I was being screamed at by a client at the front desk. I had refused to treat her dog’s diarrhea for free and for that grave transgression I was being cursed at and berated in front of my staff and other patrons. The list of foul things being hurled at me included phrases like “hope you burn in hell”, “you don’t give a shit about the animals”, and “you have no compassion”. For the dog’s sake I relented and told her I would give the antibiotics to her dog for free, but she must pay the office visit. More expletives. She left without getting anything or paying her bill.

The receptionist mouthed “I’m so sorry” at me as she was nodding her head while on the phone. “Line two is for you” she said and I picked it up. It was the owner of a dog I had spayed a few days ago. This man had refused pain medications or an E-collar for his dog because they were too expensive. I felt bad for the dog having to go without pain control so I gave him the medication for free and discounted the e-collar. He refused both “on principle”. Almost pleading I had asked him to please take both for the health of the dog. Refusal. Without an e-collar to prevent her from doing it and pain meds to keep her from being bothered by it the dog had chewed her incision open. On the phone with me now the owner was yelling at me that I had done a “shitty job” and “fucked up” his dog because her guts were hanging out. I told him to bring her in ASAP so I could take her to surgery and fix it. He asked if it would cost anything and I told him he would have to pay the surgery fee as well as anesthesia. He refused. “You don’t give a flying fuck if she dies! Have you no compassion you asshole?!” He never showed up.

Still reeling from the phone call and the other angry client I went into a room to see a woman’s chihuahua that had a dental cleaning a few weeks ago. At the time I had noticed a very rotten tooth that needed to be pulled. The fee for removing the tooth was more expensive than usual because it needed surgery and radiographs.  The owner did not want to spend the money. I asked her what price she would pay to have it done and she said a number. Knowing it must come out I told her I would do it for that price but the compromise would be no radiographs because it would for sure need the pain meds, antibiotics, and surgery so the x-rays were the only thing that weren’t 100% needed. She had to understand that without taking films I could not see if I had removed all of the tooth and there could be problems and she agreed. Sitting in the room now was the dog who had an abscess because part of the tooth root had been left behind. This was my fault because I am a “crack job” and just wanted her to come back in to make more money. I told her now I absolutely had to do radiographs to find the broken piece and when I wouldn’t do it for free was told that I “shouldn’t be a vet because you don’t give a shit about the animals”.  I offered to discount the surgery cost as well as give her more antibiotics for free but was told if it wasn’t all free she wouldn’t do it. I explained to her that she was not the only client that wanted free things and that if I did everything for free as was asked I would lose the practice around $1,000.00, and we had only made $1,800.00 that day. She told me she knew I was rich and just wanted more money. I thought about my ‘94 Honda Civic with no a/c and a broken side view mirror I drove to work, the 15 year old mattress I sleep on, and looked down at the dress pants I bought at a thrift store for $3.00 and just stared at her.

As I came back into the treatment area my tech told me there was another appointment in a room. I went in and saw a woman and her young son sitting on the bench holding a very still guinea pig. Doing a quick exam I found that the guinea pig had a very large abdomen. I asked her if I could do radiographs. She asked for the price and when I told her she began to cry and then said “ I understand it is important, but I can’t afford it. I’m sorry”. I stared at her for a moment, and then I told her I would do them for free. Radiographs showed that the guinea pig had severe ileus and what was likely a ruptured intestine. The best thing to do would be to put it to sleep. I told the owner and she started to cry again, he son started too. After it was done I got some paint out and made a paw print on some card stock for them. I wrapped the guinea pig in a colorful bandana and put it in a box and closed the lid. When I presented the paw print to her she cried and said it meant a lot to her that I took the time to do it. As she was leaving she turned back and said “may I give you a hug?” I said yes and we hugged and she cried on my shoulder. Heading to the door again she looked at me saying “Thank you. You have so much compassion and love for the animals, I can tell you really care about them and us and I appreciate it. We will be coming back with our other pets so you can see them.” With that she walked out. It is because of clients like that that I come to work.