RANT HERE thread

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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SkiOtter said:
ITS NOT FAKE YOU JUST CANT GET DIRECTIONS BECAUSE ITS NEW CONSTRUCTION.
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dont_lie_to_me_harry_potter.gif
 
britzen said:
At risk of completely de-railing the rant here thread with adorable-ness, fostering kittens is my dogs favorite activity. So, if you're having a RANT HERE kind of day, just look at some cute fluffy pupper kitten photos, y'know?
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These are too cute to be real. Are you just a genius in photoshop?
 
Trilt said:
I took a couple months and visited family and vegged. Didn't really start job searching till, like, July I think? Started my job mid August. It was great. Would recommend.
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So you're telling me next summer doesn't HAVE to be my last summer off forever?? 😱 Seriously, it hadn't really occurred to me that waiting until after graduation to start job hunting was an option. Granted, that would probably stress me out, and I'll probably need to start working pretty soon after graduation because I'll be over $250k in debt. But it's nice to know that's possible!

Also omggggg, I need those orange kittens in my life!!!
 
I don't hate the free exams and for the most part it allows us to introduce ourselves. But a lot of clinics here do it so if we didn't it would be a problem. We have a few people that just feel entitled to a pet. I don't think that would change if it weren't offered
 
genny said:
I had a client ask me the other day if I'd considered how expensive vet care was for pets, implying that we charge too much. She actually looked me in the eye and had the nerve to tell me that I should be charging her less to take care of her dog, that she could spend a thousand dollars a year on her dog between food and vet bills and wasn't that too much? I wanted to go off on the suicide rate in veterinarians, the ridiculous amount of school debt, being part of one of the few jobs that people just expect you to do for free, but instead I just said "Yes, pets are expensive, aren't they?"
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I totally have just flat out countered clients with that info when they've done that to me. I have no problem telling them i have debt I will never pay off, have an almost 14 yr old car that I will run to the ground, that I use care credit cause I don't have money just lying around,etc. They usually accept that.
 
orca2011 said:
I totally have just flat out countered clients with that info when they've done that to me. I have no problem telling them i have debt I will never pay off, have an almost 14 yr old car that I will run to the ground, that I use care credit cause I don't have money just lying around,etc. They usually accept that.
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Reminds me of the time when one of our most ass-like clients came in for his appointment in the morning. First thing he said: "Oh, the doc's not here yet? I don't see any doctor cars in the parking lot." I was going to reply, but the doctor rounded the corner and said "Oh, you're so funny! That rusted out 16 year old *insert car name here* is mine!" He usually would never know when to shut up, but he knew enough not to say anything back to that :laugh:
 
orca2011 said:
I totally have just flat out countered clients with that info when they've done that to me. I have no problem telling them i have debt I will never pay off, have an almost 14 yr old car that I will run to the ground, that I use care credit cause I don't have money just lying around,etc. They usually accept that.
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I don't get that intense. I just smile, say something like, yup, good care is expensive, but I can do *something* with almost any budget if we talk.

I appreciate my clinic because my bosses are both on the floor and they absolutely demand to be paid for their time. We don't have much discounting, no free exams, people coming in the last hour to close get an urgent fee charge... people who come to us do it because they like us (so are used to paying for things) or because we're the only one in the city taking patients. And then they're either total pricks (but hey, we get paid for it via urgent exam) or just grateful to be seen. Kinda rarely in between lol.
 
dyachei said:
I don't hate the free exams and for the most part it allows us to introduce ourselves. But a lot of clinics here do it so if we didn't it would be a problem. We have a few people that just feel entitled to a pet. I don't think that would change if it weren't offered
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Never going to get rid of entitled people, but you might have a lot less to deal with if free exams disappear. But, as you said, too many clinics do it so all the other clinics follow along. Would be nice to see us actually say no to that across the board and expect pay for our time. I sure don't get a free new patient exam if I see a new doctor.
 
DVMDream said:
Never going to get rid of entitled people, but you might have a lot less to deal with if free exams disappear. But, as you said, too many clinics do it so all the other clinics follow along. Would be nice to see us actually say no to that across the board and expect pay for our time. I sure don't get a free new patient exam if I see a new doctor.
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Hell, half of the human practices in my parents' area act like they are doing you a huge favor just for accepting you as a new patient. I've only known one veterinary practice so far that has actually refused new clients.
 
dyachei said:
I doubt it. Unfortunately, entitlement is cultural right now
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Yeah, mostly because society condones it. Once society stops condoning it, it'll improve. There will obviously always still be those who act entitled but they'll become fewer when society as a whole stops accepting the behavior.
 
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When someone complains about paying for their pet's veterinary services, or complains that their pet's veterinary costs are too expensive, I have a standard response for them:

YOU'RE welcome to complete veterinary medical school and take care of YOUR own pets for free.

[Oh yeah ... I forgot to add ... I'm not smiling when I say this to them.]

It's easy to buy pet health insurance (just like most people maintain some type of human health insurance coverage for themselves and their families). My pet's health insurance policy is comprehensive and inexpensive, and has paid for itself, more than once. The monthly premium costs less than two movie tickets. It's that straightforward.
 
DVMDream said:
Yeah, mostly because society condones it. Once society stops condoning it, it'll improve. There will obviously always still be those why act entitled but they'll become fewer when society as a whole stops accepting the behavior.
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This. Exactly.
 
Doctor-S said:
When someone complains about paying for their pet's veterinary services, or complains that their pet's veterinary costs are too expensive, I have a standard response for them:

YOU'RE welcome to complete veterinary medical school and take care of YOUR own pets for free.

[Oh yeah ... I forgot to add ... I'm not smiling when I say this to them.]

It's easy to buy pet health insurance (just like most people maintain some type of human health insurance coverage for themselves and their families). My pet's health insurance policy is comprehensive and inexpensive, and has paid for itself, more than once. The monthly premium costs less than two movie tickets. It's that straightforward.
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It is never free even as a vet. Tests cost money, supplies cost money. That doesn't take into account the money spent to get the knowledge to know what tests to run and how to treat conditions. It goes to the saying.... "there is no such thing as a free lunch."
 
DVMDream said:
It is never free even as a vet. Tests cost money, supplies cost money. That doesn't take into account the money spent to get the knowledge to know what tests to run and how to treat conditions. It goes to the saying.... "there is no such thing as a free lunch."
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Agree with you ... and understood. :cat:

Most pet owners (who have not attended vet med school) have NO clue that veterinarians have to pay for their own pet's health care costs (e.g., lab work, etc.). They often erroneously assume most veterinarians, vet techs and vet med staff get "freebies." When they learn there is no such thing as a free lunch for veterinarians and vet staff, they're often very surprised ... and often stop complaining about veterinary medicine costs.
 
Doctor-S said:
Agree with you ... and understood. :cat:

Most pet owners (who have not attended vet med school) have NO clue that veterinarians have to pay for their own pet's health care costs (e.g., lab work, etc.). They often erroneously assume most veterinarians, vet techs and vet med staff get "freebies." When they learn there is no such thing as a free lunch for veterinarians and vet staff, they're often very surprised ... and often stop complaining about veterinary medicine costs.
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I mean, we do get some discounts and "freebies (cost still reflected in taxes at end of year)" but not everything and medications still cost money. And specialized treatment still costs us money, for example, a tech I worked with took her cat for radioactive iodine therapy, cost her over $1000.
 
genny said:
I had a client ask me the other day if I'd considered how expensive vet care was for pets, implying that we charge too much. She actually looked me in the eye and had the nerve to tell me that I should be charging her less to take care of her dog, that she could spend a thousand dollars a year on her dog between food and vet bills and wasn't that too much? I wanted to go off on the suicide rate in veterinarians, the ridiculous amount of school debt, being part of one of the few jobs that people just expect you to do for free, but instead I just said "Yes, pets are expensive, aren't they?"
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I've always wished I could ask them how much we should charge for XYZ and how much their pet is worth to them. If I gave them a couple hundred bucks, would they happily hand their dog over? How much money would I have to pay them to buy their dog? Because 99% of the time, these clients are the same a-holes who go on and on about how their pets are family.

As much as going off about debt and old cars might be cathartic, I feel like that doesn't address the real problem. If I had zero debt coming out of school and a brand new Mercedes and a mansion to park it at, I would still be charging people for services. The issue is how little some clients value the actual work vets do, not how much an individual vet may be profiting off of it. We shouldn't have to prove to people that we're suffering or not doing so well financially in order to justify fair pay for honest, valuable work.
 
DVMDream said:
I mean, we do get some discounts and "freebies (cost still reflected in taxes at end of year)" but not everything and medications still cost money. And specialized treatment still costs us money, for example, a tech I worked with took her cat for radioactive iodine therapy, cost her over $1000.
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I happily bring my pets to a GP veterinarian instead of trying to mess with things like preventative care myself, tbh. 😀

(and my dog has insurance too)
 
nyanko said:
I happily bring my pets to a GP veterinarian instead of trying to mess with things like preventative care myself, tbh. 😀

(and my dog has insurance too)
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On the flip side, our local specialists are (by and large) really awesome about offering discounts to GP pets. I had my dog hosp overnight on IVF at our favorite ER/CC place and they gave me the full estimate up front which I paid without question. At check out the next morning they rang me out as "care partner" or whatever and refunded me something like 50%. I was really appreciative (but would have happily paid full price!)
 
So I just came back from a great trip back to the place I lived for 2 years. Went to a fan convention, saw my old friends, overall had a great time. While I was there I told one of my previous technicians that I was waiting for something bad to happen because things are just going too well. Apartment is great, house is rented, I like my new job and clinic, things are going well with my new boyfriend....

Well, the bad thing happened.

I was driving to work this morning, turned my head to check my blind spot before changing lanes, and didn't realize the car in front of me had stopped. Hit the right rear bumper with the left front on mine. The other car and driver are basically fine. But despite the low speed, ALL my damn air bags deployed. The insurance company says my 2 year old car will probably be a write off because of that. The actual body damage seemed pretty minimal though.

It's not as bad as it could be, because I have new car replacement and rental car coverage through my insurance, but my rates are going to go up and it's a huge hassle. And my shins are pretty bruised and sore from the airbags under the steering wheel.
 
Coquette22 said:
So I just came back from a great trip back to the place I lived for 2 years. Went to a fan convention, saw my old friends, overall had a great time. While I was there I told one of my previous technicians that I was waiting for something bad to happen because things are just going too well. Apartment is great, house is rented, I like my new job and clinic, things are going well with my new boyfriend....

Well, the bad thing happened.

I was driving to work this morning, turned my head to check my blind spot before changing lanes, and didn't realize the car in front of me had stopped. Hit the right rear bumper with the left front on mine. The other car and driver are basically fine. But despite the low speed, ALL my damn air bags deployed. The insurance company says my 2 year old car will probably be a write off because of that. The actual body damage seemed pretty minimal though.

It's not as bad as it could be, because I have new car replacement and rental car coverage through my insurance, but my rates are going to go up and it's a huge hassle. And my shins are pretty bruised and sore from the airbags under the steering wheel.
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I'm really sorry, are you ok? I got into my first fender-bender last year and it wasn't as major as this and I was still pretty shaken up after. That's such a pain.
 
nyanko said:
I happily bring my pets to a GP veterinarian instead of trying to mess with things like preventative care myself, tbh. 😀

(and my dog has insurance too)
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I would absolutely have a GP treat my dog for allergies / skin / whatever, if he needed it. We purchase vaccines for staff (otherwise only vax I ever give are rabies reboosters for animal bite wounds situationally), so I can do that. And he's a donor, so my staff run yearly bloodwork on him.

He's getting to need a dental, and I'm not really sure which end of the scalar to hold. Going to have to find a real doctor to do that, too.
 
I'm feeling super frustrated with med school and I keep thinking about posting in the allo forums but I don't think that's where I want to be. I don't fit in and there are so many little things that aren't an issue for other people but make it impossible for me because I have a disability to work around.

Today we had a meeting about our required community service (where none of the stuff I want to do is accessible to me) and discussed how we're supposed to be learning about how patients will have their own priorities and backgrounds and... I literally founded a non-profit that focused, in part, on trying to teach this to doctors. I'm supposed to be doing inaccessible community service to learn how to deal with people like me, people who've experienced bad stuff and gone hungry and slept rough and dealt with disabilities and inaccessible **** and all that jazz.

Cool. Great. Can I fricking test out of it and go back to doing volunteer work that's not designed for rich sheltered suburban kids?

Not doing awesome academically either, and we don't get question banks, don't get our tests back, and they can't seem to find me a tutoring group to join so idk what to do.

School is hard, y'all.
 
that redhead said:
On the flip side, our local specialists are (by and large) really awesome about offering discounts to GP pets. I had my dog hosp overnight on IVF at our favorite ER/CC place and they gave me the full estimate up front which I paid without question. At check out the next morning they rang me out as "care partner" or whatever and refunded me something like 50%. I was really appreciative (but would have happily paid full price!)
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That's really nice! We 'only' offer a 20% discount. I wish we offered more.
 
I completely agree with LIS and Nyanko. I will happily pay someone to just tell me what to do. In theory I know and I know how to look stuff up, but I'm not always rational when it comes to my dog. We see an internist every 3-6 months who handles yearly bloodwork and has thus far willing to tack on his heartworm test for me, I have his vaccines done by a GP, and I found a dental-savvy GP to do a dental recently. I mostly know how to manage his mild seasonal allergies, but I still usually swing him by derm and have the resident tell me what to do.

Almost all vets have graciously given me a professional discount, which I really appreciate, as costs definitely still add up. I have pet insurance as a benefit of my residency, but dog had several preexisting conditions I still have to cover. I get half off at the local specialty center because I'm a 'referring veterinarian' (even though I have no patients to refer, you can bet I still say how great they treated my dog when he needed them). I'm going to find money for whatever he needs, but a discount definitely makes his internist visits and the adrenalectomy I had done a couple months ago much more affordable. When he needed a dental recently I chose a local GP the internist recommended and was pleasantly surprised when they gave me 20% off. I thanked them profusely and have recommended them to other members of my service who don't want to use the primary care service at my institution.
 
strider144 said:
I'm feeling super frustrated with med school and I keep thinking about posting in the allo forums but I don't think that's where I want to be. I don't fit in and there are so many little things that aren't an issue for other people but make it impossible for me because I have a disability to work around.

Today we had a meeting about our required community service (where none of the stuff I want to do is accessible to me) and discussed how we're supposed to be learning about how patients will have their own priorities and backgrounds and... I literally founded a non-profit that focused, in part, on trying to teach this to doctors. I'm supposed to be doing inaccessible community service to learn how to deal with people like me, people who've experienced bad stuff and gone hungry and slept rough and dealt with disabilities and inaccessible **** and all that jazz.

Cool. Great. Can I fricking test out of it and go back to doing volunteer work that's not designed for rich sheltered suburban kids?

Not doing awesome academically either, and we don't get question banks, don't get our tests back, and they can't seem to find me a tutoring group to join so idk what to do.

School is hard, y'all.
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I'm sorry, strider. 🙁 Working around a disability is hard in school, no matter the level. And the professional schools that stress work over health are particularly bad.
 
nohika said:
I'm sorry, strider. 🙁 Working around a disability is hard in school, no matter the level. And the professional schools that stress work over health are particularly bad.
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thanks. it's all so stupid, like useless mandatory lunchtime activities that make it impossible to schedule doctor's appointments. the future will be even more interesting, what with the strict hospital hierarchy around who is and is not allowed to sit down, esp. since my leg braces are hidden by pants. I'm going to have to have the disability discussion with errrrybody.
 
strider144 said:
thanks. it's all so stupid, like useless mandatory lunchtime activities that make it impossible to schedule doctor's appointments. the future will be even more interesting, what with the strict hospital hierarchy around who is and is not allowed to sit down, esp. since my leg braces are hidden by pants. I'm going to have to have the disability discussion with errrrybody.
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Nothing like being in situations where you either tick everyone off or have to let everyone in on your business.
 
Puppies snuggling kittens, gotta love it! Now if you just had a nice horse in those pics they would be perfect! Now back to writing my #$%^$# English paper for the pickiest professor there is! Why did I take honors english? NEVER again!
 
strider144 said:
I'm feeling super frustrated with med school and I keep thinking about posting in the allo forums but I don't think that's where I want to be. I don't fit in and there are so many little things that aren't an issue for other people but make it impossible for me because I have a disability to work around.

Today we had a meeting about our required community service (where none of the stuff I want to do is accessible to me) and discussed how we're supposed to be learning about how patients will have their own priorities and backgrounds and... I literally founded a non-profit that focused, in part, on trying to teach this to doctors. I'm supposed to be doing inaccessible community service to learn how to deal with people like me, people who've experienced bad stuff and gone hungry and slept rough and dealt with disabilities and inaccessible **** and all that jazz.

Cool. Great. Can I fricking test out of it and go back to doing volunteer work that's not designed for rich sheltered suburban kids?

Not doing awesome academically either, and we don't get question banks, don't get our tests back, and they can't seem to find me a tutoring group to join so idk what to do.

School is hard, y'all.
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Sounds like you've already confronted plenty of obstacles in life. It's challenging to deal with hunger, disability and inaccessible stuff. Hope your school provides a good tutoring group for you. I'm sending lots of good thoughts to you!
 
PrincessButterCup said:
I left my phone at my friends' house and I can't get it until tomorrow. :arghh:
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I hate when I leave my phone anywhere. I feel naked without it and I use it as a very expensive calculator at work. To relate to you, I left my license and debit card in the boy's wallet from the Pats game this past weekend. So those are currently in Boston while I'm in RI. I don't exactly need the debit card, but here's to hoping I don't get pulled over on the short drives I need to do today.
 
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