I confess: I listen to way too much NPR programming—and I generally enjoy myself. During yesterday’s drive home, however—exhausted and looking forward to a calm night of childcare responsibilities (not!)—I listened with mouth agape at the salaries some newly-minted attorneys take down relative to their student loans (numbers like $150,000 annual incomes relative to $70,000 debt). Transpose the numbers and read the parenthetical statement again. That’s where the highest paid fresh-faced vets find themselves.
I want to holler when I hear that people think vets make too much money. Especially when my salary barely covers my mortgage, student loan payments, food and kid expenses. Savings? Not yet. Vacations? When someone else pays—and never, ever for more than a long weekend. How many professionals do you know with twelve years of experience driving a thirteen year-old car (apart from our unfairly financially maligned educators)?
And I think I earn a decent living—for a vet.
Practice owners are another matter. I know a few that do rake in the big bucks (a quarter of a million a year or so), I’ve even heard of some in the US that make over a million. But these are a tiny minority. And these elite players have taken pretty huge business risks to get where they are today. I think of them more as business professionals who happen to be vets.
Somehow, though, these big-practice, big-money vets are the ones who everyone looks to as exemplary of industry standards. Most pet owners don’t see the vets who will never afford to get out from under their pile of debt long enough to save a stash for practice ownership. By the time they relieve themselves of their debt burden, the risk of owning a practice seems suicidal—what with the kids’ tuition and/or retirement staring them down.
But perhaps you might think that ours is a lifestyle tradeoff. We don’t really have to work so many hours, you’d say, so—what the hell—it’s not so bad, right? Don’t tell that to the 80 hour week vet-slaves among our newbies…all for having the privilege of working with animals.
And that should be enough. Except that it’s not…not when you have to decide whether to take time to eat dinner or sleep…not when you regret not taking on that roommate (since you can’t afford the rent and you’re never home anyway).
I know I’m dropping off at an uneasy spot but—never fear—you’ll hear more of my diatribe tomorrow. After that? I promise a post full of sweetness and light.
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I don't think vets make too much- I think the owners of the vet practices I go to rake in the money. How do I know? Huh- Mikey, my vet, sees one vacation a year- he goes to glamorous Tennessee to visit his Mom and Dad and family for the holidays. Meanwhile, the head vet takes between 3 to 4 vacations a year- cruises, Europe, etc, etc...
I CANNOT STAND IT. Mikey is the person busting his ass- not the head vet who has lost his license twice for mistreatment of animals. He just makes me ill.
Katalyst March 7th, 2007 12:59:00 PM
Dr Patty,
I feel for you. Really I do. I'm a student and have to make that decision between food and sleep all too often myself. Mind you, the fact that I can't afford grocey's more extensive than a box of pasta and a can of tomato sauce makes that decision that much easier. But here is the real tickler of the situation. For five years after high school graduation, I worked as an administrative assistant and was making by many peoples standards, good money (over $40 000/yr) which for a single young women was great. And than I got bored and decided to suck it up and follow my dream and when I graduate I'm expecting to make about half of what I was as an administrator. The whole system is unfair and unbalanced but I know that I'm going to be in love with my job when I finish and that I'm following doing something that I am truly passionate about is more important than the balance in my bank account. So well I understand your frustration, I also think that as long as you enjoy your job you are a big step ahead of a lot of other people.
Shannon March 7th, 2007 01:58:00 PM
I work in the exciting (HA) field of medical transcription. I changed to this job so I could work from home. But the pay is almost not worth the ability to work in my jammies and be free of the toxins of other people (I am hypersensitive in the allergy department). People are jealous when they hear I work from home, but it's lonely, the pay is piecemeal, and the work very depressing currently.
Sure, there is high value in doing something you love. But it doesn't put food on your table, gas in the car, or keep a heated (or cooled) roof over your head. I'd rather be volunteering in an animal shelter or something, but I do the best I can.
I went from a job making $50K a year, but I was out sick half the time, to a job where I don't quite make minimum wage, but gosh I'm healthier. And for me, that has to be more important.
Georg March 7th, 2007 02:39:00 PM
::sigh:: I'll be going into my first year of vet school this fall. Those numbers and choices make me sad. Right now, I mostly prefer not to think of it because there's nothing I can do about it except work those 80hr weeks you mentioned once I'm done.
lindabcs March 7th, 2007 02:41:00 PM
I'm not sure what you consider to be a large animal hospital, but the ones I worked for and bring my pets to year after year pull in some serious cash and none of them are what I consider large.
My vet has 3 techs, a kennel/ cleaning/ dog walker person and 2 receptionists. She cleared more then 500 k in her first year. For every year that she is in business for herself, the goal of how much the hospital makes increases to allow for possible other projects such as opening a satelite boarding facility. Whether that will ever come to be, I don't know, but there was talk about it at one time.
The two hospitals I worked for had more staff and the clinics were physically larger, but they had other services to offer that brought income in as well. One had a full boarding kennel for cats and dogs, the other did things like acupunture and has a full time exotics vet that is also licensed to treat wildlife on board.
While most vets cringe at the idea of having a boarding kennel and hospital under the same roof, there is some serious money to made by doing it. Add in a couple experineced groomers into the mix and the place will become like a bee hive, assuming everybody does a good job that is. Can't have a filthy kennel and sloppy dog groomers as that is a recipe for disaster.
Note that the next sentence doesn't apply to all vets.
It has been said that vets are bad business people. Alot of them don't have a business plan and tend to handle the business end of budgeting, ect in a way that actually costs them more than what it should. Even hospitals that are AAHA approved struggle with keeping everything straight. Sure they keep all their meds logged and such, but when it comes to actually running the business itself, they seem to get lost amongst all the fluff and dander that goes with running a business, whether it's a animal hospital or any other type of business.
And then there is the people that live within their means and those that do not, just like anywhere else. You have spenders and savers. Most of the vets I worked for tend to be savers. They go on vacation occasionally, but most them consider just being away from their hospitals a vacation. They don't feel the need to leave the country to enjoy time off, although if they didn't have to avoid clients in the grocery store, I'm willing to bet they'd be much happier while they are happily getting things done around the house and other things that don't involve a thermometer and a dogs rear end.
There are some bigger hospitals around that clearly bring in considerably more money, but I personally find those places cold and are run like a factory. The only thing staff care about it getting pets in and out. This attitude also rubs off on clients, so I avoid those types of hospitals as much as possible. I prefer the warmth of a family owned clinic. The atmosphere is better and so are the staff as a rule.
I take this general attitude beyond the animal hospital as well. I'd rather give the"little guy" on the block my money than some chain big-box company. The service is better, the staff are happier, I don't have to worry about my feet sticking to the floor, or walking into a wall of stench because the bathroom hasn't been cleaned in 2 weeks.
Stacy March 7th, 2007 03:50:00 PM
"How many professionals do you know with twelve years of experience driving a thirteen year-old car (apart from our unfairly financially maligned educators)?"
I'll have you know that I just bought my first new car this summer! Of course, I also live in a low-income neighborhood with my high school dropout community college students as neighbors. And I found out recently that I qualify for tax preparation assistance for low-income families. Thank goodness I was a grad student in the sciences, or I'd also be paying off loans.
On the other hand, research university professors are not nearly as financially maligned, as they supplement their good incomes with better grants. Many K-12 teachers make more than me though. And did I mention that I had better dental insurance as a graduate student?
zandperl March 7th, 2007 04:49:00 PM
My vet makes the big bucks. At least I think he does. Their facility is HUGE. They have all state of the art equipment and even use digital x rays. I drive 45 minutes to go to them, just because of the equipment, and the fact that they let me in the back with my dogs for all tests. They also have a grooming shop, a trainer with a facilty big enough for an agility class and she also does dock diving (not at the vet's office, but at lake 5 miles away). They negotiated a 40% discount for my Dobe rescue for all tests, and they don't charge us for office visits (the rescue I mean). I am thinking the owner of this facility makes BIG bucks. He is always off to Africa hiking some mountain.
Dr. Patty - I wish you luck - be happy you are doing what you love. Some of us have a decent pay but hate our jobs. I hate my job and would be willing to take a pay cut just to work with animals. I never get hired though.
My sisters both had PHD's and hardly make any money plus they'll be paying those school loans off for years.
Judi March 7th, 2007 06:00:00 PM
"Most pet owners don’t see the vets who will never afford to get out from under their pile of debt long enough to save a stash for practice ownership. By the time they relieve themselves of their debt burden, the risk of owning a practice seems suicidal."
The latest numbers I've seen suggest that more than 50% of graduating veterinarians don't desire to own a practice, and the number who don't aspire to practice ownership has been steadily increasing. Do you think this is somehow related to the perception that practice ownership is unaffordable?
Based on my wife's experience, I'd have to say that starting your own practice is actually much easier than people assume. You don't need to wait until you've paid off your student loans. (In fact, waiting that long is probably a really bad idea; you have more energy and risk-tolerance when you're younger.) Banks and specialized lending institutions are eager to lend money to veterinarians because veterinarians as a group have one of the lowest default rates among all professions (physicians, dentists, lawyers, accountants).
Yes, starting a practice requires hard work and a leap of faith. But if you're truly good at what you do, the clients will come and you will succede.
On the general question of veterinary salaries, I agree that they are deplorable. That goes for what we pay our technicians and other support staff too. And not all practice owners rake in the big bucks (but bully to them if they do; they took the financial risk to set up a practice, create jobs, become part of the local economy). My wife earns just above the median salary for a veterinarian in our state.
catmanager March 7th, 2007 06:06:00 PM
I guess an obvious question again is so, why did you go to business school, much less to the Wharton School? How's that investment paying off?
Thing One March 7th, 2007 06:56:00 PM
Thing One: you pose an excellent question I really don't know how to answer. But I'll give it a try: I guess I thought I would never enjoy practicing and once I started I caught the bug. I always aspired to help animals in "bigger" ways. Business school seemed like it afforded the potential for having the largest impact. And it was right there--across the street. Pharmaceuticals, shelter management, politics--these were the avenues I'd expected to follow. But having a child early on and loving the people-friendly immediacy of private practice was just too big a draw. I love it.
Dr. Patty Khuly March 8th, 2007 09:12:00 AM
Just a note, but attorney pay depends on what portion of the country you're stationed in. As an attorney with 1 year's experience I make $50,000, as opposed to my $100,000+ in student loan debt. My husband is in much the same position. Gotta love the Michigan economy right now.
Becky March 8th, 2007 09:13:00 AM
catmanager:
The 50% numbers on practice ownership I address in my next post. But, yes, I believe that most vets assume they can't afford to start or buy a practice. In my area, it's nearly mpossible to buy a home and start a practice with the equipment you need to provide high-quality care while you're paying $1000 a month on your loans and raising a child by yourself. Perhaps it's a lot easier in other parts of the country where loans, mortgages and regulatory expenses on vet hospitals aren't so high. Maybe I'm just risk averse. it's a fair point.
Dr. Patty Khuly March 8th, 2007 09:18:00 AM
Heh- just wanted to comment. Spoke to one of my vet's today (at a different hospital- they have great equipment so I like to use them for certain critters) and she told me, "I can't afford that *sigh*- I'm so broke!"
Gotta love an honest soul!!!
Katalyst March 8th, 2007 05:10:00 PM
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