Veterinarians Are Barely Keeping Up With Demand Amid Pandemic Pet Boom

If you make an appointment to take your pet to the vet, get ready to wait. Across the country, offices are so overbooked, one veterinarian says his waiting room looks like a zoo. Some even have to wait outside or in their cars before they can get in, due to a combination of overcrowding and COVID-19 protocol.

Sometimes, it’s impossible to see a vet, even if your pet has an emergency.

“I really was not anticipating what I found,” dog owner Alex Young told Inside Edition. 

Young's goldendoodle, Luna, suffered an injury during a grooming appointment and required urgent medical care.
 
“They told me a five- to six-hour wait, just to be seen,” Young said.

After an exhausting three-hour search, she finally found a hospital that would see Luna, just in the nick of time. 

“It was getting a little dicey by the end. It had been hours,” Young said.

Liz Grobe and Omid Shokoufandeh had a similar experience with their dog Maxie, who was fighting a life-threatening bacterial infection in her kidneys. They finally found a hospital 50 miles from their house that would treat her.

“It was really scary. We didn't know what was going to happen with her,” Shokoufandeh said.

Veterinarian Dr. Jeff Werber recommends calling your vet first to see if there is an alternative during an emergency situation.

“I would highly recommend telemedicine. Get on a telemedicine platform, where you can actually talk real-time to a veterinarian now,” Werber added.

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