I've heard this more than once. Unfortunately, we see a lot of pets come in to be humanly euthanized due to disease, age, behavior, etc. One thing I love about my current clinic is that none of the five doctors there will perform a "convenience euthanasia". But that doesn't make it any easier.
To be honest, I completely disconnect myself from whatever situation is going on. I don't allow myself to connect with the pet; hear the story. I do allow myself to show sympathy to the owners and know that the pet will not suffer anymore.
This same situation applies to pets in bad condition. As one doctor said just a few weeks ago, "it's not summer unless a good maggot case comes in". He got that this week, the last weeks of summer. A client found 2 kittens, three to four weeks old, in the field near their home. Both kittens had wounds on their legs and paws that were infested with maggots and possibly a cuterebra (a nasty little worm larvae thing). The client was unable to care for them. We started pulling out parasites from the kittens and it was obviously starving, cold, and injured. I have seen some bad cases, even worse than this, but this hurts my heart.
Compassion fatigue is a real thing, especially in veterinary medicine. I just keep telling myself I have helped hundreds of animals and I have a dog at home that depends on me. I have made a difference in my dog's life, and I can continue to help other animals.
"Compassion for animals is intimately connected with goodness of character; and it may be confidently asserted that he who is cruel to animals cannot be a good man"
-S. Chopenhauer
No comments:
Post a Comment