{"id":157,"date":"2015-08-04T06:00:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-04T10:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/?p=157"},"modified":"2022-07-08T14:50:30","modified_gmt":"2022-07-08T18:50:30","slug":"get-inside-your-vets-mind-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/get-inside-your-vets-mind-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Get inside your vet&#8217;s mind&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So you think being a vet is all fun and games, right? Cute puppies and purring kittens all day, right?<\/p>\n<p>Sadly, our profession is riddled with problems\u00a0(like any other): an obscene student debt load (often hundreds of thousands of dollars), low income compared to most healthcare professions, difficulty providing excellent pet care while keeping fees affordable, rising costs etc. Therefore, vets face\u00a0an enormous amount of stress.<\/p>\n<p>What could possibly make vets stressed out? After agonizing for several weeks over my choice, I decided to share openly some\u00a0the challenges vets face on a daily basis.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-163 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Worried-vet-218x300.jpg\" alt=\"Worried vet\" width=\"218\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Worried-vet-218x300.jpg 218w, https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Worried-vet-745x1024.jpg 745w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 218px) 100vw, 218px\" \/><br \/>\nThe veterinary magazine DVM360 recently asked colleagues what causes stress in their lives. Here are the answers:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Time management issues (23%)<\/li>\n<li>Difficult clients (21%)<\/li>\n<li>Clients\u2019 inability to pay (16%)<\/li>\n<li>Difficult coworkers\/staff (14%)<\/li>\n<li>Others sources (11%)<\/li>\n<li>Difficult boss (8%)<\/li>\n<li>Fractious patients (2%)<\/li>\n<li>Performing euthanasia (1%)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Without a doubt, I have experienced all of these. Fortunately, the numbers of happy days greatly outweigh the number of stressful days.<\/p>\n<p>I was going to comment on each item, but honestly, this should be self-explanatory. Vets are extremely sensitive creatures who take it very personally when a pet owner:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>behaves badly (yelling, cussing, threatening and more);<\/li>\n<li>is in obvious denial (about their pet being in pain, having a poor quality of life or being overweight);<\/li>\n<li>or refuses treatment to their pet (whatever the reason).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There isn\u2019t much you can do about the other reasons, but please remember\u00a0that the vet in front of you has sacrificed at least 8 to 12 years of their life to get there.<\/p>\n<p>Still, I still firmly believe that being a vet \u2013 and a surgeon &#8211; is the greatest profession on earth!<\/p>\n<p>Until next time,<\/p>\n<p>Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS, CVJ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So you think being a vet is all fun and games, right? Cute puppies and purring kittens all day, right? Sadly, our profession is riddled with problems\u00a0(like any other): an obscene student debt load (often hundreds of thousands of dollars), low income compared to most healthcare professions, difficulty providing excellent pet care while keeping fees [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Get inside your vet&#039;s mind... | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So you think being a vet is all fun and games, right? Cute puppies and purring kittens all day, right?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/get-inside-your-vets-mind-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get inside your vet&#039;s mind... | Dr Phil Zeltzman\u2019s Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So you think being a vet is all fun and games, right? 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He performs specialized orthopedic, neurologic, cancer, and soft tissue surgeries on dogs, cats, and small exotics at your family vet\u2019s hospital. After graduating in 1993 from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Liege in Belgium, Dr. Zeltzman simultaneously worked as a general practitioner, emergency vet, and journalist for three years in his native city of Paris, France. He completed a one-year internship at the University of Georgia, followed by a three-year surgery residency at Surgical Referral Service in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. He then worked as a surgeon for four years at a surgical practice in Cincinnati, Ohio, and an additional four years at a surgical practice in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. He is a board-certified surgeon and a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, a coveted professional achievement Dr. Zeltzman is also a certified surgeon for the tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO), having performed thousands of these procedures in dogs from less than 30 pounds to more than 250 pounds! The results of his work have been very impressive. Dr. Zeltzman\u2019s interests include all aspects of soft tissue, orthopedic, cancer, reconstructive, and neuro surgery, as well as physical therapy and emergency cases. He also has a strong interest in the prevention and treatment of obesity. His newest endeavor is stem cell therapy for arthritis, kidney disease, liver disease, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), as well as tibial tuberosity advancement (TTA). 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He performs specialized orthopedic, neurologic, cancer, and soft tissue surgeries on dogs, cats, and small exotics at your family vet\u2019s hospital. After graduating in 1993 from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Liege in Belgium, Dr. Zeltzman simultaneously worked as a general practitioner, emergency vet, and journalist for three years in his native city of Paris, France. He completed a one-year internship at the University of Georgia, followed by a three-year surgery residency at Surgical Referral Service in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. He then worked as a surgeon for four years at a surgical practice in Cincinnati, Ohio, and an additional four years at a surgical practice in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. He is a board-certified surgeon and a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons, a coveted professional achievement Dr. Zeltzman is also a certified surgeon for the tibial plateau leveling osteotomy (TPLO), having performed thousands of these procedures in dogs from less than 30 pounds to more than 250 pounds! The results of his work have been very impressive. Dr. Zeltzman\u2019s interests include all aspects of soft tissue, orthopedic, cancer, reconstructive, and neuro surgery, as well as physical therapy and emergency cases. He also has a strong interest in the prevention and treatment of obesity. His newest endeavor is stem cell therapy for arthritis, kidney disease, liver disease, and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), as well as tibial tuberosity advancement (TTA). Dr. Zeltzman knew he wanted to be a veterinarian since the age of 5 when his favorite TV shows were Flipper, Daktari, and Lassie. \u201cBecoming a veterinary surgeon has been a dream come true, and I am as passionate about my profession as I was when I first started,\u201d he says. In practice, Dr. Zeltzman\u2019s goal is to offer the best surgical care, the safest anesthesia, and the utmost pain management to all of his patients. Actively involved in teaching, lecturing, and publishing, both locally and internationally, Dr. Zeltzman has published two books: Cocker Spaniels: A Practical Guide for People Owned by a Cocker and Walk a Hound, Lose a Pound, a book on weight loss for both dogs and people, co-written with Rebecca Johnson. He also writes a monthly award-winning newsletter for true dog and cat lovers. It is read in all 50 States, as well as more than 40 foreign countries. This newsletter has evolved into his blog. As a Certified Veterinary Journalist (CVJ), blogger, columnist, and award-winning author, his goal is to write meaningful articles, newsletters, and books that will make a difference in the lives of pets and their owners. He has published numerous articles in national and international veterinary journals, and is currently working on several book projects. He is also a prolific speaker. Dr. Zeltzman is a member of the Cat Writers\u2019 Association, the Dog Writers\u2019 Association and the Authors\u2019 Guild. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), the Lehigh Valley Veterinary Medical Association (LVVMA), and the American College of Veterinary Surgeons (ACVS). He is a monthly contributor to veterinarypracticenews.com and a regular contributor to Dog Fancy, PetsAdviser.com, and PetHealthNetwork.com.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DrZeltzman"],"url":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/author\/phil\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2032,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157\/revisions\/2032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}