A veterinary technician has opened up online about one of the most difficult aspects of his job, and has received plenty of support from internet users in response.
The vet tech, who goes by @Shelby.Phelps on TikTok, had shared in his newly-viral post to the platform that one of the most emotionally challenging parts of his role is euthanizing senior patients who belong to elderly couples.
The vet tech went on to detail a heartbreaking conversation that he’d overheard while putting a dog to sleep.
“This elderly man had to put his late wife’s dog to sleep due to cancer,” @Shelby.Phelps explained in the post.
“Before she let out her final breath he said, tell Rudy hello for me.”
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The vet tech added that he went to the bathroom and “cried for 10 minutes” after being moved to tears by the elderly man’s heartfelt plea.
The viral video, which has been viewed more than 2.5 million times since it was first shared to TikTok on November 12, featured a clip of the technician and a paragraph of text about his emotional experience.
“Contrary to popular belief, it hurts us so much to put your babies to sleep and this one definitely hit me hard,” @Shelby.Phelps added under the post.
What Do the Comments Say?
Since it was shared to the social media platform on November 12 by @Shelby.Phelps, the TikTok post has been liked by over 347,000 users and commented on more than 2,300 times.
Plenty of TikTokers have shared how moved they were by the vet tech’s admission, and opened up about their own experiences of going through the pain of putting their fur-children to sleep.
“I had one elderly client tell me the only thing keeping her alive was her old cat. When we euthanized her cat, she died 2 weeks later,” one user wrote.
Another user added: “This was hard to come across tonight. We are preparing for our dog to cross over the rainbow bridge tomorrow.”
A third user, who appears to work in veterinary medicine too, said: “Daily struggle. I had a client who’s daughter passed away in her teens. He came in to have her dog put down bawling because the dog was all he had left.”
A different TikToker shared: “My dad was overseas on deployment when his dog needed to be euthanized and I remember catching a glimpse of him when he was home kissing the top of the wood box that his dog’s ashes and collar were in and I remember just going up to my room and sobbing on the floor.”
The TikTok post can be seen here.
Newsweek reached out to @Shelby.Phelps for comment via TikTok.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
