09/23/2026
This week a veterinarian that just graduated in May took her own life. Think about that for a moment. She worked for years learning and enduring to join a profession that only needed 4 months to drive her to commit su***de. Was it all because of veterinary medicine, maybe not but we will never know. The su***de rate for veterinarians is very high, we need to examine this issue and try to do better.
Here are some of my thoughts and experiences. Most of us become veterinarians because we love animals not for money or we would be “real” doctors. I know more doctors that couldn’t get into vet school than the other way around. I don’t believe there is just one issue creating this problem.
Money- the root of all evil, human medicine has more insurance options, welfare, Medicare, etc. Those are not options in veterinary medicine.
Duties- you go to your GP, they send you to a lab, x-ray, specialist, pharmacy, etc. Many vets are also the lab, x-ray, pharmacy and specialist can be hard to find or get to.
Euthanasia- making the decision to end a life is never easy. Sometimes I feel like I’m playing God which I never want to do. I refuse to euthanize just because an animal has become inconvenient, which is why I also do rescue.
Time- there are very few 24 hour emergency clinics, and they can be very expensive. Most pet owners prefer to see there regular trusted veterinarian but it is impossible to be available 24/7/365. We have families and maybe a few activities outside of vet med. We find it hard to say no but we also are not at our best when we are tired and stressed. I have been pressured into seeing a patient when I knew I was not really up to it. I have learned that I’m doing no one a favor if I push myself past my limits.
Clients- I feel blessed that the majority of my clients are wonderful. They support me and appreciate the struggles and limitations. But clients do complain about prices and expect us to treat animals for free. Our education wasn’t free, our equipment and medicine isn’t free, the building we practice in wasn’t free, we must also pay for our licenses and continuing education.
Expectations- we are human, we will and do make mistakes even with the best intentions. You can do a hundred things right but when one thing goes wrong that’s what gets spread, social media has made this even worse. We don’t give grace anymore. Don’t think our failures don’t weigh on us and keep us up at night, they do. We want to do good, we want to heal every patient but that isn’t practical. Sure there are some bad veterinarians out there but I don’t believe that is the norm.
Colleagues- I have heard so many vets put other vets down. And I have been guilty too, I’m going to try and be better about it. But some vets, even in this area, push clients to sue or file complaints. It seems we can’t have a simple conversation anymore. No one is perfect, one mistake does not define us. A pattern of consistent mistakes and failures may indicate a problem but every veterinarian is gonna have failures. Please be kind not judgmental. Let’s build each other up not tear each other down. I don’t need to put down another vet to make myself feel better or get more business.
Ok end of my rant, moral of the story is you never know what someone else is going through. Choose kindness.
