Mobile vet clinic brings pet care to remote Vancouver Island communities

A new mobile vet clinic is trying to make it easier for pet owners in rural Vancouver Island communities to access care.

James Rogers, co-founder of the Coastal Animal Rescue & Education Network, says his team decided to launch the clinic — nicknamed Mission Pawsible — last month. 

The organization started as an animal rescue based in Ucluelet on the Island's west coast, where it helped between 750 and 1,000 animals a year. But Rogers said they recently found rescues were facing longer wait times.

He said the team started what he says is B.C.'s first non-profit mobile vet clinic so people wouldn't have to commute to urban centres to seek care for their pets, and so avoid the associated expense.

"Everyone told us we couldn't do it, certainly with our ambitious plan to do it in about six months on next to nothing of a budget. Fortunately we were successful, but only because we do have a network of incredible supporters." Rogers told CBC's On the Island.

Logging roads and water taxis

The mobile clinic operates out of an 18-foot enclosed trailer pulled by a pickup truck. Originally, Rogers said they started with a three-ton repurposed moving truck – but realized that it wouldn't be able to handle logging roads.

The unit travels with a vet and vet technician to rural, remote and Indigenous communities to conduct vaccination clinics, parasite controls, spay and neuter surgeries, and other services.

"Most of the shelters and rescues we work with on the island are at max capacity and have been for months, if not years now. And COVID, I think we can all agree, set this sector back by about 10 years. So really, we needed to sort of come up with a big solution, given how big the problem is," Rogers said.

The team is spread out between Tofino and Courtenay, but travels up and down the Island, sometimes driving hours down logging roads before taking water taxis to the communities where they're needed.

Sometimes, the clinic's arrival marks the first time vet services have been provided in a community.

Rogers said the team can spay up to 10 female cats and neuter many more male cats a day, and they've done house calls for dogs who need care but are too old or sick to be moved.

Vet shortage across B.C.

Rogers said there's no scarcity of work. The vet team is booked solid through August and often works 10-12 hours a day.

CBC News has contacted the College of Veterinarians of B.C. for comment about the mobile clinic.

The shortage of vets in B.C. has been well documented in the past few years.

According to a survey conducted by the college in 2021, many practising vets in the province say they are heavily overworked, and there are high rates of suicide within the profession.

"We're short 100 veterinarians a year for the next five years, and we're only graduating 20 veterinarians from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine," said Michele Martins, council vice-president for the college, in 2021.

In March, the provincial government announced it is permanently doubling the number of subsidized seats for people who want to train to become veterinarians and practise in the province.