Do you know what NOMV means?

Being around grieving families so often must be really, really hard.

I had no idea what that meant and appreciate you sharing. Imagine having a job where your patients are almost always afraid of you and when they get old or sick you have to put them to sleep.

I'm so glad they are talking about it. I knew, because many years ago my sweet, loving veterinarian cousin, JM, died by suicide.

Yes. I have a few friends who are vets and I’ve seen this go back up on their pages this week. A very good friend of mine talks quite openly about this. She serves a local homeless community and freely takes donations to support the tent community. She also runs what she calls her “xyz home for mother’s” and has had 2-3 litters per year over the years with canine moms who come into the shelters and need a calm place to birth and nurse their puppies. Daily she hears about how heartless she is and how she charges too much. It’s a lot to bear. She has a nice home, but it isn’t fancy. She’s one of my favorite people ever.

To put the financial side of things in perspective: clients tell them they're greedy and selfish, but:

Veterinarians made a median salary of $95,460 in 2019. The best-paid 25 percent made $122,590 that year, while the lowest-paid 25 percent made $75,580.


The average educational debt for 2016 veterinary school graduates including those with zero debt was $143,757.82. The average for only those 2016 veterinary school graduates with debt is $167,534.89 and over 20% has at least $200,000 in debt.

Here's an older article about the increasing incidence of suicide in the profession.

I just heard that this week, as our community lost a young vet this week. So sad.

That is really sad. Back when I was very little I used to think I wanted to be a Veterinarian, but around the age of 6 or 7 I realized what a sad job that would be. I appreciate the kindness and compassion all our vets have shown my pets and myself throughout my life.
I have always sent a thank you note after they have had to help me say goodbye to a pet or have to handle their cremation for us (we have had a few pass away at home), but I think I will just send our vet’s office a card this week to let them know thankful we are for them and their kind care they provide.

I had no idea of these statistics. It is incredibly sad to lose these wonderful, compassionate professionals to suicide.

While I hadn't heard of the initials, I had heard of this issue.
I remember talking one day with the tech at one of our appointments about how hard the job is emotionally. We had had a recent trip to the ER vet, and our tech at the regular vet also worked at an ER vet. We talked about how draining the regular vet job is, but at least there are those new kitten, perfectly healthy check up appointments in that setting. At the ER vet, literally every single appointment is someone hurt, sick, dying.
I could never do this job, and so I never begrudge the cost.

I read a review of my vet on line.  This person was complaining about when they brought in their dog, who was very sick, the vet wanted to charge them $$$ and they couldn't afford it.      She made it sound like he was a heartless bastard. 

That kind of surprises me a little. The dentist I’ve been going to for probably 25 years is the most cheerful, happy go lucky guy I’ve ever known, and the younger dentist he brought into the practice a few years ago is equally always genuinely cheerful and outgoing. Maybe we’ve just been lucky!

I can understand why being a vet or anyone working in that field could be quite stressful and sad, especially for those working in emergency. 

Something about a scared sick cat just tears me apart. I'm not sure I could do that job. Dogs and people I can treat objectively but the kitties, I think I'd cry every day. I know I'm weird that way, no one needs to tell me that 😌

I did not know what those initials meant but I am aware of the terrible suicide rates among vets. A friend of mine is a vet and it seems like at least annually she is sharing the news of one of her vetmed college class mates dying by suicide.

In my friend's circumstance, she describes her career as starting with $200,000 in student loans to only last a year in a private practice before she became so overwhelmed by people's unrealistic expectation to cure their animals while never wanting to follow any of her treatment advice because it was too expensive and/or inconvenient. Then she would be asked to euthanize a good animal with a treatable condition. Or euthanize it because the owner was moving, it snapped at their baby, whatever the case may be. She just couldn't do it and went to work for a non-profit organization doing spay/neuter clinics. She still has to put a lot of animals to sleep but for the most part the animals she now has to euthanize are because it is truly in their best interest.

I had no idea, but it makes frightening sense. We don't have any pets currently, but I think I will send a note to my vet.