Responsibility
Sometimes veterinarians joke about how the people we have to deal with are the worst part of our job. Usually, it's just that - a joke. But it's funny because sometimes it's actually true.
My job is to help make your pet healthy, and to help keep it that way once we get there. And I'm darn good at it. But I'm not a miracle worker, and I can't live in your house 24/7, and I don't have a pocket full of instantaneous permanent cures. So you need to be an active, participating part of your pet's health care, whether you like it or not.
Pets are like children - they cannot be relied upon to always know what's in their best interests, or to always make the right decision with regards to their own health and well-being. These are creatures who will swallow rubber clown noses whole, chew on power cords, and eat their own body parts when something seems wrong. It is your job as the sentient member of the relationship to occasionally make rules and enforce them, and to occasionally do things to or for them that they don't want done.
You are the human. You are the boss, not the animal. And I am sick and tired of people telling me 'He won't let me' when I tell them what they need to do for their pet's health. Or (my personal favorite) pointing and laughing. You are the primate, you have the thumbs, how the heck is your pet going to refuse to allow you to do (X/Y/Z)? It's kind of hard for them to hold a gun on you. If your pet is the boss in your relationship, it's not cute or adorable or funny or sweet. It's unhealthy, and a sign of poor pet care bordering occasionally on neglect.
If you own a pet, you should be able to:
-hold it
-pick it up (unless it's too physically heavy)
-touch its feet, face, and ears without getting bitten or having it throw a temper tantrum
-give it oral medication (yes, anyone with two hands can do this)
-perform the minimum necessary grooming to keep it healthy
-put down a bowl of appropriate food and have the animal eat it (discussions of what is appropriate are a separate rant)
If you have a dog, you should be able to put its harness/collar on yourself, attach it to a leash, and take it for a walk without it choking itself, trying to pull your arm out, or insisting on being dragged.
If you have a cat, you should be able to get it into and out of a carrier by yourself.
If you have a small pet that lives in a cage, tank, or other enclosed habitat, you should be able to pick it up and handle it safely, and clean its habitat. If handling it requires using safety equipment, you should have that safety equipment on hand at all times, and be comfortable using it.
If you cannot do these things, there is a problem, and odds are the problem is you. There are occasional exceptions, true, but they're pretty darn rare. If you don't know how to do these things, it is your responsibility to learn. If you know how, but your pet won't "allow" you to, it is your responsibility to work with your pet and train it until you can.
Because I am sick and tired of having animals become ill, suffer, and sometimes die because the owner "just can't" give it the necessary medicine, or feed it properly, or see to basic hygiene. This is neglect. Not the obvious kind you see on Animal Cops, where the animals are emaciated and covered in sores and filth, but neglect all the same - when I have a dog come in screaming in pain because it can't poo because there's a ball of feces the size of both my fists matted in its fur; when I have a pet come in bleeding from its face because its teeth are so rotten they rotted through its skin; when someone tells me to euthanize their pet with an entirely simple, affordable, treatable condition because it's too hard to give it medicine; when someone tells me that they can't bring their pet gerbil in because they can't get near it and so it survives by them just throwing food into the cage from a distance - that's a failure of good pet ownership.
My job is to help make your pet healthy, and to help keep it that way once we get there. And I'm darn good at it. But I'm not a miracle worker, and I can't live in your house 24/7, and I don't have a pocket full of instantaneous permanent cures. So you need to be an active, participating part of your pet's health care, whether you like it or not.
Pets are like children - they cannot be relied upon to always know what's in their best interests, or to always make the right decision with regards to their own health and well-being. These are creatures who will swallow rubber clown noses whole, chew on power cords, and eat their own body parts when something seems wrong. It is your job as the sentient member of the relationship to occasionally make rules and enforce them, and to occasionally do things to or for them that they don't want done.
You are the human. You are the boss, not the animal. And I am sick and tired of people telling me 'He won't let me' when I tell them what they need to do for their pet's health. Or (my personal favorite) pointing and laughing. You are the primate, you have the thumbs, how the heck is your pet going to refuse to allow you to do (X/Y/Z)? It's kind of hard for them to hold a gun on you. If your pet is the boss in your relationship, it's not cute or adorable or funny or sweet. It's unhealthy, and a sign of poor pet care bordering occasionally on neglect.
If you own a pet, you should be able to:
-hold it
-pick it up (unless it's too physically heavy)
-touch its feet, face, and ears without getting bitten or having it throw a temper tantrum
-give it oral medication (yes, anyone with two hands can do this)
-perform the minimum necessary grooming to keep it healthy
-put down a bowl of appropriate food and have the animal eat it (discussions of what is appropriate are a separate rant)
If you have a dog, you should be able to put its harness/collar on yourself, attach it to a leash, and take it for a walk without it choking itself, trying to pull your arm out, or insisting on being dragged.
If you have a cat, you should be able to get it into and out of a carrier by yourself.
If you have a small pet that lives in a cage, tank, or other enclosed habitat, you should be able to pick it up and handle it safely, and clean its habitat. If handling it requires using safety equipment, you should have that safety equipment on hand at all times, and be comfortable using it.
If you cannot do these things, there is a problem, and odds are the problem is you. There are occasional exceptions, true, but they're pretty darn rare. If you don't know how to do these things, it is your responsibility to learn. If you know how, but your pet won't "allow" you to, it is your responsibility to work with your pet and train it until you can.
Because I am sick and tired of having animals become ill, suffer, and sometimes die because the owner "just can't" give it the necessary medicine, or feed it properly, or see to basic hygiene. This is neglect. Not the obvious kind you see on Animal Cops, where the animals are emaciated and covered in sores and filth, but neglect all the same - when I have a dog come in screaming in pain because it can't poo because there's a ball of feces the size of both my fists matted in its fur; when I have a pet come in bleeding from its face because its teeth are so rotten they rotted through its skin; when someone tells me to euthanize their pet with an entirely simple, affordable, treatable condition because it's too hard to give it medicine; when someone tells me that they can't bring their pet gerbil in because they can't get near it and so it survives by them just throwing food into the cage from a distance - that's a failure of good pet ownership.