When people hear of my career, they coo, “I wanted to be a vet too, but I’m just too tenderhearted.” ... “All that euthanasia! How can you do it?
DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am a small-animal veterinarian. Often, when people hear of my career, they coo, “Oh, I wanted to be a vet too, but I’m just too tenderhearted.” Sometimes they’ll follow up with a horrified whisper: “All that euthanasia! How can you do it? Don’t you feel horrible?”
Miss M, this makes me feel like a monster. I am proud to be able to offer animals a good death and end their suffering. When people call me to euthanize their pets, they are desperate. They’ve seen their best friend go downhill in a hurry. They are often emotional wrecks, and their gratitude for my service is clear and genuine.
Yes, I am morally comfortable assisting people to say goodbye, and helping their beloved pets over the edge into the great unknown, or rainbow bridge, or chance at reincarnation, or whatever awaits them. But I am wounded by comments like these. Please don’t say I’m too sensitive ... the hypothetical person I’m talking with has just said I succeeded in becoming a vet because I am insensitive.
Can you offer an appropriate response that I can whip out in a hurry? I don’t want to be insulting, but I do want folks to see how their insensitive remarks sting.“I can assure you it is never easy to euthanize. But the alternative is far crueler.”GENTLE READER: Yes. And very likely painful.
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