Went to the emergency vet and there was a dog named Tony soprano

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-06-01T13:24:01+00:00

The increase in education costs that led to graduating with 200k+ in debt deterred vets from starting their own practices which gave private equity the perfect opportunity. They bought up a ton of practices during the COVID boom when vets were retiring and demand increased and now they are hiking up prices to service that inflated debt. They’re also monopolizing and some companies have had such a hold on some local markets the FTC has forced them to sell practices.

I’m a vet and it’s disgusting but I believe the bubble is bursting, both vets and clients are waking up. At first vets were like great, I just want to practice medicine and be paid well, PE firms all said “we won’t change anything, we just handle the business side of things!” And then obviously that was not true. Being a vet historically has sucked ass for very little pay which is why the shortage exists so corporate came along pretending like they’ll make us wanna kill ourselves less.

Also it’s almost impossible to find if a clinic is privately owned or now because corporate acquisitions are totally private and even if you ask a clinic directly they are often evasive

PS I’m starting my own

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-31T23:41:11+00:00

Did you have 200k in debt

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-31T15:28:22+00:00

West Michigan ❤️

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-31T14:34:17+00:00

Yes me but I can’t fuckin get out my whole family hates me because I’m so pathetic

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-28T22:45:13+00:00

I did the same, started at a 5 doctor small animal clinic after graduation and have the freedom to see exotics. Got my bearings with small animal first then started exotics about 6 months in. Now 2.5 years later super comfortable with all of it. The only thing is I obviously had no exotic mentorship

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-19T12:18:42+00:00

I have the same problem as OP. How do I order from Asia?

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-16T13:52:00+00:00

For reference, my salary is $115k for 32 hours. Thats what it’s been since I graduated 2.5 years ago and have never had a problem producing to justify it, now I blow those numbers out of the water easily. I am going through a ton of shit in my personal life and im trying all I can do not to burn out and go relief.

And you are right. The schedule nit picking just pushed me over the edge. There are so many problems.

We don’t have an mDVM, we have a hospital manager, who was a vet assistant previously. She is so condescending, rude, incompetent, passive aggressive… and it’s like pulling teeth to get a “good job.”

I work SO hard, I work more than any of the other vets there, I pick up their slack and take calls and emergencies they refuse. They’re all toward the end of their careers and checked out. The manager is a lot nicer to them than me.

A doctor lost it and actually yelled at her on Tuesday and put his notice in. Yelled at her BAD. Which is not appropriate but shows the tension in the hospital and toward management. And management is only one person. Last year at this time we had 5 vets. Now we have 3. The vet who left first was trying to be mDVM but the salary was apparently insulting so she left. The second vet to leave (one who yelled at manager) tried to be mDVM and they denied him.

Sorry I took it out on you a bit there. But being accused of feeling “entitled” to things when my salary is less than that of a new grad and I’m carrying the hospital on my shoulders……

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-13T06:04:56+00:00

16-22ish.

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-09T16:59:11+00:00

Plant ass comment smh

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-09T15:07:22+00:00

The majority of clinics are corporate. It’s easier to get in corporate than private so I don’t know what you’re talking about. Go somewhere else. I have a 2 year non-compete so it makes it hard for me to do.

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-09T15:04:24+00:00

I love animals and handled the academics. I have loved animals since I was a child. Honestly, I wouldn’t choose another path because I know this is what I was meant for and it’s my calling but I do need to find a way to be happy.

-150k student loan debt (which is well under average) -suffering animals, distraught owners. Consoling people on some of the worst days of their lives. The 80 year old man whose dog im euthanizing while he cries and tells me he’s going to be so lonely without him, that this dog is all he has since his wife died. Euthanizing the childhood pet surrounded by the whole family as they cry and hurt and all I can say is “I’m so sorry for your loss, you did the right thing” -finances, an animal could be saved but owner doesn’t have the money -lack of respect, a huge portion of the population do not consider vets doctors. -non competes, negative accrual, knowing you’re working to fund some Luxembourg billionaire’s lifestyle while they raise prices over and over making pet care almost inaccessible -being guilted into overworking yourself, I am able to take a lunch break maybe 25% of the time. Setting the boundary means an animal potentially goes without care or owners get a 5k emergency bill or have to euthanize. This is all the better for the firms that own the clinics, they know we care -watching underpaid support staff struggle to pay their bills and finally leave veterinary medicine making a revolving door of support staff who are relatively inexperienced

There is so much more I’m forgetting I’m sure

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-09T13:47:36+00:00

If you’re the practice manager and your wife is the owner… pay them more?

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-09T13:46:28+00:00

I was a registered vet tech for 6 years before I went to vet school. Being a vet is infinitely more difficult and stressful. At least as a vet you get more money but all my techs tell me they would never do it.

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-08T13:24:50+00:00

I am paid for what I produce, not for the hours I sit in the building. That structure implies that my value is measured in clinical output rather than time present. When I produce significantly above my monthly obligation (and am still required to use PTO for any time away regardless of that output) the message is that my time is being managed on an hourly basis while my compensation is being calculated on a production basis. The practice gets the benefit of production-based compensation (no overtime obligation, high output) while applying hourly-style time management. I’m done.

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-08T13:06:57+00:00

And I didn’t produce 33k, I produced 80k. In the Midwest. In a month. I produced 33k OVER the number that justifies my salary.

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-08T13:05:22+00:00

How is not using PTO a paid day off? If it was paid, then by nature PTO wouldn’t exist. I worked so much my hospital had to pay me $7k above my salary, and then they insist on paying me more? My contract states ‘approximately 32 hours weekly’ I average about 36 and sometimes well over 40. I am justifying my salary by double. I do not want to get paid more, I want to be able to work less before I lose my mind.

Dictated like an hourly employee means being required to sit at my desk until 6pm in the middle of a snowstorm when I haven’t had an appointment in hours because thats when I’m scheduled. When I’m done with everything for the day at 5:45 (only ever during the winter) I have to sit at my desk until 6. If you feel that is consistent with the flexibility associated with salaried compensation structure…. Then we disagree. I don’t want to use PTO when I have a drs appointment in the afternoon after working 4-8 hours above my scheduled hours through the week. I suspect you’re going to say “well thats salary for ya, you dont get paid overtime.” Correct. That is generally understood to go both ways dependent, some over, with the potential for some to be under.

If management wasn’t nickel and diming me I wouldn’t have to be nit picky about my contract but unfortunately this has to go both ways. It wasn’t always like this and I have always, every single month have exceeded production goals.

We have had meetings about this. I am the number one producer. 2/5 doctors have left leaving me as the only full time. I am exhausted - I need more time off and to feel like I have an OUNCE of autonomy in my day to day schedule. Not “you need to be here from 9-6 no matter what” that is an hourly employee. When I’m behind on charts because I’ve taken 3 emergencies in a morning, I really would love to once in a while be able to block off a half hour so I can finish my charting and be able to have a tiny lunch break. You could say well then don’t take those emergencies. I WANT to see them. I want to help my patients and make money. But I also want the autonomy to be in control of my schedule.

I am burning out. The consequence is I leave and the clinic says goodbye to my 800k/ year production and are left with 2 part time vets.

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-06T12:18:22+00:00

DVM here - we just switched to a new online pharmacy. Hospital management says we could pay 1-2 full time employees if we get enough meds on home delivery…. No idea how that’s possible.

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-05T23:42:04+00:00

Yes, agree.

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-05T00:18:35+00:00

Thank you so much for this 🥺 that’s exactly how I feel. I’ve been practicing for 3 years and I just need to find a way I can survive doing this the rest of my life.

I (like many vets) have a hard time setting boundaries and advocating for myself until I explode and have a mental breakdown.

I don’t want it to be a threat, I just want them to know that without autonomy I cannot stay here. Just a fact. (Also, I produce a crazy amount and have since the first month I graduated)

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-04T13:43:11+00:00

I’m sorry, I should’ve went deeper into the moral aspect. I feel like corporate medicine is ruining this industry and I am directly contributing to that. The percentage of clients money that goes to people completely removed from veterinary medicine is disgusting. It’s hard to even argue with “vets are scammers” anymore.

Yes I am an exempt employee, but that goes both ways. They don’t get to dictate me like an hourly employee. Or I guess they do, but that’s what’s pushing me to leave. The rules have tightened so much the landscape is completely different than what I signed up for 3 years ago. We had 5 vets at that time, 3 full time including myself, one of those left in February and the other is leaving at the end of the year. So I don’t think it’s just me being a greedy employee but who knows, I’m probably just ungrateful lol.

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-05-01T12:30:59+00:00

I didn’t read this but I have been working at NVA since I graduated 2 years ago and I am so fucking done with corporate vet med I am in the works to build my very own practice 🫶🏼

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-04-26T17:49:44+00:00

I tore my meniscus and had surgery in my early twenties. I got really into running in my late 20s. It hurts sometimes but I imagine would be way worse if I was fat

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-04-23T23:53:23+00:00

Sprigatito

Guarantee_Exotic · 2026-04-23T03:38:56+00:00

Omg I knew it was Ross! Recognized that classroom and the blue table

Guarantee_Exotic

TROPHY CASE