So I used what I had to thank my vet, a talent for story telling. I
wrote her a five page letter thanking her by telling a story about each
pet that she has helped in the past. I included the name of the pet, a
physical and personal description of them, their story, how she came to
know them, and how she helped them. I went down a long list. Sadly, I
see my vet mostly when I need old pets euthanized. Having so many, she
see's me often. And I felt horrible about that. I felt like surely she
must hate seeing me walk through the door, ya know? I wanted to make up
for that. My vet has the procedure down to a fine art. She never takes
less than an hour with me. Even if her office is packed and I walk in
unannounced she takes her time with me. I feel like it's the first time
I've ever put an animal to sleep each time with her. On top of this ...
she has never charged me!!! And this is a facility that has high rates
in this area due to having such specialized vets. She is very sought
after. But down in the south, vets are very under appreciated and very
much under paid. There is no reason for her to not charge me. I'm not
a rescuer, I'm not anybody. She has no idea how she has helped this
family financially and ultimately opened the doors to letting us adopt
rescues. Words could never convey that to her, but I tried. The sadder
stories focused on how she turned a potentially bad situation into
something nice and natural so that we could say goodbye in a positive
way. She not only gave our pets the gift of relief and their last
dignity, but she gave us the gift of being able to give that one last
act of love. I hoped that when she read the letter, it took her through
a journey of seeing each little face, knowing who they were, and
knowing how much of an impact she has had in their lives.

I would have loved to have bought her gifts if I could. I would have
loved to have come up with something creative and wonderful. But
ultimately, I was most comfortable with giving her a little part of my
family through doing what I do best.

[Posted in FML 5984]