Pet health prevention: more important than ever

THE VETERINARY COMMUNITY has been in crisis since early in the pandemic. Clinics and hospitals are short staffed and overloaded with incoming cases, and the strain is painful for pet parents and veterinary professionals alike.

Following is a powerful snapshot of current conditions, underscoring the importance of taking extraordinary care to protect pets from injury and illness.

Author Sarah P has worked in vet care for a decade. Her words underscore the challenge for people on both sides of pet care, and
that patience and understanding by all is vital in these challenging
times. We all love the animals.
— the editor

From Sarah P:

Be careful with your pets or you might find that you have no one to turn to in an emergency.

Just to help you understand what we’re talking about when talking about a crisis in veterinary medicine…

Last night a patient came in, after we were done for the day. The office was still open, but the medical staff was gone/just leaving. The dog was presenting for a routine lab request, which I could not provide as we were done with that stuff for the day and also because the dog was in acute respiratory distress.

The dog was a brachycephalic breed and upon arrival I knew she was in serious trouble, even though the owner hadn’t yet noticed. Her temp was 105.9 and she was turning purple. The owner had no AC in the car and the dog had overheated on the drive to be seen for routine care.

I ran out to stop my medical staff as they were driving away. They came back and helped me and one of our doctors (who had only stayed to complete some notes) stabilize the dog. In the meantime, I started calling around to see if I could send her to an ER.

There were none. I called six different local ERs… not one had room to take on a critical patient. I do not blame any of these clinics at all. They are already operating over capacity, with far too many patients per staff member. Not enough doctors. Everyone is doing the very best they can. While some gave me a flat out no, some quoted a 24-hour wait time.

Luckily for the dog, our efforts cooled her down quickly. Within 20 minutes her temperature was less threatening and she was no longer purple. The owner elected to take her home for the night.

Had this dog been riding anywhere else — to a friend’s, on an errand, she would have died. She still might have if we had been closed, if my staff didn’t return or if she hadn’t responded to our efforts. Even now, she is not out of the woods. She may be facing lasting complications from this episode… only time will tell.

Pet owners, now more than ever, you MUST do everything you can to keep your pets safe. This dog did not need to go out in 100° weather for her lab test. There is a very good chance that in an emergency, help will either be unavailable or too far away.

It’s no one’s fault. I am not
blaming the owner or the vet clinics. It’s just the way it is right now. Please take extra care for your pet’s health and safety… prevention is the
best medicine.

And should you need urgent
care, please be patient and courteous with the staff. You may have to cancel plans or miss work to get care. You may need to drive a long distance (we hadn’t tried vets within 60 miles yet). Don’t blame us… there is no one to blame. We are all in this together and it will not get better any time soon.

Later the same day…

As a follow up to my post this morning, I would like to share that today we saw a total of 117 animals between surgeries, exams, euthanasia and technician visits. That is how many animals physically came into our clinic for services today and does not include medication and food pickups or the innumerable phone calls and emails handled every day.

That’s one animal for every 5 minutes we are open.

We managed to hold around a 2-3-hour wait for doctor visits, and less than 20 minutes for technician visits.

We definitely feel for the families that may need care and are unable to get it right away. There is only so much we can do in a day. We want nothing more than to remain accessible and affordable to our clients. I have an awesome team and I’m proud of us.

We will keep showing up, doing as much as we can to help with the overwhelming need for vet care.