Islandwide veterinarian shortage causing stress for owners of large animals
'It's not a good feeling... something so minor could be ending the life of your friend'
Julia Smith doesn't want to think about what might happen if her horse Titan needs emergency care, because there are very few people on P.E.I. in a position to help.
"We don't have a vet at all," she said. "There's nothing we can do."
Smith said there is no access in central P.E.I to a large-animal veterinarian, and estimates there are about 800 horses on the Island without any type of coverage.
"It is very frustrating and very terrifying because these guys are part of our family. And if you can't get your mother help — that's how we feel about our horses," she said.
Dominique Schmidt faces the same problem. She said her horse Finnegan is lame due to a leg injury, but she can't find anyone to take a look.
"He is hurting," she said. "And it's definitely frustrating knowing that you could potentially have something to make him feel better but you don't have access to it."
Schmidt said she didn't have any problems finding a vet for animals large or small a few years ago, but things have changed.
"It's not a good feeling, knowing that something so minor could be ending the life of your friend," she said.
The size of horses and other large animals can make it very difficult to transport them to the emergency department at the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown when something goes wrong, so ideally a veterinarian would come to you. Smith is among those who feel it is actually unethical to move a horse that is in labour or seriously injured.
The cost of treatment can also make it challenging to get help.
"If you can get them to the vet college, then it's a substantial cost," Smith said. "A lot of people don't have that extra money to pay."
Smith is grateful that the Montague Vet Clinic has been operating a mobile clinic to help out during the vet shortage, but said the people staffing it can't perform surgeries or emergency procedures.
'It's a challenge'
Veterinarians are also feeling the impact of a vet shortage.
"There are a lot of days where it's a challenge to get all of the work done that I have in a day," said Dr. Wade Sweet, a vet based in O'Leary in western P.E.I.
Sweet said he is sometimes on call for an entire week, and might get multiple calls a night almost every day of that week.
He said there is a shortage of vets specializing in small and large animals across the Island, but the problem is worse for larger animals. It's also tough to say when things might improve.
Sweet said burnout is a big problem for many vets, given that the job of dealing with animals in pain can be very stressful. Many students who start off focusing on large animals decide the lifestyle isn't for them, he said.
"Some of it genuinely falls on us. We do have to show them that this is a great quality of life and a great place to work," he said.
"It's just mentorship — getting students out into these smaller rural areas and showing them the quality of life that they can have," he said. "It's not as scary as what other people may have told them.
Sweet said another big part of the solution is changing the way veterinary students are selected.
"There needs to be a focus on selecting candidates who have a genuine interest in large-animal [care], horses or food animal medicine, selecting students who genuinely want to do it and who are not saying it just to check a box," he said.
Problem may last another decade?
The dean of the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown estimates the Island is missing about 20 per cent of the vets it needs, and thinks the problem may last for at least the next 10 years.
Dr. Dominique Griffon said it can be tough to keep people here after graduation.
"The difficulty we're facing is a differential in terms of salaries. The salaries are much higher in the United States," she said. "It's also an opportunity for Canadians to go to the U.S., or other provinces where perhaps the economy is a little stronger, like Ontario."
To try to help with retention, the college is introducing a six-week rotation to have students go back to their home provinces to work, build relationships and network with possible employers.
Griffon also said there are a lot of people who would make great vets but don't get accepted as students because there are only so many training spots at the college. Increasing class sizes could be a long-term solution, but it's not that simple.
"Current facilities are pretty much at maximum occupancy," she said. "This year we are admitting 71 students. To go beyond 71 students would require changes in our infrastructure as well as adding more faculty and support for delivering the extra workload."
There's a small bit of good news for Island animal owners, though: The college is adding one more spot for an extra P.E.I. student starting next year.
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