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- Oct 24, 2021
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Vent away. Can only imagine the stress of this job. Patience is a hard one. As a client of a vet, if I had 2 folks talking to me, simultaneously, or overlapping, I’d listen to the one that was calm and patient, and who had less ego in the mix, who truly cared about my cat. I think anybody who dearly loved their pet would be able to tell between the tones in the two voices and heed the advice. No pet owner wants a lecture—- they only want help. Maybe as a suggestion, just let her say her piece, then come in after with calm, soothing notes from the kind heart. And, THANK YOU very much for what you do. Don’t forget to soak your feet after a hard day.This job can be really funny. The vet has a pretty bad rep for abusing staff. No, I am not abused. But she is hard on the other employees. Sometimes I stick up for them, sometimes I don’t.
She, the vet, has this habit of telling me to talk to a cat owner about diet, and I do. I take them into a room and start the fat cat talk. The fat cat talk is where I gently and privately let them know their cat is morbidly obese and at risk for life threatening complications.
I have a talk I do where I just try to first get them to understand the risks, then to understand how bad the cat must feel, and then try to find out what the cat’s eating style is and how he is fed and what he is fed.
I go into a discussion on the way cats haven’t really evolved since they were domesticated, and I go into what wild cats do and how they eat and spend their time.
I don’t just talk at them, I try to engage them in the discussion and most find it interesting, I think. I also get to learn allot about their cat and their lifestyle to better incorporate a plan that will work for them.
It never fails. She asks me to talk to them, I get 2 minutes in and she comes in and starts talking. I have tried ignoring her and continuing to talk but she gets more involved. So now, I am going to try walking out politely of course. I tried it today and she said” go ahead, I’m just listening” then started talking over me again.
I’m at this hospital for a reason. Maybe it’s to learn patience.
Just desperately needed to vent.