A humble practice

I accompanied my father to the vet clinic this afternoon to pick up our pet cat who died during the night while being confined. I thought I'd note here what I found out during the visit because I was very much impressed by the vet's dedication despite her limited resources.

When we arrived there, I wasn't surprised to find it very much different from the spacious veterinary hospital in campus. The clinic itself is rather tiny: barely 7 feet by 12 feet. Across from the glass door entrance is a small desk where the vet talks to her client's owners. To the left of the glass door is a short wooden bench which seats two or three people. Near the desk is a small refrigerator. There are two laminated tables that serve as exam tables next to one of which is a set of plastic drawers which I suppose serves as storage for supplies and some medicines. Next to set of drawers is a metal sink. At the end of the room is a curtained off area where most probably an operating table stands.

The clinic is run by a high schoolmate of mine who apparently loves her job of curing people's pets, having been inspired to become a veterinarian by the famous veterinarian-turned-bestselling author James Herriot. And it is evident in the concern and unselfish care she shows for her patients, not to mention the effort that she puts into her work without the help of an assistant. (She barely got any sleep the night before because she had to watch over our cat and another pet who also was confined, a beagle puppy who was having seizures.)

I could tell that she probably wasn't making much money from her practice based on what I could see in the clinic. It was quite obvious also that she probably couldn't afford to pay another to be her assistant. In fact she only charged us a total of Php1150 (much less than US$30 by today's exchange rate) which is surprisingly cheap considering that that our cat was on intravenous drip and was given some antibiotics. We were even more dismayed when, upon getting back home, we found out that she had not charged us any consultation fee at all nor did she charge us for the blood chemistry analysis she had done at some other clinic in town.

We're now thinking of buying something from Goldilocks to give to her in lieu of at least the consultation fee that she did not charge us.