Self-prescription is definitely part of it, but farmers have brutal suicide rates too.

Social isolation + a business where the business often runs counter to your moral preferences = a tough life for both

The "maybe next year" line gets me every time: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRDaPEaDJ7E

From experience with a vet in the family it's very much a 'who the fuck in their right mind would do this?!' type of career to anyone that has the ability to ask a vet their honest opinion about their career choice.

It's literally a medical science degree with a speciality. The same degree that can get you a very highly paid jobs elsewhere yet it doesn't pay that well. You'll likely end up in a poorly paid 24hour live-in clinic with horrible pay and hours surrounded by euthanasia and the associated grief non-stop all the while with those same drugs sitting there. The mortality rate is so horrific that news of another suicide from the graduating year becomes a 'we've lost yet another one' type of statistic.

It's not often you ask someone to give a late teen thoughts on their upcoming career choice and have them rightfully say 'Don't! It's not worth it!' but this literally happened with vet science in my family.

I had the same experience when doing a career report in junior highschool. I spoke to a vet who had graduated from UC Davis a few years prior and they did everything in their power to talk me out of becoming one.

Yes, and also the human owners are increasingly crazy. As in, they want the same kind of unlimited care a human would get, but don’t want to pay for it and take it out on the vet when presented with the bill.

You never really been Karened until you’ve been crazy cat lady Karened.

I wonder if this occurs more with small animal vets--"pet vets"?

I know of a number of large animal vets that retired and enjoyed many years of retirement. Perhaps being in the large animal practice where decisions are made on economics and not emotions helps them survive. Those vets also did small animals but it was probably more of a sideline for them.

There's some crazy in equine vet work - the racing side can be a bit brutal with some exposure to criminal elements (not extensive but in places it can be hard to avoid) and the crazy horse lady types can drive vets to drink; these are people that love horses, collect horses, but can't afford to feed them or bear to see them put down, etc.

In general though large animal rural vet work is smoother sailing than the small stuff (from conversations I've had thanks to a farm background and to having developed a bit of animal history recording software for agistment | stud records some decades back).

They can’t really self-prescribe though, they are not allowed to prescribe drugs to humans. In fact, in many jurisdictions, doctors are legally allowed to self-prescribe.

Perhaps the difference is that vets can both prescribe and dispense drugs, while human doctors often need to have a pharmacist dispense the drugs.

not entirely coincidentally, Corb Lund also has a song about off-label use: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5geefvMDjME