Alternatively Speaking: The Veterinarian/Client Relationship Dr. Anne Carroll DVM, CVA
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n our last article, we talked about the impact of emotional stress on your cat’s health. What we didn’t discuss was that nothing impacts your pet’s quality of life more than their caregivers’ emotional health, including that of their veterinarian. It is true in all medicine, but especially in holistic medicine, that solid relationships between your family and veterinarian form the cornerstone of their healthcare. Like so many of our personal relationships, COVID has put stress on our doctor-client relationships and that has impacted how we provide health care to pets in ways none of us could have imagined. While some COVID restrictions have eased this past summer, the disconnect between client expectations and the veterinarian’s ability to meet those expectations has 38 4 Legs & a Tail
continued. I am not speaking for all of my colleagues, but from what I can glimpse on social media platforms and talking to other professionals, I hear our situation is almost universal. So I would like to take this opportunity to share our experience and hopefully take a step towards re-building healthy relationships. For the past year and a half, veterinarians and their staff have been frontline caregivers even though the state has not officially recognized us as such. Through the entirety of the pandemic, each practice had to constantly re-invent how to do their jobs to care for patients while keeping staff and clients safe. These changes did not improve our efficiency, instead, they created dramatic increases in time for even the most simple of tasks. In an attempt to handle as much client Fall 2021
