10/10/2026
📣 THE ABUSE AND GUILT TRIPPING NEEDS TO STOP 🛑
We shouldn’t have to keep saying this and keep needing to explain ourselves over and over again but apparently we do! We are tired and sick of it! Our after hours team and in hours team have been coping increased verbal abuse over the last few weeks with last night having another incident. It has to stop!
We understand that coming to the vet can be expensive, but so is grocery shopping, fuel, rent, rates, and luxuries such as alcohol and smokes. However for some reason vets are the ones that get abused. You don’t go to the grocery shop, fill up with your items and then say to the cashier “I want an account and I’ll pay this off next week”, or come out with a full trolley saying “wow that was cheap” or go to the to***co shop “I need smokes but I can’t afford them this week but you should just give them to me otherwise I’ll have withdrawals”.
And this is where the guilt tripping then comes in, because apparently we aren’t the same as these other industries! Yes we have heard it all before -
“So you are just going to let my pet die because I can’t afford treatment or to be seen”
“You are only doing this for the money”
“How can you sleep at night”
“If you really cared about animals you would do this for free”
Once again you don’t expect the petrol station to just fill your car up for free because if they cared they would make sure you had transport, or the electric company to supply your home with power just because you have the right to have the lights on. Businesses need to charge money for goods and services, and veterinary clinics are a business.
So let’s debunk some other myths. Yes we make a profit, however it is around 10-15%. That’s right, we aren’t making millions off your pets! We make a small amount so that we can continue to run. For every bill you get only 10-15% of that is actual profit for us after we pay -
💰 Wages for nurses and vets
🩺 Purchase equipment and maintain it so we can treat and diagnose your pets illness
⛽️ Fuel so that we can come to you
💵 Insurances
🏠 Our own rent and lease bills (yes we don’t own our building)
💸 Loan repayments for purchasing the business
💊 Medications to stock the pharmacy so you have access to meds straight away
And that small amount of profit we make, sits in the account to cover our own emergency purchases like when the ultrasound breaks and needs replacing for $20k +.
Finally the good old classic of “well my regular vet doesn’t charge that much” or “our regular vet can’t fit us in so we need to be seen by you and how dare you not have room for us?” That’s great, so why aren’t you calling them or seeing them?
During the day we will prioritise our OWN clients and triage our service if we are fully booked. If your regular vet doesn’t see your appointment as a big enough priority to “squeeze” you in why are we the ones that get yelled at when we can’t either? We are not a walk in emergency vet, we run by appointments and have our own clients to see. We do everything we can to fit people in but your version of urgent or your work schedule is not actually our problem. We are happy to work with you and try and find solutions but yelling, screaming and saying we are obligated to see you does not help. And no we are not obligated to see anyone! Are you saying this to your regular vet who has turned you away as well? We hope not as you shouldn’t be abusing anyone!
Finally yes we are the after hours vets in Geraldton, we are choosing to open when the other clinics don’t. We are available at 2am, on public holidays, on Sundays and yes we will charge extra for this service. There are 5 veterinary services in Geraldton, we are the only ones that treat all animals 24-7, so instead of criticising us, abusing us or throwing in our faces “what your regular vet would of allegedly done for you if they were available”, just stop and be grateful you have access to an after hour service at all! We are NOT obligated to provide this 24/7 service, it is NOT a legal requirement that a town think you can I wonder as access to a 24 hours service. We CHOOSE to do this! We could close our books and only offer the service to OUR regular clients. But we do offer the service to EVERYONE and we need to pay penalty rates and our staff more to do this. If you want to pay what your regular vet would charge - wait for them to open and see them! No one is forcing you to call us or use us, that is your choice.
The majority of our clients both during normal hours and after hours are amazing. They value what we do, our time and the options we can provide, they appreciate us and show gratitude, and most importantly show us the respect that we deserve. We appreciate them more than words can say and they are the reason we keep doing what we do! However there are always a handful of people who are ruining it for everyone else and these people need to stop and think about their actions.
When your pet is sick we know it’s stressful and the financial burden adds to that stress, but that burden is yours not ours. Our staff do not need to emotionally blackmailed by your guilt, comments and complaints when they are simply just trying to do their job and help your pet … which they need and deserve to be paid for - we are not a charity service. There is no Medicare or government support for veterinary clinics, so you cannot compare us to hospitals and human doctors!
We respect you and care for your pets and we expect anyone that comes through our doors or calls our phone to respect us and care for our staff. We want to continue to provide services to the Geraldton and greater Midwest community for many years to come, but if our staff continue to be abused then they will quit and continuing services will become unsustainable. We will not continue to put up with this behaviour from individuals. It is not ok! There is a zero tolerance policy and we will ban and refuse service to people that don’t treat us in a respectful manner. Don’t push one of our staff to become a statistic 😢
Kind regards
Tara and Natalie
Sophie's Legacy Not One More Vet
