30/09/2026
September is national su***de awareness month. This month, another member of the veterinary community has taken their life. Statistically, veterinary professionals are four times as likely to commit su***de than the general population. Why does this matter?
It has long been accepted that the emotional and physical exhaustion, frequent verbal abuse, overwhelming stress, and complete lack of work life balance is 'just part of being a vet'. Except it shouldn't have to be.
We consider ourselves lucky at Linkswood that we have a lovely bunch of clients. Even on a bad day, most of you guys are delightful to us. But one negative comment amongst many good ones, still hurts.
We care, a lot. We take home our job, it doesn't stop when we clock out. If there is a patient with a problem, you can be sure we are still thinking about that at 10pm when we go to bed, 2am when we wake up because we're stressed, and on the drive back into work the next day. That is of course, if we haven't been awake all night with the patient. There is no off switch for us, patients have lives and those lives matter. Your horses don't pick sociable hours to get sick, and so for us vets sociable working hours just isn't a thing. Its part of the profession, we accept that.
But when we have been awake for two nights, still worked all day, still smiled and listened and cared about every patient and client we have seen despite being exhausted, one thoughtless comment can be enough for a vet to say "no more". We pour ourselves into fixing your animals. It hurts us almost as much as it hurts you when we can't save them all. You see our professional faces, you don't see the crying in our vehicles after we drive away.
We pride ourselves on the fact that whatever time you call on whatever day of the year, you will get a voice you know answer the phone. In the middle of a children's party when the phone rings? We drop and run. About to start Christmas dinner and there's a colic? Guess what, your vet doesn't get Christmas dinner this year. Your horses come above everything else, and we want to keep that service available. We want to be there. We all want to be superhuman.
But we aren't superhuman. We are simply human. We feel things, we get tired, we get hungry, we get hurt. We can all cope with that for a while, but over time we can become burnt out. We never try to make mistakes, but sometimes, they happen. We always want the best outcome, but sometimes no matter how hard we try, that doesn't happen.
One thoughtless or hurtful comment can be enough to take a life. When someone is pushed to their limit, it can take just slight nudge to tip them over the edge.
The recent CMA has lead to an alarming amount of vet bashing. We know that vet care costs money. We wish that it could be free, but life unfortunately isn't free and horses are very big, very expensive animals to keep. The NHS means we have no concept of the cost of healthcare in this country, and whilst we are fortunate to have that service, there isn't a veterinary version. We all worked very hard to pay to eduacte ourselves to qualify to treat your horses. The equipment we use costs money. The drugs we administer cost money. The vehicles we drive, the clinic we maintain... much like every other service provided in life, there unfortunately is an associated cost. But being told 'you should do it free because you're supposed to care' or that we are 'money grabbing vets', is an alarmingly frequent occurrence.
This post isn't about bad clients. You guys are brilliant, and we really are lucky to have you. But this is a gentle reminder, that even on the hardest days, please be kind. Kindess goes an awful long way, and it is enough to remind us why we do this job even on the worst days. Please look after your vets, and we can continue to look after your animals. We have to stop losing lives to this profession.
Not. One. More. Vet.
