Veterinary medicine is built on the backs of the people who care the most. The problem is those same people are often the first to break. This book is a brutally honest survival guide for veterinary technicians who are exhausted, overworked, undervalued, and still showing up anyway. Written from deep inside the treatment floor, it exposes the unspoken realities of veterinary culture: the burnout, the compassion fatigue, the impossible expectations, the turnover, the "just do more with less" mentality, and the emotional toll that never seems to matter until someone finally snaps. The People Who Care Break First is not a soft, comforting hug. It's a flashlight, a pressure valve, and a handbook for staying human in a system that treats empathy like a disposable resource. It blends personal experience, hard-hitting truth, dark humor, and practical strategies for surviving the job that demands everything. If you've ever cried in the supply closet, questioned your career, loved a patient harder than you loved yourself, or felt invisible to the people who make decisions that impact your life, this book is for you. This isn't about quitting vet med. It's about surviving it with your heart, boundaries, and sanity intact. From the treatment floor, outward.