Funny because I was *just* having this conversation with the vet I work for a couple days ago. She was a shelter vet for a long time and it can really be a hard life, especially if you are the kind of person who really really cares. And politics hardly covers it, especially in my neck of the woods! I'll definitely be interested to read more of what you have to say...
Sorry, my phone "Published" before I was done writing!
Great post, and I'm looking forward to reading future ones in this series!
We had a great little shelter back in my hometown in PR where we adopted our first cats and had our dogs spayed and neutered. They were unavoidably high kill because of the limited space, but I was always impressed with the obvious love and compassion of the people who worked there. So much joy radiated from them when one of the animals was adopted, and they had such a gentle way of handling frightened dogs.
I was always drawn to shelter medicine because of those first impressions. For tech school, we had to have almost 100 hours of either volunteering or working in any part of the veterinary field. I started out at the Fort Lauderdale Animal Control office volunteering in the kennels and was underwhelmed: it was a small place with people whose compassion had shriveled up and died after years of seeing the worst of humanity. It was sad working there, especially when I realized that animals there barely got more than 72 hours before being euthanized. There just wasn't room to keep them longer. I was then hired at my first job at a specialty hospital and was able to bid Animal Control adieu. Later while in tech school we were given the opportunity for one of us to go to the Broward Humane Society for our surgical rotation. I raised my hand wildly...and was the only one that did!
I worked in the spay neuter clinic for 8 hrs once a week for a semester and got to meet some really wonderful human beings. BHS is huge, modern and kept immaculately clean. Their surgical protocols were better than those of many general practices I've worked/interned at. They took such good care of all of their materials because it was all donated.
The techs and the doctors cared so much...the ones I worked with knew all of the shelter animals by name and kept an eye out for the ones they had special soft spots for so they could try to pull them if they could. It was a kill shelter with an extensive foster home network outside of the shelter, but there are only so many unwanted animals that can be placed into temporary homes. Some of the staff would bring animals slated to be PTS home to foster.
I wanted to do this full time until I learned that the techs had euthanasia licenses: each did a week on death row, rotating throughout the tech staff until everyone had had a turn, and then starting all over again. It was not doctors putting animals to sleep, it was techs. I knew that I would never be able to do that part of the job and that's how I ended up in emergency and critical care for good.
I have the utmost respect for the techs and doctors that work in shelters. It is a very hard life, and I think the people that are able to retain their compassion and love of animals despite the politics and the atrocities they see, are the most human of us all.
Funny because I was *just* having this conversation with the vet I work for a couple days ago. She was a shelter vet for a long time and it can really be a hard life, especially if you are the kind of person who really really cares. And politics hardly covers it, especially in my neck of the woods! I'll definitely be interested to read more of what you have to say...
ReplyDeleteThe vet at the clinic I work at is also the shelter vet for the township, and it's not an easy task at all!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry, my phone "Published" before I was done writing!
DeleteGreat post, and I'm looking forward to reading future ones in this series!
We had a great little shelter back in my hometown in PR where we adopted our first cats and had our dogs spayed and neutered. They were unavoidably high kill because of the limited space, but I was always impressed with the obvious love and compassion of the people who worked there. So much joy radiated from them when one of the animals was adopted, and they had such a gentle way of handling frightened dogs.
I was always drawn to shelter medicine because of those first impressions. For tech school, we had to have almost 100 hours of either volunteering or working in any part of the veterinary field. I started out at the Fort Lauderdale Animal Control office volunteering in the kennels and was underwhelmed: it was a small place with people whose compassion had shriveled up and died after years of seeing the worst of humanity. It was sad working there, especially when I realized that animals there barely got more than 72 hours before being euthanized. There just wasn't room to keep them longer. I was then hired at my first job at a specialty hospital and was able to bid Animal Control adieu. Later while in tech school we were given the opportunity for one of us to go to the Broward Humane Society for our surgical rotation. I raised my hand wildly...and was the only one that did!
I worked in the spay neuter clinic for 8 hrs once a week for a semester and got to meet some really wonderful human beings. BHS is huge, modern and kept immaculately clean. Their surgical protocols were better than those of many general practices I've worked/interned at. They took such good care of all of their materials because it was all donated.
The techs and the doctors cared so much...the ones I worked with knew all of the shelter animals by name and kept an eye out for the ones they had special soft spots for so they could try to pull them if they could. It was a kill shelter with an extensive foster home network outside of the shelter, but there are only so many unwanted animals that can be placed into temporary homes. Some of the staff would bring animals slated to be PTS home to foster.
I wanted to do this full time until I learned that the techs had euthanasia licenses: each did a week on death row, rotating throughout the tech staff until everyone had had a turn, and then starting all over again. It was not doctors putting animals to sleep, it was techs. I knew that I would never be able to do that part of the job and that's how I ended up in emergency and critical care for good.
I have the utmost respect for the techs and doctors that work in shelters. It is a very hard life, and I think the people that are able to retain their compassion and love of animals despite the politics and the atrocities they see, are the most human of us all.