Less than a week after I had to put one of my dogs to sleep, I received a card from my vet’s office. It was a condolence card, and it was not only signed by every member of the staff, but each one included a sincere paragraph of sympathy and support. That touched me very deeply.
The death of a pet is almost more painful than the death of a human, because although most people do understand that pets are like family, they also expect you to “snap out of it” a lot faster and carry on. As a general rule you don’t have as wide a support system when Fido dies. People will let you talk about it for a day or two, but then they begin to lose patience. The standard response will be something along the lines of, “Sorry about that. Rainbow Bridge. What’s for dinner?”
So the fact that a busy veterinarian’s office took the time to write me a card meant a great deal to me. It would be easy for them to become numb to these events. I honestly think that would be my coping mechanism if worked in such a place. But no. They reached out.
It’s the little things like that that mean so much. Not only was it incredibly kind, but it’s an excellent business model. I can honestly say that as long as I live in the Seattle area, I’ll be taking my pets to Maple Leaf Veterinary Care Center. Even though there are other clinics that are much closer to my house, I’ll go the extra mile because I know they’ll go the extra mile for me. They feel like family.
Thanks, guys.
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