December 9th is known as the International Day of Veterinary Medicine! I wanted to celebrate this special day by sharing a couple ways that you can celebrate the veterinary professionals that care for your furry (or non-furry) family members!
Nice things you can do for vet staff:
1. Write them a special, handwritten, heartfelt Thank You Card!
2. Feed them! It doesn’t matter if it is pizza, snacks, etc.
3. Share your “Happy Pet Parent” story, and how your vet hospital helped you and your pet.
4. Remember that they (the vet staff) are doing their best, and that patience and kindness go a long way towards making a busy/challenging day easier. Remember that you both have the same goal, to provided the best care possible for you pet.
Here’s a bit more information about this special day:
Pet adoption is something that is near and dear to my heart! Growing up my family took in many stray and shelter pets into our home. We even fostered pets for a local animal rescue so that they had a place to stay.
When I found out about “Remember Me Thursday (September 28, 2023) I knew that I needed to help share the word.
As I explored the website I learned just how important this day truly is. Each year 6,000,000 dogs and cats enter animal shelters in the United States, and of those around 900,000 never find their fur-ever homes. There are things that you can do to help keep your pets. Spaying and neutering pets goes a LONG way toward helping to reduce the overpopulation that leads to so many animals ending up in shelters. You can also get your pets microchipped and make sure that it is not only registered but also that the contact information stays up to date. This can help your pet if they are ever lost because it allows people who find them get them back home.
There was also a cute contest on the website where you can enter your rescue pet’s story in order to win money for your favorite shelter or rescue. The contest is running from August 20-October 5, 2023. For more awesome information you can click the link below and help #ShineALight.
I am still very new to the veterinary professional world, but here are a few thoughts that I have had on my heart and mind a lot lately. I just wanted to share some reasons why you should be kind to your veterinary health care teams.
This job can be hard physically, emotionally, and psychologically
Getting yelled at about “wait time” makes us feel belittled. Yelling at us from your car while we are trying to care for their pets like you would want us to care for yours. Stopping us when we are busy delays us in being able to do our jobs.
Loosing animals is difficult on us because we are going to do our best becasue we want to save them all. This doesn’t always happen however.
The pets don’t understand what’s going on, and they don’t always tolerate things well.
We are doing this because we love animals.
You bring your pet to use to help, and we are going to give you our ideal course of treatment because we would want our pet to be treated with the same consideration. We will offer options where we can. It’s not about padding our pockets but about offering the best we can for your pet. And unfortunately medical care does cost money.
We are exhausted, hungry, and holding our bladders for the better part of most days.
We are working through lack of sleep, minimal meals (sometimes snacks and not true meals), headaches, and so much more.
We are doing the best we can in the midst of these unpredicable times and challenging situations.
The masks are unbearably hot.
The rules and protocals we are expected to follow are constantly changing.
No one has ever been through anything like this virus thus far.
We don’t have any more answers than you about when it will end.
On a personal note, sometimes it is literally all I can do to get through an 8-10 + hour shift (because just because I’m suppose to get off at a certian time doesn’t mean that always happens). There are MANY days I miss some of my lunch break or spend that time taking a nap just so I can keep going.
The next time you have to take your pet to the vet, I hope that you take these thoughts into consideration, whenever you see the full parking lot, and have to wait for your appointment because we are doing the best we can to offer our best to each and every pet that comes across our path.
My devotional this morning really hit home in light of the events of this world/our society today. The title of today’s reading: “You Aren’t The Most Right”: (Devotional- Everyday Holy by Melanie Shankle)
“But somewhere over the last several years, I’ve begun to realize that my small mind can’t comprehend the love and mercy of God. He is not a one-size-fits-all Creator. He is the God of the Universe, and He has made us all uniquely different and equipped each of us with gifts and abilities to fulfill the plans He has for us. Why would be assume that our walks with Him or even our understanding of Him would look the same? … God has made me to be me. And He’s made you to be you. If God were after only one type of relationship with one type of person, it would’ve been a whole lot easier for Him to create just one person and be done with it. ….I do not want to serve a God who fits into my limited understanding. I don’t want to serve a God who can be completely explained in the human realm. I want a God who is so much bigger than me that I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to know Him more, love Him more, and serve Him better.”
Those words ring true in the midst of the world events of today. This words gave a voice to what I have been feeling on my heart for MONTHS. It’s something that I know I’m guilty of forgetting from time to time. I am thankful for the reminder today that this life is not about who is “Most Right”, but rather about seeking to love God and love others.
It has been a LONG time since I have had the time or honestly the motivation to share a post on here about much of anything. This world is still in the midst of a chaos that is surrounding the virus, and I have felt worn out and spent more often than not. It has been hard to find the motivation for much in the last few months with everything that has been going on. I have also had a lot of personal life changes that I have been dealing with both physically as well as psychologically and emtoionally speaking. For the most part I believe that these changes are a good thing, but change is never easy. I have every intention of trying for be more regular about my posts again in the near future, but for now I just wanted to share a little bit about my life in the midst of a beatifully challenging season. I read a post from a motivational leader (Dave Hollis) recently that spoke to how I have been feeling. Dave said, “You are all working through a storm. You likely didn’t choose it, but your deicison on how you’ll handle it it determines how you’ll weather it. …You foundation determines your outcome.” Those word are something that speaks to me, especially in this season of my life. In a recent sermon my pastor talked about how our lives are meant to be an example for those around us and a vessel to help bring others to the LORD. His question that he challenged us to ask ourselves was: “Is someone in heaven because of me today?” That message is a great reminder to be a light in the midst of the darkness that is very evident in the world today.
I have had a LOT of “Adulting” Milestones in the last few months. I have had my very own new-to-me car that I am making payments on for nearly 3 months now, and I am in LOVE with it. I am so proud of it! It has been such a blessing for so many reason, not the least of which is how much it has helped with all my “traveling”. I am in the process of one of the biggest changes of my life. My parent’s and I are in the process of moving, and I will soon be living the furthest I have ever been from them. I have a LOT of mixed fillings about this change. It is one of the biggest changes of my life, and I honestly don’t know how to feel. I am thankful that this will afford the opportunity for me to spend more time with my grandmother because I adore her. The process of sorting through stuff that I have accumulated over the course of right around half of my life has been a bit overwhelming. I have found some wonderful memories that I had forgotten about, and I have found a lot of things that I’m not sure why I still had it. I still have a lot of work left to do in terms of sorting through my stuff, but I have also mad a LOT of progress. I am excited to begin a new adventure that will be living “on my own” in a RV/camper for the first time as an adult. I am also celebrating the 6 months milestone at my “new” vet tech job…it feels like yesterday and forever ago (all at once) that I began this job. I began working there just before everyting with this virus came to light. I have had to learn and relearn the job a couple of time because of how quickly this world changed. I am blessed with some wonderful bosses and coworkers. I am working harder that I could have imgined, but I am proud of how far I have come as a baby technician graduate. I am thakful for the postive feedback I have gotten from my boesses and coworkers, and I know that I still have a lot of room left to grow and improve.
Those are just a few of the recent developments of my life. I am both exhausted and blessed at the sametime. It feels good to share a bit about how life is going for me. I have every intention of posting more often in the coming days, weeks, and months. For now, thank you for taking the time to listen to my story about what has been going on in my life because it feels good to get in off my chest because I have just had so much on my heart and mind with everything that has been going on both in the world and in my own personal life. I honestly have such mixed feeling about 2020 as a whole. I have accomplished so much when it comes to “adulting”, but this year has had a strange new and stressful theme to it, but there has been so much loss and chaos that has gone on in the world. My heart is heavy for all that has been lost. There is a part of me that is ready to come out the other side of this storm we are all in, but there is a part of me that knows that I can be greatful for the strength that this storm will produce inside of me because it has made me the woman who I am today. To mark this season of my life, I got a planner from the Dollar store that inspires me. My intention is to use this undated planner beginning in August 2020 to plan out my blogging and related social media postings. The planner itself is full of motivation, but it was the quote on the front that spoke to me in this season of life I am in. It says, “Make Each Day Count.” That is exactly what I want to do, and it is somehting that I challenge each of you to do as well. Each day we are alive it is a gift, and we need to make the most of that gift in our own unique way. Like my pastor challenged I want to be a light that leads others to The LORD in everything that I do. Here’s to a life well lived, and that adventure that awaits. I hope that my story helps to inspire at least one person to stand strong in the face of trials. The best is yet to come, and I am excited to celebrate even more milestones in the coming months. What’s something you have done or accomplished recenlty that has made you feel like an accoomplished adult? It can be something as simple as folding and/or ironing laundry, if that is something that makes you feel accomplished.
Please share you “adulting wins” in the comments below so that we can celebrate together!
I know it has been a while since I posted on here. As we all are probably aware by now this COVID-19 ordeal is a “life-changing” world event. I never dreamed that I would live through something like this, let alone be 1-1.5 months into a new job where I am still learning the ropes when the reality of this truly set in. I am overwhelmed by not only the things that most of us are overwhelmed by when it comes to new jobs, but also trying to learn how to operate in this new “normal” we are all in the midst of because of this disease. My heart literally aches for everyone who is directly or directly affected by this virus. I am scared about the reality of what it means for me to be in the midst of being a “essential” and to keep on keeping on in the midst of all of this. Part of me is so very thankful to still have a job and an income, and the other part of me is scared to death to go into work no knowing what could happen. Please do not think that just because you are not in a “high risk” category that you can do as you please. There are so many of us who are doing our best while at the same time not really truly knowing what to do to make sure that we don’t put those around us in danger. I’m not perfect, by far, but I am doing to best I know to do right now in the midst of all this. My biggest fear is putting someone I love in danger simply because of what I am called to do as an essential worker. True veterinary medicine is not on the frontline of this human disease, but we are still out there because just because the world is in the midst of chaos does not mean that animals still don’t get sick. I know that so many are taking this serious, and to those people I have to say thank you. I never knew the strength I would need to face this reality that I am currently faced with, and there are days where I wonder if I can muster that strength for even one more day. I am an introvert by nature, but even I miss being able to be around loved ones beyond those with whom I live. Those I live with are the very ones I am most anxious for because the reality is that my very job puts them at risk, and that hurts my heart in a way that I can’t even put into words. Please do not think that this can’t or won’t affect you because it puts others at risk. If you don’t have to go out for something that is absolutely essential/emergency in nature please stay home. We will only get through this together. Today was the first day in weeks that I have even felt like putting on makeup. Over the past year or so putting on makeup has become something that I enjoy and has been enjoyable for me as I play around to see what kind of products I like and what they can do. But with everything going on over the last few weeks I couldn’t even muster the drive to spend the time doing this simple thing that I enjoyed because I had so much on my heart and mind and was so overwhelmed. I admit that it felt great to play around with makeup yet again. My prayer is that we are reaching the turning point in this pandemic. I know I am not alone, and that there are so many others out there (especially medical professionals and first responders) who are our frontline defense who are feeling the burden. Then there are also my “fellow essentials” who are still out in the midst of this who are helping to keep the world running while we battle this invisible enemy. To everyone of you, thank you, and we will defeat this together. Please just think beyond yourself, and together we will come out of this stronger. I find it appropriate that for the Christian community (and really The Universal Church) that this past Sunday was the beginning of something called Holy Week, where we celebrate and remember the final week of Jesus’ life here on earth before He faced The Cross. This upcoming Sunday we celebrate the healing and restoration that His death on the cross and resurrection made possible. The reality that we need a Savior seems ever more real in the current state of the world today. I believe we will see the other side of this, no matter how hopeless it may seem right now. My heart aches to be able to celebrate Easter with my church family, but just because the Church building is empty doesn’t mean that Easter and the hope that it provides is canceled. Deliverance is coming! Until then, let’s help and take care of each other the best that we know how.
Modern Vet Tech 