Canberra vet shortage: pet owners face high vet bills, clinics close doors due to staff shortages

When Joanne Hagan's two-year-old dog Wanda stepped on a brown snake last Saturday morning, she was turned away from three vet hospitals.

"I've got a dog that's potentially been bitten by a snake [and] you're telling me you won't see me?" Ms Hagan asked one receptionist.

The former vet nurse and dog breeder said a snake bite was an "extreme emergency", but each clinic closed its doors by about midday.

While the German short-haired pointer was safely admitted to an emergency veterinary centre, Canberra pets are bearing the brunt of over-worked vet clinics.

After-hours emergency clinics have been forced to shut their doors because they have no staff, says senior vet at Canberra Veterinary Hospital Dr Justin Michaels.

"There are only two emergency hospitals in the Canberra area, and because of the shortage [of vets], they close on some nights ... unable to accommodate anybody," he said.

"We don't have enough vets applying for the jobs, and we are short-handed."

This leaves domestic and wild animals without any access to emergency care.

The chronic staff shortage is caused by an exodus of young vets leaving the profession early in their career, says Dr Cristy Secombe from the Australian Veterinary Association.

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She said being a vet was a "really complex" job.

"This problem has been in the making for the last one to two decades," she said.

"We are graduating probably enough vets for the country, around 700 vets a year, which is quite a lot for a country of our size, but they're not staying in the professional."

Vets struggle with high student debt, low pay, long hours, highly emotive work and aggressive clients.

"Many of the things that make it really rewarding are also the things that make it quite challenging," Dr Secombe said.

She said dealing with owners who cannot afford life-saving treatments also takes a toll on veterinary teams, who have joined the profession to help animals.

The severe shortage of vet staff in Canberra has been exacerbated by increased pet ownership, as people sought companionship during COVID lockdowns.

In 2019, 61 per cent of Australians had a pet. That has risen to 69 per cent in 2022.

More pets have put more demand on vet clinics, without any extra staff available to meet the need. Overseas locums were also cancelled during the pandemic.

Dr Secombe said as technology has developed, the cost of running clinics has increased without government subsidies, meaning practice owners cannot afford high wages for staff.

The medical equipment used in a vet practice is comparable to a human one, such as X-ray machines, stethoscopes, ultrasound equipment and medicine.

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Dr Michaels says a graduate vet will make about $50,000 a year and work "over 60 hours a week" without overtime.

"That is the reality. What's on paper is 38 hours per week," he said.

The award wage for a senior vet is around $76,000 a year.

Ms Hagan said she stopped working as a vet nurse 10 years ago, partly because of the low pay and high cost of living in Canberra.

She said one friend remained working as a vet nurse but moved to Port Macquarie, unable to afford to live in the ACT on her salary.

Dr Michaels said some clients were also used to "older generation veterinarians" who were very accommodating.

"People do not accept that we are unable to accommodate you today, they become aggressive," he said.

"[Vets] are the dentist, the ophthalmologist, the skin doctors, the anesthesiologist, they do everything. And they [are not] being appreciated by clients. Our vets are burned out from overworking, and they are quitting.

"They are human. And they have feelings, and they have families. And they also need to be taken care of."

The suicide rate for veterinarians is four times higher than the average adult population.

The vet association says, "most veterinarians know a colleague or know of a fellow veterinarian who has died by suicide".

Jack Levitt's childhood friend and passionate vet Dr Flynn Hargreaves took his own life in 2018.

"Flynn was just a larger-than-life-type guy, life of the party, vibrant, quirky, he was into music and loved his AFL footy, loved animals obviously," Mr Levitt said.

"[Being a vet] was something that he wanted to do and was very passionate about and was wholly committed to from when we left school.

"He was the last person that we would have expected to take their own life."

Mr Levitt has created Flynn's Walk to raise awareness of the pressures vet staff face and the tragic consequences.

"A vet could possibly be taking their life every 12 weeks in Australia," he said.

Mr Levitt said research showed a major struggle for vet staff was dealing with difficult pet owners.

"People are often impatient, or they lack understanding of why vet care costs so much. There is no Medicare for pets," he said.

"Unfortunately, the fact of life of having a pet is that will cost you money.

"[We're] asking people to be kind and be patient and just show respect when your vet is looking after your pet," he said.

RSPCA Australia says an average dog owner will spend more than $25,000 over the course of their pet's life.

Cat owners fork out about $880 on their companions each year.

Wanda's owner Ms Hagan said the cost of vet care could be prohibitive, particularly for owners on low incomes or with multiple animals.

Ms Hagan said one friend with several dogs had multiple emergencies in a month.

"She got to the point where she just couldn't afford the emergency vet bills. And so she had to choose to euthanise her animals because she couldn't afford [it]," she said.

Dr Secombe said the costs of care varied across the country and largely depended on the price of rent, equipment and infrastructure.

Ms Hagan recommended owners take out pet insurance, particularly if they owned accident-prone breeds.

"Because Australia is such a high pet-owning country, there should be some sort of scheme available for people with lower incomes who meet criteria to be able to access affordable vet care," she said.

The AVA says pet insurance has low uptake in the community because of high premiums and a lack of competition in the market.

However, they say it is one possible solution to the affordability crisis in the sector and are lobbying for a means-tested pet insurance subsidy.

"Concerns over cost is a major cause of dispute between veterinary practices and clients," the AVA said.

"It needs to have wider take-up to improve coverage and reduce the cost of the insurance."

READ MORE: Pet insurance one of many proposed solutions to Canberra vet crisis

Dr Michaels said the government should increase the award wage for vets, and employers needed to respect the work-life balance needs of staff.

Mr Levitt said veterinarians and vet nurse staff should be reminded of the "amazing opportunities" outside clinical practice - such as research, agriculture, animal welfare, behavioural management and biosecurity.

And as for pet owners, as Dr Secombe says: "please treat your vet with kindness and pack your patience."

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