SPOKANE, Wash. -- Veterinary clinics across the Inland Northwest are full, with appointments and surgeries booked out weeks and even months in advance.
It's a strain that pet owners are experiencing nationwide, and there's a combination of reasons why.
Holly, a dog, has grown up with the Pickering family in Cheney.
"When we were living in California, my wife's parents came down from Idaho and as a Christmas gift, they brought Holly, and she was a month old at the time," said Brain Pickering, Holly's owner.
On Saturday, Pickering found out that a mass on Holly's belly is cancerous. He was told to wait months until they could get Holly in for surgery.
"The vet we took her to said that they're backed up two months in surgery because there aren't enough vets to go around," Pickering said.
Dr. Raelynn Farnsworth is the chief medical officer for the WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital. She says this vet shortage is a result of having less staff to care for animals.
"Specialists are booked out weeks, months, all over the state and definitely all over the country," Dr. Farnsworth said. "I think we're seeing it more because there's a combination of veterinarian shortages and staffing shortages."Â
More vets want to work less hours because of the pandemic. That strain is still being felt in 2023.
"I think it's come to a breaking point where people are really starting to do things like adjust their hours to save their staff and to save themselves," Dr. Farnsworth said.
Pickering says he's not giving up, since Holly is family.
"I told my vet, there's no way we're going to sit around and wait. I'm not going to settle on the fact that we could lose our pet, just because there aren't enough vets here. We've got to do something," he said.
Dr. Farnworth recommends booking veterinary appointments for your pet well in advance, and the sooner the better.
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Rania Kaur is a multimedia journalist and producer at 4 News Now. Previously a reporter at KPLC-TV in Lake Charles, Louisiana, she reported on two catastrophic hurricanes, a winter storm, historic flooding and the pandemic. She stumbled into journalism after being a biochemistry major at Seattle University and immediately fell in love. Originally from Kent, Washington, her favorite things about Spokane are the weather, the parks and the people — she can’t wait to meet more of you. If you see her around say hi! She loves a good restaurant, so if you have any recommendations feel free to tell her. In her free time, you can catch her cheering for the Seahawks, binging Netflix, reading a book at a new coffee shop, or practicing Kirtan at the Gurdwara (ask her what that means)! If you have a story idea, you can email her at raniak@kxly.com, but you can also find her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
