[One of my favourite most accurate memes ever.]
“You’re just in it for the money!” A sentence I’ve heard more than a few times in my career. The fact of the matter is that while there may be a very few people who are, the vast majority of veterinary professionals (especially vet techs because let’s face it: absolutely no one is getting rich off our salary) are in it for your pet…and it hurts when clients can’t or won’t see that.
[Left: Domino rocking her body cast. Top right: before (top) and after xrays of her sternum. Bottom right: during surgery, using a pen to show the depth of the defect where her sternum was growing ‘in’ rather than ‘out’.]
Domino was a kitten I fostered who had a severe case of pectus exavatum, a condition where the sternum doesn’t grow correctly and instead damages the lungs. She stayed with me for months during her recovery and I became extremely fond of her.
[Veterinary medicine is always expanding its knowledge of animal health, which is part of what drew me to the field.]
Veterinary medicine, like any medical field, is constantly changing, evolving, and improving. Sometimes it feels like sitting on a roller coaster of information: by the time we’ve learned something well, something new has become available or new information has been found. But far from finding it frustrating or discouraging I choose to embrace it; change is the only way to continue moving forwards.
[My beloved Rupert, a big cat in a small world, patiently squishing himself into his scratching post bed. He got cold very easily and loved his assortment of sweaters and coats in the harsh Northern winter.]
You can’t save them all. How many times have we as veterinary professionals or even we as clients heard that phrase? It becomes a mantra at work during the bad days, a way to compartmentalize away the deaths and euthanasias that happen on your watch, the terminal diagnoses, the weeping owners, the pets who don’t know they live under a death sentence. My record of saves is good, maybe a little above average, but every now and then a pet comes along that reminds me — I can’t save them all, no matter how hard I try.