VET COLUMN: Owners must be able to trust vet

Veterinary surgeons hold a unique position when treating your pets.

When you bring your pet to the vets you are placing your trust in their ability, their knowledge, and their care and compassion.

Then you have to trust them to be fair with their fees. This is a very complex area.

A business has to be successful and be able to reinvest in itself.

The amount a practice can earn depends on how many people it sees and how much product it sells.

You want your pet to have the best of treatments and buy the best of products.

Again you have to trust your vet to provide these and will take advice on what is best to do.

As clients you need to be able to trust us to give you the best advice without being influenced by the fact that our earnings are related to what we charge you.

At the same time you have to trust us to make life and death decisions with your animal family member.

Vets have to give advice when considering euthanasia, a situation that no other profession has yet to consider.

We need to find that difficult balance of extending life as far as we can without reaching a point when unnecessary suffering occurs.

It is important that as vets we understand the strength of the attachment between pet and owner.

We need to make sure we communicate everything and be honest about our capabilities and above all we need to make sure that the love and care of animals that brought us to this profession is never lost.

Generally we are one of the most trusted professions. As this profession gradually changes from mainly privately owned practices to large corporate chains we must not lose what we are, people that really care about animals.