Veterinarians are a breed apart - Editorial Notebook

“There’s nothing that’s more important in your career than learning how to communicate – number one, with your patient, and number two, with your client.”

So said Dr. David Perrin to a group gathered during the Vetavision event at the University of Saskatchewan last week. His audience included students from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine along with WCVM alumni and other members of the public who attended the college’s open house.

As communications go, Perrin is no slouch. The British Columbia based veterinarian, who is a WCVM graduate, had a practice in Creston for 26 years. In a career as demanding as that of a mixed animal veterinary practice, a whole lot of communication is required.

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But of course Perrin is famous beyond the world of his B.C. clinic. His veterinary work is the topical basis of four best-selling books in a series, the most recent of which is Never Say Die: New Adventures from the Country Vet. Members of Alberta 4-H are certainly familiar with the series. Clubs there use his books as part of fundraising efforts.

Perrin is working on a fifth book and said he is also considering publishing an anthology of veterinary stories from around the world. More information on his books is available at www.davespress.com.

It has always been a bit of a mystery to me how veterinarians manage to hold their tempers and their gorge in the face of animal distress that would make the layman blanch. Consults with WCVM students and grads at Vetavision reveal that it’s largely a matter of repeated exposure to all manner of things bloody and putrescent, coupled with the practical need to get a job done.

That perspective is reinforced in Perrin’s books, which unflinchingly describe the joys, the heartaches and the headaches of providing veterinary care and running a successful practice.

But in the reading, one also finds a deeper vein of compassion and empathy that must also be vital to successful veterinarians, although Perrin and others I spoke with didn’t articulate it.

Surely it takes a certain aptitude to take on such a career, particularly for those in rural practice where the amenities may be few, the hours long and the monetary compensation short – or at least shorter than that of urban colleagues.

Perrin thinks more vets who are particularly interested in rural practice, where there is a well-known shortage, could be graduated if veterinary schools considered aptitude, as well as grades, in their admissions. However, he also acknowledges the difficulties in such subjective measures.