It’s hard to scroll your social media feeds these days without running across a veterinary professional poking fun at pet parents. But what happens when “funny” crosses into “offensive,” “hurtful,” or client shaming? Have some veterinary professionals taken TikTok too far?

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This week, hosts Dr. Ernie Ward and Beckie Mossor, RVT tackle the recent uptick in veterinary social media content aimed at showcasing pet parent demands, questions, and other miscommunication and misunderstandings. Many of these posts and videos are clever and serve a positive purpose, but others seem to only belittle and humiliate otherwise caring and well-intentioned clients. What are the true motivators behind these posts and how we can cope in healthier ways? Are some of our colleagues posting these videos in a pursuit of “likes” and followers” without regard for potential impacts on the profession? Where are the professional boundaries and what happens when our colleagues cross them? As Beckie says about today’s episode, “It kind of turns into a little therapy session.”

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Viewfinders, this is an important topic we hope will spark conversations throughout the profession. What do you think about our concerns? What about our suggestions? And finally, what are you doing, as Dr. Ward advocates, to “tilt toward optimism” and promote positive messages in your personal and practice life?