Horse veterinarian Dr. Mel Jowett losing her license to practice in Quebec is not the only issue facing Pontiac animal owners and small animal owners in the Pontiac are struggling to find any clinic that is taking new clients.

This issue was brought up by Mansfield resident Gail Mathias. She told THE EQUITY that since the news of her long-time veterinarian Dr. Jong retiring, she has been unable to find anywhere that will take her as a new client.

“I have tried about 15, all the way from Petawawa to Ottawa and on the Quebec side too. I was just told by a Pembroke vet this morning that they are telling people to try Toronto or Kingston,” explained Mathias.

Dr. Jong’s retirement happened to coincide with the pandemic meaning that the Pontiac was . . .

down one veterinarian while many people were buying puppies. In most cases, people looking to have their animals treated must already have an open file with a clinic, otherwise it is unlikely for them to be taken on as a client.

According to Quyon resident and veterinary technician at the Clinique Vétérinaire de la Gatineau in Wakefield, Annie Bouchard, being taken on as a client at a vet clinic can often be dependent on who you know, or how nice you are on the phone. Staffing shortages, shorter hours of operation, an increase of new pet owners and a backlog of cases from the lockdowns are all reasons that clinics aren’t taking new clients.

Bouchard pointed out that clinics cannot accept new clientele as wait times for their pre-existing clients are already far too long, “We cannot see you before a good three to four weeks, which is already too long for most problems.” She explained that because of this, if they were accepting new clients, the already long wait times would increase significantly for both new and existing clients.

Bouchard also pointed out that most clinics in Quebec changed their hours to accommodate the Quebec curfews. Since then the hours have not returned to their prior state and subsequently most clinics only have enough staff to be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. “[This means] you’re losing a lot of schedule possibilities,” said Bouchard.

Small animal clinics are also dealing with catching up with a significant number of backlogged cases. As explained by Bouchard, during the lockdowns vets were prohibited from doing any procedures not deemed as “essential”. This meant that any service that was not an emergency was backlogged until this restriction was lifted.

As an example Bouchard said, “they didn’t deem dentistry essential even if the dog needed a full mouth extraction. Even if the animal was sore it was not deemed essential. So they could not do any dentistry. Vaccines were not deemed essential either. So everyone needs to start all over again for their vaccines schedule. So it’s all the little things that makes everything harder and more work for us.”

When asked if she thinks vet clinics will be back to taking new clients in the next few years Bouchard explained that she believes the issue in Quebec runs deeper than just catching up on lost time during the pandemic. “The shortage of vets in Quebec has been a problem since pre-covid,” said Bouchard.

She argued that the fact that only one Quebec based university has a vet program affects the amount of veterinarians coming out of university with the language requirements to work in Quebec. This means that most Quebec veterinarians can easily choose where they would like to work and keeping them in rural areas is often challenging.

“Everyone’s pretty much hiring so you’re kind of lucky when a vet chooses your clinic, same thing with vet techs,” remarked Bouchard.

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