Pandemic pets contributing to staff burnout, long waits at B.C. veterinary clinics

By

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Pandemic pets are one of the things straining veterinary clinics in B.C., the increased demand combining with staffing shortages and contributing to high levels of burnout in the profession.

Kaneycia Bush-McLean is an emergency vet tech, and says she’s never seen clinics so booked up, or workers so overwhelmed.

“There’s very much a shortage in veterinary staff, all the way from our receptionists, our assistant technicians, doctors and everyone on the team. There is a shortage just from people getting so burnt out in the industry that they’re leaving the industry, because we do deal with a lot of stress in the industry, especially with COVID,” she says.

“It’s just been a huge, huge increase. They are seeing quite long days. A lot of the doctors, they care so much in the profession that they’ll stay extra and they’ll fit in that extra appointment. Just because the doors are locked at a certain time, doesn’t mean they’re leaving.”

The issues are slightly different in emergency clinics than in regular practices, but common themes are long waits for appointments, staff working overtime, and frustrated clients. People bringing pets into their homes during the pandemic, according to Bush-McLean, has increased the overall number of pet owners.

“They’re home more so they realize that they have the time to sort of deal with a puppy or a kitten at home or adopt or foster an older animal, or they are home and they can’t see their friends and their family so they get a companion to help keep them company,” she explains.

And these new pets present veterinarians with a range of issues that require clinical attention.

“We’re seeing a lot more puppy, kitten, new pet appointments that need health checks vaccines, blood work, things like that. They need surgeries they need their spays and neuters to keep them safe and healthy,” Bush McLean explains.

Pets left at home when their humans returned to work can experience behavioural issues, or accidentally ingest things they shouldn’t when they’re unsupervised. Dogs who are used to one-on-one attention are being socialized as things open up, and meeting other pups can lead to some injuries after spats and scuffles with other animals.

“They don’t know how to interact with other animals, they haven’t learned that behaviour,” Bush-McLean explains.

RELATED: Pandemic pets: What happens when you go back to work?

All this is leading to long waits for appointments, which means some people are seeking out emergency clinics to get routine treatment due to weeks-long waits to see their regular vet.

“We are seeing huge, huge increases in the number of less urgent cases, things that we don’t usually see because they usually see their regular vet but their regular vets are so booked up that they are coming to us,” Bush-McLean says.

“On some of our busier shifts in the past 12 to 18 months we’ve seen over eight-hour waits for non-urgent issues. Many of the emergency hospitals, if not all of them at this point, have at some point needed to actually shut their doors to non-urgent cases to be able to accommodate the critical patients that need to be seen.”

While Bush-McLean says there’s no quick fix for the issues in the profession, one thing that will go a long way to easing the burden on staff is a little kindness.

“We can unfortunately have quite a few clients in a single day that are quite aggressive or rude to our staff members and that really wears down on people over time so they just get exhausted and they can’t deal with that,” she says.

“Just be patient with us, be patient with the people who are still showing up to work every day and putting your pet’s care first. Every single animal that’s unwell means everything to us. We want to get them feeling better.”

Related video

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today