Redefining Our Relationship to Health Care Providers...

I am not talking humans, but the health care of our beloved pets.

White coats are not what they used to be. There are good reasons people are losing trust in both the human and veterinary medical fields.

A decade or so ago, private equity discovered that people were willing to spend billions of dollars on their pets, on really anything that may extend their short lifespans, or that they think may extend their short lifespans.

They infiltrated the pet industry and remodeled veterinary medicine after the failing human medical system. The James Herriots’ of the world were bought out by national corporations busy designing corporate veterinary clinics. Managers were hired. The S.O.A.P. protocol for reasoning through and diagnosing cases was replaced by binary algorithms. Deals were made with pharmaceutical and pet food companies with big discounts for buying in bulk.

Pet health insurance companies erupted onto the scene, where prices were tripling and quadrupling and no insurance regulation anywhere to be found.

Changes occurred in veterinary schools as well. The new vets had to be trained to practice medicine in the new corporate structure and use the computer-based algorithms. Vet school tuition may be increasing but they were being offered sign-on bonuses that were too good to be true.

Multibillion-dollar, multinational pet food companies got their foot in the door as well. Give the veterinary students free bags of food, teach their nutrition courses, and sponsor labs, events, free pizza…

What they were not told is that their time with patients would be limited to 15 minutes. Their choices of medications and treatments were based upon the best deal made with the pharmaceutical company, treatments preprogrammed into the computer system. And a large proportion of their salary was based upon commission, so sell, sell, sell even if the pet did not need what you were selling. Last but not least, due to the shortage in veterinarians, expect to work plenty of overtime, saying good-bye to humane office hours and vacation days.

One more factor that is not being spoken about. When I attended veterinary school in the mid 1990s, women were already the majority of students. Veterinary medicine attracted people who were caring, empathic, and wanted to take of helpless animals. It became the modern version of the nurse or school teacher - female-based professions. In general, females want to have access to time off to raise kids and care for families. They have less of a competitive nature to start up a business of their own, especially when offered amazing hiring bonuses and promises of good work-life balance. The corporate designers saw the possibilities and potential a long way off. They could hire them, offer them lower salaries, and they would give up their power and let others make the hard decisions for them.

The one thing I tell all young veterinarians when I have a chance is that the license to practice you hold in your hand is what allows these practices to keep their doors open. It is both your bargaining power and your ticket to freedom, the freedom to go out and start your own practice.

Why am I going on this rant?

Because this is why you cannot find adequate veterinary care for your pets right now. Students are not going into the profession because the debt-load from school and the salaries do not match up. Present veterinarians are becoming so burned out, veterinary medicine has earned the status of having the highest suicide rate out of all the professions. Young, untrained veterinarians are finding themselves between their corporate managers, telling them how to practice and what medications to use, and the upset pet parent screaming at them because their beloved pet is not getting better.

And the private equity owners, pet food companies and pharmaceutical companies are pulling in billions of dollars.

There is a way out of this.

The way out is for the veterinarians to become empowered enough to start their own independent practices.

I realize, many of the new graduates may need to be trained and learn all the things that used to be taught in veterinary school and now, obviously, is not.

The way out is for pet parents to only go to clinics that will educate them and spend time with them answering questions and providing options.

I realize, veterinarians like this can be hard to find. If you do find one, do everything you can to support them, ie buy the meds and supplies from their clinic, not Chewys, refer all of your friends to them, bring them presents of appreciation and treat them like gold.

I have heard so many horror stories of pet parents being lied to by practice managers, not having access to the actual veterinarian, and their animal held hostage so they could run thousands of dollars of expensive tests that do nothing to actually save the animal.

This is my latest case: a client who has a dog in congestive heart failure takes him into a local emergency clinic. They do not have a cardiologist on staff to evaluate the dog. The practice manager insists the dog is being stabilized and “ everything will be ok”. Seventy-two hours later, the dog is still having respiratory difficulties and they say there is no cardiologist on-call. The client, with coaching from a friend, decides to risk it and transfer the dog to a clinic across town with a cardiologist. Before she packs up the dog in the car, the emergency clinic gives the dog an injection of opioid pain medicine to sedate them for the car ride. In case the reader does not know, opioids depress the respiratory and cardiovascular system. By the time they arrive at the cardiologists, the dog is near death with respiratory depression. The bill was approximately $7000 at the first emergency clinic. They did not provide appropriate care and nearly killed the dog.

The third way out: do everything possible to keep your pet healthy so they rarely need to go to the veterinary clinic.

Yes, this is possible, by feeding a species-appropriate fresh food diet, minimizing toxins and vaccines, and being a responsible pet parent to prevent accidents.

This is where I come in: to teach your preventative wellness for your dog and cat:

• what to feed

• what supplements are worth giving

• what vaccines are needed, required, or too much

• how to support the organ systems through seasonal eating and lifestyle choices

• herbal + food remedies for the occasional bout of dis-ease

How can you work with me?

1. Follow me here for FREE to learn more.

2. Sign up for a subscription to receive a seasonal newsletter of tips on supporting your dog’s and/or cat’s health and well-being with food therapy and herbal remedies based upon time-tested medicine from the old days.

3. Message me to set-up a one-on-one consultation and record review, providing second opinions, vaccine protocols, diet + supplement recommendations, and coaching for chronic illnesses and geriatric care.

4. Join my private community, Gateway to Gaia, and receive access to courses and all kinds of information on how to live on this planet, with our animal friends in a harmonious, balanced way. Make new friends in a community of animal lovers who think like you do! Basic Memberships get 40 % off current and future courses.