With trembling hands and red eyes, the veterinarian looked at me pleadingly. “I have 12 pets I never even meant to have. There are IV bags that just stay hung up in my bathroom. I work all day, and then I go home and take care of animals I took in because clients couldn’t pay… Read More
Wellness
Are You Your Worst Enemy? Be Aware of Your Self Talk
As a veterinary mentor and wellness coach, I regularly speak with veterinarians who are impacted by negative self-talk. Veterinarians often get into the habit of judging their abilities/performance and ruminating over their actions. Frequently, we are our own worse critics. Being a vet comes with great responsibility. We are often faced with life or death… Read More
You Don’t Have to See All the Pets
One of my most crushing failures as a vet came one Friday when I was scheduled to work at a tiny satellite clinic with only a single young veterinary technician. It was my first year in practice and I dreamed of being a great doctor to patients, a great champion for staff, and a great… Read More
The Quality of Life Question We All Should Be Asking
In 2016, I lost my dachshund, Muggle, to Cognitive Dysfunction. This brain disease of “doggy Alzheimer’s” is one that steals not only our pets, but our own peace of mind. Just like in human medicine, we tend not to give brain diseases credit for being diseases. Even as a trained hospice veterinarian, I kept thinking… Read More
5 Ways to Help Vets and Pets This Holiday Season
It is that time of year again where the clinic starts to fill up with goodies from our clients. Typically I call it the, “there goes all of my weight loss progress,” month. Daily we will get chocolates, cookies, cake platters, gift baskets filled with nuts and cheeses, and the occasional healthy dish like a… Read More
Need to Vent? Are You Sure?
“This is a safe space, right? Great. Let me tell you how awful yesterday and my boss and my techs and my job and my clients and the other vets and my kids’ school and our government are. Then I’ll feel better.” You’ve heard something like this before. You’ve probably said something like this before… Read More