It's not just doctors and nurses. Veterinarians are burning out, too

It's not just doctors and nurses. Veterinarians are burning out, too

Transcript²

At the park near Duboce Triangle in San Francisco, 5 p.m. is canine³ happy hour. About 40 dogs run around, chasing balls and wrestling, as their owners coo and '90s hip-hop bumps out of a portable speaker.

A Chihuahua mix named Honey lounges on a bench wearing a blue tutu and a string of pearls. Her owner, Diana McAllister, feeds her home-made treats from a blue Ziploc bag, then pops one into her own mouth.

And after spending two years at home through the pandemic, it's clear that for a lot of these owners, their dogs are their children.

"I always say, dogs are people, so I love him," says Yves Dudley, looking on as her 9-month-old collie-schnauzer mix plays in the grass.

Across the country, 23 million families adopted a new pet in the first year of the pandemic. Others, working from home, started paying more attention to their existing pets' daily routines, noticing symptoms like vomiting⁴ or coughing. The resulting spike⁵ in pet health concerns has been straining a corner of the medical world that doesn't get as much attention as doctors and nurses: veterinarians.

The overwork and short staffing of the pandemic has affected⁶ veterinarians as much as it has other doctors and nurses, and dealing⁷ with the constant moral dilemmas⁸ and emotional output is driving many to burn out. At the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' veterinary hospital in San Francisco, so many vets⁹ and technicians have left that the clinic has had to cut back its hours, says veterinarian Kathy Gervais.

KHN logo

This story was produced in partnership¹⁰ with Kaiser Health News.

Dog owners say they've had to wait months for vet¹ appointments or drive to vets far from home to get care.

"Getting your dog in to see the vet is as competitive as trying to buy Coachella tickets online," says Laura Vittet, whose golden retriever, Gertrude, is 1 1/2 years old. "You have to wait by the phone, you have to be ready to refresh your browser¹¹. It's a very intense experience."

Gervais says she works 12-hour days, constantly zigzagging¹² from new puppies to dying cats. And the whole time, she takes care of the humans, too.

"To these people, and especially in these times, this is their love," she says, thinking especially of the owners who dress and coif and cook for their dogs. "This is their being, this is what they live for. And for vets, it's very hard for us to draw the line."

Even before the pandemic, vets' mental health was suffering from empathy overload¹³ and compassion¹⁴ fatigue¹⁵. They carry the weight of having to euthanize animals that could be saved, but their owners can't afford the care — Gervais says her practice has to euthanize about five animals every day. Some upset owners become downright abusive, berating¹⁶ vets or later bullying¹⁷ them online.

"I dare you to try to talk to a veterinarian who's been in practice more than five years who doesn't know somebody who has committed suicide," says Gervais. "I, unfortunately, can count on more than 10 fingers: classmates, colleagues, people I've dated."

One out of 6 veterinarians has considered suicide, according to studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While male vets are 1.6 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population, female vets are 2.4 times more likely, and 80% of vets are women.

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

In the early months of the pandemic, Gervais could see things getting worse. She helped organize the Veterinary Mental Health Initiative, which offers free support groups and one-on-one help to vets across the country.

All of the facilitators have doctorate-level training, says founder¹⁸ and director Katie Lawlor, also a psychologist, and they're all familiar with the issues troubling vets.

"Burnout, compassion fatigue, managing panic attacks, how to communicate with both supervisors¹⁹, colleagues and clients when you're under extreme deadlines or very intense stress," she says. "And, the loss of their own companion animals."

The initiative helped Razyeeh Mazaheri work through the anxiety she was feeling every day caring for animals at a clinic outside Chicago last year. The clinic was regularly double or triple booked. As a new vet — Mazaheri graduated from veterinary school last spring — juggling²⁰ so many cases was terrifying.

"I just feel like if I make a mistake, that is a problem. And if I make a mistake and kill something, that is my fault," she says, tearing up. "I just knew that I was burned out."

Through the support groups, Mazaheri was able to see that others shared her concerns and she learned tools for managing them. The initiative, housed under the nonprofit Shanti Project, has groups specifically for emergency vets, vet technicians, recent grads like Mazaheri, and for longtime vets like Kathy Gervais who have more than 20 or 30 years of experience.

"I've had people look at me sometimes when they've seen me really tired, going, 'Kathy, walk away,'" she says.

"I'm not ready to do it because, bottom line, I love my job. It is a vocation²¹. It is a passion. And it's hard to walk away from that," she says. "But if it's going to kill me on the flip²² side, I would hope I could just say, 'OK, that's it. I'm done.'"

This story comes from NPR's reporting partnership with KQED and Kaiser Health News (KHN).

1 vet   

n.兽医，退役军人；vt.检查

参考例句：

• I took my dog to the vet.我把狗带到兽医诊所看病。
• Someone should vet this report before it goes out.这篇报道发表之前应该有人对它进行详查。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 canine   

adj.犬的，犬科的

参考例句：

• The fox is a canine animal.狐狸是犬科动物。
• Herbivorous animals have very small canine teeth,or none.食草动物的犬牙很小或者没有。

4 vomiting   

吐

参考例句：

• Symptoms include diarrhoea and vomiting. 症状有腹泻和呕吐。
• Especially when I feel seasick, I can't stand watching someone else vomiting." 尤其晕船的时候，看不得人家呕。”

5 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

6 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

7 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

8 dilemmas   

n.左右为难( dilemma的名词复数 )；窘境，困境

参考例句：

• They dealt with their dilemmas by mixing perhaps unintentionally an explosive brew. 他们――也许是无意地――把爆炸性的佐料混合在一起，以此来应付困难处境。 来自辞典例句
• Ten years later we encountered the same dilemmas in Vietnam. 十年后，我们又在越南遇到了同样进退两难的局面。 来自辞典例句

9 vets   

abbr.veterans （复数）老手，退伍军人；veterinaries （复数）兽医n.兽医( vet的名词复数 )；老兵；退伍军人；兽医诊所v.审查（某人过去的记录、资格等）( vet的第三人称单数 )；调查；检查；诊疗

参考例句：

• I helped train many young vets and veterinary nurses too. 我还帮助培训了许多年青的兽医和护士。 来自互联网
• In fact, we've expanded mental health counseling and services for our vets. 实际上，我们已经扩大了退伍军人的心理健康咨询和服务。 来自互联网

10 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

11 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

12 zigzagging   

v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的现在分词 )；盘陀

参考例句：

• She walked along, zigzagging with her head back. 她回头看着，弯弯扭扭地向前走去。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We followed the path zigzagging up the steep slope. 我们沿着小径曲曲折折地爬上陡坡。 来自互联网

13 overload   

vt.使超载；n.超载

参考例句：

• Don't overload the boat or it will sink.别超载，否则船会沉。
• Large meals overload the digestive system.吃得太饱会加重消化系统的负担。

14 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

15 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

16 berating   

v.严厉责备，痛斥( berate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He deserved the berating that the coach gave him. 他活该受到教练的严厉训斥。 来自互联网
• The boss is berating those who were late for work. 老板正在呵斥那些上班迟到的员工。 来自互联网

17 bullying   

v.恐吓，威逼( bully的现在分词 )；豪；跋扈

参考例句：

• Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
• All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

19 supervisors   

n.监督者，管理者( supervisor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I think the best technical people make the best supervisors. 我认为最好的技术人员可以成为最好的管理人员。 来自辞典例句
• Even the foremen or first-level supervisors have a staffing responsibility. 甚至领班或第一线的监督人员也有任用的责任。 来自辞典例句

20 juggling   

n. 欺骗, 杂耍(=jugglery) adj. 欺骗的, 欺诈的 动词juggle的现在分词

参考例句：

• He was charged with some dishonest juggling with the accounts. 他被指控用欺骗手段窜改账目。
• The accountant went to prison for juggling his firm's accounts. 会计因涂改公司的帐目而入狱。

21 vocation   

n.职业，行业

参考例句：

• She struggled for years to find her true vocation.她多年来苦苦寻找真正适合自己的职业。
• She felt it was her vocation to minister to the sick.她觉得照料病人是她的天职。

22 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。