Biggest Pet Peeves In Veterinary Medicine
Recently I did a survey where I asked my Facebook friends and co-workers to describe their biggest pet peeve associated with either practicing/working at a veterinary clinic or taking your pet to a clinic for treatment. This is a list of the top annoyances
1) Money- This is was the number one complaint from both the employee and client view points. As a client, yes, it is a bit annoying to have to pay for vet care for your dog......and yes, it is expensive, but that just goes with owning a pet and keeping it healthy. As employees, we get told all the time that we are "just in it for the money". Ma'am........you do realize I'm on a Ramen diet right??? Point is, money is and will always be a big pet peeve in the veterinary field.
2) Rude Clients- This was on the list of nearly every person I asked. We understand that a hurt/sick pet can be stressful......but that doesn't mean that, as a client, you can take your frustration out on us. I've seen clients range from rude comments to getting downright irate. It's not our fault that your pet is sick and I promise you, things will go a lot faster and clinics will be more inclined to work with you if you remain calm and polite. One of my favorite "rude client" stories was a man who was mad that his kitten (who he smashed in a door) died and he took a pumpkin that was a halloween decoration and through it across the clinic effectively killing a plug in air freshener. Its just not necessary to have this kind of behavior.
3) Disrespect/disregard for what we do. This pet peeve came from a veterinarian. He said that he was tired of people not realizing the amount of work/knowledge it takes to practice as a vet and cutting down the profession as a whole. As an assistant, this doesn't affect me as much but I can most definetly see how it could get under your skin in a hurry.
4) Clients playing doctor or googling medical advice at home. While it is always a positive thing to research and keep yourself informed on conditions that could/are affecting your pet.....Dr. Google isn't going to be much help if your animal is truly sick. Countless clients have come to practices with animals that are "knocking on deaths door" because they googled their pets symptoms and either didn't think it was serious or thought they could treat it at home.
5) Self Medicating animals without consulting with a vet. This ties in with the last pet peeve. Many people end up causing their pet more problems and spending more money because they administered medication themselves and it made their pet much sicker. Example: A cat with a hurt leg gets a dose of tylenol.......now instead of just dealing with the leg, you have to treat for the tylenol ingestion as well. Its always better to let the vet prescribe the medications.
6) Veterinarians not explaining things clearly. Some people have stated that they leave their vet office with a handful of meds but they still aren't really sure of whats going on with their pet. This may come from a vet who is overbooked and in a hurry or maybe someone who just didn't realize that they weren't making themselves clear. Either way, its a big pet peeve among owners.
7) Old Wise Tales - This is a personal pet peeve that drives me crazy. I have heard some of the craziest things and have seen people give animals the weirdest "treatment" because of the old wise tales passed down from a times where veterinary medicine was all but nonexistent. And believe me, convincing an old man that dipping his dog in used motor oil to cure its mange isn't the best course of treatment, is no easy task.
8) Inconsiderate clients- Its extremely annoying when you are about to close the doors after a long, hectic day and a client brings in their pet who has been sick for a week and expects you to stay an extra hour to treat it. We all have families and home lives as well and after working a full day, the last thing we want to do is work some more because you couldn't be bothered to come in earlier.
9) Know it all clients- Everyone just loves those clients who are nurses or have researched something and think that they know better than the doctor.......not. Most of the time, these clients don't have a clue what they are talking about and end up slowing things down by trying to formulate their own treatment plan. My favorite example of this was a lady who worked in an ER who had absolutely no clue about anything but would yell "I AM A TRAUMA NURSE" every few sentences.
10) Clients who just don't care. I would much rather have a high maintenance client than someone with a "its just a dog" attitude. I cannot count the number of times I have wanted to chase someone out the door and take their animal because they plan to "see if it lives" or refuse to take pain medications for a poor animal truly in need. Its heartbreaking to have a sweet pet condemned to an uncomfortable end because his/her owner refused to spend the money to fix them.
I know that this list could go on for days, but these were some of the top responses I received. Comment below if you have one that I didn't cover :)
