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Brainstorming
Apr. 15th, 2007 02:07 pmWhen I was growing up, I wanted to be a veterinarian for a lot of reasons, but the primary one was that I liked solving puzzles and fixing things. I wanted to make animals better, put things back together, solve problems. Now that I am a vet, though, I realize that a lot of what I enjoy most in the job, and what I wish I had the chance to do more of, is prevent problems in the first place. I get to do some of that with vaccines and preventive medications, and I get to do a lot of preventing repeat problems by educating people after the fact, but none of this changes the fact that half of the preventable problems I see come from people not educating themselves before they buy a pet.
A lot of this isn't the pet owner's fault, to be honest. People are bombarded with images in the media of cheery, well-behaved, pre-trained dogs and cute, tidy, talking birds. They go to pet stores that fail to educate them about the proper care of any animal, they find inaccurate information on the internet, and they're surrounded with pets that are easy to buy and come with little, no, or inaccurate instructions for follow-up health care. And, six months or six years down the road, either I wind up examining an animal with a laundry list of problems that could have been avoided entirely or the animal winds up in a shelter because the owners had no idea that it would be such a challenge and expense to care for.
I have an idea, though. I'm not quite sure how it would work, or whether I'd be able to find a clinic willing to implement it or people willing to make use of it, but I think it might just save a lot of time, money, animal suffering, and human heartache if it works.
I'd love to set up some kind of pre-purchase counseling program, where people looking for the pet would get a 20-minute sit-down visit with the doctor. They'd be able to talk about what kind of pet they think they want, and what qualities they're looking for, and let the vet know all about their lifestyle and space and circumstances. And the vet would be able to put together a list of a few animals or breeds that they think might meet their criteria and suit their living situation. They could also give them an idea of cost of care, and what kind of husbandry and preventive medicine would be necessary to care for the critters in question.
We'd have to charge a nominal fee, of course, to make up for the time spent, but that cost could be refunded at the first office visit. And then they'd start out the pet's life with a relationship with a veterinarian, and reasonable ideas of what to expect from the critter. There are still a few stumbling blocks - it's hard to market veterinary services to people who don't already own pets, for instance, and we'd have to be careful to explain that our suggestions aren't guarantees of a perfect match, and that we can't be held legally responsible if you turn out not to like your new puppy/turtle/guinea pig - but... I think it might work. And the education about caring for the animal would be incredibly valuable.
What do y'all think? I admit I'm probably not the best critic of the plan, being unable to look at it from the outside - does it sound like something you might go for, given the appropriate situation? Or can you think of ways to make it better?
A lot of this isn't the pet owner's fault, to be honest. People are bombarded with images in the media of cheery, well-behaved, pre-trained dogs and cute, tidy, talking birds. They go to pet stores that fail to educate them about the proper care of any animal, they find inaccurate information on the internet, and they're surrounded with pets that are easy to buy and come with little, no, or inaccurate instructions for follow-up health care. And, six months or six years down the road, either I wind up examining an animal with a laundry list of problems that could have been avoided entirely or the animal winds up in a shelter because the owners had no idea that it would be such a challenge and expense to care for.
I have an idea, though. I'm not quite sure how it would work, or whether I'd be able to find a clinic willing to implement it or people willing to make use of it, but I think it might just save a lot of time, money, animal suffering, and human heartache if it works.
I'd love to set up some kind of pre-purchase counseling program, where people looking for the pet would get a 20-minute sit-down visit with the doctor. They'd be able to talk about what kind of pet they think they want, and what qualities they're looking for, and let the vet know all about their lifestyle and space and circumstances. And the vet would be able to put together a list of a few animals or breeds that they think might meet their criteria and suit their living situation. They could also give them an idea of cost of care, and what kind of husbandry and preventive medicine would be necessary to care for the critters in question.
We'd have to charge a nominal fee, of course, to make up for the time spent, but that cost could be refunded at the first office visit. And then they'd start out the pet's life with a relationship with a veterinarian, and reasonable ideas of what to expect from the critter. There are still a few stumbling blocks - it's hard to market veterinary services to people who don't already own pets, for instance, and we'd have to be careful to explain that our suggestions aren't guarantees of a perfect match, and that we can't be held legally responsible if you turn out not to like your new puppy/turtle/guinea pig - but... I think it might work. And the education about caring for the animal would be incredibly valuable.
What do y'all think? I admit I'm probably not the best critic of the plan, being unable to look at it from the outside - does it sound like something you might go for, given the appropriate situation? Or can you think of ways to make it better?
