07/08/2025
Recently, there was a news article published in ND accusing a veterinary clinic of not caring and being negligent. I wasn’t present, so I don’t know what happened. I will say this, there are two sides to every story.
I’ve been in their shoes. I’ve been accused of killing someone’s animal, not doing my job, not caring, etc.
It’s easy for people to get upset when someone in the community says, “I took my animal in to the vet for a cough, and he died. They did something wrong and killed him.”
What if I told you the animal was a 26 year old gelding with a BCS 1/5? The cough? This horse was a lifetime asthmatic who was poorly managed at best. Because of that, he was now in congestive heart failure with a bad case of pneumonia. The thin body condition? He had no teeth, but the owner would not put the horse on processed feed daily. The horse died. So is it the veterinarian’s fault?
I truly believe the end of privately owned veterinary clinics is coming to an end. (Maybe even small businesses in general.) Most rural practices are down to one or two veterinarians who are expected to be on call 24/7/365.
The amount of online courses a person can take that allows an average person to do what I sacrificed 7 years of life and $200,000 in student loans for is ridiculous. Why go to vet school anymore?
“You should take a vacation.”
“I called when you were gone (at my nephew’s birthday), and my horse died because you couldn’t come.”
“Hire some more staff.”
“You would not believe my vet bill.”
“You need to say no to more people.”
“What do you mean you can’t come this week?”
“Make some time for your kids.”
“I can only do Tuesday or Thursday after 6:00pm. My kids have things going on.”
Somehow, the world has lost touch with reality. Animals live and animals die. We do our best to intervene, but we somehow have forgotten that we don’t have the final say.
I love this job. Whether I’m looking at animals or not, it’s on my mind 24/7. But none of us are perfect, we all make mistakes. I’ve made plenty, and somehow, those clients have known this and still stuck with me. I have some good ones.
If something goes wrong, you do have a right to be angry. It’s normal. You do not have a right to destroy someone’s life and business. So before you jump in with the social media lynch mob, take a breath and remember that you aren’t hearing the whole story.
