In our profession, we are often asked for recommendations in decisions regarding pet care and treatment. It usually comes in the form of a question as “what would you do?”
The first time I was asked that, I was shocked and struck momentarily speechless. When I started down this career path in my life, I don’t know if I ever comprehended what my opinion and expertise might mean to those around me. “Who am I and what do I know?” was what I thought when I initially graduated. I was often guarded or reserved when giving my opinion in the areas that I couldn’t guarantee a particular outcome. I didn’t want to tell someone to do a treatment or test and the outcome not be ideal. I wanted to educate our clients on their options and let them make the decision they thought best. I thought this might absolve me from feeling bad if the pet didn’t get better. News flash, It didn’t!
As I have treated more pets and seen more cases individually and as a group, my confidence in making recommendations in grey areas that I could not completely predict has increased. I still love performing diagnostic tests and getting the most information to make the best decision possible. That gives us the best chance to make your pet better quicker.
But life doesn’t work that way always. Sometimes we can’t always solve the riddle right in front of us. Sometimes we don’t have all the information needed. Sometimes we don’t have the finances to perform the best test or access to that needed piece of equipment. Sometimes we don’t have the time to get that perfect test completed before progression of disease. It used to eat at me that I couldn’t fix everything. And frankly it still does. But…
I have learned to take some of my own advice that I bestow to clients when they ask “what would you do?”. We can only try to make the best decision with the information we have right now. Sometimes our situation or known information changes and we can modify course then. Just like in life, all we can do is our best with what we have right now, right here in front of us.
Now, I will tell you “what I would do” if asked. I’ll make that recommendation assimilating all the information I have in front of me and all the cases we have seen like this previously. I now understand that everything isn’t perfect and we can all only do our best at any given point. It doesn’t always end up like we want, but we will keep trying to solve that particular issue.
The very real but often unsaid answer to that “what would you do” question now is “my best”. Thank you to our clients for trusting us even when we weren’t sure we had earned it. You make our day to day work life fun and enjoyable.
Jason Bonner, DVM
