Veterinary Care Today
I’ve seen many posts lately regarding veterinarians and suicide. Is this a stressful business? Absolutely! But I would like to show you another side of this argument, and I’m not trying to de-emphasize the hardship that these doctors are currently going through.
We expect everything from our veterinarians- we expect them to be nutritionists, animal advocates, experts on rehabilitation, vaccination, neutering; anything “animal” they should know everything about everything. But this is how the industry of animal care is set up, animal care is not diversified like human care is. I could go out today and find an expert in Nutrition, or Chinese Herbs, Acupuncture, Rehabilitation, Mental Health Care and on and on. I would never expect my family practitioner to be an expert on everything human. But, there is only allowed ONE advocate for animal care- the Veterinarian.
I come to you from the standpoint of an animal advocate who cannot gain knowledge or respect in the fields that I wish to practice. There are no avenues for people like me. I have to become a veterinarian to be taken seriously, and to gain the knowledge that I seek. I have to commit to years of study in an extremely competitive field, of subjects that I have no particular interest in to serve you and your pet.
It saddens me deeply to know that veterinarians would take their life due to the many expectations and stressors of doing a job that they were called to do. But I think a change in the industry could better serve these doctors, pet owners and pets everywhere. This in not a sustainable industry model as it is, it must be diversified and our animals have everything to gain.
