My vet practice is booking appointments about 4 weeks out.  I (thankfully) haven't needed emergency vet service, but I've heard wait times at the emergency practices nearby have very long wait times to see pets.

Last fall, right around the time I adopted Loki, I was at my vet's office picking up a prescription refill and overheard a staff member talking to someone over the phone saying they were requiring a $75 deposit for new client appointments.  They did not charge me this deposit when I added Loki to my account.  So there was probably context that I was missing from what I heard - maybe it's only for humans who have never brought a pet in to this practice before or maybe it was a human with other pet clients with a known history of no showing for appointments.  

I've also noticed a steep increase in costs at my vet practice in the last year or so.  I hope this means they are paying their staff well, but I'm sure most of it is related to the cost of everything increasing.

I'm also very fortunate to have some friends in the veterinary field who I can text if I'm seeing something off about one of my pets.  They can help me figure out if it's something to watch or if I do need to get in to see my vet.

I just got off the phone with my vet's office to make a vaccine appointment for Loki.  They were able to get us in next week for that, so at least tech appointments aren't booking too far out.  

I thought I'd pop into this thread. I am a VA training to be a vet tech and that article is spot on. I was on light duty for a time and worked the front desk and in many ways it's one of the most stressful, awful jobs there is. People regularly yell at the front staff. We've had to call in the police because a client threatened to come in with a gun. We've also had clients push past our front desk staff. And the pay is lousy, and you don't do that job without caring about the animals. The front desk staff are talking to distressed owners, worried about their pets and if they try to squeeze extra appointments in they get pushback from the overworked vets and vet staff. It is also really awful talking to owners who have seriously ill/injured animals and trying to find an emergency place that will take them knowing how backed up they are. Please be kind to those folks!

One thing that the article didn't mention is that there were a lot of pandemic first time owners. These folks intentions were good but they were inexperienced and often unknowledgeable. Those appointments just take longer. We are booking at least a month out for new pet appointments and a lot of the other clinics are booking even further out.

At our clinic, we can get basic vaccines in pretty quickly because we do them as vet techs. A lot of our staff is very experience and efficient but yes, we can't meet the demand. And our clinic tends to take on more and say yes a little more easily than others around and it's creating a lot of heavy duty burn out for us. 

I have been so fortunate to have a wonderful relationship with my vet clinic here on the Oregon Coast.  Since 2020, it has been hard to get in for emergency visits.  I have witnessed people having massive meltdowns on the staff and being absolutely horrible if they can't get their animal booked for an appointment.  Having worked in customer service/grocery/hospitality jobs for the past 30 years, I have always taken an approach of what would make me want to go the extra mile for a customer.  I've had a vet do a abscess cleaning on our cat (last minute during her lunch) and several other times where the staff have managed to squeeze in our animals last minute.  I am a big fan of bringing chocolates to drop off at the front desk for the staff.  I do like the fact that I am able to send detailed emails and pictures of concerns and have them assessed, knowing that we have history on file.  One positive thing about the pandemic was the fact that if you were doing immunizations, there was a sort of parking lot triage that would happen.  We had several times where the staff would come out to the car and do a shot in the parking lot.  

I go to two different vet clinics in town.  My acupuncture vet has 2 rooms at another vet clinic that he uses once a week.  I have overheard conversations while waiting for our acupuncture appointment.  One was over the phone at the front desk recently where a person was calling to get their pet in who was a new client.  The human basically said "Well, I will just call this other clinic 30 miles away because you aren't doing anything to help me and by the way, their prices are cheaper"  I also witnessed a woman who was a caregiver for an elderly woman who had a dog who wasn't doing well.  She couldn't seem to understand why they weren't able to schedule a euthanizing of the dog.  Ummmm...so you have to have the owner's consent? I understood her concern but she wasn't able to understand the liability issues that the office would be under.   

On the other hand, it sucks to be a new patient to the area because there aren't any openings.  It is so difficult to get into a vet office if you don't have any prior history.  I have the utmost respect for the vet clinic staff, especially with the studies that they have done on the mental wellbeing of the staff from what they are subjected to. People tend to get heightened emotions when they are dealing with their pets but there is also the other side where the vet staff are seeing issues of abuse and neglect and not being able to do anything about it.  As a pet owner who has had several situations where I have had to bring a pet in for emergency medical treatment and then have to make the decision about euthanizing the same pet that very day, I have had nothing but compassionate experiences from the staff.  

We have to remember that these are people that we are trusting to treat our pets like they are their own family members.  They are also people who have pets at home that they care about just as much as they care about our pets. How can we expect someone to care about our animal companions and be a robot at the same time?   A lot of times, they are going home and seeking love from their critters after having had a hard day at work.  I can't imagine the feeling of going home and just hugging your dog or cat, knowing that you weren't able to help someone else's pet...We expect compassion towards our pets but aren't always willing to give compassion from our end.  I find that just saying thank you...being kind and patient goes a long way.  And laugh a little.  When I brought my Kota dog in for his last vet visit before I had to make the decision to say goodbye to him, he had pooped in the back of the car.  Our exam was delayed because they had an emergency come in.  I asked for some wet wipes so I could clean up Mr Poopie Foot.  We waited 20 minutes extra but he was fine, I brought in a yoga mat for him to lay on.  I didn't get bent out of shape because they were providing emergency care to another animal.  If I had to bring one of my pets in for emergency care, I would hope that the person who had to wait wouldn't be upset.