allimom
A Day In The Life

Hi

hoping your allergies lay off of ya reaaal soon!

looks like 'Hugh's' in touch w/his feminine side today!
; D

nasty allergies :-/

I feel the need to come to the defense of veterinarians a bit here. Our equipment is identical to what human doctors use, except that we need special sizes to accomodate animals (which makes things more expensive). We run the same tests, use the same radiograph equipment that requires the same safety apparel and additional restraint for patients who don't understand to stay absolutely still for a period of a few seconds in what can be uncomfortable positions. We need to keep the same records, and in fact we have additional considerations that human doctors don't need to worry about; euthanasia solution, for example, needs it's own recordkeeping and has to be strictly monitored. Veterinarians have licensing fees as like human doctors, and have pay to take continuing education courses to keep their licenses current, just like human doctors.

Insurance is very expensive for veterinarians for their business. There is virtually no medical coverage for the animals they treat; pet insurance is a thing whose time has not yet come. Studies have shown that people are far more willing to default on their pet's medical bills than their own medical bills, which leads to further additional costs to the veterinarian.

There was a great article in the New York Times online last week that indicated that it is almost exclusively women entering veterinary school today. I can attest to that; my 1998 graduating class had about 100 students in it, less than ten of which were men. The reason most often given for this gender shift away from what used to a virtually 100% male dominated profession? Low pay. Most veterinarians aren't in this for the money.

Yes, I know some become rich from it, but believe me when I tell you the majority of us are working for the love of the job. Most of my classmates are working 60+ hour weeks, paying for at least part of their own benefits and have student loans of over $80,000 (I did go to an expensive school, though, and don't know what the average debt is for a graduating veterinarian).

OK, I'll get off my soap box now.

Darn you Allimom, you made me spit diet coke all over my computer with the first sentence from the "letter from the vet". That said, and as a former vet tech, all of what Sal said is true. The vets I worked for lost a lot of money from people defaulting on bills. There were times people had procedures done and then never claimed their animal afterwards. Shocking, yet true. And, there is also the issue of student loans to pay back. Please don't think I am not sympathetic tho, I have been very lucky with all of my animals so far, and haven't had any major injuries/illnesses. *Keeping my fingers crossed*
Now dentists, that is another story.
Hope you are getting the wonderful weather up there that we are down here.

Forgot to add, I like that "Now that the worse is over..." I am going to steal that from you. That is perfect, I am going to use it on my next trauma patient (hopefully they will be conscious).

Alli, I just tried you book link but it doesn't work.
I just got back from a call, but it was a fire call, so I didn't get to use my new phrase.
Also, yes, our insurance is the same way. When Alex got his license, between the B average he had and the credit for the driver's safety class, his insurance was only $50 a month! Then it doubled when he lost his good student discount.