PEI Experiencing Critical Vet Shortage

The lack of access to medical care for Canadians has received lots of attention across the media landscape. Perhaps lesser-known, but just as acute, is the crisis marking a shortage of large animal veterinarians ‒ in particular, for some 800 horses in parts of Prince Edward Island.

According to a story on CBC.ca, there are very few large-animal vets in the nation’s smallest province.

“It is very frustrating and very terrifying because these guys are part of our family. And if you can’t get your mother help — that’s how we feel about our horses,” horse owner Julia Smith told the pubcaster.

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Dominique Schmidt also spoke to the CBC because her horse Finnegan is suffering from a leg injury and is lame, but there’s no vet who can come and provide diagnosis and treatment.

“He is hurting,” she explained. “And it’s definitely frustrating knowing that you could potentially have something to make him feel better, but you don’t have access to it.”

It should be noted that while in-barn emergency care is not readily available to many, horse owners can ship to the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown. Also, the Montague Vet Clinic in eastern PEI has offered equine clinic days for routine care over the past few months.

Unfortunately, vet colleges are at capacity and can’t take on more students, and for those who do graduate with a focus on large animals, many find the lifestyle too difficult, or they move away to green pastures.

“The difficulty we’re facing is a differential in terms of salaries. The salaries are much higher in the United States,” Dr. Dominique Griffon, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Prince Edward Island said. “It’s also an opportunity for Canadians to go to the U.S., or other provinces where perhaps the economy is a little stronger, like Ontario.”

The mental health issues and high suicide rates for vets has also made headlines and has been mostly blamed on the large number of pets adopted during COVID and the lack of staff to take care of them. A survey taken in 2020 found that Canadian veterinarians in Canada were far more likely to think about taking their own lives when compared with the average person. The study, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, found 26.2 per cent of 1,403 veterinarians surveyed had suicidal thoughts within the previous 12 months. Statistics Canada data from 2022 found that 2.5 per cent of Canadians surveyed had thoughts about killing themselves within the last year.

While these are all dire findings, there is some reasons for hope that more vet students entering the profession will one day result in enough vets to ensure that all animals – large and small – can have long, healthy and happy lives. The Atlantic Veterinary College in PEI is adding one more spot for a PEI student, and Nova Scotia has reserved eight more seats at the table for vet students.