I’m kneeling next to Baxter examining his toe. Baxter is a sweet old pit-bull mix that is patiently letting me hold his foot as I stare at an ugly tumor that is growing from his nail bed. The growth is bleeding and the owner had it wrapped in a make-shift bandage. I’m doing all the… Read More
Life With Clients
The Things We Say at the End
As a small animal house-call vet, about 20 percent of my practice is hospice or euthanasia care. I’ve seen quite a variety of reactions of people to their pet’s passing and I’m always struck when people apologize for their emotions, or things they say to their pet at the end. As a lifetime pet owner and… Read More
Our Clients DO Listen, but are Your Consults Two-Way?
I am all too aware of the need to communicate in a way that my clients can understand as well as process the information delivered. This is vital if they are to ultimately feel comfortable making any kind of decision about their pet’s healthcare. After all, it might literally be a life or death decision… Read More
We Are All on the Same Team
We all live in fear of the “Bad Review.” We don’t want to be accused of caring only about money, and we don’t want to be told we killed someone’s pet because we made a mistake. But the thing that hurts the most is to hear someone say we let them down because we just didn’t care… Read More
Haters Gonna Hate: Are We Just Gonna Stand by and Take It?
Surfing the web today I came across an online review directed at a veterinary hospital and a specific veterinarian in a small community. Reading it made me angry, but then I realized that I don’t have to remain silent. This review was not about me or about my practice, but it quite easily could have… Read More
Why You Should Strike the Word “Radiograph” From Your Vocabulary
Sometimes after a big, nasty mass removal, or other messy surgery, I look down at my blood-splatted scrubs and think to myself, I sure hope I don’t get pulled over by a cop on the way home. This is often followed up by me thinking about what would happen if I did get pulled over… Read More