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Vet Shortage in Central New York Vet Shortage in CNY

Pet owners may have a hard time finding a vet

By Krizia Williams

Krizia Williams: This is how it all started for dog dad Daniel Berkowitz and his pup…Maple. His dog started having symptoms of gastroenteritis causing him to worry and seek veterinarian help.

Daniel Berkowitz: So we started to get concerned when it didn’t stop after a while, and so we decided to take her. And when we started looking around, we…initially when we got her we couldn’t find any vets. Everyone was booked up like they weren’t taking any new patience.

Williams: Berkowitz says his girlfriend made around 10 phone calls around the city for a vet.

Berkowitz: We ended up having to find a vet about two and a half hours away…which isn’t great for emergencies situations, but we really needed to see one. It was definitely difficult.

Williams: Rockacres Veterinarian Hospital vet Mikaela Harris says people are finding it difficult to find a vet because of multiple reasons.

Mikaela Harris: There is a shortage of vets one because we are not putting out as many. Vet schools can only graduate so many veterinarians a year and we actually have a lot of people leaving the field.

Williams: According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, for the past two years the number of appointments have increased by more than 4 percent. Also, the vet turnover rates are high making it hard to keep employees. According to a local cat vet, smaller practices don’t have the money to hire and bigger practices depend on the graduates in a time where there aren’t many. He says age is a significant factor to the shortage.

Bob Upholt: There are a lot of veterinarians that are my age group, so they are either retiring or getting sick things like this but leaving practice for one reason or another and it’s sort of coming when there’s been a much increase demand for vet care.

Williams: Currently at Rockacres there are four doctors seeing 10 patients each a day. She says with the vet shortage, some places can find it hard to take in certain patiences…especially new ones. At Rockacres they try to strategize the level of illness per animal to make the best of their time.

Harris: I would classify urgent and emergent separately.

Williams: Ear infection, vomiting or even diarriah are all situations Harris says would be a same day appointment. Compared to check ups or annual shots.
She says it’s become scary how low the number of vets has become.

Harris: There are actually times where we will call an emergency hospital with a very urgent case and they say they are at capacity. So we actually can even send emergencies for surgery or medical care for whatever they need a lot of the time. Which is very scary.

Williams: Liverpool Village Animal Hospital owner Douglas Wojcik says the free time from the pandemic allowed people to get pets. But on the other hand, vets are struggling to see them because there are so many.

Douglas Wojcik: A lot of new pet owners are coming into us these days I think as a result of the pandemic.

Williams: Wojcik says between new animals and current patience the hospital’s schedule is close to overflowing and they only have so many hands.

Wokjcik: Our schedule is fully full. We see appointments every 20 minutes is our schedule. There are 13 of us.

Williams: He says each doctor sees 20 patiences a day. And for those calling for appointments, the next available appointments are three weeks away and if you’re a new client…one month. Moving forward he says his hospital is doing what it can to make things a bit better.

Wojcik: We’re opening a satellite clinic with another nine exam rooms.We even change our phone systems so now no one gets a busy signal. It blew my mind that you can actually have a phone system that’s unlimited amount of calls out and unlimited amount of class in. You never get a busy signal its amazing.

Williams: Wojcik says this is a very stressful time for vets and his morals are the lights that push him to keep going everyday.

Wojcik: We’ve realized we cannot say no to sick animals. That’s our job that’s our obligation our moral obligation to see the animals.

Williams:
Vets know that the wait may be longer than we want…but Wojick says dogs like maple and their dog dads should be patient with their local vets.
Krizia Williams N-C-C News.

SYRACUSE, NY (NCC News) – Pet parents could find themselves having trouble getting a vet appointment in Central New York. The vet shortage has been a hot topic to discuss ever since the pandemic began.

Maple, a Central New York pup, recently had gastroenteritis causing her owners to worry and seek veterinarian help. Just after around 10 phone calls to local vets, dog dad David Berkowitz found a vet.

“We ended up having to find a vet about two and a half hours away…which isn’t great for emergencies situations, but we really needed to see one. It was definitely difficult,” he said.

Berkowitz said this situation made him nervous and the vet shortage worries him. But why is there a vet shortage in the first place?

Rockacres Veterinarian Hospital vet Mikhala Harris said there is a vet shortage for many reasons.

“There is a shortage of vets one because we are not putting out as many. Vet schools can only graduate so many veterinarians a year and we actually have a lot of people leaving the field,” she said.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, for the past two years the number of appointments have increased by more that 4 percent. In addition, the vet turn over rates are high making it hard to keep employees.

In reference to a local cat vet from Cats Only Vet, Bob Upholt, smaller practices don’t have the money to hire and bigger practices depend on the graduated in a time where there aren’t many. He said age is also a significant factor to the vet shortage.

“There are a lot of veterinarians that are my age group, so they are either retiring or getting sick things like this but leaving practice for one reason or another and it’s sort of coming when there’s been a much increase demand for vet care,” Bob Upholt said.

At Rockacres there are four vets seeing 10 patients each day. Harris said the vets prioritize illnesses on different levels to utilize their time wisely.

“I would classify urgent and emergent separately,” she said.

For example, ear infections, vomiting or even diarrhea are all situations for a same day appointment, Harris said. Yet annual shots or check ups can be scheduled at different times.

She said it’s not just vet offices that are overflowing, animal hospitals are also feeling the pressure, which scares her.

“There are actually times where we will call an emergency hospital with a very urgent case and they say they are at capacity,” Harris said. “So we actually can’t even send emergencies for surgery or medical care for whatever they need a lot of the time. Which is very scary.”

Liverpool Village Animal Hospital Owner Douglas Wojcik said pandemic pets is one of the leading causes of the pet overflow and vet shortage.

“A lot of new pet owners are coming into us these days I think as a result of the pandemic,” Wojcik said.

He said at his practice they have their hands full and each day is busy.

“Our schedule is fully full. We see appointments every 20 minutes is our schedule. There are 13 of us,” Wojcik said.

Each vet at Liverpool Village Animal Hospital sees 20 patients a day Wojcik said. At his practice the next available appointment is three weeks away. Yet, if you are a new client one month is the minimum wait for the next available appointment.

Moving forward Wojcik said he wants to help lessen the shortage in any way possible.

“We’re opening a satellite clinic with another nine exam rooms. We even change our phone systems so now no one gets a busy signal,” he said. “It blew my mind that you can actually have a phone system that’s unlimited amount of calls out and unlimited amount of class in. You never get a busy signal its amazing.”

Wojcik said the vet shortage is very stressful yet it is his duty and moral obligation to come to work and tend to the animals each day.

“We’ve realized we cannot say no to sick animals. That’s our job that’s our obligation our moral obligation to see the animals,” he said.

Vets know that the wait may be longer than pet parents want, but Wojcik said dogs like Maple and their dog dads should be patient with their local vets.

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