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If you spend any time studying social media, you will soon reach the same conclusion that I have: people want veterinarians to be the Dollar General of pet care–cheap and convenient.

It boggles the mind to see the large number of people who decide to have a pet without ever considering the costs, much less the responsibility.

“Looking for a vet who won’t charge an arm and a leg” is a common refrain out there in the internet community of Whineville.

Why this expectation that vets should be cheap, but it’s okay if the pediatrician or cardiologist isn’t?

It all begins with the fact that many people don’t see vets as medical doctors. Instead, they see them more like an auto mechanic who learned the trade without ever having to go to school. (No offense, mechanics. A good one is like gold.)

Think about it. When you visit your doctor, what do you say when she enters the exam room? It’s “Good morning, Dr. Smith. My arm hurts.” It’s never, “Good morning Sarah. Can you help me out with this broken arm?”

To become a vet, you must go to college for four or five years and graduate with a degree and high marks. From there, you must apply to and be accepted by a school of veterinary medicine. If you’re lucky enough to earn a seat, vet school takes at least another four years, but often more, to complete. It’s usually two to three years of classroom study and one to two years of hands-on experience before they begin earning money.

That’s eight to ten years of someone’s life. And when you have been awarded your medical degree, what do you have? Most have a mountain of debt. It costs about $50,000 a year for tuition at North Carolina State University’s vet school. Of course, expenses for books, materials, an apartment, food and the, normal living bills, and the required health insurance get added to the mountain, leaving some newly minted doctors with hundreds of thousands of dollars in loan expenses to pay off.

But at least the education part is over, right? No. Veterinarians are required to undergo annual continuing education–at their own expense.

They might be physically and mentally ready to treat animals, but they don’t have the expensive medical tools. Estimated costs for setting up a veterinary practice range from $300,000 to $1 million.

Going it alone is an expensive and risky undertaking. Proof of that can be seen all around us where vet practices that started just a few years ago are now shuttered and gone. Many new vets choose to partner with one or more, or land a spot at a major vet hospital.

On top of the financial pressure, we must add the emotional burden of seeing someone’s pet dying or helping it die. That’s why it isn’t surprising that the rate of suicide or suicidal thoughts among veterinarians is twice that of other medical professions and four times that of the general population.

Isn’t it enough that veterinarians regularly run the risk of being kicked by a 1,000-pound horse or bitten by a dandy doodle designer dog that “never bites?”

Vets don’t cheat or gouge, and they deserve to make a decent living. So stop your bellyaching.

Larry McDermott is a local retired farmer/journalist. Reach him at hardscrabblehollow@gmail.com