Pet boom in the pandemic: veterinarians at the limit

The corona crisis is causing a pet boom. A million pets moved to a new home in 2020 – a trend that continued in 2021. That means a massive overload for veterinarians.

In times of lockdowns and social distancing, many people feel lonely and get a pet. There is now an animal in almost every second household. “The positive effect of pets on humans has been scientifically proven,” says psychology professor Andrea Beetz from the International University (IU) with headquarters in Erfurt. She has been researching the relationship between humans and animals for 20 years.

Especially in times of crisis like the pandemic, pet owners report psychological stability and a lower feeling of loneliness. Even a short stroke produces oxytocin. The hormone reduces stress, anxiety and aggression and promotes wellbeing and confidence. For some it means less stress, for others it means more.

Tremendous burden on veterinarians

Veterinarians have been under increasing pressure since the pandemic. “We are being called by desperate pet owners who have been looking for an available doctor with an acute case for hours,” says Catalina Otto. She works as a mobile vet and has been traveling in the Rhine-Main area for almost ten years. Otto employs other mobile vets in Cologne, Berlin and the Ruhr area. Despite having enough employees, your team can hardly keep up with scheduling appointments.

“On a Saturday evening we have 60 calls from pet owners within an hour, and we drive up to 500 missions a month,” says Otto. The number of new pets is skyrocketing as the number of veterinarians decreases. “Not even half of the 24 veterinary clinics in the Rhine-Main area are left,” she explains. This means that the workload in the practices is exploding, says Heiko Färber, managing director of the Federal Association of Practicing Veterinarians. “Burnout and psychological stress are omnipresent.”

High suicide rate

According to the German Animal Welfare Association, veterinarians commit suicide more than average worldwide. A study on stress and health problems that was published in the Deutsches Tierärzteblatt in 2011 showed that almost half of the veterinarians surveyed felt that their workload was significantly higher than that of the normal population.

Bad pay, high pressure to perform, difficult dealing with patient owners and their expectations as well as the confrontation with the subject of death were given as the cause of the excessive demands. Veterinarians have to euthanize animals in some cases and are therefore more often confronted with death than human medicine.

“Corona is just a catalyst, the problem of overload has existed for years,” explains Färber. Fewer and fewer veterinary practices offer emergency services due to the lack of staff. There are regions in Germany that are no longer covered by an emergency service. Pet owners have to drive up to an hour and a half to the nearest clinic; this can be fatal in some cases.

There are many reasons for overload

According to Färber, the reasons for the shortage of staff are diverse. “The proportion of women among German veterinary students is almost 90 percent,” he says. 30 years ago the profession was still clearly male-dominated. This development means a loss of working hours, as women, for example, are less likely to become self-employed and due to maternity leave they are absent for longer, as vets are no longer allowed to work immediately after the pregnancy becomes known.

“We need more flexibility in the Working Hours Act. With a rest period of eleven hours, an emergency service is not possible.” It should also be easier to employ veterinarians from other countries. “If you employ a veterinarian from Serbia, you have two years of bureaucracy on your neck, veterinary practices are small businesses and are totally overwhelmed by them,” says Färber.

Increase in sales due to Corona

So it is little consolation that, according to the Federal Statistical Office, veterinarians made eleven percent more sales last year than in 2019 and 2020. In times of Corona, money that was previously spent on vacation flows, for example, into a dental treatment for the animal. Operations are also preferred because the owners have more time for their animals, says veterinarian representative Färber.

The livestock owners asked for better quality diagnostics much more often, he adds; instead of an ultrasound, a CT is required. “Since Corona, practices have been flooded with first-time animal owners, some of whom are inexperienced and who stand on the mat in minor cases such as pulling a tick.”

Despite the high demands, veterinarian Otto enjoys doing her job. “I want to save animals, help them. And when that no longer works, it’s nice when an animal can sleep peacefully at home without fear – and not in the clinic,” she says. She enjoys the challenge a lot – but still wants more social recognition.