https://vimeo.com/732175641

Illustration by Carlo Giambarresi

The Other Vet Mental Health Crisis One tragic local story points to a quiet crisis: Veterinarians are at a far higher risk than the general public for suicide.

BY TEA KRULOS

"I'll often play a song for these guys to just help them get relaxed," Dr. Noah Arnold, proprietor of Dr. Noah's Ark Veterinary Clinic in Shorewood, says on a 2018 TV news segment. He's speaking over video of him smiling, singing and strumming a guitar for his animal clients.

It's the vision of what we hope for in a vet – a person with a deep caring for animals, loving hands in which our pets will be placed. But underneath the surface, something dark was brewing within Arnold – something all too common in the veterinary field.

This April 27, a sign was attached to the Dr. Noah's Ark clinic door saying that the business was closed. Arnold, 40, had died by suicide the night before. Studies by the CDC show that veterinarians are between 2.1 times (for men) and 3.5 times (for women) more likely than the general public to end their own lives; one in six vets admit to having suicidal thoughts. Vets say the job carries a particular blend of stresses not far removed from human-facing medical fields.