19/03/2024
I have been asked to share this from my private page. For those of you who are on both, I have edited this a bit more tightly than my early pre-caffeinated ramblings of the morning.
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At Christmas time I was given a massive and incredible gift.
Every day I am grateful for the incredible kindness of two humans who have never even met me in person, and the difference that they have made to my life.
Since then I have looked for ways to pay it forwards.
I have found small things.
A coffee here.
Paying for someoneâs shopping, when they couldnât, there.
I am not of great means, but I do what I can, when I can.
Yesterday I had a very very sad case at work. Other Vets will understand- a young blocked cat.
His owner was beyond devastated.
She simply couldnât afford the treatment- it is not cheap- and was going to lose her cat, because blocked cats (for the non vets) are an âall or nothingâ emergency treatment, and require lifelong management.
And so, for this cat, we had to euthanase.
Prior to euthanasia we provided kickarse pain relief and the client was with us for well over 2 hours while she tried to find some funds for a deposit to use Centrepay (not many clinics do, but my current main job offers it).
She tried SO hard to save her cat. She was sobbing all the time. She was distraught. We offered water, we offered tea. We proffered tissues.
She could not afford private cremation for her cat. She had two small kids at home, and this was also really distressing herâŠ.that her cat would never go home again.
So I offered to pay for the cremation. So her cat could come home again. My manager then chipped in too and we did it together.
If I could have paid to fix her cat, and send him home, I would have. If I still had my own hospital, this is certainly one case I would have done as a charity. But I donât so I couldnât.
Later in the evening I was asked âwhyâ I did that small kindness, when there are so many people who have to make so many hard decisions, and I donât offer THEM financial help, and the answer was very clear to me.
And it shows that I am NOT a selfless human being in any way.
In this job, if you do it for long enough, the clients can often feel like the enemy. We do it for the pets but, truthfully, the clients can give you the sh*ts. On a good day the interactions, on balance, are neutral.
People, on the whole, suck big ones. And I say this after 33 + years of trying to pretzel myself in to a shape that clients like. Sometimes I am hated, sometimes I am adored.
But this client, through all of her distress was honest. She was grateful. She apologised over and over for taking up my time. And NOT ONCE did she blame me, or my profession, for the fact that saving pets lives costs money, and, sometimes, lots of it. She just kept sobbing and asking me if she was a bad person because she had no money. And I did my best to reassure her that she wasnât.
And so I paid a little bit forwards for her, to (hopefully) soften her pain and help her kids.
And one of the nurses drove her home so she didnât have to catch the bus, still sobbing. And this owner DONATED her cat carrier for someone âless fortunateâ than herâŠ..
Occasionally I am reminded that my profession, of which I am alternatively proud and hate strongly, can offer true difference to those in need.
But my god itâs easier to do when the people at the other side of the table are kind.
I do believe that having pets is a privilege, not a right. I know thatâs not popular. Ideally I believe that you should be able to provide basic funds in a predictable emergency.
But if you canât, and many canât, I believe you have to own that choice and you make the hard decisions without blaming the staff who are trying to help you and your pet. Sadly that rarely happens.
But yesterday it did. The womanâs life is hard, through no fault of her own. But she made the hard decision to prevent her cats suffering. And she didnât blame me for it.
And that makes ALL the difference.
Pic of Pie, who I come home to.
