GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A rising number of pets following COVID-19 are straining the veterinary industry causing a shortage of vets across the United States.
"Overall recent study indicated that the US by 2030, will be 15,000 veterinarians short," said Dr. Ryan Carpenter at Family Friends Veterinary Hospital.
According to a Mars Veterinary Health Study, that stress isn't expected to ease anytime soon.
Today, the nation has around 116,000 practicing veterinarians with nearly 2,000 retiring each year.
"Some of the veterinary professionals have stepped back, stepped out of the profession to be, to take other roles or work from home, so that's played into it," said Dr. Carpenter. "We are a female dominant profession, which I think is a great thing, but a lot of them go to raise families, so there's a shortage during that time while they're raising families. Our vet schools have not added veterinarians, so have not increased the class size in the last several years, which plays into it. Also, the high debt to income ratio, I think has strayed a lot of people away from veterinary medicine, as long as what we call burnout and fatigue, just the emotional strain of being a veterinarian," he said.
At Family Friends Veterinary Hospital in Grand Rapids, they said they've been proactive in hiring.
"We haven't seen a shortage of veterinarians in Michigan, mostly because we have a vet school at Michigan State so that helps. There definitely overall is a shortage and it plays into all veterinary clinics," said Dr. Carpenter. "To give you a sense of how things have changed dramatically, so I graduated vet school 11 years ago, and there were 18 students in my class when we graduated that did not have jobs. Now it wouldn't be uncommon for people to have a job their second or third year of vet school, so they're, they're very much in high demand," he said.
To help with appointment availability, Family Friends created an urgent care with extended hours to help pet owners get their furry friends the care they need.
You can find more information or book an appointment on their website.
