This is a PodTalk independent production created in conjunction with the Meta and Walkley Foundation public interest journalism fund. Before we get started, this podcast includes conversations about suicide and mental health. So please take care when listening
it was my husband's worst nightmare. He told me over and over his biggest fear was that something might happen to Harvey. And then he'd have to come home and tell me.
Then that Monday morning, it did. Harvey was hit by a car on his morning walk.
It all happened so fast. The driver was devastated. She got out of her car and ran over to help, and so did some workmen who were nearby. Drew was in shock and coming to terms with what had just happened. I wasn't there, and Drew's biggest fear had come true. All I remember is him walking into our bedroom, cradling our dog in his arms. When I think about that moment, my heart sinks every time. Harvey was conscious, but his brown eyes were vacant. He could move a little, but he was mostly limp. We called our vet straightaway, and he told us to meet him at the clinic. He got there first dressed in shorts and thongs which we thought was a bit odd. And that's when we realised he'd come in on his day off for us for Harvey. At that moment, I couldn't be more thankful for this doctor of animal medicine. He tended to our little man as my husband and I held each other feeling completely helpless. For me, standing there watching our vet do his thing. Also crystallised the very reason I was making this podcast
I'm Caroline winter, a journalist and dog lover, and you're listening to sick as a dog Episode One Breaking Point. This podcast is shining a light on a crisis that's making the people who care for our animals very sick. It's burning them out, forcing many to leave their jobs. And in some cases, it's killing them. And during this series, I'll endeavour to find answers to some very complex questions that affect us all and can't be ignored any longer.
A few years ago, I couldn't tell you where to find a dog park. Now I'm a regular. Like many kids, I grew up with pets. At one stage we had a small menagerie, a bounding Border Collie Kelpie-Cross and abandoned rusty coloured cat and a goldfish cold morning. But it wasn't until Drew and I got Harvey that I really understood the having a dog thing. Our miniature golden retriever poodle cross or brutal as they're known, is our fur baby. Yep, roll your eyes. I know I do. And overnight I unashamedly turned into one of those dog people. You know the ones they take endless photos of their pooch, bang on about him to anyone that will listen. And occasionally Yes, occasionally dresses him in something ridiculous. We're now among the 69% of pet owners in Australia, which has skyrocketed since the COVID pandemic, the Crazy Dog lady stuff aside, what I quickly realised was that this very being was now our responsibility. Not my mom's not my brother's, we had to feed him to walk him to love and of course look after him. And importantly, to know who to call when he gets sick, or in our case, is hit by a car.
But it turns out the people we rely on to keep our animals well are fighting their own battle. There's a crisis unfolding around all of us. And it's one that's killing the people who care for our animals.
on a Tuesday, a very last word to me was all love. It was so heartfelt. I knew I just knew, but I did not think she was going to do anything like that.
There's a few 1000 vets not working in Australia who have left their profession who if they were with us, wow. Things would be a whole lot nicer but they've left because they were broken and they had to leave and you can't get him back. So yeah, the crisis is there and it's yeah, there's a mental health crisis. There's a shortage of it. crisis, which can spread into animal welfare issues, definitely.
I don't want to be here in 30 years time doing this and facing this. So either something has to change, or I need to quit the industry. And I know that a lot of people don't have that option of just quitting the industry. And so what other options are they left with?
I think I get the most joy out of this advocacy kind of work more so than helping, you know, in practice, and I really think that probably the best way to start is in vet schools.
It's very complex. And the solutions will be equally as complex. And so I started looking into it. And fortunately, I now see a real benefit to what I I do and I'm thankful for the fact that I'm able to draw this experience and hopefully make good I genuinely think we can fix this, I genuinely think that there is hope. So how did we get here, here where there are 15,000 vets in Australia to look after 30 point 4 million pets, that's not counting horses, wildlife or livestock. Here where one vet is lost to suicide every 12 weeks. Here were 30% of vets plan to leave the industry within the next five years. And here were far too many a verbally, emotionally and sometimes physically abused by everyday people. That's love what they do. They signed up to save animals. They just didn't know they'd be the ones who need saving. And if you have a pet, you love wildlife, or you eat meat, you need vets. We all do, because their role in our world is essential.
As my husband Drew and I pull into Kate and Gary Portland's driveway, the rains coming down hard. Hey, the rain. I do a quick dash from the car to the front door. And then I take a moment and a couple of deep breaths. I'm actually pretty nervous.
Kate opens the door and she gives me a big hug. Hi, Kate. All right. How you doing? Where's Drew? He's in the car. I'll just help him in a sec.
How are you? Good. Nice to see you.
Oh, hey, Garry. This is only the second time I'm meeting Kate and Garry. But it's like I've known them for years. Thank you for having us both.
I've gotta be honest. I'm glad you're here. But I'm a bit apprehensive about what we're about to do.
I think we all are. We're about to have a very difficult conversation and it's one I wish we didn't have to have. Kate and Garry Putland's home is an old sandstone Villa that's been renovated on Adelaide City fringe. It's warm and inviting. And as we walk into the kitchen, there's a vegetarian quiche cooling on the bench. This looks delicious.
I haven't done this before.
This looks like you do it all the time. It's beautiful cater hairdresser and has a salon at the back of the house. Today though she has her arm in a sling and she's recovering from shoulder surgery. And Garry's a teacher by trade. Now though he works in the 3D simulation healthcare space. It's hard not to feel instantly welcome at the Putland's. This is the home where they raised their three children Sophie, Tom and Oliver.
Noisy. Very noisy. We used to have some of the friends would come over here and they could not get over the noise level. So as to what's just normal family, it's just It was messy. There was toys everywhere there was you know, it was just a family.
There are shelves filled with books, some of Kate's artwork on the walls, and photos of the kids dotted about the place though they moved out a few years ago to Melbourne and to Canberra. So now it's just Kate and Gary and Molly and nibbler. The hilarious snorting French Bulldogs with the dogs distracted with trades, we settle into the lounge room to chat about the reason I'm here. Sophie partland.
Sophie was out of the three was a bit of a leader I think because she was the oldest so she was the bit of a leader would get the boys into trouble. Every now and then a little bit as well. But on the god describers she's had a happy exuberant she made lots of friends easily. She loves school was actually very good at school. So did very well there. So you'd say it was kind of fairly normal upbringing that she did have
those who know Sophie, all you similar words to describe her words like smart and focused, caring and fun, super fit and an animal lover. You just need to look at her Instagram to get a sense of who she is. In between photos of her with dogs and horses and even a goat. There are shots of her surfing and hiking and competing as a fitness model. And in CrossFit, there's a fierce drive behind everything Sophie puts her mind to even trying to make it on the popular TV series Bondi vet.
She auditioned for it, I remember doing the recording for the backyard.
I'm Sophie, I'm 28 years old, and I'm from Adelaide. I'm currently a GP and emergency vet at the University of Adelaide. My interests, primarily emergency and small animal medicine. My favourite part about being a vet would have to be the continual learning that's involved in the job. So every time I have a case, that's a mystery, or every time I have a diagnosis that I'm not sure about. I'm reading articles. I'm looking up textbooks I am continually learning.
While she didn't make the cut on Bondi vet, she did throw herself into being an animal doctor, something that didn't surprise her parents, Kate and Gary,
gravitate to a dog or a cat, always.
She's always loved animals, but particularly, I think horses was one of her passions that she had.
Sophie took up horse riding when she was 10 and owned her own racehorse by the time she started uni a decade later, I realised pretty quickly, this is a girl that knows what she wants.
The sheer determination, which is what I loved about her, absolutely loved about her determination her who will her it's just what what she did, she just pushed herself and just went that extra mile with everything. I always wanted my kids to have a focus on where they wanted to end up and to have drive. And she had in spades.
So it made sense for Sophie to become a vet. Then when Adelaide University opened its first Veterinary Science course in 2008, at the Roseworthy campus, north of the city, the stars aligned.
She she loved it, she made a lot of friends mindshift seem to throw herself into it. Look, I
think she she did find it a bit tough. At times. I think what really helped her out in the last three years was she lived with girls from the course up at Gawler. And they were very supportive of each other. So I thought that was really important that they had this base support for each other. When things got tough and can debrief at night, about their lectures and things like that.
I found a photo online of the first vets to graduate from the course in 2013. Sophie's there right at the front, she's wearing a bright orange dress under a black robe. And she's beaming, and so are all her classmates. They're holding their newly minted degrees in one hand, and throwing their mortar boards into the air with the other. It's a proud moment after five long years of study.
Sophie stayed in Adelaide after graduating, and she worked in a private general practice and animal emergency hospital. And also at her old University's vet clinic.
I will say Sophie, I loved the animal emergency work, because she was she loved the challenge of complex medicines. And I know she had huge respect for many of the specialists that worked at the animal emergency clinic there. And so yeah, so she had a range of experiences, I think, but again, I think in on some of these practice that she worked at, she experienced some really good examples of workplace culture. And I think she experienced others that were not good workplace cultures. And so so it kind of like does vary in terms of where you get placed. Yeah. And in each of the practices, there were things that she liked. There were things that she found put a huge pressure on her. I think probably that was more so that she found in each of the workplaces that there was enormous pressures placed on people to have to deliver because it probably staffing and a large proportion of his staffing, workload expectation, things like that. And she used to
talk to you about that. Yeah, yes, she did.
So I've had many conversations with her about clients. She actually did struggle with the negative feedback she would get and when I say negative, this was kind of like abuse. So it wasn't just, you know, a constructive feedback, it was always very negative. And so that was one thing she did find quite difficult to cope with. Again, I can understand someone who's a vet, very proud, competent at what they're doing. And then to be challenged by someone who's not her fit, that in fact that you might not be doing the right thing, or in fact, to be shouted at. You know, and let's be honest, pets now are very important to people. And so they come to the vet practice very emotionally charged. So yeah, so Sophie did find that really difficult to the client side of it, that's a real challenge for many vets.
But you wouldn't do it to a specialist like a human specialist, you wouldn't go into a an orthopaedic surgeon and start screaming at them. You wouldn't do that. But for some reason, it seems to be okay for a vet.
As Kate and Garry talk through Sophie's experiences, I'm nodding, because it's actually something I've been hearing over and over while I've been talking to people for this podcast. From client abuse, too long hours and staff shortages, to unrealistic expectations. The stress of doing multiple euthanasia is bad workplace culture and poor pay. The issues seem to be rife. It's not all puppies and kittens, some have told me, but they equally love treating a patient or being challenged by a difficult case. And importantly, making a client smile when their furry or scaly best friend gets better and can go home. With some experience under her belt, taking a job at an animal emergency hospital in Melbourne, seemed to be the right opportunity for Sophie, she could practice complex medicine. It was a new town, her cousin and brother Ali lived there. Sounds like a great move.
It was called like an interesting move, because we never thought Sophie would actually move into state and then she made a decision. We think she was sold things that what sounded really attractive at the time, but actually didn't come to fruition. She worked there for about 18 months, I'll be honest with you, that would be one place I would say that really did put her under lots of pressure. And I think it actually increased her contribution to a poor mental health. Again, it was long as understaffed, having to cover for people and also things around over servicing unethical practices being judged not trusted in terms of her expertise. So all of those things really did play on her and she eventually decided she had to leave.
Leaving was the best thing she could have done. And instead of jumping into what could have been another toxic workplace, Sophie instead set herself up as a locum this way she could work at a range of clinics from general practice to animal emergency, and choose where she wanted to work and when with no ties to one place, and it went great guns. After 15 months, she was booked out 10 weeks in advance, and she was being chased by other practices who were keen to get her on their books. Sophie was well on her way to building a solid business
The grieving family and friends of a young Adelaide veterinarian who took her own life, a shining a spotlight on the pressures of the industry. Last month Sophie Putland became the third Australian vet to die by suicide this year.
The Tuesday very last word to me was I love you and it was so heartfelt I knew I just you and I did not think she was going to do anything like that.
She sent me a text message saying I love you mum. She said I just love your the food you send mum. The police came here I let them in and the minute they walked in the lounge room I knew
when I opened the door. I said it's Sophie and he said I think you know why we're here.
That was September 2021. Sophie partland was 33. I have a memorial card from her funeral that Kate and Garry gave to me. It sits on my desk. There's a picture of Sophie and her golden retriever Henry on the front, both sitting on a bed looking at one another. On the back is Sophie and maroon coloured scrubs lying on the floor holding a St. Bernard, which has its pour in a bandage. On the Monday before she died, Sophie was working at one of the vet clinics where she was a locum. Garry spoke to her that evening after she'd finished for the day.
This was about six o'clock at night. This client was late for their appointment, they demanded that Sophie do certain tests on the dog. And so if you said, Look, you're half an hour late for your appointment, I will look at your dog and make sure your dog is fine, which he did do and she said, look, the dogs find that because you're late and I've just done a 10 hour day, I am going to ask you to come back because these tests could take some time. Well, that person apparently became very aggressive, yelled at not only Sophie, but the other staff that were there. In fact, as they walked out, they were yelling at Sophie and the staff she did Chase him. But you know, when I spoke to her, she was distraught this, this is the kind of thing that actually did really upset her. And I've got some final communications, which I might read to you about this. So I checked the dog, there's nothing wrong with the dog. So I recommend that he reschedule because it's not a short discussion. And if it was months ago, and the stock standard drugs didn't work, then I would have actually investigated further peeled and swore at Kayleigh and myself in the street, and told me he was going to write some bad reviews on social media was really unwarranted and uncalled for this is a recurring issue at this practice. And to be honest, I'm not really up for being abused by clients anymore. I don't have this issue with any of my other clinics. If this keeps occurring. I'm sorry, but I will not be giving to work there. So she had made a decision. Although I did have to work with her on that. I kept saying Sophie now that you're in your local you can decide where and when you want to work for the owner of the clinic was fantastic. So he wrote back and said sorry to hear this. It's never acceptable experience. Let me know his name, pet and all sorted out. He also wrote to her and said, You are brilliant bit and thoroughly knowledgeable. The clients are lucky to have you caring for their pets, and guiding them to creative health. Keep up the good work.
The Practice Manager sacked the client, but the damage had been done. The abuse from another pet owner had reached its limit. And Sophie hit breaking point.
And I spoke to her the following day and she was still stewing over it and I said Sophie let it go. Let it go. He's not worth it. And I said your boss has come back he's he's been very supportive. And after think after that was very hard to she just didn't respond to things. I don't know whether she'd made the decision or what we do know if she went to a practice that she worked at the day before it was as happy as Larry, the vet practice manager there who we know very well now was a fantastic bit practice, said there was nothing that she could determine that this was a decision. So if you was going to do
Five days later, Sophie was gone.
Sophie had been battling with her mental health. She was getting help from a psychologist and a psychiatrist. She had been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder about six months before she died. BPD is a common mental health disorder. It causes wide mood swings, lasting hours, or sometimes days from intense happiness or irritability to shame and anxiety. But it's a diagnosis Sophie was embarrassed about. And it's one that she didn't talk about much.
We'd often get a phone call at three in the morning. And she'd be crying when she was in Melbourne and it just with COVID. You just couldn't you know, you couldn't just get on an x plane and go to her. He just couldn't do it. So, you know, we talk her through things and sometimes we'd be on the phone for about an hour. And then we'd ring Oli and Oli would go over there with his with his girlfriend, and then we'd let Tom know and Tom would talk to her for hours on the phone. The support from the boys was just amazing.
I think the real message I want to make sure we get across here. Is that Sophie I was a highly functioning, highly competent, highly respected vet where she was very caring, compassionate about her colleagues. My view is most fantastic daughter I could ever have wanted. For this mental health thing was something that you did struggle with and on the appearance, you could be a highly functioning, highly competent person, but then struggling in the background.
As you'll hear in this series, Sophie is just one of the 1000s in the industry who struggle with mental illness. The Australian Veterinary Association has done research to put some figures around the problem. And it found almost 67% of vets and vet nurses have experienced a mental health condition at some point. But the damning headline is that vets are four times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. And they're twice as likely as other health workers. And most vets know someone who has, so what's behind it, and importantly, what's being done to fix it.
This isn't the part of Sophie Putland's story that her family and friends want her to be remembered for. But they do want it to save others.
Sophie's Legacy, what we want that to be, is we don't want other people to have to go through this. So so in some respects, that's one of our major goals is to see if we can stop this from happening. We want to reduce the number of people that are committing suicide in this industry. I think the other thing that we want to do is to raise the awareness of this crisis that is in the industry,
but not just the industry. We want to raise the awareness for people out there not to go to a vet practice and abuse your vet.
The reality is this problem has actually been going on for around about 15 to 20 years now. It's a worldwide problem. And it is a tough problem. I'm not denying that. But my God, something has to start being done about it.
There's just not going to be vets in the industry. There's going to be people leaving the industry in droves.
And they already are. Abusive clients heavy workloads, staff shortages and poor workplace culture and poor pay are among the top reasons that vets are leading the industry. The shortage in Australia is so severe, many vets are struggling to keep up with the demand. We're now at a point where there are less vets to look after a rising number of pets. In fact, some clinics have had to shut their doors permanently, especially in rural and regional areas where the shortage is acute, and that's adding to an already overstretched system. And while around 750 New vets graduate each year nationally, many of those are international students who returned to their home countries. So events are that overworked that exhausted and desperate for help. How can they do the right thing by your dog or cat? After what's been a long and emotional afternoon with the Putland's we end the day over lunch sharing stories around the dining table that Sophie sat at for so many years, cheers. I'd see Kate and Garry again many times after that, as Sophie's legacy started to take shape. We'll find out more about that later in the series. But they'd sent me on a course to try and answer some of the big questions that we were all asking what could have stopped Sophie and so many others from reaching breaking point? How clinics and the industry stopping vets from burning out and moving on? Does the government need to step in? And what can you and I do to help? Over the coming episodes, I'll fly around the country from big cities to regional towns in search of some answers to those and many other questions. I'll speak to dozens of people inside and outside the industry to ask those questions and more. And on my search to make sense of this complex problem. I'll endeavour to find solutions. Because work has already started in many pockets on making lasting change for vets and vet nurses and for all of us who rely on them. Next time on sick as a dog burnout.
I don't want to be here in 30 years time doing this and facing this. So either something has to change or I need to quit the industry.
Vets look to leave the profession as they reach breaking point, adding to an already severe shortage and the first step in Sophie's Legacy.
It's a damning statistic to be frank with you that this is so much higher than other industries around the world. We want to be at the preventative end. What can we do to stop this?
Sick As A Dog is written, produced, edited and presented by me Caroline Winter for PodTalk on the lands of the Kaurna people. And additional support from Drew Radford. Special thanks to Channel Seven Adelaide for the news audio you heard in this episode. You can support this podcast by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts, share it with others or post about it on social media. And you can find out more online at sickasadogpodcast.com.au
