Against All Odds | VOLVet Vision

Celebration of life with owners and pets

A Celebration of Life

The University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine’s (UTCVM) Small Animal Intensive Care Unit cares for the most critically ill or injured patients in the hospital. “Intensive” implies the level of care required to treat this population of patients, but intensive also can be applicable to many other aspects of this environment. Intensive knowledge, intensive teaching, intensive emotion, intensive empathy, and yes, sometimes intensive joy. The goal for all of our patients is to get better and go home to their families. It is a harsh reality that this is not always possible. At times, there is even intense sadness.

Celebration of life with owners and pets, there is a buffet of treats for the dogs, bones, donuts and jerky treats.

The UTCVM Celebration of Life is a special ceremony held each year to celebrate the recovery of patients who beat the odds and overcame their illness or injury and returned home to the families who love them. It is a way in which our faculty, students, and technicians can connect with these special animals and their people in a relaxed, nonclinical setting. Veterinary students, house officers, and veterinary technicians prepare short presentations that explain each pet’s condition and the medical journey it embarked on to recovery. Through these presentations, the pet owner gains a better understanding of the unique aspects of a veterinary teaching hospital and the merit behind this collaborative team effort. Owners also gain an understanding of the emotional energy each member of the veterinary medical team gives to their patients and how important these connections are to our profession.

Among the benefits of general practice are the lasting bonds and relationship between the client, the pet and the veterinary medical team throughout the life of the pet. In the fast-paced environment of a referral emergency/critical care unit, it is rare to develop a relationship with a patient or client beyond the acute visit, and this interaction is often at a very stressful time. Coming together to share stories of the pet’s medical journey here as well as the stories from the owner of what it means to have the pet back home with them is an experience that is truly special. For senior veterinary students in their clinical year, this experience provides a vital reminder that the fruit of their labor is so worth it and that this is the kind of impact they will have on their patients and their clients for the rest of their careers. For our house officers and faculty, this experience shows how important an academic teaching hospital is to the advancement of veterinary medicine as a whole and the students who learn here. And, to our veterinary nursing team, this gathering provides an opportunity for them to see how important the care they provided to these pets was and how impactful it was to this animal’s recovery.

Veterinary medicine is certainly focused around animal health, but each animal we treat has a person associated with it. For us, it is an honor and a privilege to be a part of a medical team whose mission is to treat animals in need for the people who love them.