Suicide rate for job is far above the national average – and new graduates ‘most at risk’
VETS may be most vulnerable to suicide when they leave university because they lose the round-the-clock support of their peers, according to students.
The suicide rate for vets is thought to be as high as four times the national average.
A young, male vet, from the Lanarkshire area, is understood to have taken his own life last year, around a year after graduating from Glasgow University.
It is thought that the heavy emotional burden of putting animals – sometimes healthy – to sleep and comforting distraught owners, as well as access to euthanasia drugs, may be responsible in part for the higher rates.
According to students, the profession tends to attract outgoing, ambitious Type A personalities, known to be more susceptible to stress and who may struggle mentally if they are unable to help an animal.
In some veterinary circles there is a reference to “blue cross” day when vets are dispatched to animal charities to put animals to sleep.
Antonia Ioannou and Kirsty McColm, both 22 and final year students at Glasgow University’s School of Veterinary Medicine, say they have already had to deal with mentally challenging situations.
Antonia said: “There is always that one case that tears at your heart strings. You get to know the owners, you get to know the animal.
“I was seeing a patient for seven days, it was a dog with cancer. The couple didn’t have children so that dog was their baby. They had a lot of money and they were willing to do anything to save the dog.
“But at the end of the day, you can’t pay for life. The hardest thing was having to put it down. They were sobbing and the woman was hugging me.
“I had another woman who had a really bad depression, she was suicidal and we had to put the dog to