Dear Clients: I’m Not In This For The Money

[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. 

Dear Clients,

I’m not in this for the money.

I know it can be hard to believe. I know that veterinary care can be incredibly expensive, especially during emergencies or when your pet has a chronic illness. I know that it’s hard to try and weigh your pet’s health and happiness against your ability to pay rent or buy food, I know because I’ve done it just the same as you have: being a vet tech doesn’t mean I get free medical care for my animals. I know it’s so, so hard. I know those awful decisions. And I know the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when we start talking about estimates and you know you can’t afford the care we’re recommending. I do. And I have so much sympathy for you in that hard time. I’ll work as hard as I can to come up with a plan that’s going to be affordable for you and right for your pet, whatever that means. But it’s hard when you get angry. And it’s hard when you get defensive. And it’s hard when you tell me that I don’t care about your pet, that all I care about is the bottom line. Because that’s simply not true.

The hard part about veterinary medicine is that it’s a business. Veterinarians don’t get funded by anyone but themselves and there’s no universal health care for pets. Veterinarians need to be able to maintain their hospital, buy medicine, invest in diagnostic equipment, and pay their staff.  And the struggle to explain and justify the costs of veterinary medicine to you is a never-ending and exhausting battle.

I had a client bring her cat in for a routine spay. While I was reviewing the discharge instructions with her, she began to tell me how dishonest the practice of veterinary medicine was, and how we had no accountability and as such could charge whatever we wanted. When I tried to explain what the cost of the spay covered and why we charged what we did, she refused to listen. All veterinarians and their staff are dishonest, I was told. We’re all making money hand over fist, preying on people’s love of animals. To her, it didn’t matter that what we charged for a spay didn’t actually cover how much it cost to perform one, what it actually cost in drugs, equipment, and time spent by the veterinarian, veterinary technologists, veterinary assistants, kennel staff, and reception ensuring a pet’s safe and comfortable anesthesia and surgery. To her, I was not there for the benefit of her pet. I was there for my own benefit.

But I’m not, and neither are my veterinarians. I have never once worked with a veterinarian who didn’t occasionally do things for free or offer steep discounts for those who could not afford care. I personally have paid for medications and procedures on client’s animals when I have known they will not be able to cover the fees. I have watched veterinarians changing invoices which came to double the estimate given in order to stick to what owners were told they would need to pay, zeroing out their hundreds of dollars worth of labor or that $60 vial of medication. And what what I deeply, deeply wish, is that you understood what it costs us to give those discounts and offer that free care.

The money you pay for your pet’s care does not go directly into someone’s pocket. It goes to the clinic; to the thousands of dollars worth of inventory (mainly medication and supplies for in-hospital use such as intravenous catheters, syringes and needles, bandages, surgical supplies, etc) which needs to be purchased on a weekly and occasionally daily basis. It goes to the hard working, deeply appreciated, and generally underpaid support staff who perform the duties of a nurse, janitor, lab technician, x-ray technician, surgical technician, counselor, teacher, and pharmacist — all in the same day, for perhaps half or less of what a nurse in a human hospital will make. It goes to maintaining the clinic and equipment within to keep your pet as safe and healthy within our walls as possible, and it goes to the purchase of new equipment to further this goal; equipment which regularly costs tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars just to purchase, let alone install, maintain, and train staff in operating it properly. And yes, it does go to your veterinarian — the veterinarian who may work twelve to eighteen hour days without overtime, who spends hours pouring over your pet’s medical history when they are ill and seeking out the best possible treatment for them which you will be financially able to cover, who sleeps in front of your animal’s kennel or brings them home when they aren’t stable enough to be alone, who spends their holidays with your pet instead of their family, who dedicates not just their work hours but their personal time and personal life to ensuring that you and your animal family receive the best possible care.

We do what we do because we love it. Because we love your pet, and we want to see them be healthy, we want to see them get better, and we want to see them live their best life with you. We’re not buying Cadillacs, we’re buying x-ray machines. We’re not going to the Caribbean, we’re going to continuing education conferences to learn the newest information. We’re not staying up at night partying in exclusive clubs, we’re staying up night watching over your pet, giving them not only the medical care they need but all the TLC they need as well.

We’re not in this for the money. We’re in this for you.