Emotional conversations in the clinic

Sponsored by Banfield Pet Hospital

When clients hand their pets over to the veterinarian, they're entrusting them with the life of a family member. With this in mind, their emotions can be expected to be heightened, and it's not uncommon for conversations to become emotional. Ahead of his upcoming session, "Navigating Emotionally Charged Conversations," at the Fetch Coastal dvm360 Conference, in Atlantic City, New Jersey—October 14-16, 2024—Bash Halow, LVT, CVPM, explains why it's so important to know how to handle these conversations, and how to use them for growth.

Below is a partial transcript

Bash Halow, LVT, CVPM: [I don't think that people] realize how emotionally loaded this job is for everybody, on all sides. And we live in a time actually, when... we have these expectations and demands of our clients to act like little lords and little ladies when they're walking in the door. But, the fact is, that they're coming in with this pet that they think is their child, or [that they] probably even... like better than their child. The dog or cat turned out better than the kid they ever hoped the kids turned out to be, and they're handing it over to a bunch of strangers in the midst of this chaos that's going on all around them. And they've also got a million things on their mind, the guilt trip that they're feeling, [about] passing this pet off, how much money this is going to cost... what's going to happen to the pet in the care of these people that don't understand all of the idiosyncrasies.

So, everybody's emotional levels are high, and all of us, we have to be prepared to manage those client emotions, and we also have to be prepared to manage the emotions of those that are working around us who can't handle that kind of environment. So, this kind of discussion is critical for people in our line of work, and I think it's, you know, it's too bad that we don't talk about it more often.