Veterinarian Joyce Hofman: ‘People see their animals as their child, but it should not cost what a child costs’

A few days ago, veterinarian Joyce Hofman (43) was saving one after the other. One dog had a tumor in the spleen, who tore open the moment that Hofman removed the organ from the abdominal cavity. If the spleen was torn before the operation, which could easily have been, the dog would probably have bled internally. With another dog she found a whole tennis ball in his gut; Operating a few hours later and the dog hadn’t made it.

Dogs often eat crazy things. Book published in Hofmans A person comes to the vet Comes a Labrador who had eaten rat poison. She broke him, after which the other Labrador from that family, who was with it, slump in the vomit. Another dog at human poop with a tapeworm in it, prepared in a container to go to the doctor. Hofman also explains how she accidentally got vomit in her mouth from a chihuahua who had eaten cocaine (long story).

And she describes a man who had just counted 500 euros for the bladder brick operation of his rabbit, after which he bought a bag of dog food with rabbit at the counter, because his dog loved that. An « example of how we measure with two sizes when it comes to animals, » said Hofman. She no longer sells food with rabbit (only with fish, and that only if it is medical feed).

It is very important to her: that people can spend thousands of euros on their sick dog or cat and eat meat from pigs and cows from the bio-industry. « I love all the animals. Also from cows and pigs, that’s why I don’t eat them either. » If her daughter of eleven or son of six meat wants to eat, she says clearly: « That is just an animal that has been killed so that you can eat it. » In her practice, she always tells people with dogs that there is vegetarian dog food, and for cats (which need animal proteins) based on insects.

Alto with blue dreadlocks

Hofmans Book contains practical stories from the fifteen years that she has been a veterinarian. She weaves fragments from her own life: how she did not fit well with blue dreadlocks between the farmers’ children and the horse girls in the veterinary medicine study. And she encourages the double relationship of people with different animal species. « Some animals are chosen and others are really the lowest, » she says. « I think that is bizarre. I can write a whole book about that, but there are already many books about it and they are bought by people with the same opinion as me. I wanted to make people think, so it seemed better to write nice anecdotes and stories with occasional something about this, that people think: hey, a bit strange. »

We are in the largest of the two animal clinics that she leads in Amsterdam East; She also has one in Diemen. Hofman works half the time as a veterinarian and the other half as a manager, with around forty employees.

Her own Oscar of two years, one rescued one from Sardinia, abused dog who accidentally turned out to be a purebred dog (a Briquet Griffon Vendéen, a medium -sized hunting dog with slightly curly fur), she just put it in his bench on the ground floor. Hofman has reserved a treatment room for the interview where only cats and people come. « That’s great for the cats that they don’t smell dogs here. » There is a large scratching post and there are shelves against the wall, so that cats who want that can go up. In the meantime, just like her book, the conversation goes in both the depth and in all directions.

The animals went for everything, but in the meantime kilo bangers came on the table

Hofman was born in Schiedam, after which the family first moved to Rotterdam and then to Capelle aan den IJssel, « which is also just Rotterdam. » That she now lives in Amsterdam (she got a job in an animal clinic and took over when the owner retired) is « really betrayed, » she laughs. « That goes very deep, Rotterdam, and Feyenoord. My mother closes her eyes when she passes the Ajax stadium. And my children are made clear that they should be for Feyenoord. »

Vegetarian at the age of eleven

Hofman’s whole family has always had dogs and cats, her two brothers, all the uncles and aunts, cousins. Her father and mother of 82 and 76 no longer have a dog in their senior apartment, but still two cats. « The animals always went for everything at home, but in the meantime the kilo bangers came on the table. I fought my entire childhood. » Around the age of eight she started to realize that meat was a dead animal, three years later she became a vegetarian. « My parents first thought it was a very bad idea, who thought I would die. »

Hofman already experienced that pets could die (like Kat Doppie, when Hofman was ten). If you experience that as a child, you better learn to deal with the death of animals, she thinks. « But as a child I said every night I hoped that my Golden Retriever Anro would only die if I was eighteen. I thought: you can handle that at the age of eighteen. » He came to the family at the age of four and eventually died when she was twenty. « Super -drier. But I understood that this was going to happen. Pets just get less old than people. My previous dog Binkie has only turned twelve. » A striped street dog from Suriname, he died in 2021. « My husband and I cried hard and so do the children. But saying goodbye is part of it. »

She sees in her practice that the relationship of people with their pets is becoming increasingly intense. « People who cannot work for two weeks when their animal has died. And when I see how difficult some people find it to accept that we cannot solve everything … They think: it just has to be fixed. I think that love is super nice, but death is part of life. »

Demanding people

That over -concern about pets is difficult for their people, she thinks. « And to be honest, we as vets are bothered by it. Some people are very demanding. Recently we had a cat with a tumor in his lungs. That cat was stuffy and had to be euthanized. In the end we convinced the owner of it, but he wrote a negative Google review, for her cat was dying, but we did not pay for that, but that did not spare it. us.

We are often compared with general practitioners, but a general practitioner does not operate, does not take blood, does not take X -rays

There is currently a lot of complaining about expensive veterinarians. “Yes, I recently read again: the vet is 40 percent more expensive Then five years ago. Then I think: okay, but the time I spend on people is also twice as much as five years ago. This is how we have become cheaper. Consultations are longer, people ask much more, also via telephone, app and e-mail. ”

And there are more treatment options. « Fifteen years ago it was: your cat has kidney failure: euthanasia. Now it is: your cat has kidney failure, you just sit down. And then I come up with my list of possibilities. Then people go to search online and email what they have found in the evening. We are also the risks further and further reduce. money.  »

Furthermore, Hofman explains that people are used to themselves lower than the actual medical expenses, because they have a mandatory health insurance policy and the government contributes. But most people do not assure their pets. As a result, Pet Care seems extremely expensive. « But that’s a wrong comparison. » Moreover, animal care is not human care. « We sometimes need three people to take blood, the nurse one. We do a tooth under general anesthesia. » That is expensive.

Surely more and more veterinary practices are being taken over by commercial investors? « I think that the media is very focused on that. Because of the level of medicine that is being asked nowadays, you can not all of them anymore. We are often compared with general practitioners, but a general practitioner does not operate, does not take blood, does not take X -rays, sees no emergency patients. We do all the facets of medicine in one place.

« For me everything is becoming more and more expensive, while the margins are small. Veterinarians deserve about as much as teachers. I have to increase my prices every year because otherwise our assistants are below the minimum wage. » Schamping: « Some people find a 1,000 euros operation ridiculous, but buy a new iPhone for 1,000 euros every two years. I don’t understand anything. The point is: people see their animals as their child, they want everything for it, but it should not cost what a child costs. »

Pets as children

Do we have to see pets as children? « No, I like that love. But you first have to think about what budget you have and take out health insurance policy. If you want a Bernese Sennenhond, who only has eight because the breed has so much hereditary problems, an insurance will cost about 80 euros a month. Some people say it so I have not insured it. Taking that insurance costs only about 20 euros as a society: we meet people who cannot miss that 20 euros, when you see how healthy pets are for people, both mentally and physically. ”

Has Hofman an idea where her great animal love comes from? « I was in a very annoying primary school. Bullying, swearing, sexual violence, drugs … in primary school yes. I think I got a very warm relationship with my dog. » Anro, the Golden Retriever. « And I had a girlfriend of handball who had two dogs at home, five cats, a guinea pig, a mouse and a rabbit. We took care of the animals together and at home I was always with the dog. I think that first connection starts with looking in the eyes of an animal and understand that a person is on the other side. And if you look at the cow one day at the cow, you think that is eager, » that is eagle, « that is eagle eagle, The relationship with animals is the core of humanity for her, she says. « People and animals are inextricably linked. As long as there are people, there are pets. What makes life worthwhile is that you do it with an animal in your vicinity. »

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