A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Kara Gibson — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 05:44:08 GMT

I can't deny it's a tough job but I love the challenges it throws up and the problem-solving I have to do, working with a committed team and mostly the interactions and time I spend with the patients (especially cats!). I'm taking a couple of months off between jobs at the moment which has been great but I miss hanging out with lots of different cats (although the one I have at home is pretty special).

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Julian Earl — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 14:31:12 GMT

[quote user="Sarah Wheadon"]Seeing my student VNs walk in the first day in RVN bottle green - they always walk an inch taller.[/quote]

I'm not sure that high heels or platform soles are really a sensible choice for vet. nurses though! Ours wear trainers or crocs and the like.

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Julian Earl — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 14:28:52 GMT

Since leaving practice I can say with certainty that what I miss is the daily contact with animals. I even miss some of the humans as well. Some! Not all. Despite being at the beck and call of stressed people at all times of day, one does have control of your life: What action to take, when to return, obviously your choice of treatments and plan of action. No-one to tell you to do exactly this or that. One's own boss in other words. Mostly, for me, being outside all of the time is a good thing.

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

J G Wray — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 10:12:10 GMT

[quote user="Niall Taylor"]By 'eck, clogs on cobbles, Dvorak's 9th, men with coal-grimed faces tramping the streets after a hard day at t' pit...[/quote]

Ah those were[n't] the days. I even met King Arthur a couple of times. He was sent down wi'y t'cat by his missus and gave me a benign smile. In Caledonian Road, Grimethorpe I saw women in housecoats and curlers scrubbing the front doorstep. As I said those weren't the days.

There was a time when the practice cars had the local number plates all beginning NUM...

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Niall Taylor — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 17:03:28 GMT

[quote user="J G Wray"]there was none of the bucolic charm of the Dales, more the gritty urban reality of Barnsley and the mining villages like Badsworth and Grimethorpe in the 1970s. Inspiration for me did not come from the observation of the respect of farmers for vets and the attraction of the group joy of vet students, but rather the work ethic of the vets[/quote]

By 'eck, clogs on cobbles, Dvorak's 9th, men with coal-grimed faces tramping the streets after a hard day at t' pit...

But I agree - our professional ethics and standing, giving value, not cheap, turning a profit to the benefit, not just of self, but of colleagues and community. These are the things that make me proud to be a vet just as much as, if not more than the rest which has already been mentioned. Most of these things are mentioned only in hushed tones these days.

Niall

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Clare Tapsfield-Wright — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 10:05:18 GMT

Everything Julie said , I just like being around animals , their innocence and their acceptance of us weird humans and the demands we make on them.

A major thing for me was that it was never boring because you never knew what each day would bring.I loved the pleasure of working in a team with people who also liked animals and clients who liked animals.

Being able to make a difference, however small, to help clients and animals feel better. I love that! I miss it

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Julie Innes — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 09:04:28 GMT

For me, just being around the animals. I genuinely love them as much now (more?) as I ever did!

I am amazed by dogs and their joie de vivre! They are such happy and undemanding creatures. I honestly think they are the wonderful.

Cats I adore for their sheer bloody-mindedness and hilarious antics. They are just so superior!

I also love rabbits and guinea pigs and have a real soft spot for rats. Oh, and ferrets, tortoises and small lizards.

I like getting to know clients and patients over a period of time, and secretly love being the "local vet", even when I get stopped and asked advice while going round Asda/ the park/ the gym!

I like operating.

I like the satisfaction when you go the extra mile and the animal has a good outcome.

I like being able to help my patients and their owners in their last minutes. I feel it is a really important part of what we do, and is often overlooked.

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

George Cooper — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 00:59:48 GMT

one or two hear-warming things for me, who became a vet following a lifelong desire and the fun of interacting with the family dogs. Cats took a bit longer to appreciate and now, I suspect, they might just edge the dog into second place because they are just so puzzling, amusing, and daft.

The career? Seeing the grandchildren of long-standing family clients come in flushed with excitement at, having set up home with a partner, having acquired their first fluffy bundle, and they want no-one else to check it out! Being mentioned in two or three books written by clients, acknowledging the influence this vet has had on their lives for something, in their eyes, remarkable. On returning to the town where I spent most of my time in general practice invariably meeting someone in the street who then utters the words "Remember Ginger that you... ... ..." something completely wasted on me as have difficulty recalling what I had for breakfast on a good day! Being "George the Vet" in the City, something that opened doors when fund-raising or locating an item needed for a community project. Twenty years of local radio both as a Phone-in All The Vet spot, as well as being involved behind the mic for years doing their incredible charitable broadcasts Jailbreak, Snowball Auction, Outside Broadcasts from County Shows - all memorable and have led to life-long friendships with a different niche in the working population.

But mostly, standing head and shoulders above those enjoyable interludes has been the daily interaction with individuals who needed my help with their dearly beloved fluffy things, and striving to provide satisfaction for all. And certainly not forgetting the farming community we served, whose lives we were an integral part of, and understood, often sharing their ups and downs, and never ever refusing that cup of tea in the farm kitchen.

Our clients were our friends.

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

J G Wray — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 19:25:06 GMT

[quote user="David Catlow"]

for sometime now, all we seem to hear about are challenges and difficulties of life as a veterinary surgeon.

perhaps people might give two or three reasons or things they enjoy/ed most about their careers as veterinary surgeons

[/quote]

Back in 2016, another BVA President had a similar notion to you, with a dewy-eyed piece on why they became a vet and how they derived pleasure from being a veterinary surgeon. I suppose these themes deserve a revival from time to time.

Anyway, someone responded to the other piece with this:

"..

IN response to Robin Hargreaves' article on his career as a generalist (VR, January 30, 2016, vol 178, pp i-ii), I have also been in general practice for three decades, but my biography reads rather differently. At the beginning, there was none of the bucolic charm of the Dales, more the gritty urban reality of Barnsley and the mining villages like Badsworth and Grimethorpe in the 1970s. Inspiration for me did not come from the observation of the respect of farmers for vets and the attraction of the group joy of vet students, but rather the work ethic of the vets I met and the value they were giving to their clients and patients. The science also played its part.

I find it difficult to relate to the romantic notion of benignly managing patients and clients through an animal's lifetime, because, to my mind, management implies subordinates and process. I have an understanding of my role which is best articulated, for me, as delivering lifetime care which is valued by the clients. I see service not management.

In addition, I am clear that profit allows this service and lifetime care to happen. By having profit in a veterinary business you have the flexibility to determine how it should be returned to yourself, your colleagues, your clients and your patients. Without profit, there are no options.

Profit can be returned as time or money. Profitable practice allows time away from practice, time spent, for example, working in veterinary politics. Knowing that, while you are away, the profitable practice continues to deliver service and value to clients and their animals, and continued employment to colleagues, allows more lifestyle choices for the owners of the business. Profit can be invested in a ‘nicer place for us all to work’ as well, but there has to be profit. A ‘cash return’ comes first and clearly permits that investment.

I see the making of profit as an almost moral imperative if my practice is to improve the lifetime value to our clients and our patients. I also see the need to create sustained and consistent profit in my business so that those who come after me have the basis for making their choices about how profit should be disposed according to their values not mine.

My story is now and will shortly be past. Those who come next will have a different story. I aim to provide them with the tools to have their story as expert generalists and that is provided by profitable practice..."

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Neil Wheadon — Wed, 21 Mar 2018 08:51:07 GMT

No other job I know offers the flexibility that veterinary medicine offers. So far I have worked in large animal, mixed, small, government and locummed. (specialist equine I have avoided!!) I could wake up one morning and decide to specialise in anything that took my fancy.

If you chose the right job (aside government, at a VI/VO level) you pretty much have carte blanche to decide on your own treatments for an animal under your care and this ability to chose and dictate your choices has been shown to reduce morbidity/mortality and increase quality of life

Neil

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Dinu Catilina — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 22:32:57 GMT

Going to work! That's my best bit, going to work, seeing and talking to clients, even the annoying ones. Love a good challenge and receiving thanks when things go well tickle my narcissism. When I get complaints I don't care much as I'm delusional and in perpetual denial. Life just can't get any better :)

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Jill Butterworth — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 21:48:07 GMT

I love seeing an animal too ill to walk one day, bouncing around the next, and the pleasure on the owner's face.

Being part of the community is huge in the wider sense and in the practice itself.

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Joyce Whitehead — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 20:12:09 GMT

Definitely being part of the community, and working with a great team of vets and nurses that I consider to be friends. As I’m getting old, I really enjoy seeing clients come in with their pets (and sometimes children) that I first saw as children themselves!

i also quite enjoy the challenge of discussions with clients and explaining what we are doing and what we hope to achieve.

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Sarah Wheadon — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 19:57:22 GMT

Seeing a client whose much loved old pet you put to sleep come back and ask to see you with their new puppy/kitten with a smile on their face again.

Seeing my student VNs walk in the first day in RVN bottle green - they always walk an inch taller.

RE: A vet's life..... what are the best bits?

Gillian Mostyn — Tue, 20 Mar 2018 19:25:20 GMT

Feeling like your care and expertise has made a difference to that animal, that client, that day.

Helping to train and mentor other staff and students, and then see them 'fly'.