I Know Someone Has To Do It...

[westiemum]

Yes and two studies I know of - one here and one in the UK - shows suicide rates amongst vets are four times higher than the general population and twice as high as dentists and doctors ( who are already considered at very high risk). Stress and depression are mentioned as primary causes - so mental health issues in the animal and vet industries are of serious concern. While not mentioned, I wondered if the euthanasia parts of the job in general ( not just in pounds) contribute...

Edited July 8, 2012 by westiemum

[Jumabaar]

Yes and two studies I know of - one here and one in the UK - shows suicide rates amongst vets are four times higher than the general population and twice as high as dentists and doctors ( who are already considered at very high risk). Stress and depression are mentioned as primary causes - so mental health issues in the animal and vet industries are of serious concern. While not mentioned, I wondered if the euthanasia parts of the job in general ( not just in pounds) contribute...

I think there is also a lack of people to talk to. There are very few physiologists out there that understand the importance of the human/animal bond etc. There are a couple that are awesome though. It is also being addressed by uni's by implementing subjects to deal with processing the emotions etc.

Another aspect is knowing that you can help an animal but the owners (or the practise) not having the funds to do the work. With or without the emotional blackmail from an upset owner. I know the younger generation also get upset about being told they charge too much etc. This is also being addressed in the University curriculum- but that doesn't help the older vets.

[mixeduppup]

I worked at a shelter overseas for quite a while, the staff turnover was surprisingly low. It was a very high kill shelter ina busy area with a heap of strays. The lady who did most of the euths said that it was heartbreaking at first but the alternative is to si in a cage for the rest of your life and bond to no one, because no one is going to adopt a big black hound dog with social issues, a fearful pitbull with aggression problems or a 13 year old dog with severe medical problems. But then I asked her about the healthy ones and she said sometimes she just has to cry because she knows that if a Pit or hound walks in, even if it's the healthiest dog alive and has a lovely nature it's never going to get adopted. They have a black pit and hound puppy kill policy, no one adopts black pits or hound puppies so they keep them for 5 days and then kill them. How fickle is the human race! Yet the pretty pups just fly out the window...it's CRAZY

[Nic.B]

I know this is OT (sorry) though what are peoples thoughts on "black dog syndrome"?

This also applies to cats.

I am very interested as I have temp tested and photographed a lot of shelter dogs. Black dogs are very difficult to get a fantastic photo of at times. You have to have the perfect light and backdrop. Black dogs are also much more difficult to see in their pens, esspecially if the wire is small.

Once you get them out of their pen, get a great pic and add that pic to their pen gate people are much more likely to consider them IME.

I am not suggesting this is the only reason that black dogs and cats are at times more difficult to home, perhaps though a significant contributing factor.

[mixeduppup]

I actually wrote a paper on this! There's also the myth that Black cats are evil and black dogs are viscous. Where i worked in America it was also to do with racism as it was a very racist area and people would openly not help anything "black". Black animal are harder to see and Black is also considered a very boring colour by a lot of the public. The Merles and spotties went super fast. Also we naturally go for an animal that we perceive as cute, cuteness has everythig to do with the position of the nose on the face, the size of the eyes etc, with a black dog that's a lot harder to see.

[tdierikx]

Black and brindle seem to be the hardest colours to find homes for. Sable doesn't always do well either. I don't know why...

I used to not fancy brindle myself until I met many brindle dogs and realised what a wide variety of brindle colouring there is - now have an appreciation for a nice brindle... *grin*

I don't have an issue with black - in fact would rather a black dog than a light coloured dog - light coloured hair is more noticeable on my clothes... errr!

All that said - I have 3 dogs... one black, one blonde, and one white with large brindle patches...

T.