07/31/2024
I worry about how many of us there will be left in the next 5 years. So to go on a bit of a rant please see below. I shared in my personal page but feel it’s obviously fitting for my business page as well.
I promise you we don’t do this to “steal” or get rich. We do it because we love the horses otherwise, honestly, there are better ways to make money with a much better lifestyle. I don’t think people realize how much we do outside of work hours to learn, consult with other vets, look up and study about cases we have because we want to help your animals as best we can.
We try to take a team approach to your horses care and we need your trust to make that happen, if you don’t trust your vet it’s best to find a practice where you do feel like a team and that you can trust what they say.
We charge what we charge so we can stay in business. Did you know just this year some of our vendors increased prices 12%, others have increased costs twice this year without us matching that in our pricing?
We work long hours and are on call literally 24/7/365. What would it take for you, honestly, to frequently get called out away from your family, missing or having to leave birthdays, holidays etc or in some cases completely having to miss out. We answer the phone and come out because we love the animals and won’t let them or our clients down.
Snide comments about how expensive things are, not paying your bills (please for the love of God pay your bills as we have already paid for all the materials we used for your appointment and have to pay staff whether you pay us or not) and being down right mean drives more of us away or out of business everyday.
If you want a large animal vet to help you in the future please help us keep people in the field. How can you help?
1. Pay your bills! Pay your bills! Pay your bills! Most of us won’t come out for routine or emergency calls if you have unpaid invoices, don’t get angry with us when no one will come help you because you’ve run up a bill at every clinic around.
2. Establish a relationship. We need to see you once a year. This establishes a vet - client - patient relationship which in most states is legally required for us to give medical advice and to dispense or approve medications.
3. Understand emergency coverage is for current clients. Most of us will not see non-client emergencies for a number of reasons. Don’t get mad when we won’t come out because you “have never needed a vet”
My practice has over 1200 clients and over 3500 patients with two vets. We just can not be on call for everyone and anyone who calls in addition to our own clients. It is unfair to make our clients wait when they’ve been loyal to us. To be considered a client at most practices you have to have been seen for something routine in the last year, think of this as a retainer.
4. Help us help you and be prepared. We encourage our clients to have basic medications on hand in case of an emergency in some cases we can walk you through what needs to be done over the phone and an in person visit isn’t necessary and everyone love that.
5. Be kind, we are all trying to do the best we can.
Our clinic was sent this unsigned letter today.
Do you wonder why equine vets are leaving the profession at staggering rates, and there is an extreme shortage? This. Right. Here.
$150,000-$200,000 of veterinary school student debt is common. Equine vets have lower salaries and longer, less predictable work hours compared to small animal colleagues. We love horses so much that we have dedicated our lives to helping them. Yes, we absolutely do need to have that "almighty dollar" to pay our student loans, stock our truck with meds and equipment to help the horses that horse who colics at 11pm (right when we are climbing into bed!), and to pay our wonderful, dedicated employees who deserve to be compensated for their hard work.
Wellness/preventative care services (annual exams, vaccinations, dentistry) are the bread and butter of an equine general practice. The revenue from those services is the reason that we are able to financially support having 3 trucks stocked and ready to go, with one of our three veterinarians always on call 24/7/365 to help our current patients in an emergency. If everyone ordered vaccines from a magazine and never involved their vet in preventative care, only calling in an emergency, vets would need to charge 10x as much for emergency services just to keep their practice afloat. (Not to mention that the annual exam is so important, and always saves money in the long run when we can catch problems early.) Please use your vet for routine care if you expect them to be available for emergencies.
Do you wonder why veterinarians end their own lives at 4 times the rate of the general population?
After dedicating our lives to helping horses, spending 8 years studying in college and vet school, sacrificing family time to be out on cold rainy nights tending to emergencies after already long, hard days, and then being told we don't have a heart and don't really want to help animals....THAT is the problem.
I considered just throwing this letter in the trash without giving it much thought. Our clients are wonderful, appreciative, and I know that we make a difference in their horses' lives, so I can shrug it off. But what if the person who received this letter was in mental distress after losing a patient that they tried everything to save, and this letter pushed them over the edge to quit, or worse? The reason I decided to post this is because this is not an isolated incident. Reviews like this are posted every single day directed at all types of vet practices, or it's an off-handed comment at the barn about vets just being in it for the money. If you hear those comments, please don't let it go- speak up for your vet's sake. This has GOT to stop. Or there will be none of us left.
