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Dr. Susan Benson, a veterinarian at Bridgerland Animal Hospital in Logan, says she loves her job in part because theres always room for professional development.

Its something that I dont feel like Im finished doing, she said. Theres always more to learn, always more to do.

Whether its bringing a baby animal into the world or operating on a large, injured animal, being a veterinarian is never without its challenges and often means dealing with the unexpected, Benson said.

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It was for those efforts that Benson was recently named the 2017 Veterinarian of the Year by the Utah Veterinary Medical Association.

Benson got her start as a professional veterinarian at a clinic in Preston working on large and small animals. In 2005, she moved with her family back to Logan, where she works now at Bridgerland Animal Hospital, primarily on small animals.

Benson sat down with The Herald Journal to tell us three things she wants people to know about being a veterinarian.

No. 1: Its not all puppies and kittens.

Susan Benson: We see every species not just dogs and cats.

I dont (see these animals) personally, but large animals. Half of our staff does cows, sheep, goats, llamas. Im mostly small animals.

We see animals from birth to death and everything in between. We have blood, guts and diarrhea and thats all intermixed with cute puppies and kittens and animals that love us and animals that dont.

Our patients cant talk for themselves so we do quite a lot of interpretation on what we see and how theyre acting in order to find out whats going on with them.

When I worked up in Preston, I got to see a deer fawn that had been injured. I think it had been hit by a car. I worked on that deer fawn a couple times. It was quit interesting theyre different than your standard domestic animal.

No. 2: We love people just as much as we love animals.

SB: Its a common misconception. Were not in veterinary medicine because we dont like people. Were here because we like people, and we want that human-animal bond.

Ill go around to middle schools and high schools for career fairs; Ill have students come up to me and say, Well, I dont really like people, so I dont want to be a doctor. Im going into veterinary medicine. But you have to love both; you have to love people and animals.

More than that, theres a three-way bond. The animal has its needs, the owner has his or her needs, and as a veterinarian, our job is to help the owner help the animal meet those needs.

The owner is ultimately responsible for the care, and then that pet has a responsibility back to give the love. And then, as the veterinarian, we educate the owners to help them make good decisions for their pets so they have a long, healthy, happy relationship.

SB: We understand. When there are hard decisions that have to be made, when the animals are really sick, we feel for you. We share that worry, that sadness.

Every animal that comes in, we add to our little family. When things go great, were there to celebrate. When things dont go well, were sad too.

Ive got a few patients, where Ive been here for 12 years, that Ive seen literally from birth to death. Ive helped with their C-section, so theyre a part of my life even though I dont own the animal. If I help save their life at any point, I feel like Ive given part of myself, and theyve given me part of themselves.

As they get through their life, I see their ups and downs, and we get to have a relationship both with the animal and the person.

When they pass away, its a grieving process for us too.

Read the original post:
A Thing or 3: Logan's Susan Benson talks about being a veterinarian - The Herald Journal

This entry was posted on July 4, 2017 at 11:45 pm and is filed under Veterinary Medicine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |