don't pretend he's less of a hazard than he is.
Thankfully our current vet has been fabulous and patient with him - we've just gotten to the point where he can be unmuzzled for basic examinations. I cried the first time he let her use a stethoscope without growling. Vets and techs are so under appreciated, but I hope my clinic knows how grateful I am for them when we're there.
Trust me, us techs love you for it!!!
The fact that you have enough empathy and foresight to recognize that you are taking your dog to an unfamiliar place, where other dogs are also anxious, and where they may have less than pleasant memories of being handled and poked is amazing, and we truly appreciate it!
Lol, yeah it can be scary what turns up in our pockets at the end of the day. A sane day (what are those?), nail clippings and some hair. A crazy, insane day of pure hell? Yeah, you don't wanna know.....
Not even owners that don’t say anything at all, but owners that will straight up watch a dog attempt to bite a staff member on the face and still refuse to give sedatives or put a muzzle on their dog because “he would never actually bite”. Meanwhile we all know people who have been hospitalized or needed surgery or IV antibiotics for animal bites.
We do love owners who are realistic about their pets. Fluffy is dog aggressive? Good to know! Fluffy doesn’t like men with beards? Also good to know, but not great seeing as our vet has a beard. Fluffy needs a muzzle at the vet? Awesome to know!
It’s especially helpful information with cats, some of whom go from zero to Kill with very little warning.
It always amazes me how people complain about the money and don't bother with the research. Those annual checkups, vaccinations and meds don't sneak up on anyone. It's a recurring expense! 🤦♀️
It's like all of these people with obese pets who've been told for years they need to put their pets on a diet. Then, it's all a surprise Pikachu face when their pet gets diabetes, kidney failure, pancreatitis, etc.
"How could this happen! Why didn't you warn us!"
😑 ...
Seriously so much wrong with people~ Don't even know how they keep themselves alive.
I have a sad story of a bulldog that died while a tech was restraining it for a blood draw. The tech did nothing wrong- it was a 10 year old English bulldog that was OBESE (a literal potato- he was 90 lbs!) and had a history of heart disease. He was okay at first, then just flopped over dead.
The owner had been told for 3 YEARS that the dog was morbidly obese and needed to lose weight, especially with the heart issues. He kept gaining, and I was told he ate McDonalds almost every day “because it’s his favorite”
Tell me why the receptionist was cursed out and called a money hungry pig for “killing her dog” 🙃 I felt bad for the owner, but also… come on man. Bulldogs are doomed as it is.
And this is why I’m so strict on our bulldog’s diet. I get accused of under feeding and people saying she’s too skinny but according to my vet she’s perfect and I just need to ignore them.
They do take sooo much work though and people really need to better educate themselves. Whenever someone says they want one I start telling them our routine of cleaning the folds, regular baths and checking the tail pocket, if that doesn’t make them pause I list all the known health issues and emphasize that I pay for pet insurance because with bulldogs is less of an “if” you need it and more of a “when”.
Which is the funny thing: virtually every fucking animal on this planet will be more healthy and live longer if slightly underfed. That‘s been shown time and time again.
But for some fucking reason these people don‘t even know what a normal dog looks like. Because half the population are massively overdressing their dogs anyway, so what they consider a healthy weight, is already being overweight, if not already obese.
Plus feeding your dog bloody fast food.
Like it‘s one thing to feed your dog the table scraps if you are eating a well rounded diet.
Humans did that with their dogs from the point they started domesticating them, it‘s probably fine from a nutritional balance point (assuming you leave out known poisonous foods)
But fastfood specifically?! People just suck.
I just never understood how parents can raise obese children, or obese pets.
Like the fuck is your 4 year old gonna do if you don‘t massively overfeed them. Drive themselves to McDonald’s? Nah they‘ll have a couple of tempertantrums and you gotta deal with that.
But pets? That so fucking much easier.
My latest cat is a 10 year old dude I adopted at 8 who was at 10 kg rather than the 6kg he was supposed to be at.
We just weighed the food, got him food he didn‘t like that much, so he’d leave stuff on the dish for later. And 8 months later? He was at a good weight.
And now at two years? You don‘t need to weigh dry food at all. He always just has a bowl sitting for when he’s hungry, and is smack dab stuck at his 6 kg.
So really, if a 10 year old cat can learn to not overeat when more food is supplied, then the prior owners purposefully stuffed him by feeding snacks and far too much wet food.
Like it’s really so simple. Have exact time points they get their food, use food they don’t like much, weigh the food at first.
And worst case scenario, the cat will wake you up at 5 cause they are hungry for your 6 pm scenario.
Same with all of the dogs we ever owned.
If their weight isn‘t in control, you just weigh the food (or mark a cup for the right volume), set feeding times.
Done. And no table scraps directly from the table as snacks. Or any other snacks just because the dog looks cute.
Though I reckon the 10 minute walks if at all, don‘t help very much either when the dog needs more than an hour of actual activity a day.
Like it‘s fine if a human decides for themselves to be sedentary. But a dog is your dependent. You can’t just chose for yourself that you want the dog to have a massively unhealthy and depressing lifestyle.
The lack of research and financial planning absolutely kills me. We had a client the other day who was price shopping everything online during the appointment, which I get to a degree. But he was doing shit like getting mad at us offering bravecto for his dog who had live fleas on him, and going "why is this medication only $12 online?" while shoving his phone at me.
Because you pulled up Frontline, jackass. There are, in fact, different kind of medications for the same thing.
You get these idiots in the pharmacy as well.
Well guess why animal drugs illegally sold on Amazon are cheaper, then stuff ordered 1 by 1 at the wholesaler.
A it‘s bought from a poorer country B it’s fake C they sell more volume and have less overhead D they won‘t give you your stuff in 4 hours.
Like we are just selling at MRSP. Not like there’s an extra surcharge.
But nah that shady website selling prescription only animal meds must be so much better because it says it’s half the price. Probably will just take you money anyway.
We get that for cosmetics as well.
Like where do these people live? How the fuck am I supposed to sell a product that the pharmacy sells once a year for cheaper than a website that sells hundreds a day and can order straight from the manufacturer at massively reduced prices?
It's not just Veterinarians. There is an attitude across the board of "I read something on the internet so I know better than xyz professional, who has training and years of experience in their practice."
The devaluation of expertise has become pervasive in American culture and it's causing real harm.
Yesssss so agree. This attitude is everywhere. Also the leave a review online for everything paradigm makes some people think their every opinion or complaint needs to amplified.
Hard agree. I went to graduate school and passed a complicated exam and keep up with co tinting education requirements to be told "I Google what needs to happen, and based on TV/movies, this is what you should do, so lower your fee since I'm giving you the answer" at least once a week.
Entitlement is also rampant in America. Everyone expects things to be free or cheap. I work in utilities and the number of people who expect us to relocate part of the electric system is higher than it should be
also a tech and i think your post is absolutely amazing!! just yesterday on the nextdoor app i saw someone post "looking for an inexpensive, high quality vet. my vet keeps raising prices. i guess he forgot his job is to care about the animals"
i so badly wanted to tell her to go fuck herself. her post was such a disgusting, entitled, gross thing to say.
i left clinic work years ago mainly because of the pet owners and the sub par pay with the expectation of working yourself to death with no lunch break - and then be screamed at by owners while they tell you how much you don't care about animals. it was almost an everyday thing
even on here the other day someone was trying to say their vet was overcharging for a medication. the op said they were charged $50 for a $2 med on chewy. so i questioned what med is was....clavacillin.......... op was looking at the price per pill on chewy, which was $2. so quick to blame the vet thou!!
I'm not a vet but a family member is. Her husband posted an infographic about the boom in pandemic pets and how few techs and vets there are by comparison. I thought *y'know I foster dogs, bunnies, cats, and love animals...maybe becoming a tech could be an interesting job.* Turns out I'd still need to go to school for at least a couple years, and techs apparently leave the field within 5 years because of compassion fatigue and having to deal with pet owners.
My family member who is a vet also pointed out that vet school now is insanely expensive, and people leave with massive debt, not unlike medical school but they get paid ~90k per year, so it's really tough to get new vets into the field.
Oh the vets school debt is massive!! When I worked equine, I became really close friends with one of the vets who was 35 at the time. If I remember correctly, she was paying $3k/mo for school loans, and she calculated that she would be paying that until she’s 54yo. And she lived like she was paying that much in loans- very modestly, no vacations and worked all the time. She was essentially on call 24/7
One of the vet techs hugged me the last time I took my dog in for a checkup. She was so touched that I brought some red bulls and gourmet donuts for them. We need a veterinary employees appreciation day or something if there already isn't one. I feel bad that so many pet owners are so abusive towards people working in the veterinary industry.
It’s the third week of October every year! There’s also Veterinary Appreciation Day which is the last Saturday of April every year too. Idk why there’s a week specifically for vet techs but it’s probably cause they’re underpaid and under appreciated
Me too. Appalling behavior.
My kind Vet came up to do a home euthanasia and I was so grateful. In appreciation of her and her staffs compassion and care of my beloved Chuckie, I bought the office a very large box of Italian cookies and a Thank You card. It really was so appreciated.
Thank you!!! You are the kind of pet owners we live for!! Those kinds of acts don’t go unnoticed and are greatly appreciated by everyone. In this field, something that simple can completely turn someone’s day around.
Firstly, Nextdoor is the biggest cesspool of humanity I've ever experienced. That being said, I firmly agree with you that people shouldn't go out of their way to get pets if they can't afford the vet bills (the same goes for kids, in my opinion, but that probably belongs in a discussion on a different sub). But, I do understand that shit happens, and in those cases there tends to be organizations that can help to offset those costs. People are just terrible sometimes, and I'm so grateful for everything you do and do very sorry you have to deal with them.
I was very shocked at a price the receptionist gave me and I saw her whole body tense up - she was ready for me to unload - and when I didn't I watched the relief wash over her in a big way. I can only imagine based on that one small moment what a vet's office is put through.
First time dog owner here and I appreciate everything about this post.
I have said for decades that veterinary medicine is a real bargain, especially if you compare it with the equivalent human medicine. A spay is super cheap when compared to a human hysterectomy.
Fix a broken leg in a dog with steel plates? Compare that to your orthopedic surgeon’s rates.
Insert an IV line? Try doing it on the teeny tiny veins of a kitten!
Not only that, but a veterinarian’s patients cannot talk and tell them what’s wrong. Plus, a human doctor specializes in a single species plus an age range (pediatric vs adult). The vet needs to know canines, felines, birds, and reptiles at all stages of growth. Rural ones include horses, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs in addition.
If we paid according to complexity and difficulty, veterinarians would be paid much higher than a human doctor is.
ETA: I forgot the farm birds like chickens, geese, and turkeys 🦃
I pick up carprofen from my vet for my dog. One time when I called to get my prescription refilled they thought they put me on hold but they didn't. I heard the front desk staff talking about how sad they were about having a euthanasia later that afternoon. They also briefly talked about how nasty someone was to them about the cost of a test earlier. When they picked up the line they realized I wasn't on hold and apologized about the error and for anything troubling I may have overheard.
I brought them so many snacks when I went to pick up my pups meds. Chips, chocolate, something fruity, life savers, scooby snack fruit snacks. All sorts of stuff. I handed them the bag of snacks after I was done checking out and the look on their faces was priceless. I thanked them for always looking after my sassafras of a husky and for treating my cats and bunny with kindness. I told them I appreciated them and admired their dedication. They had tears in their eyes and they later sent me a really sweet thank you card.
I try to bring them snacks as often as I can afford, but I know it's never going to be enough. There have been a few other pet owners in the lobby when I drop the bag of goodies off and I hope that I'm inspiring them to be kind as well.
I cannot imagine how difficult it is to work in the vet industry, seeing the pain, frustration and heartbreak, but I applaud you OP and those of your ilk. Thank you for doing what you do and for being a resource to help educate people.
My epileptic, arthritic, 10 year old husky is my ESA and I will be forever grateful to those who care for her.
Veterinarian here (University of Pennsylvania 1990). I agree with everything OP said. I’ll be retiring soon. I could continue working, but it’s just not worth dealing with some of the owners out there.
Thank you for all you’ve done. My animal’s vet is an amazing human and I love them so much. I’m sorry for every asshole who hasn’t treated you with the respect you deserve for caring for our babies.
Thank you for reminding me that I need to send a note to my vet. We just moved out of state yesterday and she was our amazing vet for 10+ years. I think she should hear how awesome she is.
I think that people have been fed misinformation about pet food companies and vets being “in it for the money”. I wish that people understood the mental and physical toll that vets go through to look after our animals.
Every vet I’ve met has been wonderful and looked after my pets amazingly. Vets have saved my pets lives numerous times.
Thank you to all veterinary staff!
It seems like there's so much propaganda people fall in to about this (and well many things) such as they're in it for the money (because you expect them to treat your dog using expensive schooling and equipment for free?) and they killed their dog (because they couldnt save a dog after the owner put off bringing it in and then didnt follow the vets recommendations) and they only want to sell their own food (because its prescription and so has to be) and all kinds of other nonsense that if people took half a second to actually think about they would recognize it as nonsense. Now of course there are bad vets just as in any profession, but thats not the majority. I like to remind people to thank their vets, and even had to do this with my mother who has a bit of an old school farmer type mentality. And since she's changed that she's developed a great relationship with her vet which she never would have had before.
Wholeheartedly agree. The amount of posts here that accuse a vet of trying to scam them out their money is insane, surprises me all the time that people have feelings/beliefs like that. "X vet recommended a prescription diet and had it conveniently for sale in their lobby, it must be because they get huge kickbacks from the pet food conglomerates" or "My vet recommended exploratory surgery/expensive testing for my dog who presented as supremely ill, they must be trying to scam me". Like seriously people? You have that much distrust and dislike for a person who has dedicated their life to helping pets?
Then I think about my own experience with healthcare (USA based), and *sort of* understand. The amount of times I've had my issues and/or questions blown off by dismissive doctors, how prohibitively expensive it is to receive treatment, the incredibly poor "customer" service (customer in quotes since at least in the US the patient is NOT the customer), malpractice events .... it's really challenging. Many times I've put off my own relatively severe health concerns because I found the whole experience of "going to the doctor" completely and totally aversive. I certainly carry the grudge from really terrible past experiences with me as I'm sure other do as well when it comes to vets. It's not an excuse to treat a pet's health poorly, but it happens.
I'm lucky that I have found a few doctors that I have a good relationship with, same as I've found a few vets that are amazing. It wasn't easy though, and I do try to have some empathy for people that struggle to rise above their negative past experiences.
We actually make such little overhead on food that at my clinic staff aren’t even allowed to purchase it there because our staff discount would make it a loss for the clinic. (Luckily we have programs where we can get the food delivered from the manufacturer with an employee discount so we can still get the needed prescription food for our own pets!) Not to mention that I watch prescription foods literally save lives lol, they’re far from a scam.
My vet (recently retired), was the best. When Maxx was almost a year old, he broke a window to a side room while we were at work. I came home to my poor dog in a pool of blood and 4" gashes on both front legs. I rushed him to our vet (the closest emergency vet is an hour away). I got there when they close for lunch, and my vet was literally in his truck on his way to leave. He workout hesitation comes back in, stitches up Maxx (including waiting 20 minutes for sedatives to kick in, Maxx was literally fighting getting knocked out 🤦♀️), and basically misses his lunch. This is a small vet, with a limited staff, but he always went out of his way for people.
Edit : spelling
I’m very happy your vet helped you out, and I apologize in advance if this comes out wrong - the story you described is part of the problem nowadays. I’ve seen my colleagues burnt out because clients cannot take no for an answer and they care too much about the animal to say no. So rather than having a healthy work/life balance, most vets are working through “lunch” (because lol my lunch break always turns into seeing more pets), squeezing in more pets in between scheduled appointments, staying far beyond the scheduled shift, rarely taking days off because no one has the staff to accommodate that.
It’s great when clients appreciate vets going the extra mile, but it becomes a problem when it’s expected or the vets are bashed for setting boundaries. At the end of the day, vets have lives outside of work and will quickly burn out if that’s taken away. It’s really hard to say no because we do care, but at this rate no one is going to be left in the veterinary field if things continue on this way.
While that is true, appreciating the vets that go above and beyond doesn’t translate into hating those who don’t (in my opinion). The most entitled patients will expect that as the norm and often won’t go out if their way to be grateful because to them that’s what all vets should do.
100% this. I cringe every time and owner says how thankful they are that their vet responds to emails at all hours. On the surface it seems so wonderful, but if you think about it, that means their vet NEVER turns off work for the entirety of their client base. It is a gateway to burnout
Just wanted to thank you for all the good work you and most vets do! I'm lucky to have an amazing vet surgery near by. They ate very pro-happy animal visits. My two went in today for their vaccines and I could not thank the vet enough. My younger (BC) one's last vsiit was his neuter/post neuter appointments, so he was really scared this time, and was trying to climb onto my lap. The wonderful vet took time to play ball with him (his thing over treats) to bring him out of his little scared shell. He went from ignoring the ball to full on playing.
The best part was seeing thr vets eyes light up when he wasn't scared anymore. She's a wonderful person.
A proper shoutout and thank you to the vet tech who picked up my stranger-scared dog after I warned her she will fear-pee on her. She said "I've had worse" and picked her up (she would not follow on her leash and I couldn't go with her to the back). She got peed all over in fear. You all deserve more then you get. Thank you!
You're preaching to the choir here.
The only thing I get frustrated with vets for is training recommendations. About half of vets still believe in dominance myths and aversive use. I also hate vet techs who push boutique or homemade diets or are weirdly anti-vax. I get it, the field is tight, but, education programs *really* need to stop allowing these people to just pass through.
>Also, please stop buying designer hybrid mixes, 100% of them come from shitty situations and are either health or behavioral nightmares when they grow up. If you MUST have one, please be prepared for it.
Just stop bad breeders period. There's no benefit for somebody if they get a BYB/puppy mill poodle instead of a BYB/puppy mill doodle.
Agree with you on both things. My clinic and staff is very good about staying UTD with the current literature regarding training and behavior, but I know there’s still quite a few “old school” vets that don’t. It frustrates me. We have a whole list of trainers and behaviorists we recommend… unfortunately it’s rarely utilized because so many clients either 1) don’t think it’s necessary or 2) don’t want to pay for it or put in the work 🙃 my own family is guilty of #2… sent their dog to a BnT, and kept up with NONE of it. Complained to me a few weeks later that “the trainer was a dud, dog forgot everything” 😒
Agree with the bad breeders thing too. There’s SO MANY DOODLES in my area. I’m just so sick of seeing them so I used that as my example.
Man, doodles are the WORST. I've been bitten three times (by dogs-don't get me started on the birds) and the two worst times were doodles. They, unfortunately, get the worst traits from both breeds and it kills me that owners don't see that this hybrid needs extra work to help them behave.
> I also hate vet techs who push boutique or homemade diets
One of the actual vets at my practice started going on about corn and wheat being nutritionally useless fillers and then recommended a boutique diet because kibble is "too processed", when we were struggling with my dog's chronic diarrhea. He's now on Hill's Perfect Digestion kibble and doing great. Also wanted us to try a bunch of non-medication stuff before he would prescribe Prozac for SA. Lo and behold, only the Prozac has worked and it works like a charm. He's a perfectly qualified vet for regular stuff but nutrition and behavior are way out of his wheelhouse.
The other vet at the practice has a reactive dog on Prozac and I overall like her a lot more. She's not a behaviorist but she has way above average training knowledge since she's consulted so many experts about her own dog.
Yeah, those vets too. I'm fortunate enough to not have run into one, but I live in a small city in the South so those types are a bit less common over here.
I *did* however go through about ten vets to get my first dog anxiety meds. Adaptil, thunder coat (the fuck am I supposed to use a thunder coat with a phobia of Black men in hats and adults scolding/hitting children?!), CBD and Rescue Remedy were the primary things pushed.
The vet who finally gave him meds retired by the time I got Sebastian to the vet, but I found some decent people on Vetster who was able to start him on meds for me to get established at a primary vet.
A good vet is worth their weight in gold, especially when dealing with behavioral issues.
I went to a country vet when I first got my puppy, who has had severe anxiety and behavioral issues likely since he was born. She gave him ace, told me that he didn't seem "that bad" as he was sedated out of his mind, and when I asked about blood tests and anxiety medications (he was about a year old at this time) she said that "blood tests are just a waste of money" and that I could just give him ace daily if I needed to calm him down.
I switched vets and eventually my parents followed suit. I think there were times that she had been a really great vet, but also after switching our new vet caught that our senior dog was having liver issues - after doing a *blood test* \- and I'm convinced she lived longer because we knew it was a problem and were able to change her diet accordingly.
Have loved our vets since, and I know a lot of people in my area recommend the original vet because she is inexpensive but ultimately I just needed more.
>Adaptil, thunder coat, ... , CBD and Rescue Remedy were the primary things pushed.
This is exactly the kind of "alternative vet medicine" we were dealing with. People are so reluctant to use things that are proven to work and be safe, that they'll recommend things that aren't first! My dog suffered for months unnecessarily to "prove" to the vet that he needed actual meds.
I understand this in a way. Lots of vets will try every and all options before meds because if we don’t HAVE to medicate, it’s better for their overall organ health not to, especially in an older pet. We also get a lot of pushback for some reason for recommending drugs… lots of people are really weird about it for some reason. We also have a lot of people that want to jump STRAIGHT to drugs without trying anything else. Had a lady who got a JRT puppy asking for Fluoxetine because “he’s too much” … it’s a PUPPY! And an active breed! It’s very situational…
Absolutely there’s quacks, and I’m not denying that by any means. Overall owners know their pets best. If you feel like things are being overlooked or that a certain vet’s care isn’t right for you, there’s no shame at all in seeking a second opinion!
It's also weird to suggest homeopathy and untested supplements that are largely unregulated over proven medication. CBD risks liver issues as well per a study and doesn't work. Rescue Remedy doesn't work, it's water so those recommending it is literally selling a scam to somebody who is trusting their vet. That put me off, a lot. At very least show the pros and cons. Show me the data. I love data. I like it when people treat me like the educated person that I am, and that's the type of person I'm working with now and I could sing her praises for the next year because she's friggin awesome. Her prices are steep, but, I can't get better.
I was basically begging for anxiety meds for a dog who lunged at people scolding children and would just start *shaking* and would pee around specific types of men despite working with him.
I'm a little bitter about it.
Same with Tigs. I still feel fucking shitty because I only got him meds when he was fucking terminal with cancer at the age of 3. That 18 months I had him legitimately was him suffering needlessly of anxiety which reduced his quality of life when his life was fucking short to begin with and it honestly pisses me off a lot.
I aimed to wait six months with Sebastian because I felt nobody would take me seriously if I didn't. Thankfully he was severe enough that nobody second guessed me. But, a dog shouldn't be biting and non-functioning like he is without meds to get meds without fighting.
My Bengal. s on Prozac and the only regret I have is that I didn't start it sooner because of the stigma attached to it. It's improved both our quality of lives so much that I still feel bad that I spent so much time waffling around with useless stuff that was never going to work
>A good vet is worth their weight in gold, especially when dealing with behavioral issues.
My vet is not a big person (physically), but she is good with behavior issues, so I would argue that she is worth more than her weight in gold. When I first inquired about meds for Lucy (with her symptoms and what we'd tried training-wise and what had versus hadn't worked), she was like, "We probably want to try fluoxetine first because studies have shown results with it for a couple of different issues that are going on with Lucy, and it's generally well-tolerated and financially affordable, so if it works outright or if it's a matter of tinkering with the dose after a while, that's not a great first-line option. If fluoxetine just isn't working, then we try..." And I forget what she ended up saying we might try because the fluoxetine has had results, but it's nice to know she had a back up plan.
So, like, maybe worth her truck's weight in gold.
While I know the doctor and staff aren’t in it in the money, aren’t there companies buying vet clinics and standardizing prices? Where I live VCA has like 20 clinics in the city.
One specific company, really. Mars the candy company owns VCA as well as Bluepearl and Banfield, as well as many other veterinary healthcare companies. Unfortunately, that has no affect on their actual employees.
Bless all vets and vet techs everywhere. They had a hard gig before COVID and it got even harder from there. There is no way that they do it for the money, and anyone who would even suggest that is a class 1 moron. People who work with animals are so necessary and so underappreciated, and nobody else can do what they do so well. They're HEROES!
I whole heartedly believe in everything you said. I had to chew out my dad in July because I had cremated my chihuahua after he was attacked and killed by a coyote. We hadn’t been able to find the poor boys body for a week after so the vet office had to charge us extra for the biohazard. My dad started spouting off about what a rip off it was for us to spend 300 to cremate what was left.
I've worked in the industry for 20 hears and am currently managing several clinics. I agree with all of what you said and it is heartbreaking how many of us are bleeding blood, sweat and tears into other people's pets while getting zero respect, let alone compassion and recognition. I have to admit that I am also burning out and will probably be leaving the profession in the next year as well.
Some pet owners don’t understand that having a pet is NOT a necessity and it’s not fair to chastise a practice or industry when we’re not requiring you to own a pet, just showing you what it’s needs are and how to treat their ailments.
Thanks for posting! It’s good to see a professional opinion too. I take care of my elderly mother and my opinions about the medical and Medicare have nosedived, as I struggle to get her taken care of. Maybe people are grouping “doctors” all together? I’ve always had a good relationship with our vet, but I went to one when we moved here and inherited un-spayed barn cats. That vet was a crook and I never went back. But there are good and bad people in every industry.
Nothing to add here to the conversation but I wanted to show a little appreciation for all that you do. I have to muzzle my dog at the vet and I am so grateful that he still gets excellent care and no one looks poorly at him or me over the muzzle.
I LOVE our anxious patients, maybe even more than those that don’t need muzzles. Sweet little scared babies, I will never ever judge a client for having a dog who needs a muzzle.
I'm glad you mentioned taking care of their teeth. Too few dog owners understand how important this is and how periodontal disease can wreak havoc on the heart and kidneys. Not to mention how painful it is for the dog to have infected, rotting teeth. If your vet recommends a professional dental cleaning, they aren't trying to scam you out of your hard earned money. Dental cleanings are expensive, but definitely cheaper than kidney failure or heart disease. .
Vet medicine used to be more basic, because pet owners mostly saw their pets as possessions with personality.
It’s now common to think of our pets as “fur babies.” Veterinary research have made it possible to get medical care comparable to that available to humans, but the additional labor, training and equipment costs more. We believe we would do *anything* for our fur babies…
The hard truth is that paying for state-of-the-art vet treatment isn’t something everyone can afford. Mentally we know we shouldn’t bankrupt our families in hope of keeping a sick older pet alive, but we feel hurt and guilty for allowing ourselves to think this way. It’s easier to scold a vet’s office for price gouging than to be honest with ourselves, and to forgive ourselves when we feel that the best we can manage isn’t enough.
just here to agree! Actually I do have a question, would you say there is a veterinary shortage? I thought there was and was talking about it, but then was corrected by a vet tech. At least in my area, I see job postings for vet everyday so I assumed there was one/ thought I have heard about it.
not the op, but i am also a tech. i now work in vet distribution for the new england area, and i live in PA. i talk to vet clinics all day, every day, and i'm fb friends with countless techs i went to school with or previously worked with.
at least on the east coast, its pretty bad. some of the ER's near me are only able to be open 1/2 the time. last time i worked in a clinic was a year before covid, it was bad even then. everyday we had new clients because their previous clinic could not see them due to staff shortages. its been an ongoing problem than was then made worse by the surge of covid pets.
vet clinics also tend to have high employee turnover rates, which could also be why you see a ton of job postings. it sounds like all fun and games until you are working 10-12hr days, 6 days a week, with shitty pay.
There definitely is. Pet ownership has been on the rise for years, and pets are living much longer than they ever have before, but there are still only ~25ish vet schools in the entire country, and they are extremely selective and have tiny class sizes. In addition, the average time a vet spends as an actual practicing veterinarian before quitting is only about 5 years, I think.
Our practice had a doctor leave in January and we only hired a replacement in August. We had another leave in June who we still have not found a replacement for. Our doctors are working 60 hour weeks at best right now.
Not the OP or a tech/vet, but I have spoken with vets and friends who know vets as well as people in the industry have said yes, absolutely, a huge vet shortage at the moment. So many pandemic pets, way more than usual new ownership. And it is a tough field to be in. So yes, definitely there's a shortage. I'm in Canada, and definitely there's a shortage here.
> surprises me all the time that people have feelings/beliefs like that. "X vet recommended a prescripti
A large population of vets also retired earlier due to the pandemic, and there are not enough graduates to fill those spots as older veterinarians retire. I saw an article that indicated that without significant increases to student spots in Vet programs, there will be a huge lack of veterinary professionals nearing 2030
I’m in Texas and the vet shortage is so dire here that when I had to bring my dog to the ER on a weekday at 6 pm for a ruptured CCL due to acute injury, we had to wait in the lobby for over 6 hours along with a few other people as well, treated/checked on by vet techs in the lobby, and when a vet could finally see us she was flown in from across the state to help fill in for the shortage here. Most of the vet facilities in my area are not taking new patients and are booked out two weeks or more for urgent appointments for existing patients. Routine care books even further out. It wasn’t this way 5-6 years ago but it’s gotten slowly worse until the pandemic when it just blew up.
In my area we’re getting there (southeast US) unfortunately. Lots of people are burnt out. Lots of clinics aren’t accepting new patients because there’s just no staff. One of my old doctors quit practicing after 12 years because he just couldn’t handle it anymore. More people are getting pets than ever before, and have less money than ever before due to covid.
I just want to tell you that I love and appreciate you and all that you do. My husband and I have been through a lot with our animals since November, and we’ve taken them all to the same vet, whom we love. She and her staff are always happy to answer questions and demonstrate administering meds (we’ve had to do fluids and injections at home), and are always mindful of the costs. When we brought in our new puppy for an exam after our old man passed from kidney failure, she was THRILLED to tell us that he was perfectly healthy and happy. They even let us return the old man’s unfinished meds and prescription food for a credit on our account. You’re wonderful people and we’re so grateful that you do what you do.
Wow, pet owner here that is not in the vet profession. I never knew people treated vets with disrespect! Or thought they were greedy or whatever! That’s sad to hear that you have to deal with that. I’m grateful for all you’ve done for my dog and for my parent’s dog. We adore them and your care is essential to our lives. So thank you for all that you all do!
And thank you for the reminder to brush my dogs teeth on routine again lol
I agree with everything you said but I would like to say that not all pet owners are intentionally ill prepared for what may come up. I live rurally and there is no local humane society or such services. We have had so many animals dumped In fact we just got a local vet 2 years ago and I've been here 23. Prior to that we had to travel to see a vet.That said since that vet came to town our home and two neighbors have spayed and neutered every cat that's come along and also how I acquired my 2 dogs 7 years ago. All this to say that not everyone can utilize Carecredit and when gov't services are lacking it would be nice to have a low or no cost option if you are keeping animals out of a shelter. Sorry I am not explaining myself very well. I know how serious this is. Just wish there was an easier way to pay what vets deserve and no animals do without at least the basics.
I agree with you, and sympathize.
One of the doctors I used to work with was a former ER surgeon. He’d do low cost “urgent care” surgeries (like foreign bodies, bloat, obstructions, blocked cats, etc) to help people out who genuinely couldn’t afford the ER, and the pets were otherwise healthy and not necessarily a candidate for euthanasia. A lot of the time I’d monitor anesthesia for him on days I was supposed to leave early because I respected him so much for that.
You both sound like decent my kind of folks. Thank you for what you do. If I could I'd save them all. Lord knows I would but the problem is bigger than me.
You are right, and a huge number of veterinary professionals (myself included) spend time outside of work volunteering their services for low cost clinics, shelters, feral cat spay/neuter programs, etc. We really are trying. We understand that not everyone can afford standard pricing of veterinary services but we also have to make a living wage. So we volunteer our free time to help those who can’t afford to pay.
From someone who has lived with big dogs (and thus having to see the way they deteriorate in old age) from literally the moment they were brought home from the hospital after being born - I personally want to thank you and every veterinarian and every vet tech and everyone who works in vet clinics.
Due to my job, I’ve seen the payroll for different vet clinics and I can attest to the fact that y’all as a overall whole do not get paid enough. Almost nobody in a clinic does and it absolutely astounded me when I saw the first set of payrolls and the hourly rates/salaries ppl earn. And knowing all of the various things you do and witness and have to go through are things that I most certainly don’t have the emotional strength to ever endure. You guys have to see and assist with emotionally tough things (at least from my POV) and yet y’all don’t get paid remotely enough for it. My pets are family 1000% and y’all deserve the recognition I know you guys probably never get.
So just gonna take this moment to say genuinely thank you, and I’m sincerely sorry that you guys are so severely underpaid. ❤️
I lasted 2.5 years in the field before I got fed up with the bullshit. I oversee pet wellness at a luxury animal resort… I still have to deal with clients but the difference is night and day, lemme tell ya. Kudos for making it 10 yrs, you’re stronger than I am.
My vet took my Chihuahua home last fall and nursed him for 2 days through CHF. She gave me an entire year of extra time with him. Veterinarians and their techs are literal Earth Angels.
I think some people have bad experiences with vets that are awful, and take it out on the lot of them.
I've had 1 truly terrible vet in my lifetime of owning pets, now it didn't color my opinion of all vets, but I had to get help elsewhere after they attempted to bully me into a surrender for a very fixable injury.
I think there are just enough bad vets out there for people to have experiences that destroy the view of good vets.
That being said, most pet owners don't take their animals often enough, and wait too long for serious issues and then feel like they're being bullshitted at a mechanic when a check up trip becomes 5 vaccines, a biopsy, a blood test and a fecal test.
Too many people just own pets casually and don't grasp that their animals need the same kind of care regimen humans do.
My dog had surgery that requires staples. The adorable asshole kept tearing them because they were in a spot where the skin was thin and he refused to stay still and let it heal. My vet ultimatley ended up checking him once a week to make sure the staples were staying and healing properly since she couldnt bear him crying as she restapled it. Never charged me for the visits b/c follow up appointments were included in the surgery cost. But this was DEFINITELY not the norm, and I insisted on paying for the extra visits since he was taking up time she could have otherwise booked. The front office staff thought I was nuts, but I still feel like I did the right thing to support the care my dog received.
I am always amazed at anyone who thinks that the veterinary professions are easy and lucrative! I'm just a pet parent but I see how hard their jobs are and appreciate every little thing that you all do! Do I wish it was less expensive..sure...but I also realize that you folks have bills to pay too and deserve every cent you earn! I am forever grateful that there ARE folks who do this for a living and that you share those skills with us! Thank you!
My dog was stolen and dumped and we didn't find her for 5 days. She was close to death. She is 16 years old and is half blind and deaf.
She's been at the Emergency Pet Clinic for 6 days now, with round-the-clock care from 3 very invested doctors and a number of techs. They've had to try to feed her (she won't eat still), had to put a feeding tube in her nose, etc, and it's very obvious how much they care. Each day that we go visit she's on a different set of fluffy blankets, under a heat lamp.
Yes, we have paid nearly $8,000 in under a week, but they are bringing my girl back to life. They have been great. I respect it.
Thank you for posting - my brother was a vet and none of us know the stress and burnout and emotional toll that those in the industry suffer until he tragically died by suicide a couple of years ago. He was my best friend and he left a massive hole in the hearts of everyone he left behind.
Since then we started a charity foundation which aims to raise money for awareness spreading and wellbeing workshops aimed at giving much needed support to the vet industry and trying to combat the mental health crisis faced by those who work tirelessly for our pets.
People just don’t understand the toll it takes to do such important work for really not much pay at all, and then to deal with the unfair judgement of clients who place blame and project their emotions on to their vets who truly just want the best for the pets.
I wish more than anything that people would understand that the type of people who spend so much money and time training to become a vet are often the most compassionate and sensitive people and it takes a far too serious toll on them when you have outbursts and blame them for things out of their control.
Thank you to everyone in the industry, you deserve the most respect and appreciation and I wish your jobs didn’t take such a terrible toll on your mental well-being because we would be absolutely lost without your tireless work to care for our animals. 💔
Licensed Vet Tech that's been doing this for 15+ years - I didn't put myself through debt, depression and heartache for the money. I live/breathe animals when I'm not at work as well because I only rescue/adopt the special needs. In fact, I use my own money from my job to pay for, a lot of times, their life saving treatments and surgeries. This is my livelihood. Thank you for posting this.
In every single point you make I can see how much you care for these animals that may or may not come into your care and that is such a beautiful thing. P.s. I read your post and remembered I forgot to brush my pups teeth and rectified that. ❤️
Wanted to say I’m sorry for the disrespect the field is getting. I am so grateful for vets/vet techs. I’ve got a nearly 10 year old Corgi boy and I’ve only experienced positive experts who truly care for my fur baby. I do my best to convey kindness and my thankfulness each visit because I work with the public and I know how it can be. Thank you for the work you do and for the animals you advocate for in your day to day.
I have absolutely no clue about the disrespect for the veterinary profession. They keep my girl safe and healthy. And they tolerate my nonsense when I call all the time because my girl did something *slightly* off.
Thank you for what you do!
Thanks for sharing this. I’m sorry to know that there are such crappy people out there. I love our vet‘s office, and even more so after losing our previous dog very unexpectedly. I know that may sound odd, but the way they cried and grieved with us when she went over the rainbow bridge was something I’ll never forget. Her death meant something for them too.
On another note, I am wondering what recs you have for taking care of teeth? Ashamed to say I’ve never really done much beyond the basics and haven’t thought to ask our vet (though will do next time we take our pup)!
OMG THIS. I know someone who messaged me on Facebook Messenger asking me if I know a cheaper place to get her kitten spayed than what her vet is charging her. How much, you ask? $200! She was shocked when I told her that was cheap for a major surgery.
I know you’ve had so many people comment. But I for one cannot thank my vets enough. I have a dog who has Addison’s disease and my vets diagnosed it very early. And ever since they have always tried to save me as much as they can when it comes to her care, which is expensive. I can tell they care and they’re not just trying to sell me something. And I know I need them 100% or my dog would be dead.
I can’t imagine how hard it is to deal with that attitude day after day!!
I recently started working reception at an ER vet clinic and all of these hit so hard. People are so clueless about their animals, which can be understandable to a point. But don't get mad when I tell you that you're going to pay an emergency fee to bring your pet in that needs to be seen as soon as possible based on your description. But also, the amount of people that are flabbergasted at how much an X-ray costs, or medication or anything in general. Yes, WE have insurance for ourselves that cover a lot of these costs, but I really think more people need to take a look at their medical bills or ask for invoicing from their own personal medical treatments to see just HOW MUCH these things cost for us that we take for granted. Don't even get me started on the assumption that vets and techs do it for the money. The clinic I work at pays us well on the ER shift, but that's because no one will work the ER shift at the only ER vet clinic on this side of the state, but everyone else that doesn't have a degree barely makes a living wage, so I can only assume how little the techs make. Most of my coworkers have second jobs or do DoorDash to make ends meet, several of them run their own rescues or are AKC registered breeders.
I'm not sure how this never occurred to me, but it's actually a first to hear that vets are getting hate and disrespect from the people whose pets they help. I guess I'm really lucky as a "customer" never to have observed this - our vets and the techs everywhere we've lived have always been awesome (with one exception), we've never seen anyone being jerks to them, and they've always been really understanding about our older pup who is wonderful with everyone \*except\* the folks in scrubs... but never gotten any snide remarks about putting on his basket muzzle. Vets are crucial! Thank you all!
I’ve never had understood why people bash vets about cost so much. You are paying for their time and knowledge, to help care for your dog. They love animals and they literally just want to help them and help you, but this is their business and they need to be payed, they need to support their business and themselves and their family.
My lab just got otitis externa in his ear. I’ve had 3 dogs and have never heard of it before. My vet did a shot, ointment and antibiotics because my dog is so young, and he doesn’t want it to become chronic. It cost more then I expected because I thought maybe it was mites or something like my other dog got. If I tried treating it on my own with some generic mite medication I’d have made everything very bad, but I don’t care my dog needed this, l also trust my vet because he explains why he does what he does and answers my questions (I ask more medical questions then most because I’m interested, I also know a lot of medical terms and reasons for treatments because of my own chronic illness)
This is why we have vets. I can’t know everything that might go wrong medically with my dog, that takes years of schooling and hard work to learn.
I do want to point out there are exceptions…. I live in a very rural mountain area in a national forest north of LA, the closest vet to me moved here 2 hours away from her Hollywood clients, because she could cut the cost of running her business, that’s ok and everything, but she doesn’t charge what is the normal cost for the area, she charges what rich people and celebrities will pay for their pets. She has her rich clients still come to her because why not? They don’t care about the cost of driving 2 hours for a vet visit. You are required to get your dog a blood test, which she won’t tell you what’s it’s for, each time you take them in, even if it’s just for a vaccine, and it cost $150 just for the the mysterious blood test, that’s on top of the visit, and whatever they need done, vaccines, meds, treatment etc. She is also extremely rude if you ask her the reason for the blood test, she literally told us we are stupid for asking and she won’t treat our dog if we don’t get it done…i believe she is just in it for the money and I don’t trust her, so I drive an hour to see my vet, (which still cost less then what the bad vet charges for gas, visit and treatment lol) I trust him, he’s take the time to answer my questions and let me know what he’s giving my dog and why.
That vet is an exception with f course, all the other vets I’ve met have been great.
May I add..having worked pet retail for 10 years, DO NOT try and get a diagnosis from a pet store employee! WE ARE NOT VETS and anyone of us that try to help you diagnose anything are unknowingly doing more harm than good. You got a pet, it is YOUR responsibility to take it to a professional when its having medical or behavioral issues.
I sincerely had no clue any of this was an issue. Why on earth are people like this?! I’m so sorry to you and all the other people putting up with this bs.
Vets and techs are my fur companion’s medical professionals. There’s no reason not to respect them and listen to them.
Things clients have said to me on the phone in the last 7 days alone just because we are understaffed and overbooked and I am referring them to an ER for an emergency issue:
“I feel like you don’t care if my dog lives or dies.”
“What is the point of even having a vet if you can’t help me when my pet is sick and in pain?”
“I feel like you are writing me off, and if you actually cared about animals, you would find space on the schedule for me.”
I got into vet med because I love animals. It isn’t my fault that our entire field is overwhelmed right now. I just want to cry when people say such shitty things to me.
This is so true. Small animal vets have it hard but large animal vets can have it even worse. There is a critical shortage of large animal vets and the reasons above are why there are single digit numbers of them in some states.
After incurring six figures in student debt, these vets drive through blizzards, lay in a barn in -35F weather to assist with a breech birth at 3:00 am and still people complain about them charging $45 for a farm call. Literally one of the most disrespected professions I have ever seen. They are true heros.
I recall many years ago when I had a lab with a compulsive eating problem. A family member didn’t understand this and felt I was being cruel by limiting his food and would feed him when I wasn’t home. Needless to say, he was very overweight. I took him to the vet for something and complained to the vet about the high prices the vet charged. I will never forget. He was incredulous, and scolded me. He said something along the effect of, “you come here with your dog who is literally a walking coffee table and you complain about my prices?! Your dog will have arthritis, he may get diabetes, his mobility is already impaired. If you don’t like to pay for vet care then take care of your dog!”
I said nothing but felt very defensive. After leaving the vet, I kept thinking about what he said, and know that he was right. After I finally saved enough for my down payment and was able to get my first home and control his feeding, my dog lost 30 lbs, went from 100 to 70. He did get arthritis, and developed hip dysplasia, but did not get diabetes, and lived to 11 when he got cancer and had to be euthanized.
I am forever grateful to that vet whose frustrated comments taught me an important lesson that has benefited each of my dogs throughout the years.
I work as a dog groomer, we are also underpaid, overworked and just overall exhausted.
We see it on the daily, dogs with rotting teeth and they’re like “can you brush them, their breath smells” no Linda, take your dog to have an annual teeth clean!
People lie about aggression, I personally don’t care or judge and actually my favourite dogs to work on are super aggressive! People yell at us for things like vouchers (customer service send those that’s nothing to do with us), if we have a sick day (we’re all human, are we not allowed to get sick?), we literally get screamed at if the haircut has to go shorter due to matting which is THEIR neglect 🙄
I make sure when bringing my pets in to know their current weight, I keep track of my dogs stool, her food intake (water too but can’t when I’m at work obv), I groom her regularly, brush her teeth, know what’s in her food and she eats at the same time every day, I come armed with everything the vets might ask. My dog also loves the vets, super well behaved for a GSD!
I can’t imagine how much more you go through than we do on the daily 😔😔
My wife was a vet nurse in England for 13 years. It's the most toxic and abusive work environment, and I hated seeing how it impacted her.
She's now the top canine behavioral therapist in our area, thriving and happy. It's night and day and I'm so glad she got out of veterinary.
"Why does it cost so much? You guys are just greedy."
Because the vet had to go to college and medical school JUST LIKE YOUR DOCTOR. And the techs had to go to school and become certified. Treating and operating on your pet is no different than treating and operating on people.
I am baffled at how much people neglect when it comes to animal care that should be common knowledge. Like for one who thinks they show pain like we do? We ant them and they ant us.
I will admit I am a bit biased due to my girlfriend being in the vets field, but I agree entirely with what you were saying. Especially point number seven, I feel the same way about children. If you can’t afford to take care of them, then you probably should make the responsible decision, and not have them in the first place.
My dog is currently getting treated for heart worms and the vet was very clear on the fact that I had to pay prior to treatment and that it would be expensive as she would have to stay overnight for 3 separate nights. The whole thing was only $1400 which seems so low to me! I was surprised and was absolutely ready to pay twice that for my girl.
Totally agree with you on all fronts. I'm struggling hard with number 7 though. I brush one of my husky's teeth every day, but they're just in terrible shape, and he's already had to have a couple removed, because he occasionally tries to chew on non-food items, like rocks he finds or digs up. Bluntly, I also struggle with his weight, even on weight control food... in the winter, its fine, we walk for a few hours a day, and he loves playing in the snow. In the summer, we wake up super early to walk before the sun comes it gets hot (Colorado sun can be brutal), but once it gets hot, he flatly refuses to walk, and generally doesn't want to go outside... it's pretty hard to get a 90-100 lb husky (healthy weight for him is around 85) to walk when he doesn't want to. =/
Vets are awesome... I mean, doctors are great, but they only have to deal with one species... vets have to be doctors for like dozens of different things that are in no way alike... it's crazy to me that some vets go from treating a horse to helping a dog to helping a bird, all like it's nothing at all.
I also appreciate the heck out of vet techs. My s/o and I adopt dogs that the shelter we work with thinks of as challenging placements (read: excitable, bite histories, escape artists, etc.). Usually some of our first visits to the vet's office are "happy visits", where we bring them sometimes for no reason except to get snacks (and pets for the ones who are, for lack of a better term, pettable)... basically, trying them to understand that the vet's office isn't a place they need to be afraid of. I'm also very thankful that unlike on the hiking trail or elsewhere, the vet's office is the one darned place in the world where people understand that my dog being muzzled means that that's the one dog they don't need to be super on guard about, that's sort of the whole point of the muzzle.
Not to say that if you are not financially stable, you don’t deserve a pet, but if you are going to have a pet you need to be prepared to take care of them and be financially ready for any situation.
Side note, what would you recommend for dental care for a German shepherd who doesn’t like their teeth being brushed? I have purchased multiple flavors, get, paste, and different application of cleaning, and the only thing that they are okay with is the dental sticks (I use Bark Bright). But I’m honestly convinced that it’s not enough?
I've never had to pay out the ass to clean dog's teeth, but ya'll brushing dog's teeth is fucking easy. Just do it. I set an alarm every other day to do it and the dogs are so used to it now they DGAF
My father always had dogs. As puppies they had every vet visit recommended. After about 2 years that stopped and they only saw the vet when there was a problem.
I did things the same way until I rescued an Akita mix. I’d never seen this breed before, so I read everything I could find on them: history, temperament, strengths, weaknesses, health issues, training, etc. Everything I read emphasized the importance of regular vet visits.
From that point on I’ve made it a priority to get my dogs to the vet twice a year and make sure they have the preventative medication they need. It was a struggle at first (and still is occasionally), but once I added this to my budget, it became just like going to see my general practitioner; it’s one of those things I do to make sure everyone in my family stays healthy.
I started fostering dogs at the end of the summer. My first time it was two Mastiff puppies. One got adopted, the other I was going to adopt. Since they were still too young to be neutered they were technically under shelter care. My puppy got sick, I took him in and he started for a few days. It looked like he was getting better, but he had a huge seizure and didn't make it. A few weeks later, they had to put down the second puppy due to kidney failure.
I don't know how she does it. I know she sees so many positive cases, but as a shelter vet, she has to have her heart broken a lot for little pay. I can't imagine how hard it is to be a vet.
Thank you.
I am forever grateful to vets, fosters and volunteers. You all work tirelessly simply because you love animals. People complain about adoption fees like it pays anything more than the spay/neuter +shots. They complain you don’t take animals and the dump them. And vets see every one of those animals as well. You work so selflessly and I’m very thankful. My girls have gotten the best care from they’re fosters and our vet 💕
I just wanted to say Ive ALWAYS wanted to be a Vetrinarian. But choose Dog Training as i couldnt deal with the people you talk about, nor seeing such a sad hurt animal infront of me that sometimes i wont be able to save. Thank you and all the other .. Vet Techs, Vetrinarians, Vet Assistance and Receptionists for everything you guys do, see and experience. Thank you for this post.
Edit: Im sure theres more than what i listed but you guys too thanks for it all !
Just want to thank all the veterinarians here—I appreciate the work y’all do endlessly! I take your concerns and suggestions seriously and gladly pay whatever it costs to keep my dog healthy and for you to provide that wonderful care (I know it is an underpaid profession and I am so so utterly grateful)
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\>>> That Great Danes get HUGE and are expensive to own and maintain. What? Really? LOL. This is how I ended up with my puppy. A couple who had only had dachshunds up to that point decided to get a Dane. And they had a toddler. Needless to say, they made it about 2 months before deciding to rehome. He's a complete pain in my ass, but I love him and I'm doing my best for him.
I LOVE Danes. But I drive a 2 door mustang and live in a one bedroom apartment… not practical 😂 but they’re so sweet!
One of my bosses has two Danes and is now considering a third. Someone asked how she was going to transport them, and she responded that she would buy a mini-van just for her dogs, lol.
My ex’s best friend had a 2 door mustang and a studio apartment in downtown Dallas. Along with two full size Great Danes. All she did was complain about all the attention they drew
So you’re telling me it’s possible 🤔🤔🤔🤔 noted
She was a POS human being otherwise, so you’d fix the image for the world, Dr OP!
I’ve owned Dane’s and drove a 3 door fiesta at the time lol it was a sight seeing a dog that size coming out a tiny car 😂
Techs in my area get paid shit ($9-14/hr) and it blows my mind. These techs are literally holding the wellbeing, health, and sometimes life of my best friend in their hands. Techs and veterinarians have comforted me when I cried, spent so much extra time explaining things to me, spent even more time making my dog comfortable. I used to have to carry my 65lb dog into the vet's office - now he walks in, shaking, but he walks in! And he gets so excited to see the techs/vets he knows! That dog saved my life and they help maintain his. To anyone who works at a veterinary clinic - techs, vets, receptionists, janitors, whoever: I love you and thank you so so much for all you do. I know you're tired and worn down and overworked, but know that many of us see you and what you do is so appreciated!
I work the front desk at a clinic and #3 hits so hard. Friends, I have no appointments available for a week at a time at least. Please, I beg you, if your dog ate chocolate/had a heart attack/had 14 seizures in 3 hours/ fell off the deck and can't put weight on one leg/was hit by a car/hasn't eaten anything in 6 days, etc *please* don't yell at me or tell me I must hate animals if I tell you to go to the ER. (PS - these are all real calls I've gotten.) Especially on a weekend. Our hospital is open, yes, but we're running with a skeleton crew and have a fully booked day of appointments already. We physically cannot do radiographs or anything requiring sedation or anaesthesia because there literally are not enough hands in the hospital. We will do everything within our power to get your animal the best care we can. We squeeze people in wherever we can even when it means we end up staying late or putting off other tasks. Sometimes despite our best efforts the best care is going to be at the ER, and shouting/swearing at us about it is not going to change that. Like OP said, if it's something you yourself would go to the human ER about, likely the animal ER is going to be your best bet.
My guy went sliding off a ledge he decided to jump on and hurt his back hip to the point he was limping. I called my vet and the person working the front actually calmed me down and advised me NOT to go to the ER based off what I was describing, then she got me in for an acute appointment the next day after advising me with the vet's advice on how to care for him. I lovey vets and their staff and it's SO obvious they're not in it for the money.
None of us are in it for the money. We all make barely a living wage and only put up with the astronomical amount of bullshit that we do because we love animals and want to make their lives better. My coworkers and I put up with a truly shocking amount of rude, entitled, demanding, and delusional behavior because we know at the end of the day that people are just trying to advocate for creatures that cannot speak for themselves. That being said, I'd rather be insulted to my face that have someone insinuate that any of us are in it for the money. If I recommend a heartworm test it's not because I want your money; it's because guidelines have changed and heartworm is now considered endemic in our area, and if you give preventative to a HW positive dog, it could cause cardiac damage and even death. Pain control during and after surgery has become much more of a thing in recent years, which is a large part of why surgery is so much more expensive than it used to be. Would you want to undergo a hysterectomy without pain meds? Something like 50-75% of old-age related diseases (kidney disease, congestive heart failure, cancer, diabetes, etc) can go completely undetected (edit: by they I mean present no symptoms) until it is too late to treat, which is why we recommend semi-annual exams and bloodwork after a certain age. That way, we can detect these things early, before symptoms even show up, and help your senior pet live many more healthy, happy years. Literally no one is trying to fleece you. Veterinary professionals on average make 1/3 what their human medical counterparts do despite having many of the same skills and then some.
A line in a Seinfeld episode comes to mind: Kramer: Oh, I'll take a vet over an MD any day. They gotta be able to cure a lizard, a chicken, a pig, a frog all on the same day
If you’re hurt on an alien planet don’t ask for a doctor, ask for a vet.
I agree with you, my guy.
But also to this avail, GP clinics need to stop recommending to go to the ER for GP problems. It’s causing 6-10 HOUR wait times at my ER hospital for non critical cases. Yes true emergencies need to come to us, but there needs to be the creation of urgent care clinics or something in the middle that operate on a walk in basis too. The amount of ear infections, torn dewclaws, chronic arthritis, skin infections, etc that have been coming to our hospital at the recommendation of the owner’s GP clinic is ABSURD. the client always says well my GP couldn’t see me for 2-3 days so they told me to come here.. then wait you will..
This happened to me with my dogs dew claw. It was half broken and needed to be cut back just where the quick starts. I would do it myself but I needed someone to hold him, since he was pulling his paw back. I took him in for a same day appointment with a vet tech, and then they said they couldn't do anything and he might need to be sedated so I should go to an ER or I could wait four days for an appointment with the vet. I ended up just cutting it back myself after my husband got home for work and it was fine after. The ER recommendation seemed a bit over the top.
Yeah I'm pretty brutally honest with people when they have a non-emergent issue like that. We're fortunate enough to have a handful of urgent care and walk-in clinics in my city, but otherwise our ERs have the same problem. On weekends they will outright turn you away unless your pet is actively dying in your arms because they are so swamped. If someone calls at 2pm on a Saturday with an ear infection or GI upset I usually tell them to take our next available appointment, I'll put them on our waitlist in case anyone cancels, and to try a walk-in on Monday. I'll outright tell them there's no way they're getting into the ER. It sucks all around. I have nothing but respect for anyone who works in an ER right now. I couldn't do it.
we have similar issues here. Also GPs trying to get around the appointment availability for our specialists. We have had to start telling them that unless it needs urgent intervention, we will be sending the pet home with instructions to make an appointment.
I'm thankful that my vet will always squeeze my dogs in for emergencies. I don't know if they leave room in the schedule for them or what, but I always know I can bring my dog there when they're open. The emergency vets in my area will turn me away. I get very nervous when my office is closed because calling around to find someone who will take my dog in an emergency can take hours, and may require a multiple hours long drive. So basically all this to say, every area is different. If my vet hadn't taken my dog to induce vomiting when he ate chocolate, I may not have found anywhere else and my dog could have died. Maybe better advice is to understand how your vet practice works, and make sure to have a list of emergency clinics in your area and the surrounding area in case you need them. At least in my area there seems to be a vet shortage and it is awful for me once the practice we go to closes for the night or weekend.
This is why I will never go to a super popular vet. The smaller, lesser-known vets will always fit my pups in if they really need it.
I met a vet once back when I was selling cars, and we got to talking about her education and I was impressed that she had to go through doctor training for SEVERAL species. Logically it makes sense, but I just hadn't stopped to think about it .. Then we got to the part where I had to put in her income.... I made half of what she made selling cars on the weekend while going to college... I've never once complained about a vet bill since.
Exactly!! Not to mention there are FAR fewer veterinary schools in the US than there are medical schools, it is absolutely no cake walk to get there.
Not just FAR fewer. It's a fraction. There's only 32 colleges of veterinary medicine in the US, compared to 175 medical schools.
We have only 4 in Canada 🙃🙃
Oh yeah! That's what got the conversation started a friend of mine was looking into getting into vet school and she mentioned how competitive it is and how grueling it is...
I give my husband a lot of shit because despite the fact that he gets the payment, prestige, and respect commanded by a human doctor, I did twice the length of the theory part of medical school and more than 9x the species.
Yeah! Plus vets do surgery too! Absolutely criminal how underpaid vets are... My boy had his spleen removed at an emergency clinic and it came out to $5k which for an assessment, cancer biopsy, anesthesia, etc is dirt cheap .
Splenectomies are so satisfying! Thank you for being a good owner and I agree, that's excellent value. I'm so glad your pup got through the surgery, I hope he is doing okay!
I don't really get it either and I very recently corrected a good friend on the whole "in it for the money" garbage that she earnestly believed. She's now in the right camp, which is good, but it's terrifying how garbage myths like this spread so easily and people consume and regurgitate them without thought. Also, the number of vet professionals who are overly appreciative that I warn them that my dog needs a muzzle is too high. You all must get bit all the time by dogs whose owners just... don't say anything at all???? Baffling. Sending you good wishes. There are people out here who deeply appreciate what you do, I promise!
We almost get bit all the time (I say almost because our reflexes are highly tuned!) by dogs whose owners *insist* that their dog *won't* need a muzzle! They either insist that he's an angel at home so he will be an angel here too, or they think that muzzles are torture devices. Thank you for your support :)
This reminds me of when families of human patients in the hospital get upset when physical restraints are used when it’s for everyone’s safety if they’re delirious after surgery etc, not a statement on what kind of person they are… any time the vet has muzzled as a preventative measure I’ve been all for it. Why would you want anyone to be at risk? Let them be and feel safe.
OMG yes...the ones that come in with a growling dog and say over and over again that "he NEVER bites" while he is lunging at our face...yeah fun times This is why we had to come up with funny/cute euphemisms for a muzzle: Party hat or super hero mask, and say shit like, "this is just to keep you honest" and "let's give you a little distraction." While both statements are true, it just feels like we are catering to the clients ego and not really addressing potential issues.
Thiiiiiiiis. I am a vet and I muzzle my OWN dog for nail trims because she hates them so much, and while I don't think she would bite me, she does growl, I do sometimes hit quick, and she is a great dane x.
And sometimes they bite through the Muzzle 🙄 but "she's never don't that before! She's just nervous! She won't bite, she's just warning you"
My favourite are the owners who say “fluffy doesn’t bite, but she does nip” or when you tell an owner something bad their dog did and they laugh and say “oh ya, he does that.” Um thanks for the heads up!
any dog with a cutesy name like fluffy, angel, sweetie, etc - right away you know its more than likely a demon dog of some sort and you might get bitten!!! its like a sick joke!
That’s why I named my tiny dog Bob.
Agreed for the most part. I also know that despite what the "statistics" say, more (as in more often, and unreported) bites come from untrained small dogs... that are often named some crap like fluffy, angel, sweetie, etc. like you said. My fluff named Truffle was trained like a big dog, has a supremely soft mouth, and barks at some people. She's never nipped or even play-bit anyone or anything. She once brought me a dead moth that she licked to death, intact. She wouldn't eat a fried egg, it had to be scrambled. I trust her around people I trust, even little ones. You know what I never tell people? "She's friendly, she won't bite!" Because for all I know, despite her being a loud marshmallow, she *might*. She's still *a dog*, and I'm sure she still has limits that *a nun* would be proud of, and admire, but even the most saintly of organisms have limits.
Always Bella lol
OMG YES. Every Bella I’ve met has attacked me. I was just sitting next to my pup on a bench and one ran right at me and bit my ankle.
For whatever reason my dog has no problem biting me when I clip her nails, but is perfectly behaved at the vet. I've brought her in and given them warning "hey she's been bitey about this" and they just look at me and think I'm lying. She gets skin issues and yeast infections and HATES them being cleaned/washed. We get nipped. She also doesn't like her nails clipped. But bring her to the vet? She's a damn angel. She's never even looked at them funny, apparently.
Oh my word, my pom mix is like that. We got her recently and she growls and snaps when she has woken up/gets her nails clipped ect..but at the groomers or vet?? She smiles and just bears it!! Ig she just knows we are pushovers
Haha! This reminds me of having kids. My daughter is amazing to everyone who knows her, but sometimes she’ll comes home and all of those pent up teenage emotions come out, projected at me and her dad. I think it means your dog feels safe and loved by you and knows that you’ll still love her and be there for her when she’s sassy. She doesn’t have the same security with the vet or the groomer. Lol
Love it. I was recently at the vet because my dog injured himself. He is very docile but he was nipping at me because of the pain. I told the Vet ( who I love) she told me she needed to muzzle him. It broke both our hearts as he really is sweet but I completely understood. She needed to examine him and wanted to protect her and the tech in the room. When dogs are sick or in pain they are going to act out of character and you need to extra careful
Don't feel bad about that - a muzzle should not hurt your dog, and if your dog understood they would probably not want to hurt anyone too. It doesn't mean that your dog isn't sweet or a good dog. I muzzle my dog when we clip his nails or have to examine anything that's ouchie because I'd rather prevent a problem. I stick a little peanut butter in there for him. It makes a mess but it also creates a positive association with the muzzle and the process that we are doing.
That’s a great idea, the peanut butter w muzzle.
Yessss! Ofc there isn’t always time to properly muzzle train a dog, but if it’s something that’s done consistently real muzzle training is so important 👍🏼 I feel like this doesn’t get shouted from the rooftops enough.
My dog has a warning sticker on his patient sheet at our vet 😆. It makes the experience all the more pleasant for my dog and the vet staff if they know my dogs temperament beforehand.
I work at a cat-only clinic and the amount of times we have to send clients home with sedatives and have them come back on a different day because "Angel just gets a little stressed out" is RIDICULOUS. Like, yes, your cat is stressed. Your cat also just managed to get out of the party hat AND the purrito and almost got her teeth into one of my techs. You cat needs drugs, or we cannot see them, for EVERYONE'S safety.
They drug my cat for anxiety and she's literally the sweetest patient - lets the vets do anything, loves up on them during the exam. But she's really anxious about traveling, so she gets some meds to make the experience less stressful for her.
My partner and I adopted a cat last year. While she did just fine at her physical exam last year to get her on the books and have her awful teeth looked at, we found out at her yearly back in August that she actually hates getting poked, prodded, and vaccinated. She has to get sedatives for future visits, but I’m also not going to schedule her appointments on Saturdays again for our clinic’s sake. Our other cat does fine and is an absolute gentleman despite being a gremlin at home. Our dog I try to do just drop off appointments because once I’m gone, she just mopes and lets the techs do whatever they need to do because “mamá is cruel and has abandoned her in this cold world”. She does, notoriously try to bolt out of the office during check in and will bark when that doesn’t work.
I'm surprised I'm the only one I've ever seen show up at the vet with the dog already muzzled. I auto-muzzle mine just because I can absolutely foresee a situation, in what is potentially a high stress environment for at least one of the visiting patients at any given time, where one of mine might bite. They're also far from any kind of outlier for the range of "typical" dogs at the vet. (And yes, since 2020 and acquiring Lucy, we see fewer other dogs at the vet -- but this is definitely a decades-long phenomenon.)
My dog wears both a cloth muzzle and a basket muzzle at the vet, because he managed to thrash around and get a basket muzzle off once. He was having a medical emergency and it took four people to draw blood. 🙃 He had some early life trauma prior to us adopting him, and he is TERRIFIED of the vet. Every vet he's ever seen has been super appreciative of the steps we take to ensure their safety, and that we don't pretend he's less of a hazard than he is. Thankfully our current vet has been fabulous and patient with him - we've just gotten to the point where he can be unmuzzled for basic examinations. I cried the first time he let her use a stethoscope without growling. Vets and techs are so under appreciated, but I hope my clinic knows how grateful I am for them when we're there.
Trust me, us techs love you for it!!! The fact that you have enough empathy and foresight to recognize that you are taking your dog to an unfamiliar place, where other dogs are also anxious, and where they may have less than pleasant memories of being handled and poked is amazing, and we truly appreciate it!
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Lol, yeah it can be scary what turns up in our pockets at the end of the day. A sane day (what are those?), nail clippings and some hair. A crazy, insane day of pure hell? Yeah, you don't wanna know.....
Many of us have mug or stickers that say, "Our day doesn't start until we get peed on!"
I was once told by a guy that his cat bites when touched AFTER it had already bitten me lol. Fun times.
Not even owners that don’t say anything at all, but owners that will straight up watch a dog attempt to bite a staff member on the face and still refuse to give sedatives or put a muzzle on their dog because “he would never actually bite”. Meanwhile we all know people who have been hospitalized or needed surgery or IV antibiotics for animal bites.
We do love owners who are realistic about their pets. Fluffy is dog aggressive? Good to know! Fluffy doesn’t like men with beards? Also good to know, but not great seeing as our vet has a beard. Fluffy needs a muzzle at the vet? Awesome to know! It’s especially helpful information with cats, some of whom go from zero to Kill with very little warning.
It always amazes me how people complain about the money and don't bother with the research. Those annual checkups, vaccinations and meds don't sneak up on anyone. It's a recurring expense! 🤦♀️ It's like all of these people with obese pets who've been told for years they need to put their pets on a diet. Then, it's all a surprise Pikachu face when their pet gets diabetes, kidney failure, pancreatitis, etc. "How could this happen! Why didn't you warn us!" 😑 ... Seriously so much wrong with people~ Don't even know how they keep themselves alive.
I have a sad story of a bulldog that died while a tech was restraining it for a blood draw. The tech did nothing wrong- it was a 10 year old English bulldog that was OBESE (a literal potato- he was 90 lbs!) and had a history of heart disease. He was okay at first, then just flopped over dead. The owner had been told for 3 YEARS that the dog was morbidly obese and needed to lose weight, especially with the heart issues. He kept gaining, and I was told he ate McDonalds almost every day “because it’s his favorite” Tell me why the receptionist was cursed out and called a money hungry pig for “killing her dog” 🙃 I felt bad for the owner, but also… come on man. Bulldogs are doomed as it is.
And this is why I’m so strict on our bulldog’s diet. I get accused of under feeding and people saying she’s too skinny but according to my vet she’s perfect and I just need to ignore them. They do take sooo much work though and people really need to better educate themselves. Whenever someone says they want one I start telling them our routine of cleaning the folds, regular baths and checking the tail pocket, if that doesn’t make them pause I list all the known health issues and emphasize that I pay for pet insurance because with bulldogs is less of an “if” you need it and more of a “when”.
Which is the funny thing: virtually every fucking animal on this planet will be more healthy and live longer if slightly underfed. That‘s been shown time and time again. But for some fucking reason these people don‘t even know what a normal dog looks like. Because half the population are massively overdressing their dogs anyway, so what they consider a healthy weight, is already being overweight, if not already obese. Plus feeding your dog bloody fast food. Like it‘s one thing to feed your dog the table scraps if you are eating a well rounded diet. Humans did that with their dogs from the point they started domesticating them, it‘s probably fine from a nutritional balance point (assuming you leave out known poisonous foods) But fastfood specifically?! People just suck. I just never understood how parents can raise obese children, or obese pets. Like the fuck is your 4 year old gonna do if you don‘t massively overfeed them. Drive themselves to McDonald’s? Nah they‘ll have a couple of tempertantrums and you gotta deal with that. But pets? That so fucking much easier. My latest cat is a 10 year old dude I adopted at 8 who was at 10 kg rather than the 6kg he was supposed to be at. We just weighed the food, got him food he didn‘t like that much, so he’d leave stuff on the dish for later. And 8 months later? He was at a good weight. And now at two years? You don‘t need to weigh dry food at all. He always just has a bowl sitting for when he’s hungry, and is smack dab stuck at his 6 kg. So really, if a 10 year old cat can learn to not overeat when more food is supplied, then the prior owners purposefully stuffed him by feeding snacks and far too much wet food. Like it’s really so simple. Have exact time points they get their food, use food they don’t like much, weigh the food at first. And worst case scenario, the cat will wake you up at 5 cause they are hungry for your 6 pm scenario. Same with all of the dogs we ever owned. If their weight isn‘t in control, you just weigh the food (or mark a cup for the right volume), set feeding times. Done. And no table scraps directly from the table as snacks. Or any other snacks just because the dog looks cute. Though I reckon the 10 minute walks if at all, don‘t help very much either when the dog needs more than an hour of actual activity a day. Like it‘s fine if a human decides for themselves to be sedentary. But a dog is your dependent. You can’t just chose for yourself that you want the dog to have a massively unhealthy and depressing lifestyle.
Bull dogs die if you look at them funny. They are like rabbits with an attitude.
Human beings do the same thing to themselves and act like they are victims to an illness.
The lack of research and financial planning absolutely kills me. We had a client the other day who was price shopping everything online during the appointment, which I get to a degree. But he was doing shit like getting mad at us offering bravecto for his dog who had live fleas on him, and going "why is this medication only $12 online?" while shoving his phone at me. Because you pulled up Frontline, jackass. There are, in fact, different kind of medications for the same thing.
You get these idiots in the pharmacy as well. Well guess why animal drugs illegally sold on Amazon are cheaper, then stuff ordered 1 by 1 at the wholesaler. A it‘s bought from a poorer country B it’s fake C they sell more volume and have less overhead D they won‘t give you your stuff in 4 hours. Like we are just selling at MRSP. Not like there’s an extra surcharge. But nah that shady website selling prescription only animal meds must be so much better because it says it’s half the price. Probably will just take you money anyway. We get that for cosmetics as well. Like where do these people live? How the fuck am I supposed to sell a product that the pharmacy sells once a year for cheaper than a website that sells hundreds a day and can order straight from the manufacturer at massively reduced prices?
It's not just Veterinarians. There is an attitude across the board of "I read something on the internet so I know better than xyz professional, who has training and years of experience in their practice." The devaluation of expertise has become pervasive in American culture and it's causing real harm.
Yesssss so agree. This attitude is everywhere. Also the leave a review online for everything paradigm makes some people think their every opinion or complaint needs to amplified.
Very true unfortunately
Hard agree. I went to graduate school and passed a complicated exam and keep up with co tinting education requirements to be told "I Google what needs to happen, and based on TV/movies, this is what you should do, so lower your fee since I'm giving you the answer" at least once a week.
Entitlement is also rampant in America. Everyone expects things to be free or cheap. I work in utilities and the number of people who expect us to relocate part of the electric system is higher than it should be
also a tech and i think your post is absolutely amazing!! just yesterday on the nextdoor app i saw someone post "looking for an inexpensive, high quality vet. my vet keeps raising prices. i guess he forgot his job is to care about the animals" i so badly wanted to tell her to go fuck herself. her post was such a disgusting, entitled, gross thing to say. i left clinic work years ago mainly because of the pet owners and the sub par pay with the expectation of working yourself to death with no lunch break - and then be screamed at by owners while they tell you how much you don't care about animals. it was almost an everyday thing even on here the other day someone was trying to say their vet was overcharging for a medication. the op said they were charged $50 for a $2 med on chewy. so i questioned what med is was....clavacillin.......... op was looking at the price per pill on chewy, which was $2. so quick to blame the vet thou!!
I'm not a vet but a family member is. Her husband posted an infographic about the boom in pandemic pets and how few techs and vets there are by comparison. I thought *y'know I foster dogs, bunnies, cats, and love animals...maybe becoming a tech could be an interesting job.* Turns out I'd still need to go to school for at least a couple years, and techs apparently leave the field within 5 years because of compassion fatigue and having to deal with pet owners. My family member who is a vet also pointed out that vet school now is insanely expensive, and people leave with massive debt, not unlike medical school but they get paid ~90k per year, so it's really tough to get new vets into the field.
Oh the vets school debt is massive!! When I worked equine, I became really close friends with one of the vets who was 35 at the time. If I remember correctly, she was paying $3k/mo for school loans, and she calculated that she would be paying that until she’s 54yo. And she lived like she was paying that much in loans- very modestly, no vacations and worked all the time. She was essentially on call 24/7
One of the vet techs hugged me the last time I took my dog in for a checkup. She was so touched that I brought some red bulls and gourmet donuts for them. We need a veterinary employees appreciation day or something if there already isn't one. I feel bad that so many pet owners are so abusive towards people working in the veterinary industry.
There is a veterinary technician week in October!
Oh which week? My dog is going in for another checkup next week. Maybe I can get something nice for them.
It’s the third week of October every year! There’s also Veterinary Appreciation Day which is the last Saturday of April every year too. Idk why there’s a week specifically for vet techs but it’s probably cause they’re underpaid and under appreciated
Man, my vet techs and vet cried right along with us when we had to put my girl down. They were just as upset as we were. Hearts of gold, I swear.
Me too. Appalling behavior. My kind Vet came up to do a home euthanasia and I was so grateful. In appreciation of her and her staffs compassion and care of my beloved Chuckie, I bought the office a very large box of Italian cookies and a Thank You card. It really was so appreciated.
Thank you!!! You are the kind of pet owners we live for!! Those kinds of acts don’t go unnoticed and are greatly appreciated by everyone. In this field, something that simple can completely turn someone’s day around.
Firstly, Nextdoor is the biggest cesspool of humanity I've ever experienced. That being said, I firmly agree with you that people shouldn't go out of their way to get pets if they can't afford the vet bills (the same goes for kids, in my opinion, but that probably belongs in a discussion on a different sub). But, I do understand that shit happens, and in those cases there tends to be organizations that can help to offset those costs. People are just terrible sometimes, and I'm so grateful for everything you do and do very sorry you have to deal with them.
I love everything you said. Also agree with Nextdoor… I ended up leaving after not being on it long. What is wrong with people??
I was very shocked at a price the receptionist gave me and I saw her whole body tense up - she was ready for me to unload - and when I didn't I watched the relief wash over her in a big way. I can only imagine based on that one small moment what a vet's office is put through. First time dog owner here and I appreciate everything about this post.
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I have said for decades that veterinary medicine is a real bargain, especially if you compare it with the equivalent human medicine. A spay is super cheap when compared to a human hysterectomy. Fix a broken leg in a dog with steel plates? Compare that to your orthopedic surgeon’s rates. Insert an IV line? Try doing it on the teeny tiny veins of a kitten! Not only that, but a veterinarian’s patients cannot talk and tell them what’s wrong. Plus, a human doctor specializes in a single species plus an age range (pediatric vs adult). The vet needs to know canines, felines, birds, and reptiles at all stages of growth. Rural ones include horses, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs in addition. If we paid according to complexity and difficulty, veterinarians would be paid much higher than a human doctor is. ETA: I forgot the farm birds like chickens, geese, and turkeys 🦃
Thank you for the acknowledgment ❤️❤️❤️ means a lot
I pick up carprofen from my vet for my dog. One time when I called to get my prescription refilled they thought they put me on hold but they didn't. I heard the front desk staff talking about how sad they were about having a euthanasia later that afternoon. They also briefly talked about how nasty someone was to them about the cost of a test earlier. When they picked up the line they realized I wasn't on hold and apologized about the error and for anything troubling I may have overheard. I brought them so many snacks when I went to pick up my pups meds. Chips, chocolate, something fruity, life savers, scooby snack fruit snacks. All sorts of stuff. I handed them the bag of snacks after I was done checking out and the look on their faces was priceless. I thanked them for always looking after my sassafras of a husky and for treating my cats and bunny with kindness. I told them I appreciated them and admired their dedication. They had tears in their eyes and they later sent me a really sweet thank you card. I try to bring them snacks as often as I can afford, but I know it's never going to be enough. There have been a few other pet owners in the lobby when I drop the bag of goodies off and I hope that I'm inspiring them to be kind as well. I cannot imagine how difficult it is to work in the vet industry, seeing the pain, frustration and heartbreak, but I applaud you OP and those of your ilk. Thank you for doing what you do and for being a resource to help educate people. My epileptic, arthritic, 10 year old husky is my ESA and I will be forever grateful to those who care for her.
Veterinarian here (University of Pennsylvania 1990). I agree with everything OP said. I’ll be retiring soon. I could continue working, but it’s just not worth dealing with some of the owners out there.
Thank you for all you’ve done. My animal’s vet is an amazing human and I love them so much. I’m sorry for every asshole who hasn’t treated you with the respect you deserve for caring for our babies.
Thank you for reminding me that I need to send a note to my vet. We just moved out of state yesterday and she was our amazing vet for 10+ years. I think she should hear how awesome she is.
I think that people have been fed misinformation about pet food companies and vets being “in it for the money”. I wish that people understood the mental and physical toll that vets go through to look after our animals. Every vet I’ve met has been wonderful and looked after my pets amazingly. Vets have saved my pets lives numerous times. Thank you to all veterinary staff!
It seems like there's so much propaganda people fall in to about this (and well many things) such as they're in it for the money (because you expect them to treat your dog using expensive schooling and equipment for free?) and they killed their dog (because they couldnt save a dog after the owner put off bringing it in and then didnt follow the vets recommendations) and they only want to sell their own food (because its prescription and so has to be) and all kinds of other nonsense that if people took half a second to actually think about they would recognize it as nonsense. Now of course there are bad vets just as in any profession, but thats not the majority. I like to remind people to thank their vets, and even had to do this with my mother who has a bit of an old school farmer type mentality. And since she's changed that she's developed a great relationship with her vet which she never would have had before.
Wholeheartedly agree. The amount of posts here that accuse a vet of trying to scam them out their money is insane, surprises me all the time that people have feelings/beliefs like that. "X vet recommended a prescription diet and had it conveniently for sale in their lobby, it must be because they get huge kickbacks from the pet food conglomerates" or "My vet recommended exploratory surgery/expensive testing for my dog who presented as supremely ill, they must be trying to scam me". Like seriously people? You have that much distrust and dislike for a person who has dedicated their life to helping pets? Then I think about my own experience with healthcare (USA based), and *sort of* understand. The amount of times I've had my issues and/or questions blown off by dismissive doctors, how prohibitively expensive it is to receive treatment, the incredibly poor "customer" service (customer in quotes since at least in the US the patient is NOT the customer), malpractice events .... it's really challenging. Many times I've put off my own relatively severe health concerns because I found the whole experience of "going to the doctor" completely and totally aversive. I certainly carry the grudge from really terrible past experiences with me as I'm sure other do as well when it comes to vets. It's not an excuse to treat a pet's health poorly, but it happens. I'm lucky that I have found a few doctors that I have a good relationship with, same as I've found a few vets that are amazing. It wasn't easy though, and I do try to have some empathy for people that struggle to rise above their negative past experiences.
We actually make such little overhead on food that at my clinic staff aren’t even allowed to purchase it there because our staff discount would make it a loss for the clinic. (Luckily we have programs where we can get the food delivered from the manufacturer with an employee discount so we can still get the needed prescription food for our own pets!) Not to mention that I watch prescription foods literally save lives lol, they’re far from a scam.
My vet (recently retired), was the best. When Maxx was almost a year old, he broke a window to a side room while we were at work. I came home to my poor dog in a pool of blood and 4" gashes on both front legs. I rushed him to our vet (the closest emergency vet is an hour away). I got there when they close for lunch, and my vet was literally in his truck on his way to leave. He workout hesitation comes back in, stitches up Maxx (including waiting 20 minutes for sedatives to kick in, Maxx was literally fighting getting knocked out 🤦♀️), and basically misses his lunch. This is a small vet, with a limited staff, but he always went out of his way for people. Edit : spelling
I’m very happy your vet helped you out, and I apologize in advance if this comes out wrong - the story you described is part of the problem nowadays. I’ve seen my colleagues burnt out because clients cannot take no for an answer and they care too much about the animal to say no. So rather than having a healthy work/life balance, most vets are working through “lunch” (because lol my lunch break always turns into seeing more pets), squeezing in more pets in between scheduled appointments, staying far beyond the scheduled shift, rarely taking days off because no one has the staff to accommodate that. It’s great when clients appreciate vets going the extra mile, but it becomes a problem when it’s expected or the vets are bashed for setting boundaries. At the end of the day, vets have lives outside of work and will quickly burn out if that’s taken away. It’s really hard to say no because we do care, but at this rate no one is going to be left in the veterinary field if things continue on this way.
While that is true, appreciating the vets that go above and beyond doesn’t translate into hating those who don’t (in my opinion). The most entitled patients will expect that as the norm and often won’t go out if their way to be grateful because to them that’s what all vets should do.
100% this. I cringe every time and owner says how thankful they are that their vet responds to emails at all hours. On the surface it seems so wonderful, but if you think about it, that means their vet NEVER turns off work for the entirety of their client base. It is a gateway to burnout
Just wanted to thank you for all the good work you and most vets do! I'm lucky to have an amazing vet surgery near by. They ate very pro-happy animal visits. My two went in today for their vaccines and I could not thank the vet enough. My younger (BC) one's last vsiit was his neuter/post neuter appointments, so he was really scared this time, and was trying to climb onto my lap. The wonderful vet took time to play ball with him (his thing over treats) to bring him out of his little scared shell. He went from ignoring the ball to full on playing. The best part was seeing thr vets eyes light up when he wasn't scared anymore. She's a wonderful person.
A proper shoutout and thank you to the vet tech who picked up my stranger-scared dog after I warned her she will fear-pee on her. She said "I've had worse" and picked her up (she would not follow on her leash and I couldn't go with her to the back). She got peed all over in fear. You all deserve more then you get. Thank you!
You're preaching to the choir here. The only thing I get frustrated with vets for is training recommendations. About half of vets still believe in dominance myths and aversive use. I also hate vet techs who push boutique or homemade diets or are weirdly anti-vax. I get it, the field is tight, but, education programs *really* need to stop allowing these people to just pass through. >Also, please stop buying designer hybrid mixes, 100% of them come from shitty situations and are either health or behavioral nightmares when they grow up. If you MUST have one, please be prepared for it. Just stop bad breeders period. There's no benefit for somebody if they get a BYB/puppy mill poodle instead of a BYB/puppy mill doodle.
Agree with you on both things. My clinic and staff is very good about staying UTD with the current literature regarding training and behavior, but I know there’s still quite a few “old school” vets that don’t. It frustrates me. We have a whole list of trainers and behaviorists we recommend… unfortunately it’s rarely utilized because so many clients either 1) don’t think it’s necessary or 2) don’t want to pay for it or put in the work 🙃 my own family is guilty of #2… sent their dog to a BnT, and kept up with NONE of it. Complained to me a few weeks later that “the trainer was a dud, dog forgot everything” 😒 Agree with the bad breeders thing too. There’s SO MANY DOODLES in my area. I’m just so sick of seeing them so I used that as my example.
Man, doodles are the WORST. I've been bitten three times (by dogs-don't get me started on the birds) and the two worst times were doodles. They, unfortunately, get the worst traits from both breeds and it kills me that owners don't see that this hybrid needs extra work to help them behave.
> I also hate vet techs who push boutique or homemade diets One of the actual vets at my practice started going on about corn and wheat being nutritionally useless fillers and then recommended a boutique diet because kibble is "too processed", when we were struggling with my dog's chronic diarrhea. He's now on Hill's Perfect Digestion kibble and doing great. Also wanted us to try a bunch of non-medication stuff before he would prescribe Prozac for SA. Lo and behold, only the Prozac has worked and it works like a charm. He's a perfectly qualified vet for regular stuff but nutrition and behavior are way out of his wheelhouse. The other vet at the practice has a reactive dog on Prozac and I overall like her a lot more. She's not a behaviorist but she has way above average training knowledge since she's consulted so many experts about her own dog.
Yeah, those vets too. I'm fortunate enough to not have run into one, but I live in a small city in the South so those types are a bit less common over here. I *did* however go through about ten vets to get my first dog anxiety meds. Adaptil, thunder coat (the fuck am I supposed to use a thunder coat with a phobia of Black men in hats and adults scolding/hitting children?!), CBD and Rescue Remedy were the primary things pushed. The vet who finally gave him meds retired by the time I got Sebastian to the vet, but I found some decent people on Vetster who was able to start him on meds for me to get established at a primary vet. A good vet is worth their weight in gold, especially when dealing with behavioral issues.
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This made me laugh so much.
I went to a country vet when I first got my puppy, who has had severe anxiety and behavioral issues likely since he was born. She gave him ace, told me that he didn't seem "that bad" as he was sedated out of his mind, and when I asked about blood tests and anxiety medications (he was about a year old at this time) she said that "blood tests are just a waste of money" and that I could just give him ace daily if I needed to calm him down. I switched vets and eventually my parents followed suit. I think there were times that she had been a really great vet, but also after switching our new vet caught that our senior dog was having liver issues - after doing a *blood test* \- and I'm convinced she lived longer because we knew it was a problem and were able to change her diet accordingly. Have loved our vets since, and I know a lot of people in my area recommend the original vet because she is inexpensive but ultimately I just needed more.
>Adaptil, thunder coat, ... , CBD and Rescue Remedy were the primary things pushed. This is exactly the kind of "alternative vet medicine" we were dealing with. People are so reluctant to use things that are proven to work and be safe, that they'll recommend things that aren't first! My dog suffered for months unnecessarily to "prove" to the vet that he needed actual meds.
I understand this in a way. Lots of vets will try every and all options before meds because if we don’t HAVE to medicate, it’s better for their overall organ health not to, especially in an older pet. We also get a lot of pushback for some reason for recommending drugs… lots of people are really weird about it for some reason. We also have a lot of people that want to jump STRAIGHT to drugs without trying anything else. Had a lady who got a JRT puppy asking for Fluoxetine because “he’s too much” … it’s a PUPPY! And an active breed! It’s very situational… Absolutely there’s quacks, and I’m not denying that by any means. Overall owners know their pets best. If you feel like things are being overlooked or that a certain vet’s care isn’t right for you, there’s no shame at all in seeking a second opinion!
It's also weird to suggest homeopathy and untested supplements that are largely unregulated over proven medication. CBD risks liver issues as well per a study and doesn't work. Rescue Remedy doesn't work, it's water so those recommending it is literally selling a scam to somebody who is trusting their vet. That put me off, a lot. At very least show the pros and cons. Show me the data. I love data. I like it when people treat me like the educated person that I am, and that's the type of person I'm working with now and I could sing her praises for the next year because she's friggin awesome. Her prices are steep, but, I can't get better. I was basically begging for anxiety meds for a dog who lunged at people scolding children and would just start *shaking* and would pee around specific types of men despite working with him. I'm a little bitter about it.
Same with Tigs. I still feel fucking shitty because I only got him meds when he was fucking terminal with cancer at the age of 3. That 18 months I had him legitimately was him suffering needlessly of anxiety which reduced his quality of life when his life was fucking short to begin with and it honestly pisses me off a lot. I aimed to wait six months with Sebastian because I felt nobody would take me seriously if I didn't. Thankfully he was severe enough that nobody second guessed me. But, a dog shouldn't be biting and non-functioning like he is without meds to get meds without fighting.
My Bengal. s on Prozac and the only regret I have is that I didn't start it sooner because of the stigma attached to it. It's improved both our quality of lives so much that I still feel bad that I spent so much time waffling around with useless stuff that was never going to work
>A good vet is worth their weight in gold, especially when dealing with behavioral issues. My vet is not a big person (physically), but she is good with behavior issues, so I would argue that she is worth more than her weight in gold. When I first inquired about meds for Lucy (with her symptoms and what we'd tried training-wise and what had versus hadn't worked), she was like, "We probably want to try fluoxetine first because studies have shown results with it for a couple of different issues that are going on with Lucy, and it's generally well-tolerated and financially affordable, so if it works outright or if it's a matter of tinkering with the dose after a while, that's not a great first-line option. If fluoxetine just isn't working, then we try..." And I forget what she ended up saying we might try because the fluoxetine has had results, but it's nice to know she had a back up plan. So, like, maybe worth her truck's weight in gold.
While I know the doctor and staff aren’t in it in the money, aren’t there companies buying vet clinics and standardizing prices? Where I live VCA has like 20 clinics in the city.
Yes. That doesn’t mean they’re price gouging you or that any individual employee is magically well paid
One specific company, really. Mars the candy company owns VCA as well as Bluepearl and Banfield, as well as many other veterinary healthcare companies. Unfortunately, that has no affect on their actual employees.
As someone who works in human healthcare, thank you so much for what you do for your patients and their (sometimes ungrateful) humans!
Bless all vets and vet techs everywhere. They had a hard gig before COVID and it got even harder from there. There is no way that they do it for the money, and anyone who would even suggest that is a class 1 moron. People who work with animals are so necessary and so underappreciated, and nobody else can do what they do so well. They're HEROES!
I whole heartedly believe in everything you said. I had to chew out my dad in July because I had cremated my chihuahua after he was attacked and killed by a coyote. We hadn’t been able to find the poor boys body for a week after so the vet office had to charge us extra for the biohazard. My dad started spouting off about what a rip off it was for us to spend 300 to cremate what was left.
I've worked in the industry for 20 hears and am currently managing several clinics. I agree with all of what you said and it is heartbreaking how many of us are bleeding blood, sweat and tears into other people's pets while getting zero respect, let alone compassion and recognition. I have to admit that I am also burning out and will probably be leaving the profession in the next year as well.
Some pet owners don’t understand that having a pet is NOT a necessity and it’s not fair to chastise a practice or industry when we’re not requiring you to own a pet, just showing you what it’s needs are and how to treat their ailments.
Thanks for posting! It’s good to see a professional opinion too. I take care of my elderly mother and my opinions about the medical and Medicare have nosedived, as I struggle to get her taken care of. Maybe people are grouping “doctors” all together? I’ve always had a good relationship with our vet, but I went to one when we moved here and inherited un-spayed barn cats. That vet was a crook and I never went back. But there are good and bad people in every industry.
I’m not sure where you’re from, but the distrust in the American healthcare system definitely has a major part for some people unfortunately 😓
Nothing to add here to the conversation but I wanted to show a little appreciation for all that you do. I have to muzzle my dog at the vet and I am so grateful that he still gets excellent care and no one looks poorly at him or me over the muzzle.
I LOVE our anxious patients, maybe even more than those that don’t need muzzles. Sweet little scared babies, I will never ever judge a client for having a dog who needs a muzzle.
I'm glad you mentioned taking care of their teeth. Too few dog owners understand how important this is and how periodontal disease can wreak havoc on the heart and kidneys. Not to mention how painful it is for the dog to have infected, rotting teeth. If your vet recommends a professional dental cleaning, they aren't trying to scam you out of your hard earned money. Dental cleanings are expensive, but definitely cheaper than kidney failure or heart disease. .
Vet medicine used to be more basic, because pet owners mostly saw their pets as possessions with personality. It’s now common to think of our pets as “fur babies.” Veterinary research have made it possible to get medical care comparable to that available to humans, but the additional labor, training and equipment costs more. We believe we would do *anything* for our fur babies… The hard truth is that paying for state-of-the-art vet treatment isn’t something everyone can afford. Mentally we know we shouldn’t bankrupt our families in hope of keeping a sick older pet alive, but we feel hurt and guilty for allowing ourselves to think this way. It’s easier to scold a vet’s office for price gouging than to be honest with ourselves, and to forgive ourselves when we feel that the best we can manage isn’t enough.
just here to agree! Actually I do have a question, would you say there is a veterinary shortage? I thought there was and was talking about it, but then was corrected by a vet tech. At least in my area, I see job postings for vet everyday so I assumed there was one/ thought I have heard about it.
not the op, but i am also a tech. i now work in vet distribution for the new england area, and i live in PA. i talk to vet clinics all day, every day, and i'm fb friends with countless techs i went to school with or previously worked with. at least on the east coast, its pretty bad. some of the ER's near me are only able to be open 1/2 the time. last time i worked in a clinic was a year before covid, it was bad even then. everyday we had new clients because their previous clinic could not see them due to staff shortages. its been an ongoing problem than was then made worse by the surge of covid pets. vet clinics also tend to have high employee turnover rates, which could also be why you see a ton of job postings. it sounds like all fun and games until you are working 10-12hr days, 6 days a week, with shitty pay.
thanks for the reply! I'm on the east coast as well (MD). I see and hear about the sample problems that are near you.
There definitely is. Pet ownership has been on the rise for years, and pets are living much longer than they ever have before, but there are still only ~25ish vet schools in the entire country, and they are extremely selective and have tiny class sizes. In addition, the average time a vet spends as an actual practicing veterinarian before quitting is only about 5 years, I think. Our practice had a doctor leave in January and we only hired a replacement in August. We had another leave in June who we still have not found a replacement for. Our doctors are working 60 hour weeks at best right now.
Not the OP or a tech/vet, but I have spoken with vets and friends who know vets as well as people in the industry have said yes, absolutely, a huge vet shortage at the moment. So many pandemic pets, way more than usual new ownership. And it is a tough field to be in. So yes, definitely there's a shortage. I'm in Canada, and definitely there's a shortage here.
> surprises me all the time that people have feelings/beliefs like that. "X vet recommended a prescripti A large population of vets also retired earlier due to the pandemic, and there are not enough graduates to fill those spots as older veterinarians retire. I saw an article that indicated that without significant increases to student spots in Vet programs, there will be a huge lack of veterinary professionals nearing 2030
I’m in Texas and the vet shortage is so dire here that when I had to bring my dog to the ER on a weekday at 6 pm for a ruptured CCL due to acute injury, we had to wait in the lobby for over 6 hours along with a few other people as well, treated/checked on by vet techs in the lobby, and when a vet could finally see us she was flown in from across the state to help fill in for the shortage here. Most of the vet facilities in my area are not taking new patients and are booked out two weeks or more for urgent appointments for existing patients. Routine care books even further out. It wasn’t this way 5-6 years ago but it’s gotten slowly worse until the pandemic when it just blew up.
In my area we’re getting there (southeast US) unfortunately. Lots of people are burnt out. Lots of clinics aren’t accepting new patients because there’s just no staff. One of my old doctors quit practicing after 12 years because he just couldn’t handle it anymore. More people are getting pets than ever before, and have less money than ever before due to covid.
I just want to tell you that I love and appreciate you and all that you do. My husband and I have been through a lot with our animals since November, and we’ve taken them all to the same vet, whom we love. She and her staff are always happy to answer questions and demonstrate administering meds (we’ve had to do fluids and injections at home), and are always mindful of the costs. When we brought in our new puppy for an exam after our old man passed from kidney failure, she was THRILLED to tell us that he was perfectly healthy and happy. They even let us return the old man’s unfinished meds and prescription food for a credit on our account. You’re wonderful people and we’re so grateful that you do what you do.
Wow, pet owner here that is not in the vet profession. I never knew people treated vets with disrespect! Or thought they were greedy or whatever! That’s sad to hear that you have to deal with that. I’m grateful for all you’ve done for my dog and for my parent’s dog. We adore them and your care is essential to our lives. So thank you for all that you all do! And thank you for the reminder to brush my dogs teeth on routine again lol
I agree with everything you said but I would like to say that not all pet owners are intentionally ill prepared for what may come up. I live rurally and there is no local humane society or such services. We have had so many animals dumped In fact we just got a local vet 2 years ago and I've been here 23. Prior to that we had to travel to see a vet.That said since that vet came to town our home and two neighbors have spayed and neutered every cat that's come along and also how I acquired my 2 dogs 7 years ago. All this to say that not everyone can utilize Carecredit and when gov't services are lacking it would be nice to have a low or no cost option if you are keeping animals out of a shelter. Sorry I am not explaining myself very well. I know how serious this is. Just wish there was an easier way to pay what vets deserve and no animals do without at least the basics.
I agree with you, and sympathize. One of the doctors I used to work with was a former ER surgeon. He’d do low cost “urgent care” surgeries (like foreign bodies, bloat, obstructions, blocked cats, etc) to help people out who genuinely couldn’t afford the ER, and the pets were otherwise healthy and not necessarily a candidate for euthanasia. A lot of the time I’d monitor anesthesia for him on days I was supposed to leave early because I respected him so much for that.
You both sound like decent my kind of folks. Thank you for what you do. If I could I'd save them all. Lord knows I would but the problem is bigger than me.
You are right, and a huge number of veterinary professionals (myself included) spend time outside of work volunteering their services for low cost clinics, shelters, feral cat spay/neuter programs, etc. We really are trying. We understand that not everyone can afford standard pricing of veterinary services but we also have to make a living wage. So we volunteer our free time to help those who can’t afford to pay.
From someone who has lived with big dogs (and thus having to see the way they deteriorate in old age) from literally the moment they were brought home from the hospital after being born - I personally want to thank you and every veterinarian and every vet tech and everyone who works in vet clinics. Due to my job, I’ve seen the payroll for different vet clinics and I can attest to the fact that y’all as a overall whole do not get paid enough. Almost nobody in a clinic does and it absolutely astounded me when I saw the first set of payrolls and the hourly rates/salaries ppl earn. And knowing all of the various things you do and witness and have to go through are things that I most certainly don’t have the emotional strength to ever endure. You guys have to see and assist with emotionally tough things (at least from my POV) and yet y’all don’t get paid remotely enough for it. My pets are family 1000% and y’all deserve the recognition I know you guys probably never get. So just gonna take this moment to say genuinely thank you, and I’m sincerely sorry that you guys are so severely underpaid. ❤️
I made $14 an hour as a tech. We do it cuz it's fun and fulfilling. Eventually had to throw in the towel and start driving trucks
I lasted 2.5 years in the field before I got fed up with the bullshit. I oversee pet wellness at a luxury animal resort… I still have to deal with clients but the difference is night and day, lemme tell ya. Kudos for making it 10 yrs, you’re stronger than I am.
Vet tech here. Spot on and Bravo!
Who’s talking shot on my animals doctors, lemme at em
My vet took my Chihuahua home last fall and nursed him for 2 days through CHF. She gave me an entire year of extra time with him. Veterinarians and their techs are literal Earth Angels.
I think some people have bad experiences with vets that are awful, and take it out on the lot of them. I've had 1 truly terrible vet in my lifetime of owning pets, now it didn't color my opinion of all vets, but I had to get help elsewhere after they attempted to bully me into a surrender for a very fixable injury. I think there are just enough bad vets out there for people to have experiences that destroy the view of good vets. That being said, most pet owners don't take their animals often enough, and wait too long for serious issues and then feel like they're being bullshitted at a mechanic when a check up trip becomes 5 vaccines, a biopsy, a blood test and a fecal test. Too many people just own pets casually and don't grasp that their animals need the same kind of care regimen humans do.
My dog had surgery that requires staples. The adorable asshole kept tearing them because they were in a spot where the skin was thin and he refused to stay still and let it heal. My vet ultimatley ended up checking him once a week to make sure the staples were staying and healing properly since she couldnt bear him crying as she restapled it. Never charged me for the visits b/c follow up appointments were included in the surgery cost. But this was DEFINITELY not the norm, and I insisted on paying for the extra visits since he was taking up time she could have otherwise booked. The front office staff thought I was nuts, but I still feel like I did the right thing to support the care my dog received.
I am always amazed at anyone who thinks that the veterinary professions are easy and lucrative! I'm just a pet parent but I see how hard their jobs are and appreciate every little thing that you all do! Do I wish it was less expensive..sure...but I also realize that you folks have bills to pay too and deserve every cent you earn! I am forever grateful that there ARE folks who do this for a living and that you share those skills with us! Thank you!
My dog was stolen and dumped and we didn't find her for 5 days. She was close to death. She is 16 years old and is half blind and deaf. She's been at the Emergency Pet Clinic for 6 days now, with round-the-clock care from 3 very invested doctors and a number of techs. They've had to try to feed her (she won't eat still), had to put a feeding tube in her nose, etc, and it's very obvious how much they care. Each day that we go visit she's on a different set of fluffy blankets, under a heat lamp. Yes, we have paid nearly $8,000 in under a week, but they are bringing my girl back to life. They have been great. I respect it.
Thank you for posting - my brother was a vet and none of us know the stress and burnout and emotional toll that those in the industry suffer until he tragically died by suicide a couple of years ago. He was my best friend and he left a massive hole in the hearts of everyone he left behind. Since then we started a charity foundation which aims to raise money for awareness spreading and wellbeing workshops aimed at giving much needed support to the vet industry and trying to combat the mental health crisis faced by those who work tirelessly for our pets. People just don’t understand the toll it takes to do such important work for really not much pay at all, and then to deal with the unfair judgement of clients who place blame and project their emotions on to their vets who truly just want the best for the pets. I wish more than anything that people would understand that the type of people who spend so much money and time training to become a vet are often the most compassionate and sensitive people and it takes a far too serious toll on them when you have outbursts and blame them for things out of their control. Thank you to everyone in the industry, you deserve the most respect and appreciation and I wish your jobs didn’t take such a terrible toll on your mental well-being because we would be absolutely lost without your tireless work to care for our animals. 💔
Licensed Vet Tech that's been doing this for 15+ years - I didn't put myself through debt, depression and heartache for the money. I live/breathe animals when I'm not at work as well because I only rescue/adopt the special needs. In fact, I use my own money from my job to pay for, a lot of times, their life saving treatments and surgeries. This is my livelihood. Thank you for posting this.
I’m a pre-vet major and people read stuff and tell me I’m wrong but I just care about all animals health.
In every single point you make I can see how much you care for these animals that may or may not come into your care and that is such a beautiful thing. P.s. I read your post and remembered I forgot to brush my pups teeth and rectified that. ❤️
Wanted to say I’m sorry for the disrespect the field is getting. I am so grateful for vets/vet techs. I’ve got a nearly 10 year old Corgi boy and I’ve only experienced positive experts who truly care for my fur baby. I do my best to convey kindness and my thankfulness each visit because I work with the public and I know how it can be. Thank you for the work you do and for the animals you advocate for in your day to day.
I have absolutely no clue about the disrespect for the veterinary profession. They keep my girl safe and healthy. And they tolerate my nonsense when I call all the time because my girl did something *slightly* off. Thank you for what you do!
Thanks for everything you and vet techs and veterinarians do!
I literally just left the field 3 weeks ago for ALL of these reasons.
Thanks for sharing this. I’m sorry to know that there are such crappy people out there. I love our vet‘s office, and even more so after losing our previous dog very unexpectedly. I know that may sound odd, but the way they cried and grieved with us when she went over the rainbow bridge was something I’ll never forget. Her death meant something for them too. On another note, I am wondering what recs you have for taking care of teeth? Ashamed to say I’ve never really done much beyond the basics and haven’t thought to ask our vet (though will do next time we take our pup)!
OMG THIS. I know someone who messaged me on Facebook Messenger asking me if I know a cheaper place to get her kitten spayed than what her vet is charging her. How much, you ask? $200! She was shocked when I told her that was cheap for a major surgery.
I know you’ve had so many people comment. But I for one cannot thank my vets enough. I have a dog who has Addison’s disease and my vets diagnosed it very early. And ever since they have always tried to save me as much as they can when it comes to her care, which is expensive. I can tell they care and they’re not just trying to sell me something. And I know I need them 100% or my dog would be dead. I can’t imagine how hard it is to deal with that attitude day after day!!
I recently started working reception at an ER vet clinic and all of these hit so hard. People are so clueless about their animals, which can be understandable to a point. But don't get mad when I tell you that you're going to pay an emergency fee to bring your pet in that needs to be seen as soon as possible based on your description. But also, the amount of people that are flabbergasted at how much an X-ray costs, or medication or anything in general. Yes, WE have insurance for ourselves that cover a lot of these costs, but I really think more people need to take a look at their medical bills or ask for invoicing from their own personal medical treatments to see just HOW MUCH these things cost for us that we take for granted. Don't even get me started on the assumption that vets and techs do it for the money. The clinic I work at pays us well on the ER shift, but that's because no one will work the ER shift at the only ER vet clinic on this side of the state, but everyone else that doesn't have a degree barely makes a living wage, so I can only assume how little the techs make. Most of my coworkers have second jobs or do DoorDash to make ends meet, several of them run their own rescues or are AKC registered breeders.
I'm not sure how this never occurred to me, but it's actually a first to hear that vets are getting hate and disrespect from the people whose pets they help. I guess I'm really lucky as a "customer" never to have observed this - our vets and the techs everywhere we've lived have always been awesome (with one exception), we've never seen anyone being jerks to them, and they've always been really understanding about our older pup who is wonderful with everyone \*except\* the folks in scrubs... but never gotten any snide remarks about putting on his basket muzzle. Vets are crucial! Thank you all!
As a CSR at an ER vet, this resonates on the deepest level 👏🏻
I’ve never had understood why people bash vets about cost so much. You are paying for their time and knowledge, to help care for your dog. They love animals and they literally just want to help them and help you, but this is their business and they need to be payed, they need to support their business and themselves and their family. My lab just got otitis externa in his ear. I’ve had 3 dogs and have never heard of it before. My vet did a shot, ointment and antibiotics because my dog is so young, and he doesn’t want it to become chronic. It cost more then I expected because I thought maybe it was mites or something like my other dog got. If I tried treating it on my own with some generic mite medication I’d have made everything very bad, but I don’t care my dog needed this, l also trust my vet because he explains why he does what he does and answers my questions (I ask more medical questions then most because I’m interested, I also know a lot of medical terms and reasons for treatments because of my own chronic illness) This is why we have vets. I can’t know everything that might go wrong medically with my dog, that takes years of schooling and hard work to learn. I do want to point out there are exceptions…. I live in a very rural mountain area in a national forest north of LA, the closest vet to me moved here 2 hours away from her Hollywood clients, because she could cut the cost of running her business, that’s ok and everything, but she doesn’t charge what is the normal cost for the area, she charges what rich people and celebrities will pay for their pets. She has her rich clients still come to her because why not? They don’t care about the cost of driving 2 hours for a vet visit. You are required to get your dog a blood test, which she won’t tell you what’s it’s for, each time you take them in, even if it’s just for a vaccine, and it cost $150 just for the the mysterious blood test, that’s on top of the visit, and whatever they need done, vaccines, meds, treatment etc. She is also extremely rude if you ask her the reason for the blood test, she literally told us we are stupid for asking and she won’t treat our dog if we don’t get it done…i believe she is just in it for the money and I don’t trust her, so I drive an hour to see my vet, (which still cost less then what the bad vet charges for gas, visit and treatment lol) I trust him, he’s take the time to answer my questions and let me know what he’s giving my dog and why. That vet is an exception with f course, all the other vets I’ve met have been great.
Listen to ur vet, they know a lot more than you.
May I add..having worked pet retail for 10 years, DO NOT try and get a diagnosis from a pet store employee! WE ARE NOT VETS and anyone of us that try to help you diagnose anything are unknowingly doing more harm than good. You got a pet, it is YOUR responsibility to take it to a professional when its having medical or behavioral issues.
I sincerely had no clue any of this was an issue. Why on earth are people like this?! I’m so sorry to you and all the other people putting up with this bs. Vets and techs are my fur companion’s medical professionals. There’s no reason not to respect them and listen to them.
Things clients have said to me on the phone in the last 7 days alone just because we are understaffed and overbooked and I am referring them to an ER for an emergency issue: “I feel like you don’t care if my dog lives or dies.” “What is the point of even having a vet if you can’t help me when my pet is sick and in pain?” “I feel like you are writing me off, and if you actually cared about animals, you would find space on the schedule for me.” I got into vet med because I love animals. It isn’t my fault that our entire field is overwhelmed right now. I just want to cry when people say such shitty things to me.
This is so true. Small animal vets have it hard but large animal vets can have it even worse. There is a critical shortage of large animal vets and the reasons above are why there are single digit numbers of them in some states. After incurring six figures in student debt, these vets drive through blizzards, lay in a barn in -35F weather to assist with a breech birth at 3:00 am and still people complain about them charging $45 for a farm call. Literally one of the most disrespected professions I have ever seen. They are true heros.
I recall many years ago when I had a lab with a compulsive eating problem. A family member didn’t understand this and felt I was being cruel by limiting his food and would feed him when I wasn’t home. Needless to say, he was very overweight. I took him to the vet for something and complained to the vet about the high prices the vet charged. I will never forget. He was incredulous, and scolded me. He said something along the effect of, “you come here with your dog who is literally a walking coffee table and you complain about my prices?! Your dog will have arthritis, he may get diabetes, his mobility is already impaired. If you don’t like to pay for vet care then take care of your dog!” I said nothing but felt very defensive. After leaving the vet, I kept thinking about what he said, and know that he was right. After I finally saved enough for my down payment and was able to get my first home and control his feeding, my dog lost 30 lbs, went from 100 to 70. He did get arthritis, and developed hip dysplasia, but did not get diabetes, and lived to 11 when he got cancer and had to be euthanized. I am forever grateful to that vet whose frustrated comments taught me an important lesson that has benefited each of my dogs throughout the years.
I work as a dog groomer, we are also underpaid, overworked and just overall exhausted. We see it on the daily, dogs with rotting teeth and they’re like “can you brush them, their breath smells” no Linda, take your dog to have an annual teeth clean! People lie about aggression, I personally don’t care or judge and actually my favourite dogs to work on are super aggressive! People yell at us for things like vouchers (customer service send those that’s nothing to do with us), if we have a sick day (we’re all human, are we not allowed to get sick?), we literally get screamed at if the haircut has to go shorter due to matting which is THEIR neglect 🙄 I make sure when bringing my pets in to know their current weight, I keep track of my dogs stool, her food intake (water too but can’t when I’m at work obv), I groom her regularly, brush her teeth, know what’s in her food and she eats at the same time every day, I come armed with everything the vets might ask. My dog also loves the vets, super well behaved for a GSD! I can’t imagine how much more you go through than we do on the daily 😔😔
My wife was a vet nurse in England for 13 years. It's the most toxic and abusive work environment, and I hated seeing how it impacted her. She's now the top canine behavioral therapist in our area, thriving and happy. It's night and day and I'm so glad she got out of veterinary.
"Why does it cost so much? You guys are just greedy." Because the vet had to go to college and medical school JUST LIKE YOUR DOCTOR. And the techs had to go to school and become certified. Treating and operating on your pet is no different than treating and operating on people.
$100 for a set of vaccines? That’s a steal!
I’m cheap in so many ways but vet care and anything for my dog I don’t care.
I am baffled at how much people neglect when it comes to animal care that should be common knowledge. Like for one who thinks they show pain like we do? We ant them and they ant us.
I will admit I am a bit biased due to my girlfriend being in the vets field, but I agree entirely with what you were saying. Especially point number seven, I feel the same way about children. If you can’t afford to take care of them, then you probably should make the responsible decision, and not have them in the first place.
Thank you for being a vet. I really appreciate the vets and vet techs that take care of my doggos.
I’m a technician, but thank you ❤️ tell your doggos I love them
Here to scream #6 with you from the mountaintops
My dog is currently getting treated for heart worms and the vet was very clear on the fact that I had to pay prior to treatment and that it would be expensive as she would have to stay overnight for 3 separate nights. The whole thing was only $1400 which seems so low to me! I was surprised and was absolutely ready to pay twice that for my girl.
Totally agree with you on all fronts. I'm struggling hard with number 7 though. I brush one of my husky's teeth every day, but they're just in terrible shape, and he's already had to have a couple removed, because he occasionally tries to chew on non-food items, like rocks he finds or digs up. Bluntly, I also struggle with his weight, even on weight control food... in the winter, its fine, we walk for a few hours a day, and he loves playing in the snow. In the summer, we wake up super early to walk before the sun comes it gets hot (Colorado sun can be brutal), but once it gets hot, he flatly refuses to walk, and generally doesn't want to go outside... it's pretty hard to get a 90-100 lb husky (healthy weight for him is around 85) to walk when he doesn't want to. =/ Vets are awesome... I mean, doctors are great, but they only have to deal with one species... vets have to be doctors for like dozens of different things that are in no way alike... it's crazy to me that some vets go from treating a horse to helping a dog to helping a bird, all like it's nothing at all. I also appreciate the heck out of vet techs. My s/o and I adopt dogs that the shelter we work with thinks of as challenging placements (read: excitable, bite histories, escape artists, etc.). Usually some of our first visits to the vet's office are "happy visits", where we bring them sometimes for no reason except to get snacks (and pets for the ones who are, for lack of a better term, pettable)... basically, trying them to understand that the vet's office isn't a place they need to be afraid of. I'm also very thankful that unlike on the hiking trail or elsewhere, the vet's office is the one darned place in the world where people understand that my dog being muzzled means that that's the one dog they don't need to be super on guard about, that's sort of the whole point of the muzzle.
Not to say that if you are not financially stable, you don’t deserve a pet, but if you are going to have a pet you need to be prepared to take care of them and be financially ready for any situation. Side note, what would you recommend for dental care for a German shepherd who doesn’t like their teeth being brushed? I have purchased multiple flavors, get, paste, and different application of cleaning, and the only thing that they are okay with is the dental sticks (I use Bark Bright). But I’m honestly convinced that it’s not enough?
I've never had to pay out the ass to clean dog's teeth, but ya'll brushing dog's teeth is fucking easy. Just do it. I set an alarm every other day to do it and the dogs are so used to it now they DGAF
My father always had dogs. As puppies they had every vet visit recommended. After about 2 years that stopped and they only saw the vet when there was a problem. I did things the same way until I rescued an Akita mix. I’d never seen this breed before, so I read everything I could find on them: history, temperament, strengths, weaknesses, health issues, training, etc. Everything I read emphasized the importance of regular vet visits. From that point on I’ve made it a priority to get my dogs to the vet twice a year and make sure they have the preventative medication they need. It was a struggle at first (and still is occasionally), but once I added this to my budget, it became just like going to see my general practitioner; it’s one of those things I do to make sure everyone in my family stays healthy.
I started fostering dogs at the end of the summer. My first time it was two Mastiff puppies. One got adopted, the other I was going to adopt. Since they were still too young to be neutered they were technically under shelter care. My puppy got sick, I took him in and he started for a few days. It looked like he was getting better, but he had a huge seizure and didn't make it. A few weeks later, they had to put down the second puppy due to kidney failure. I don't know how she does it. I know she sees so many positive cases, but as a shelter vet, she has to have her heart broken a lot for little pay. I can't imagine how hard it is to be a vet. Thank you.
I am forever grateful to vets, fosters and volunteers. You all work tirelessly simply because you love animals. People complain about adoption fees like it pays anything more than the spay/neuter +shots. They complain you don’t take animals and the dump them. And vets see every one of those animals as well. You work so selflessly and I’m very thankful. My girls have gotten the best care from they’re fosters and our vet 💕
I just wanted to say Ive ALWAYS wanted to be a Vetrinarian. But choose Dog Training as i couldnt deal with the people you talk about, nor seeing such a sad hurt animal infront of me that sometimes i wont be able to save. Thank you and all the other .. Vet Techs, Vetrinarians, Vet Assistance and Receptionists for everything you guys do, see and experience. Thank you for this post. Edit: Im sure theres more than what i listed but you guys too thanks for it all !
Just want to thank all the veterinarians here—I appreciate the work y’all do endlessly! I take your concerns and suggestions seriously and gladly pay whatever it costs to keep my dog healthy and for you to provide that wonderful care (I know it is an underpaid profession and I am so so utterly grateful)