So as I prepare to graduate and start working as a veterinarian, a lifelong dream come true, I can't help but think about some things I wish pet owners knew. I love working with people, honestly, and nothing makes me happier than helping you give your pet the best care. But sometimes I need you to know some things:
1. Vets are not in it JUST for the money
It would be disingenuous for me to claim that I am NOT doing this job for money, because obviously I am. I have bills to pay, and after years of struggling as a relatively poor student, I'm looking forward to actually earning a decent income for once. I hope to have a family some day, and I want and need to contribute to that. So of course I'm doing this for money. I'm just not doing it ONLY for money. I don't think I could put myself through 8 long, hard years of post-secondary education if I only wanted to make some cash. Sometimes the only thing that got me through vet school was knowing that working with animals is the most rewarding work I have ever done, and the only thing I can see myself ever doing with my life.
It makes me incredibly sad when owners think we as veterinarians only want to make money off of them and don't truly care about them or their pets. I have worked with many veterinarians who have done their absolute best to REDUCE costs for owners, whether it's prescribing a cheaper drug option, doing a complimentary nail trim, or even offering their services at a discount for clients with animals in desperate need. Of course we need to make profit to survive as a business, and our services are valuable and come at a certain cost, but our goal isn't to charge you as much as we can. It's to provide your pet with the best level of care possible at a price that is fair to both you and us and our staff.
2. I'm not sponsored by major pet food companies
This one is similar to the first point, and it's amazing to me how many people think I work for pet food companies and sell their products because I'm getting a slice of the action. I assure you I'm not. I will be honest that the major companies often do give us freebies and things at conferences, but it is frankly an insult to my integrity and professionalism to think that I would push these products in the hopes of getting another free notebook. We learn about nutrition in school and consider all possible diet options. I personally have a keen interest in nutrition and have studied it as much as I can. I take the time to understand the nutritional needs of an animal, and to recommend a diet plan that meets the needs of both the animal AND the client. I really don't care what you feed your pet, whether it's a veterinary brand, a grocery store brand, or homemade...as long as it is safe and meets the needs of your pet. The reason I will more often recommend a veterinary brand is because these companies truly do put in a lot of research into their products, and these foods are both nutritionally complete and balanced, and have had food trials done. Grocery store brands may also be complete and balanced, but sometimes they take short cuts (e.g. "all life stages" = essentially a puppy diet) and are not tested with actual food trials. Homemade diets can be a great option for some pets, but they are often quite difficult to balance and are expensive to prepare, not to mention they can have the risk of food borne disease.
So I'm not out to sell you something just to make a profit, I want your pet to have the best food possible.
3. Animal dentistry is expensive but important
Let's be real here: a lot of pets out there have bad mouths. If your dog or cat has the kind of breath that could take down an elephant, they probably have some degree of dental disease. If I'm doing a thorough physical examination, I'm going to point this out to you. And then I'm probably gonna recommend that your pet get a professional dental cleaning done. You're already hesitant, and as soon as I tell you this will costs hundreds of dollars, you look at me like I'm crazy and decline.
It's true, dentistry is expensive, especially if there is a need for tooth extraction. But it's an important part of your pet's health. An unhealthy mouth is not only painful, it can prevent your pet from eating, making them sensitive to being touched, and can have negative impacts on other body systems. I'd also say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure - if you start brushing your pet's teeth when it is young and maybe even feed a dental diet, you will have a lot less dental issues. You'll still have to have regular examinations and cleaning, but that is often much cheaper than fixing an extremely diseased mouth.
4. Please don't be late for your appointment
Depending on the clinic, appointment times range from 15mins to 1hr. I'm going to do my best to be as thorough as I can in that time frame, and not waste YOUR time, as I know you have other important things to get to. Sometimes unexpected complications or emergencies will delay me, but I will always keep you informed and do my best to minimize the impact on you. So please do me the same courtesy and respect my time as well. If you're late you shift the whole schedule and affect all the other clients scheduled that day. If you know you're running late just give us a call and we can do our best to accommodate you.
5. Fat pets are not cute
This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I see sooooo many fat cats and dogs, and owner's are often in denial about how overweight their pet is ("he's the perfect shape!") or don't care ("isn't he just the cutest little furball?!"). You may think your fat cat is super adorable, or that your obese dog is only carrying a few extra pounds, but I can tell you they are most likely underestimate how overweight your pet is, and that all those extra pounds are doing a number on your pet's health. Obesity affects a pet's joints, their heart, their lungs, their kidneys, their liver...basically everything. Ultimately being overweight will shorten your pet's lifespan. That's why I keep telling you to get Fluffy to lose weight - I want you and Fluffy to spend as much time together as possible.
6. You can trust me to give you good medical advice
I get it, you just want to google the weird thing your pet's doing and find out what's wrong. Or maybe you want to read up on what to feed your new puppy. Maybe you're just curious what kind of vaccines your cat needs. It's totally fine if you want to do your own research, I even think that makes you a dedicated pet owner, I just want you to be careful. There is a lot of useful and factual information on the web, but there is also a lot of misleading or false information, either put up because of ignorance or out of a desire to manipulate you. If you're curious about something, let's talk about it. I can help you sort out the good information from the bad. I have a 4 year Bachelor of Science and a 4 year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, so I know what I'm talking about :)
7. Your dog is not a wolf and your cat is not a lynx
Why are people so obsessed with having their pets live as close a life as possible to their wild cousins? People want to feed raw meat diets, do minimal veterinary care ("wolves don't brush their teeth!") and want their pet to run around and behave as wild and unrestricted as possible. It just doesn't make sense to me. Wild dogs and cats live short, difficult (if not sometimes miserable) lives. They constantly struggle to find food, eat whatever quality of meat they can catch (often they eat the sick or elderly animals), and suffer from things like broken teeth, malnutrition, injuries, and disease. The images you see of gorgeous apex predators against a breathtaking natural background does not tell you the whole story. In terms of behaviour, domestic animals are not the same as their ancestors, and they need to behave in a way that allows them to integrate intro our world. I have a big issue with outdoor cats especially, because your cat does not need to run around outside and terrorize local bird populations to be happy. Veterinary medicine has evolved to let your pet live a happy, comfortable, LONG life with you indoors, eating a commercial food and regularly seeing a veterinarian.
8. I'm not a magician
Don't get me wrong, I do know a lot of things and I will do my best to figure out exactly what is wrong with your pet. But sometimes things don't follow what the textbook says, or we run into complications. Medicine is a mystery, and I'm just a detective (a new one at that!) I'll do my best to spend your money wisely and find answers quickly, but please be patient with me.
9. You might hear different things from different veterinarians
This is a really tricky one. Working at a large referral centre like a veterinary college gives you the chance to work with patients from all over, from a large number of different veterinarians. Sometimes these vets have different ideas and recommendations on the case than what the referral hospital says. This doesn't necessarily mean your vet who referred you was wrong - they might not have had all the necessary resources to come to the correct diagnosis, or maybe they just didn't get all the information they could have used from you (Not your fault! Just different questions trigger different pieces of info). They were likely doing the best they could with the information they had available.
Sometimes you might change primary veterinarians, whether it's because of a move or cost or you just didn't like that vet. Your new vet may tell you different things about your pet than the old one. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes just sees something new, or sometimes different vets just have different ways of doing things. That's OK. There are very few things were there's only one 100% correct way to do something, and different vets see success with different approaches. A good veterinarian will adapt to a new approach if the current one is not working for you and your pet.
10. "The back" of the clinic is not a scary terrifying place where we torture pets!
A lot of owners get uncomfortable when we say we are taking their pet "to the back" to do some work. They are understandably worried and protective of their pet, and it can be scary not seeing what's going on. I do my best as a veterinarian to work with the animal in the room with you, but sometimes I do need to take them to the back. This may be because I need more hands to help keep the animal calm and restrained than can fit in the room, or because your pet is actually more anxious in front of you. Sometimes it's simply because I know you won't like to look at what I'm doing, even though everything I'm doing is not going to harm your pet - it just may be that you're more squeamish than me around needles and blood. I'm happy for you to ask questions, and if you want to watch us work with your pet just ask! I may need you to step away if your pet is anxious, but I promise you I am not trying to hide anything I am doing, and am not working roughly or dangerously with your animal. I treat every animal I work with like my own, and take utmost care to do no harm to them.
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Those are the Top 10 things I want you to know as a pet owner. Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments. This is just my two cents. You can keep the change :)
- Madeleine
