It would be nice to have that! I have been lucky, in the last few years the only reason I have seen my equine vet is regular vaccines. In particular the rabies shot. It is absurd that their techs can’t do that aspect of it, and the minor call outs, leaving the vet able to deal with the complicated chronic cases and the actual emergencies (suspected colic, severe sudden lameness, eye injuries, joint lacerations, for example).
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I hear this solution from time to time, and I’m not really sure how it solves the problem, which is that the job is structured in a way that is stressful and unsustainable. Giving people less training before they deal with it… does not seem like a recipe for success.
I don’t think the problem that makes veterinary medicine grueling and frustrating is farm calls for vaccinations and other simple, routine tasks. Taking this off their plate and instead making every moment of their day high stakes while also having them on call overnight maybe isn’t actually relief.
For myself, I’m grateful my veterinarian comes to see the animals at least once a year when we’re all smiling and healthy and in a good mood.
We already ask so much of veterinarians in the relatively short training that they get - multispecies expertise with few specialists. We can afford to train vets if we want to, and we can afford to give them actual time off.
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I agree with most of what you wrote.
My numbers may not be the most accurate, but the salary gap between large animal and small animal medicine and/or industry are striking. You’re talking about earning less than $100k annually v. earning over $200k. When you are graduating with six figures worth of student loan debt, that is even more significant. And then there is the difference in demand; a physical, outdoor, 24/7 job versus set hours and less risk.
No one qualified wants these jobs. And those who take them don’t last.
And while “pay them more” or “give them time off” sound like easy solutions, where does this money and time come from? Doubling the cost of veterinary care doesn’t work when you are talking about livestock, especially food animals. And that colic or dystocia don’t care if it’s the vet’s day off or not.
If you have a highly trained relief person who can offload as much as the work as possible, would that not be a help? And if you can pay that highly trained relief person significantly less than a DMV, you don’t the crippling economic burden.
While a rural vet may only be making $65k, their tech is barely making over minimum wage. No other vet wants to come make $65k to help that vet out, but I’m damn sure that tech would consider an educational program made for someone like them that doubles their salary.
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Colorado actually voted to do this. There was a LOT of opposition.
Here’s an article about the bill:
More discussion:
From vets:
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I guess the other thing is… I don’t hear from vets that these “nurse practitioner” level techs operating independently is what they want. In fact, every vet who has expressed an opinion to me about it is flat against it.
Small animal medicine is also in crisis; it’s not just equine and large animal. I’m having to wait 6 weeks for an “urgent” cat appointment unless they’re actively following something up.
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Thanks!
I think the main problem with the CO VPA model is was the scope v. structure of the position. It seemed the scope was too large for the curriculum they proposed.
One of the massive problems getting something like this off the ground would be the variability of veterinary tech programs from state to state.
Yeah, absolutely so. I don’t even like techs doing stuff to my animals under close guidance after one killed my cat misplacing the needle in a cysto. I was going to file a complaint but there are…no??? regulations on scope of practice for techs in Connecticut?? Bah.
Mid levels are definitely a whole can of worms in human medicine, too. I can see why vets don’t want to bring that to their own world (even if it sure would help, if set up the “right” way.)
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I saw an ad for an equine vet at a busy equine only clinic in Ocala a couple of years ago. The starting salary was 26k.
Was it an internship? It had to be at that salary.
This makes sense. Just as human medicine has done.
Oh I totally forgot, a brandy-new clinic opened practically around the corner from me. I had been debating going to see what would be needed to get on an emergency/back up sort of client list, my vet is 40 min away and while she does my doggos for shots and emergency stuff, she prefers to refer out and the last time my red boy needed an ER visit she was at a three-day as the FEI vet or whatever it’s called and refused to helicopter back for him (the audacity!) and I was no joke awake for 26 hours waiting for the ER clinic an hour away to get him in, by which time his wound started to smell pretty funky.
I just found out that even regular appts, you are given a DAY and no time slot. So you wait at home (ort the boarding barn for normal folks I guess?) until the mobile vet comes if it’s a horse or until they call to bring Fluffy or Max in. All day. When a friend questioned this because, you know, LIFE, the other person on the phone got snarky and said no one else has ever complained. Whaaaat?? I can’t burn a whole day of vacation waiting to be told when the vet might come or I can drive over. That can’t be a normal practice. Anyway I decided against inquiring because I highly doubt they will come out for a colic or weekend stitches…
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It was not
My equine vet does this now; she stopped giving times years ago. I love my equine vet and am not complaining about her, but I have to say, this is really tricky when you are a private farm owner with a job or other commitments and no staff like a large facility. They give you 30 minutes noticed when they are on their way to your farm (sometimes that 30 minutes is more like 5 or 10 minutes… “we’re on your road now!”).
The good news is, my vet does try to be understanding. She’s done very cool things like come out here with a tech and get horses out of their stalls or the field without me present for minor appointments.
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I went to culinary school. I never got a degree. My starting salary in 1989 paying medical claims was $32K. $26k a few years ago for a vet or vet intern is beyond words.
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I use a mixed practice for my small animals. There are 6 clinics in the umbrella of ownership. They sent out an email last week saying after 10PM and until 7:30AM all small animal emergencies will have to use one of 3 emergency vet clinics in our area as they can no longer provide that service. It makes sense. Equines are sent to an equine only practice (they happen to be the practice I use for my horses) and they will cover food animal emergencies 24/7.
I’m thankful to have access to the services.
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The large animal practice I’ve used for years seems to work because they have many partners (vets who bought into the practice) and associates (vets who work for the practice) and they share the work.
The vet who has come out most regularly to my place works three days a week for the vet practice and has his own farm and business the rest of the time. Each vet has on-call time for emergencies.
This arrangement probably reduces the burnt-out-and-overworked scenario vets experience who are trying to cover everything themselves or with a small practice.
This practice also does the “will call when on the way” appointment and this works for me because I work at home. It did take some getting used to when I first learned of the arrangement.
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My equine vet also does the “day” appointments with no time. You can call in the morning to get an idea of morning or afternoon. It’s very difficult to manage even as someone who works from home - I am on conf calls a lot of the day - but I make it work because I understand what she is dealing with and I want to support her practice. It also helps that she is wonderful.
Thankfully for me, I’m three miles away from her home base so am usually the first or second appointment of the day.
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Can’t speak to the small animal end, but when I was in practice before cell phones, the only person who got a specified arrival time was my first appointment of the day.
Everyone else was either “sometime in the morning, I hope” or “afternoon”.
A major reason for this was “Hey, Doc, while you’re here, could you take a look at this?”
After cell phones, it got a bit easier to give the later barn calls a ballpark ETA.
I did have a fair number of clients whom I would see “after 5” because they worked elsewhere during the day, and not being a morning person, I was perfectly happy to see them later in the day vs. O dark thirty.
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My vet practice gives a time then texts updates- you can expect an appt within about 90 minutes either side of the original estimate. It works pretty well tbh.
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I don’t know how else they could give a more accurate time. There are so many variables with farm calls. I just ask for an hour heads up so that I can give dorm gel to my needle-shy gelding, but otherwise I try to be flexible.
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