For those, like myself, who started off wanting to be a vet from a very young age, it was most likely with the sweetest of intentions: wanting to take care of animals (particularly the cute ones), wanting to help people – just wanting to make everything okay.
More than a decade on, I’d like to think those are still three solid goals I’ll carry with me throughout my career. But as my journey towards that career continues, I’m beginning to learn not all problems have an easy solution and, a lot of the time, you have to choose your professional opinion over your personal one.
Sense of community
Since I first stepped foot on a dairy farm, I’ve fancied myself as a farm vet. This was initially fuelled by a new found love of cows, but, over time, was reinforced by a fondness for the farming community and respect for those who worked within it. When I discovered that, despite the profession being largely dominated by women, most vets within the agricultural sector are male, I think it just spurred me on more.
Though I may still choose to pursue this path some day, my concept of what it means to be a farm vet has drastically changed over the past two years of my vet course.
I’ve touched on the fact before that treating working animals is a far cry from small animal practice. Of course, we’re still driven by the same desire to protect animal welfare, comfort and respect; but when you’re dealing with animals that are part of somebody’s livelihood (which are essentially an asset of a business) you also have to juggle costs and efficiency – and, in some cases, make a hard choice you wouldn’t have to make if the animal in front of you was, say, a golden retriever.
Weighing the options
That’s not to say evaluating costs isn’t a regular part of small animal practice. In my local practice I’ve seen more than a few cases where owners are forced to have their pets euthanised because they simply couldn’t afford the treatment.
It’s also a matter of thinking what’s best for the animal, even if the owners do have the funds. Chemotherapy, for example, is incredibly expensive. If an owner wants to opt for this treatment, the first opinion vet must still consider whether the animal would ultimately benefit or suffer from the treatment, even if life was prolonged.
Do the right thing
Judging quality of life is a job that spans the medical fields of both humans and animals. The difference is vets have the legal right to euthanise when they feel the suffering outweighs the good.
This, I think, will always be the ultimate battle between head and heart for any vet – the inherent will to prolong and protect life, weighed up with the knowledge of what, in that specific situation, is the right thing to do.
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