Initially, I worked interstate from all my family and most of my friends, so I couldn’t provide them with veterinary care, but recommended clinics I trusted near them instead. My advice was limited to either see the vet now, or see the vet tomorrow. And eventually they stopped asking unless the animal was in front of me. Recommending a vet near them seems to have been satisfactory.

In my current workplace, I’ve had to explain that there’s a limit to how many family members i can offer discounts to. I mean, I may have suggested that policy because I have a lot of extended family near me.

I will do nail clippings or initial physical exams for family if the animal is present at a gathering or something, but if it needs medication or further testing then it has to come into the clinic, and that will be charged.

I’ve had some more removed family members (and high school acquaintances) that had taken it upon themselves to contact me over social media, or call or text me at home to ask veterinary questions, which I found rather rude and just stopped replying to. I mean, it’s my personal time off work. Why should I put myself back into work-mode at the beck and call of someone who hasn’t said any other word to me all year? I mean you have to be a pretty good friend for me to be our personal vet.

Having countless anonymous strangers online ask you for veterinary advice that is impossible for you to answer helps you practice saying ‘no’. It also helps to have a spiel for why you can’t provide the advice they want to hear. If they’re reasonable hopefully they’ll understand why they’ve put you in an impossible position.

AH, hello! Thank you for dropping in with this because now you have my brain to buzzing.

Honestly, out of the two of them I see that Otabek probably uses proper capitalization/punctuation while Yuri is prone to shortening words and sometimes using acronyms that Beka has to look up to see what he is trying to say (because he won’t dare to ask, that’s too lame). I also see that Yuri is an avid emoji texter, loves using them wherever and whenever he can--which I mean, Otabek is definitely guilty of tossing out a few thumbs up here and there because it’s probably his go to for a quick ‘yes’ answer.