You know, the sign at the vet did actually go into detail about the cause of the shortages. Lemme see if I can remember...
They definitely did *not* mention the high rate of suicides, which I assume also goes along with a high rate of people leaving the job before they hit that point. That's gotta be part of this, though - I mean, the whole reason there *was* a sign was to remind pet owners that it's no good getting aggressive because of the long wait, the situation is truly out of their control.
I think they focused on the pandemic disrupting the flow of new vets and techs, while also creating an entire influx of new pet owners.
Come to think of it, I think I saw that Atlantic article before, so I guess I did already know about the vet shortage. I just forgot about it until it affected me!
Hmm.. that's odd... our local pets and PDSA in Leeds also have similar signs up saying the wait times are longer due to a shortage of vets. The PDSA hospital even says how many they're down by. (roughly half)
I don't have a Veterinarian for my pets. I use the pop up clinics and when my dog was really sick in April, I had to take him to an emergency vet in another county.
The vet shortage is apparently especially acute when it comes to emergency vets.
Honestly, if I could've gotten a morning appointment for Finn at our normal vet I would've really pushed harder to wait, it would've almost certainly have been cheaper, but the earliest I could get was, like, 8pm today. That wasn't feasible.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2022-11-06 07:23 pm (UTC)What's going on there?
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Date: 2022-11-06 07:29 pm (UTC)They definitely did *not* mention the high rate of suicides, which I assume also goes along with a high rate of people leaving the job before they hit that point. That's gotta be part of this, though - I mean, the whole reason there *was* a sign was to remind pet owners that it's no good getting aggressive because of the long wait, the situation is truly out of their control.
I think they focused on the pandemic disrupting the flow of new vets and techs, while also creating an entire influx of new pet owners.
And google mostly backs this up: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/not-enough-veterinarians-animals/661497/
https://www.npr.org/2022/10/18/1129717818/why-you-cant-find-a-vet
Come to think of it, I think I saw that Atlantic article before, so I guess I did already know about the vet shortage. I just forgot about it until it affected me!
no subject
Date: 2022-11-06 07:45 pm (UTC)Hmm.. that's odd... our local pets and PDSA in Leeds also have similar signs up saying the wait times are longer due to a shortage of vets. The PDSA hospital even says how many they're down by. (roughly half)
Seems to be fairly wide spread problem.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-06 09:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-11-07 05:46 am (UTC)Honestly, if I could've gotten a morning appointment for Finn at our normal vet I would've really pushed harder to wait, it would've almost certainly have been cheaper, but the earliest I could get was, like, 8pm today. That wasn't feasible.
no subject
Date: 2022-11-07 08:30 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-11-07 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-11-07 02:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-11-07 06:18 pm (UTC)