ST. GEORGE — St. George resident Sierra Aybar and her family were getting ready for bed on Christmas when her husband, Erik Aybar, who was heading upstairs, noticed tin foil on the floor and all over the couch.
Their 20-pound Aussiedoodle, Luna, had taken a dark chocolate candy bar from a stocking, and eaten the entire treat and part of the foil, Sierra Aybar said.
They used five online calculators to determine how much danger Luna was in based on the amount of chocolate consumed and the dog’s weight. All of them came to the same conclusion: it was a “severe emergency,” she said.
All the local veterinary clinics were closed, so she said they called Southwest Animal Emergency Clinic, which had helped them previously, in case anyone picked up.
The person said due to the vet shortage there was no one available to treat Luna, she said. The clinic advised her to call the Pet Poison Helpline, a 24/7 hotline staffed by veterinary professionals that guide pet owners when their animals may have been exposed to harmful substances.
The helpline calculated Luna’s risk and told the family they would need to make her vomit at least a third of the chocolate she’d eaten, or she would need veterinary care, she said, adding that the closest open clinic was about two hours away in Las Vegas, Nevada.
They fed the dog two small doses of hydrogen peroxide.
“She did end up throwing it all up,” she said, adding that the “biggest thing” she learned from her experience is that there was a poison control hotline available to support pet owners in her situation.
She said many pet owners forget that pets can get into stuff, particularly around the holidays, and the helpline said a high number of canines ate candy bars this season
“A lot of dogs were getting really sick,” she said.
Veterinary care availability
There are fewer than 20 veterinary clinics in Washington County, which serve a population of over 180,000. There are about six in Iron County, Serving more than 57,000 people. Most of these close by 5 p.m. Monday to Friday.
Dr. Amy Murdock, a veterinarian and the owner of the Lava Rock Veterinary Hospital, said that she opened the new clinic because emergency care wasn’t previously available during the day, which takes a toll on general practice veterinarians.
Local vets are “trying their best” as there are professionals in the area and Southern Utahns have acquired more pets in recent years, she added.
There are various factors contributing to the vet shortage, Murdock said, including veterinarians retiring after many years in the field and job conditions, like long hours and burnout, that discourage prospective vets from entering the field.
There is also a shortage of veterinary technicians and assistants due to a lack of pay, the amount of work required and compassion fatigue, Murdock said.
“There aren’t very many new veterinary facilities in the St. George area,” she said,” and there aren’t very many new veterinarians to fill spaces in hospitals to accommodate for the amount of pet owners moving to the area or adopting new (or) additional pets.”
The shortage has impacted communities throughout the country but especially rural areas like Cedar City, Jennifer Norton said. She co-owns and operates the Cedar City Animal Hospital with her husband, Cameron Norton.
“The shift to online rating and review systems has also driven many veterinary professionals into other fields, as unjustified and unwarranted negative reviews following a veterinary practice’s inability to save a dying or dead animal has an enormous emotional toll,” she said.
Supply chain issues and inflation also have impacted clinics’ ability to maintain drug and supply stores, sufficiently pay staff and keep up with fee schedules, she added.
The uptick in pet adoptions during the pandemic “may not have been as dramatic as the media portrayed,” and there was “not an epic rise in the total population of dogs and cats in 2020 in the U.S,” according to this 2021 article published by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
However, the author noted that they relied on national data and that “local experiences may vary.”
However, there was a 6.5% nationwide increase in appointments made between January and June 2021, compared to the same period the previous year, according to the article. Additionally, veterinarians saw fewer patients per hour in 2020, and their average productivity decreased by 25% in 2020 compared to 2019.
One reason for this could be that clinics “quickly adapted with new COVID-19 safety protocols,” such as offering curbside care and sanitizing the rooms and surfaces between appointments, the article states.
“Many practices also have struggled with losses of staff members,” the article reads. “Whether a team member became sick, had to quarantine, or needed to stay home for child care or other personal reasons, operating with a suboptimal number of employees only made a challenging situation worse.”
The average turnover rate for veterinarians is twice as high as for physicians, according to the article, adding that “veterinary technicians have one of the highest turnovers of all health care positions compared.”
In Southern Utah, “it is nearly impossible” to hire associate veterinarians and qualified technicians to support vets, Jennifer Norton said.
“When limited to those that require on-job training, it is difficult because most do not intend to remain in the area long-term, so the doctors invest in training staff only to have the staff move away,” she added.
Gertrudis “Tru” Colon, a veterinary assistant at Zion Veterinary Hospital, told St.George News that while many industries are experiencing staff shortages, veterinary clinics can’t “just hire somebody off the street.”
“If you don’t have people that are in the field or that are interested in trying to grow in the field, it does make it difficult for you to staff people,” she said.
The Cedar City Animal Hospital also is searching for an associate veterinarian to hire for emergency care and she said if they are successful, it “will greatly help with emergency care” in the city.
Cultural demands are also a “huge factor” in the vet shortage, she said, as pet owners have become accustomed to on-demand emergency care at any time.
“But to be able to call the veterinarian with questions, whether emergent or not, free of charge also at any time, day or night – unfortunately, this has led to doctor burnout for all our local veterinarians who have been trying so hard to meet the needs of all their patients,” she said.
A group of Cedar City veterinarians previously participated in a rotating on-call schedule for weekend emergencies, Jennifer Norton said. However, as doctors retired or removed themselves from the schedule, the load shifted to a few remaining clinics.
In Cameron Norton’s case, as a father of seven, he was unable to continue offering emergency services as he received calls “throughout the night, every night” and did not have time to sleep, Jennifer Norton said.
After the clinic received a “terrible Google review” from a pet owner after Cameron Norton was asleep and unable to answer an emergency call, the couple removed their home phone number from their website and asked that only existing clients call after-hours, Jennifer Norton said.
“This may lead to being unable to provide any emergency care if pet owners continue to seek immediate and constant emergency care, as doctors simply cannot be good doctors during their office hours if they cannot even get a good night’s sleep,” she said.
Additionally, she said the Southwest Animal Emergency Clinic “lost some doctors” last fall and hasn’t yet found replacements, compounding the issue.
Murdock suggests pet owners keep a list of veterinary clinics that are open later or offer extended hours to avoid having to call around and wait on hold to find a vet with availability.
Some clinics take turns being on call if there is no emergency facility nearby and Murdock said individuals can ask their regular vets if there is a rotation schedule and on-call number.
“If you are living in an area that does not have veterinary facilities close by and need help, start driving in the direction of a larger town (or) city as you are calling so you can be seen sooner when you arrive,” she said. “Being an established client with a daytime veterinary hospital is sometimes beneficial in an emergency situation as some hospitals prioritize their own clients.”
If a pet owner is concerned but is unsure if the situation is an emergency, she said they should call Lava Rock Veterinary Hospital or the Southwest Animal Emergency Clinic to obtain guidance over the phone.
“This will help prevent their primary veterinarians from getting burnt out so that they can provide the best possible care when they do serve the client,” she said. “It will also increase the probability that one’s primary veterinarian will be available to help, when the emergency hospitals are not, by preventing burnout amongst the general practice veterinarians.”
Southwest Animal Emergency Clinic is located at 1067 E. Tabernacle Street, St. George.
Because the clinic’s schedule is determined by the veterinarian’s availability, it can change almost daily. For up-to-date hours, individuals can check Google or Facebook but will obtain the most accurate information by calling them at 435-673-3191.
Due to extensive wait times, the clinic suggests calling ahead to be added to the waitlist; however, critical patients will be prioritized, which can extend wait times in some cases.
Lava Rock Veterinary Hospital is located at 200 N 1000 East, St. George, and is open from 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
The Cedar City Animal Hospital offers extended weekday hours and is open from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. The clinic is at 2333 West Highway 56, Suite A, Cedar City.
Pet owners concerned their pets have ingested a harmful substance can contact the Pet Poison Helpline at 855-764-7661 or 844-492-9842, or ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control at 888-426-4435.
To learn more about how local veterinarians keep their chins up, click here.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.