A depressing career choice - 1 in 6 veterinarians have considered suicide

[packman]

6.8 percent of males and 10.9 percent of females in the profession have serious psychological distress compared with 3.5 percent and 4.4 percent of U.S. male and female adults.
•24.5 percent of males and 36.7 percent of females in veterinary medicine have experienced depressive episodes since veterinary school, which is about 1 1/2 times the prevalence in U.S. adults overall throughout their lifetime.
•14.4 percent of males and 19.1 percent of females who are veterinarians have considered suicide since graduation. This is three times the U.S. national mean.
•1.1 percent of males and 1.4 percent of females in the veterinary profession have attempted suicide since veterinary school.

Report states that veterinary professionals have a high rate of depression and suicidal tendencies - Frankly I can see why.

Young man or young girl wants to become a vet to work with animals
Customer comes into office and wants a cat/dog put down for some stupid/obscene reason

I know I've had to make that decision and it tore me apart and the vets were sympathetic and kind both to my pet and to my wife and me. I don't think I'd have the emotional steel to face that every day.


https://www.avma.org/news/javmanews/pages/150401d.aspx

[leftyladyfrommo]

1. They also have to deal with people

who really love their animals
but who can't afford to pay hundreds of dollars for treatments. Veterinary care has gotten really expensivw.

[Initech]

6. Everything has been getting more expensive.

And I'm sure most of what we pay for something is really just to cover the advertising costs. Another reason why I consider the marketing and advertising industry to be the ruiners of everything.

[Qanisqineq]

2. I worked as a vet assistant after college

I was trying to decide between veterinary school or graduate school in a field of biology. I chose grad school. Even working in a clinic with lots of affluent clients, the neglect and attitude toward animals was very depressing.

[tblue37]

3. I adore animals. I considered becoming a vet but decided not to, because I could

never deal with the suffering and death of animal patients. I can't even handle reading articles about such things!

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. 2 jobs I could not handle

vet/animal control and working with young children, abused or not.

Happily, I have known those limits all my adult life, so could avoid a career mistake.

[Old Vet]

5. Boy I can certainly understand those facts.......

I had a brown lab puppy that after several months acquired a un-curable skin disease. My choice was to continue treatment at 500.00 a week for the dips to alleviate his suffering or put him down. Iam a pretty thick skinned combat veteran but I must say, It felt like someone ripped my heart out, How someone could do this on a daily basis is just beyond me. These vets have my full respect, I was treated so kind by the staff at the time.

[pnwmom]

19. What a terrible choice you had to make.

I'm so sorry, Old Vet.

It broke our hearts to put down a 13 year old dog -- it must be even worse to have to help a puppy go.

[exboyfil]

7. Also it is a risky financial career

if you are not wired into an existing practice. My older daughter ultimately decided on engineering, but she did a project on being a vet (included visiting a Vet school) while in Jr. High. The ROI is abysmally low, and you have to take on significant, risky debt.

I don't think my vets are getting rich, but my vet bills for my two dogs and a cat are easily my highest "discretionary" expense. They easily represent a nice vacation every year or payments for a new car. I love my pets dearly, but I would never take on the responsibility for another pet after they have passed (Border Collie is 12, Aussie/Sheltie is 10, and the cat is 10).

[TexasBushwhacker]

11. Yup, and vet school is as hard if not harder than med school

They have to learn the anatomy, diseases and treatment of many species of animals. In med school you only have to learn one, US.

[meadowlander]

20. Vet school also costs as much or more than medical school

and the pay when you get out isn't as good.

[Foo Fighter]

23. Note only that, but we can tell our doctors

what hurts, where it hurts, when it hurts, how it started, etc.. A vet can't exactly quiz a dog or cat (or lizard or cow or ...) regarding the onset of their symptoms.

[Cosmocat]

13. Every savvy high schooler I know

Who had a strong interest in the field that did their homework has opted to go another direction because the cost for education and to get into a practice vs what they would earn or get to the point of having a profitable practice just didn't square.

[elehhhhna]

8. My vet cried as we put down our cat last weekend

We hugged. She's young , she's a good vrt, but I can't imagine doing this job day in day out

[crazycatlady]

10. I am sorry for your loss

RIP Dear Kitty

[csziggy]

27. My vet cried with us when we put two of our mares down

One had very bad arthritis in her hocks, the other had a severe infection in one foot that caused the hoof wall to completely separate from the inside of the hoof. Both were in pain but they were in excellent health otherwise. We'd spent years treating them and giving the best quality of life we could but it was time to let them go.

That vet has been through a lot with is. We were the first farm she visited on her first day of residency and she knows all our horses very well. She has helped us save lives, but she's also been there when we lost the battle. I know it takes a toll on her.

[cilla4progress]

30. I love my horse vet!

He's one reason I haven't moved away yet. I also know he has had mental health problems. don't know why. Wouldn't trade him for a million dollars!

[csziggy]

34. Horse vets are a special group - they do it for love and little hope of wealth

Mine only wants to work on horses and dogs. The previous vet at the practice - who I had known from his pre-vet college days (I boarded my horse at his father's farm) - took care of any animal - cows, pigs, goats, anything. But he had to retire and the current one will probably retire on me soon. Fortunately I know some other vets that I can use, that already treat other horses on my property.

You know, that is something people don't talk about when getting old - all our good professionals retire on us. I've lost attorneys, accountants, vets, doctors, dentists, electricians, plumbers, and farriers - all because they had long carers and were ready to retire. It's a pain to replace a valued and loved professional if they don't pick a successor (or if you don't like the new one).

[cilla4progress]

36. So very very

true!

[logosoco]

9. I worked as a vet. asst for a few years.

While I felt I was some comfort to the cats and dogs in their last moments (and with the owners) it really got to me after a while.

[moriah]

28. The vet who had to break the news to my Mom her puppy likely had a brain tumor...

Was very sweet, but I could tell it broke her heart at least as much to have to watch it sink in for Mom (she wanted the vet to be wrong, was asking about specialists, etc, but he already had severe brain damage and even if Mom'd spent the thousands to get him seen by a specialist he'd never be the same dog).

They see owners who genuinely care that have to put loved animals down, then see people who bring in perfectly healthy animals to be euthanized because of convenience.

My old vet, who helped me manage my cat's bladder stones (he had to have PU surgery) said she would have adopted him herself if we couldn't afford the surgery, and when someone came in to "euthanize" a perfectly healthy animal since they usually didn't care enough to want to say goodbye, she'd re-home the animal instead.

[Ms. Toad]

12. We kept one of our animals home to die for that very reason.

She wasn't suffering, but I knew our vet couldn't face putting down one more animal. (Had our cat been suffering, I would have taken her in anyway - but I saw no reason to add to the vet's anguish at that particular time since she wasn't. She died peacefully a couple of days later.)

[exboyfil]

14. I love my MIL but

she has a bad habit of deciding on her own when a pet needs to pass on. She did it with their first dog who I did not have much of a relationship with as well as her cats whom I also did not have a relationship. She would take the pets to die alone at the vet. She did it with their second dog. Now this is a dog that my daughters and I probably walked over a 1000 miles with (her leash was strapped to my jogging stroller). We would go to the parks together, and she was always very loving and protective of my girls. I also took her on long jogs which she absolutely loved. In the winter her Husky side came out (she was mixed Husky/Lab) and we would walk back and forth in the snow covered corn fields. She was the first dog my daughters attempted agility on, and even being an old an arthritic she still performed well for them.

It still hurts that I was not with her when she passed on. She deserved better. I have been with all my other pets at that time. The other family members can't stand to be in the room, but I owe it to my pets to hold them one last time.

[Ms. Toad]

15. This same vet came to our house to put another of our cats to sleep.

We took him outside (he wanted to be an outdoor cat), and sat with him on a blanket while we waited for her. She took a look at him (perked up a bit because he was outside), and tried to convince herself he wasn't ready to go yet -but her nurse pointed out his yellow eyes (liver failure). He'd been behaving in classic crawl away to die mode, had stopped eating, and had intermittent paralysis.

Sad, but it kinder to lt him go. He was clearly in some pain, so I wasn't willing to let him die at home.

[GreenEyedLefty]

16. Yep, my family vet killed herself last year.

It was quite a shock, she was very young.

[renate]

22. oh my gosh, that's horrible

How sad. Nobody (except that one vet who made headlines about a year ago) goes into veterinary medicine because they're a horrible human being--just the opposite. I'm really sad thinking about that poor young woman.

[cilla4progress]

31. Terrible!

So sad! Sorry!

[mrs_p]

17. Veterinarian here

Last edited Wed Feb 8, 2017, 03:10 AM - Edit history (1)

Compassion fatigue, low salaries with enormous debt, long hours, non-compliant owners - just to name a few of the stresses.

Every week I hear of someone in the profession committing suicide.

There are support groups so people don't feel so alone. But, not sure how much it helps.

[JI7]

18. do they deal with a lot of abused animals ?

[mrs_p]

24. Depending on the job

A vet may have to deal with more or less abused animals.

I specialize in pathology, so have had my fair share of abuse cases.

[csziggy]

35. Some of them do - my vet works with the sherriff's office

She helps them determine if animals have been abused or neglected so they can decide if there should be charges and justify removing animals from a situation. Twice she called me to transport horses to impoundment facilities - it could be hairy but deputies were there to back up the vet and make sure there were no problems.

Both times I was called by the time I got there it was voluntary relinquishment - one was just pure neglect and the owner had run out of money for feed and general care. The other was a pony that should have been named Houdini since he kept getting out. In the country that would not have been as big a problem but he was kept a block off a main road and had gotten into traffic a number of times. The owner didn't want to give up his pony but he also didn't want to see him hurt - and he couldn't figure out how the pony kept getting out of a well build fence (neither could we).

[jeffreyi]

21. Yup

Happened in my family. Close family member did herself in. RIP.

[mrs_p]

25. I'm sorry. Nt

[liberalhistorian]

26. While I agree with all of those here who've

given reasons concerning having to deal with sick, suffering, abused and neglected animals all the time, especially since those animals have no voice in whether or not their owners comply with the recommended treatments, I think there's also another serious factor to consider. Vet school is horrendously, incredibly, unbelievably and absurdly expensive, even more so than medical school. Unless they're independently wealthy or from exceedingly wealthy families, most vets will graduate with student loans exceeding half a million dollars. There is no way to pay that off in a lifetime, barring winning the lottery, and, since it's student loans, it is permanent; never dischargeable in bankruptcy and subject to garnishment even in old age and even from social security and pensions. There is no way out from under it, so, in addition to having to deal with the depressing facets of caring for animals, if your practice isn't making it or you can't handle being a vet anymore, you're still completely screwed financially for life. That's enough to make an awful lot of people suicidal.

[manicraven]

29. I never realized that is the situation for vets! Really horrible!

[Snackshack]

32. I have nothing but.

Respect for Veterinarians...(most of them). I know I certainly could not do that job. Having to put an animal down is heart wrenching.

I have had long term interactions with 4 different Veterinarians over the period of time I had pets. I had two dogs for 10-12 years respectively. A Husky and a Lab. The Husky had seizures and I had to get meds each months to control them. The vet I was going to at that time told me I had to get the medication from him because it was a special pet medicine not a people medicine at a cost of $80 a month. I trusted him and I did not know any better, my bad. I found out a year and a half later I could get the same medicine from Walgreens for $20 a month, same dose and amount. Another vet soaked me for over $1500 worth of testing an Aussie pup I had for every disease under the sun even though I told him I thought it was and all the symptoms point to it being Distemper. It was Distemper but by time the vet agreed it was too far along and I lost Nikki. Once again I was naive.

Words of advice. Don't be afraid to go to a different vet for second opinion. Also if you have a pet that requires monthly medication and you are buying thru the vet call your local pharmacy and see if they have it and how much it is.

The Vet who told me I could get the medicine from Walgreens was awesome. I told him that bringing my Husky (Balu was the Huskies name) into the office every few months to get his liver tested (required because of the medicine) was causing seizures because one trigger was when Balu got excited, going for a ride always made him excited. The Vet started coming to my house to do the test. A good Vet is worth his or her weight in gold.

[djg21]

33. My dad is a Vet

He just sold his practice and is in the process of retiring. I thought about vet school, but went in another direction.

The practice of veterinary medicine has changed over the years. There is no longer such thing as a general veterinary practitioner. Vets tend to specialize, large national companies are buying and consolidating practices, every last thing is a profit center, and the cost of small animal veterinary care has become almost prohibitively expensive. At the recommendation of my father, I now carry pet insurance for my dogs. I pay $35/mo per dog (two Golden Retrievers), and have a $250 deductible for each. Insurance is expensive, but I never want to have to put a dog down because I cannot afford emergency medical care. I have needed emergency care for a dog in the past and the cost was close to $20,000 by the time everything was done. Another of my dogs developed cancer and the chemo would have been unaffordable had I been required to pay.

As to vet suicides, it's not all that surprising. Vet's hours are very long -- you can't control when a dog is going to get hit by a car and need emergency care. Young vets get payed relatively little, and often have extensive student debt. Vets also have ready access to pharmaceuticals.

I'd be curious about other professions and bet the numbers correlate. My sense is that if lawyers had ready access to pharmaceuticals, they'd have a very high suicide rate too.