I could only read the first paragraph. This has been on our news lately as well. And vets are getting burned out,

Interesting article petalique, thank you for sharing.

I own homes in 2 areas, and this is playing out very badly in one of them. I am grateful we are already established patients of one veterinary hospital there, because they are no longer accepting any new patients. No one else nearby is either. It's a resort town with a booming real estate market, and between Covid Chaos and the nonstop influx of new residents, many services are beyond strained.

I've heard of people driving over an hour inland to find a general practice vet accepting new patients. I also pray that we never need emergency care for our dogs when we are there, because the one local 24 hour hospital has stopped doing overnight care due to not enough veterinarians. The closest pet ER open 24 hours is an hour away.

Things are not nearly as dire at our other house, because we share a town with a veterinary college. Their hospital is open 24/7. It's expensive as all get out, but I'm always glad it's there when we need it.

Competitive field, lots of education, tough work, modest pay considering. Doesn’t surprise me there’s a shortage.

I’m saying this as the proud Godfather of someone about to start at Cornell. 🙂

Interesting. So far though I have not nticed this in either my Florida home or up north.

OT but interesting for me to learn, Mars, the family owned candy company, owns a lot of Veterinary care, VCA for one, and a bunch of others. This market segment was a major contributor to their extremely profitable last few years, apparently.

https://www.marsveterinary.com/who-we-are/our-companies/

Wow, I had no idea Mars owned VCA, Banfield, and Blue Pearl. Holy cow, that's some market share.

I am very close with a retired veterinarian. His opinion of VCA is...complicated.

One of the vet hospitals I use was bought out by VCA. It's been interesting to watch the transition.

No shortage of veterinarians in my area, for sure. I've never heard any vet say, or act as if they regretted their choice of profession. I'm not sure what's causing the shortage in some areas, but perhaps it's only vets in large metropolitan areas that over-worked and short staffed.

That article is so horribly negative it seems like it would discourage anyone who read it from choosing to become a veterinarian.

I didn't read the link but I did read somewhere last week about Veterinarian burnout. And a higher suicide rate than some among other professions. That's sad.

As a side note, we also used VCA for years for routine care but I got unhappy with them over the last couple of years and switched to a new private vet one town over.

The VCA hospital in my rural area has become very expensive & you don't get the service they use to give us. The hospital was 45 min. away which most things are from us but then you would have to wait in the car over 1 hour for your dog to be seen. Most times you never see the Vet after the 1st few minutes, they would just say oh she is already with another patient. Was able to find a new Vet who just opened & so far she seems great. VCA would not do anything with my shepherd unless they sedated her every time she went there as they would not take the time to calm her down.

I think there are fewer than 30 vet schools in the US. Some are quite small and even so state schools give admission preference to in-state applicants. States with larger populations therefore often need to rely on some number of its residents going to vet school out of state to keep up their supply of new ones. The small number of open seats each year for incoming students makes being successful with applications for admission particularly difficult.

There is a shortage of vets in many areas but also acute is the shortage of support staff. This aspect of staffing shortages was mentioned in passing in the Atlantic article when vet techs were cited but the author seems to have missed this point. There are also significant shortages in other health related areas of support staff - medical and dental assistants, office staff, etc.,

Average earnings for vets in general practice are substantially lower than for medical doctors, although prereqs and admission hurdles are similarly demanding for aspiring candidates. Vets also have to face emotional stress issues that medical doctors don't face to the same extent. One example is - patients telling them what to do and how (examples of which are in some comments above). Also, clients declining needed treatment for their pets because they don't want to spend the money. Even if they have it.

The vet I know quite well has told me of colleagues and former classmates who have left clinical practice because of the emotional difficulties faced.

VCA was founded privately, did an IPO and thereafter was a public company until its acquisition by Mars in 2017. Its business model of buying existing practices (and usually keep the selling owners on staff) was attractive to older vets because it was a means to sell their practices in anticipation of retirement. It was a smallish size company when public, its revenue of about $2 billion put it well outside of the Fortune 500. While the acquisition of professional providers isn't that common (and subject to legal licensing/ethical limits in some sectors), there are such operators in the dental field too.

I didn’t read the article, but the shortage is very real here. We have been going to the same clinic for almost 30 years. I guess about ten years ago, the older vet retired and the younger partner took over. He tried for 3 years to get a second vet after the the other young one they had decided to not come back after her maternity leave. I really do like the new one they have. They are trying their best, but they are certainly overworked. It’s not easy for the techs and office staff either. There were several posts from our vet on their Facebook page that it’s not acceptable to be rude to the receptionists and cuss them out. I understand the frustration of the pet owners, I get a bit frantic when I am worried, but I am always staying polite. And over the years, they squeezed us in plenty of times when needed. Back in December one of my old dogs got really sick on a weekend. The first emergency clinic said there was a 7 hour wait. The next one said 5 hours. We went there, it was about this wait time for us in the parking lot, but they took the dog in about an hour after we arrived.

"I've never heard any vet say, or act as if they regretted their choice of profession."

I know of many, in the US......Income for vets is pretty good, but it's lousy when compared to the amount of debt US students take on to become a vet. Virtually all other countries offer highly subsidized education for their residents, but students from other countries can also rack up huge debts if they don't go to school at home. I know vets who graduated with $300K or more in debt; $200K in debt is very common. That kind of debt can negatively affect your life for decades, so even those who like the work and the profession often regret the choice for financial reasons. Honestly, I don't recommend anyone in the US become a vet, and I don't recommend any Canadian do it unless they're going to their regional vet school.

There really is a significant shortage of vets, and a desperate shortage of techs (from what I've read about some tech salaries, I'm not surprised) Clients tell us about 8-10 hour waits at emerg clinics, and we're booking vaccine and puppy/kitten visits about 1-2 weeks out because we're booked up.

I understand they are busy, but it doesn't stop me from pulling a face when they tell me how much I owe. It's just gotten so darn expensive. They probably groan when they see me come in the door. lol

I just had my two dogs in for a wellness check and made the appointment well in advance since I know about the shortage and wanted the vet they always have seen all their lives. I can't imagine the emotional toll it takes to be a veterinarian. We had a consult with him about euthanization for our dachshund and he teared up. I know I couldn't handle the pressure and the sadness.

We seem to be well-supplied with vets where I am. We even have a mobile vet. Although, we had a few months wait to get an appointment with the veterinary cardiologist.

"It's just gotten so darn expensive."

Vets know it too......we just got the second price increase this year on drugs from our supplier, and I look at the price in the computer and groan. But, needs must....

Drug prices? One vet charged me $1 a pill for Carproten until I used Chewy and got the same pills for 28 cents each, pre covid. Give me a break, the expense is in the overhead and skilled labor, not the already over inflated prices they charge for drugs. At least you didn't blame it on Putin.

Note to people on Social security, if you have a non profit Veterinarian in you area you could save a bundle. I was quoted $1500 for a life saving surgery on my dog at my regular clinic, so I emailed the non profit and they quoted me $750 if I could prove I was on Social Security. Final bill came in at $700 staffed by very qualified professional people.

Vet clinics do not get the same high volume discounts for drugs like Chewy and Costco. Mine don’t mind at all writing or faxing a rx I just got a 30 day supply of Carprofen at Costco for $17

If your pet is on a people drug, check out people pharmacies. Our vet actually suggested we get our dog's long-term prescription at Walmart, since it was so much cheaper. She was on one of the $4/month generics. She even had her own account.

My cat gets car sick...otherwise....I love my vet across town. I'm scheduled to take them for routine shots....to the VCA vet. I had no idea Mar's owned them! What a timely post. They offer a FREE exam for 1st time customers. Otherwise, their prices are double what my old vet across town charges.

Aok, when I went to fill our cat’s heart Rx at the pharmacy, the tech asked our phone number and her age. WHen I hestitated and said “gee, um, oh, let’s say January 4, 2010” she gave me an odd look. Finally I got it and said ”she’s a cat” and we had a good laugh.

i live in a very rural area, only 5,000 people in the entire county. the closest vet is 18 miles away in the next county and is simply incompetent when it comes to household pets. he's fine with livestock but seems to have problems diagnosing the most basic dog/cat issues. at one point he brought in a newly graduated vet to join the practice. she was there for only about 3 months and left because of all of the botched cases he had a hand in. as large as that county is, he is the only general practitioner, the other 1 or 2 being strictly large animal/livestock vets.

i go over an hour away for the vets i now use. i have one awesome vet i take my 2 danes to for routine things and also have a board certified orthopedic vet for more complicated things involving bones. it was difficult to find vets who have experience with giant breed dogs and the particular health problems they can face. my ortho vet used to breed/show danes and he recommended the general practitioner to me. i hope neither of them retires any time soon!

as far as a middle of the night emergency vet, there is one an hour away but many times, they cannot treat the problem and will send the client/animal on to the university of illinois, another 2.5 hours away. so, i'm limited to driving 2 hours to st. louis. i say a silent prayer every day that i won't need them!

when one of my past danes was diagnosed with a heart issue, she and i traveled to st. louis every 6 months for follow up visits and cardiac ultrasounds with a specialist. she lived another 4 years post-diagnosis so it was well worth it! her heart meds, if i got them from the cardiac vet, would have cost me $350/month. i ended up getting them from a compounding pharmacy for $79/month, a considerable savings since i was also spending mega bucks on other modes of care for her, i.e., daily supplements, special food, monthly chiro/acupuncture/cold laser treatments, all of which extended her quality of life. sure, i could have gone w/o some of those things but olivia lived to 14 (almost unheard of for a dane) because of the extras i was fortunate to be able to afford.

Vets sell drugs for the same reason why they sell pet food and other such items - it's a way to make more money. There's nothing wrong with that. My experience was the same - no reluctance to send a prescription to a human pharmacy when the item is available at one.

Toronto Veterinarian - We live in Toronto and you are quite correct in that drug prices have increased significantly this year - one of our cats is hyperthyroid and no way can we pill a cat! This means transdermal by way of the ear custom compounded. Of course it is also dated so we cannot buy too much and truthfully we never know how many syringes we are getting because of the demand. We have to start this particular cat on Cartrophen as well. Then there is dental surgery which our younger cat (although a senior) will need. Our kitties will only eat purinaessentials senior cat food - only available at the vet clinic. I have tried over 30 different types of food - some really expensive - nope - I have poached chicken breast for them - nope. After a year you would think that they would be tired of the same food. It is emotional I know but they do have to eat. I am afraid every time I call for food or meds that the clinic will not be able to get them. I just wish I had a Plan B.

Re the takeovers by Mars etc. we have gone to our vet clinic for over 40 years. We really like our primary vet (one of the previous owners) and book with her, but in an emergency we would see anyone and let's face she is beyond retirement age, but is a young 70. They sold to a company (not Mars) during the pandemic. They try to not let people know but when you have been a client as long as we have you do notice the difference. Actually our primary vet no longer does surgeries but is everyone's favourite vet. I am thinking of taking the cat who needs a dental to the vet who is employed by Mars no less because she is fabulous - she used to work at our vet clinic. I am very afraid of what the future will hold in terms of Covid and do not want to go to the VEC South and send our cat in alone - right now you don't have to, but in the future I could easily see it. Our now passed dog had to see Dr. Gray, the ophthalmologist for nine years. But I guess it would be Dr. French for a dental at the VEC South unless the vet who is now with the VCA could/would do it. A referral would not be an issue.

By the way, I was at a Metro the other day and saw the peanut butter you like - but it was in short supply. I keep an eye out for the Spitz sunflower seeds but so far no luck. I won't forget the name because our dog who died at 17 during the worst of the pandemic was a Spitz! How I miss his double-coated long white fur everywhere.

A lot of our vets are not taking new clients.

A lot of people bought "pandemic puppies" and they were overwhelmed with clients. Sadly a number of these puppies are ending up in the shelter since going back to work is now an option. Dogs are experiencing separation anxiety as well. And perhaps the puppy cuteness has worn off?

@Jasdip, i'm seeing the same thing around here and with the rescues i work with. i predicted this would happen when people were pumping out puppies right and left and everybody and their brother was buying them up as fast a they could be produced. many people poopooed me because, after all, who would ever abandon a "family member"?

the dane rescues are now so full, they are having to turn surrenders away and that's a big problem because not many adopters are equipped to take on a giant breed. i have a friend who is the president of the st. bernard rescue of illinois, they are seeing it with saints, too. rather than see these dogs euthanized, she is taking many in herself. the last photo she sent me, her living room was quite literally wall-to-wall fur!

So many interesting comments. A few years ago, I spent about $1500 or more just trying to get my abandoned Malty diagnosed. He had something that looked like Pemphigus. I took photos. No good biopsys. Expensie and ery frustrating. After a while pup refused to get intonthe car or carrier. I didn’t blame him. Sad story at the end and I never knew what he had. Heartbreaking for me and my little barky sweetie.

With buying online for a lot of pets medications and food, it must affect Veterinarians in the pocketbook.

We're in the Philadelphia suburbs and we have a wealth of vet offices. I have three multi - specialty emergency animal hospitals within a 10 - 20 minute drive. Two are open 24/7, the third is 7 am - 11 pm plus the U of Pennsylvania is about 35 -40 minutes.

Our vet isn't taking any new pet owners but will continue to see existing clients and any new pets that they might acquire. His associates will see new clients as their schedule permits. It's a three person group and they maintain a relatively sane work schedule and I will really miss my vet of 20 + years when he retires.

On my last visit we were talking about the Covid puppy pandemic and he shook his head and said its been really difficult. Many of the new owners are not experienced or don't have a regular vet and when things go wrong they head to the ER and the wait times have exploded.

We order meds online through our vet's portal. They're filled by a large company - we get a lower price and the office earns a commission.

I tried ordering monthly meds thru our previous vet's portal, but then had a bad experience* with that vet and changed to a different veterinarian practice. It was ridiculously difficult to STOP the autofill from the old vets office. Not doing that again, I'd rather buy through the new vet's office even if it costs more.

*She missed my Roxy's cancer until it was much too late. Then sent us to a specialist whose operation failed. Final straw was saying she could have performed the operation much cheaper. No remorse for not spotting the warning signs earlier, only remorse for missing making a couple hundred bucks from us.

Urgh. A good vet is worth paying for.

That’s awful and maddening and sad, nickel. I am so sorry.

thank you, petalique -- it's not fair to expect doctors to catch or cure everything, no one is perfect, but she should have provided us more than a few days to prepare for loss.