Tasmiya

I’ve been working way too much lately and have been enjoying every single millisecond of it! It’s been hectic, frustrating, nerve wracking; patients have gotten better and gone home wagging their tails or purring away. Some have passed away which is never easy to handle. Clients have been appreciative, thankful and then again others have been annoyed or upset.

I love the respect that human doctors are afforded. Patients waiting for their G.P. can often wait for over an hour and nobody complains. It’s just expected that they will have to wait. If vets are running 15 minutes behind, we must apologise profusely and placate many an angry client. I know everyone has busy lives and things to do and nobody wants to sit around for longer than they absolutely have to but sometimes we will have an emergency or urgent case to attend to and so normal vaccinations and ear cleans will have to wait. If you turn up without an appointment for a routine consultation, you will have to wait.

Doctors can yell at hysterical family members to GET OUT! of the treatment room while they try to resuscitate comatose and flat-lined patients. They can even call security to remove them (at least they can on TV – I saw it on ER once so it must be true). Vets don’t have security and I’m not big on yelling at people but it’s really had to convince an owner it is not just in their best interest but in their pet’s as well if they wait out in the waiting room so we can do our thing. I know they want to make sure their pet is ok but sometimes they get in the way and other times they get stressed out by watching us trying desperately to put an IV in and having to cut down with a scalpel blade into the skin to try and find a vein or even just intubating. It gets the nurses and the vets worked up and then we get all flustered. Even after 10 years of practice I do much better without an audience.

Doctors can tell patients to turn off their mobile phones (whether or not there is indeed interference with the medical equipment) actually, doctors don’t even need to tell people to turn them off, they do it anyway but for some reason people have no qualms at answering their phone in the middle of a vet consultation(!) while the vet waits patiently for them to finish so she can continue with the check up. And then they wonder why vets are running behind! How rude!

I should stop right now. I didn’t mean for this to be a rant. These little things don’t happen often and they’re made up for many times over by the wonderful owners who are considerate, compassionate and understanding and want to do everything and anything to make their pets’ lives easier and more comfortable. The cats are just precious and the dogs adorable. The birds are sweet (of course you can’t hug them -they’re way too small & delicate) and the rats are surprisingly affectionate.