8 Things Vet Staff Wish the Clients Knew

I’ve worked in the vet field for more than a couple years now. Even when I wasn’t in the vet field, I was still working with pet owners in some way, whether it was at a boarding facility, a pet store, or an animal rescue. In all of those jobs, there were so many things I wish pet owners would understand, but sometimes it’s the difficult things to bring up, or the things people have simply made their mind up about.

1. We don’t get money by recommending/selling products to you. Sure, we make money in the sense that the clinic/facility we work for is making money, but we don’t make anything extra by suggesting certain brands to you, except for the peace of mind know that we educated a pet owner on a product that we trust. This includes flea and tick and heartworm prevention, supplements when your pet may have something going on, and food brands when you ask for opinions on what to feed your pet. We don’t get special incentives when we upsell products from the brands we recommend. I promise we don’t, or I would see a lot more on my paycheck than I do. We recommend the things we recommend because we care about your pets and their wellbeing. We ask you to stray away from grain free food because we know th research behind it. We recommend flea and tick and heartworm prevention, because we just treated a dog for severe Lyme disease or heartworm a couple hours prior. So please, hear us out. If you have questions about why we suggest certain products, ask us! I promise we don’t be upset with you. I JUST had a conversation last week with a client about heartworm prevention, and she left to hospital buying heartworm prevention for what she said was the first time, because no one had ever taken the time to explain to her why it was something she needed for her dog. And she thanked me for giving her the information she did, and I left work knowing that at the end of the day, I helped this pet avoid a treatable disease for at least a couple months. I didn’t feel good because I was going to have a couple extra dollars on my paycheck, because I’m not going to. But I educated a client on care for her pet, and that’s why I do this.

2. We don’t get into this field for the money. Believe me when I say I am not a vet tech for the paycheck. Don’t get me wrong, the clinic I work for takes care of their employees pretty well, especially compared to other clinics I’ve worked at, but for the work that vet staff do on the daily, I don’t think there would ever be enough in terms of money. I work in this field because I want to take care of animals. I want to educate pet owners on the best ways to take care of their animals. I want to watch the critical patients turn a corner and go home. All of those things are why I do this, and why the money isn’t the reason I stay, or that the lack of doesn’t make me leave. My heart soars when I get to watch a patient that came in critical walk out of the hospital with their owners. My heart breaks when I watch a family leave without their beloved family members, but it feels a little better when I know I could be there for the owners and the pets during those final moments. I do this for the pets and the pet owners. I love each and every patient that walks in that door as if it were my pet. And anyone who knows my pets knows that they are so loved. Trust me when I say your vet staff works through what they work through because they love your pets.

3. We hate when we have to slap a huge bill in your face as much as you hate to see it. I promise. If we could do our job for free, and I think I speak for a majority of the field, we would. Like I mentioned in the above point, we do this because we love your animals. But at the end of the day, we work for a business that needs money to stay open so we can keep doing our job. We can’t help your pet next year when you need us again if we don’t get paid for services we render, because we won’t be able to stay open. At the end of the day, it’s a business and bills need to be paid and employees need to be paid. Our doctors and many of our staff have student loans from the schooling they went through to take care of your animals. The unfortunate fact of the matter is we have to make money.

4. You aren’t bothering us with your questions. I know I, personally, would so much rather get a phone call at 2am for a non-emergency than a phone call at 8am saying your pet passed away. PLEASE ask me all the questions. That’s what I’m there for. Client education is my favorite part of the job; I love educating you on the best way to take care of your pet, even if it’s the middle of the night and you think you’re being annoying or overreacting. If only you knew everything I’ve called/brought my own pets in for, you wouldn’t think twice about all the questions you have for me.

5. Speaking of phone calls, do not feel bad for calling for an update! I am that pet owner. When my own dog was hospitalized, I literally slept on the floor of the clinic I worked at in front of his kennel. I drove an hour multiple times a day to give him his meds and make sure he knew I felt awful about leaving him. And when I wasn’t there, I was texting the doctor and other technicians to ask how he was doing. So no, you aren’t bothering me asking for an update. I love finding out how you make your pet more comfortable at home so I can make them more comfortable in the hospital. And when you tell me to give your pet a hug for you, please know that I do, every time. When you tell me your cat LOVES tuna, I write it on their chart and give them some tuna. And guess what? Sometimes that’s what they needed to start to feel better. Please keep calling and asking for updates, and please never hesitate to tell me what helps them at home.

6. We have a lot going on inside the hospital every minute of every hour of every day. We are almost always multitasking in some way, and sometimes, minor mistakes are made. Sometimes the wrong thing gets put on your invoice, or a staff member may accidentally say he instead of she when talking about your cat. With that being said, at least in the case of the clinic I work at, we have so many procedures in place to ensure things are checked and double checked, and sometimes even triple checked to try to minimize those mistakes. Sometimes things fall through the cracks, and we may forget something. Please be patient with us. If sometimes happens, we WILL do right by you and your pet and fix our mistake promptly.

7. We don’t like to say no when you call us for an appointment, especially when you feel that whatever is going on with your pet is an emergency. However, we have to prioritize our emergencies. Just last week at work, my doctor was prepping for an emergency surgery (literally a life or death procedure that needed to be done ASAP) when an owner called in that their pet was seizing despite seizure meds. While the technicians were finishing getting the dog ready for surgery, the seizing pet came in, and the doctor stabilized her quickly. He went right into surgery after that, while still answering questions we needed to continue caring for the no longer seizing pet. A client called to ask for an appointment because her dog had been limping for most of the day. I said no. I felt bad about saying no, because this owner obviously thought it was an emergency if she was calling at midnight, but the fact of the matter was it wasn’t an emergency, and it wasn’t a case our staff realistically could see that night. A lot of times, especially in the middle of the night, emergency animal clinics will be limited to seeing life or death emergencies, and if your pet isn’t critical, you will be waiting. A long time. Be thankful that you’re waiting, because it means your pet is overall doing okay. It means you likely won’t have to experience what the family next door is going through, which is often times trying to decide if it’s their pets time to say goodbye. Please be patient with us, and if we say we can’t see you, it’s because your pet is stable enough to wait just a little bit longer.

8. We’re all human. That means we have human emotions, and that we deal with trauma in the way a human does. We aren’t robots; sad things still make us sad, happy things make us happy, and we still take it personal when people are rude to us. In fact, there are a couple of cases I will ALWAYS remember because of the human emotions they made me feel. And I promise you, they weren’t all good emotions. I go home and cry some nights, and I know I’m not alone in this field. Did you know that veterinary medicine as a field has the highest rate of suicide? A lot of it has to do with the way we are treated on a daily basis. Don’t get me wrong, the good cases are abundant. I can count on one hand the truly awful and hurtful interactions I’ve had with clients. BUT those are the interactions I will always remember. As much as we try to remember the good ones and forget the bad, the bad ones will always stick with us. Please remember that the next time you’re frustrated or angry with your vet staff. We get it, we’re probably frustrated or angry at the situation as well. We are people, and we will treat you like a person no matter what, but we expect the same in return.

So, there you have it. It’s everything I wish we could tell our clients in the vet field, but that I just don’t have time to remind everyone about. I probably forgot some things, and some of the things I forgot are probably important, but hopefully those of you who read this get the main points. We are trying our best, we just ask for the same in return.