The uncaring profession?

Outside my professional life I am a member of a dog walking group. However, as Hollie can’t actually walk that far, we usually meet fellow members and join in for about 20 minutes before retiring to a cafe to await their return.

It’s a nice, mixed bunch, and we use social media to keep everyone up to date with issues surrounding the large parkland we walk in.

Recently, one of the members posted that her cat had been killed by a dog in the park; she lives nearby and her cat was a regular visitor to the area.

Now, we know this happens – it’s not often, it’s not nice, but it happens.

However, what was reported next genuinely shocked me. The cat’s owner spoke with the woman walking the dog, who didn’t appear to be bothered by the incident at all. In fact, she claimed she was a veterinary nurse and dismissed it as something that “happens all the time”.

I am staggered anyone who has spent time caring for patients and their owners would be so unconcerned by the whole thing. Cats are free to roam and, yes, accidents do happen – but surely you wouldn’t use your experience in practice to brush off such an event?

I can only hope this person doesn’t go around spreading the idea that, outside of work, veterinary nurses are an uncaring bunch, particularly when the vast majority of us truly care about our patients and wouldn’t want to bring another into our hospital through something we had done – even if a genuine accident.