‘Unprecedented’ demand for emergency veterinary services in Edmonton area

Pet owners in the Edmonton area are being told to be patient and be prepared to wait for emergency veterinary care as clinics deal with a high demand for services.

In the Edmonton area, there are three clinics that offer 24-hour emergency veterinary care:

• VCA Canada Guardian Veterinary Centre in south Edmonton (5620 99 St.)
• Vet ER in northwest Edmonton (11212 178 St.)
• Pulse Veterinary Specialists and Emergency in Sherwood Park (450 Ordze Rd #320)

“It’s essentially non-stop,” Dr. Dawn Abbott with Vet ER said. “We essentially always have folks here waiting to be seen (24-hours a day).”

Vet ER opened up about four months ago and is currently only open Thursday through Sunday, with two veterinarians on staff.

Abbott said typically, pets are triaged when they arrive for emergency care and wait times vary based on the day, time and severity of the emergency.

4:54 Addressing B.C.’s veterinarian shortage

“Best-case scenario, usually a one to two-hour wait time is considered very good. I would say, on average, people are probably waiting in the six to 12 hours potentially, depending on how stable or not their pet is,” Abbott said.

“One of us (doctors) takes the dayshift, one of us takes the night shift and we’re go-go-go the whole time.”

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On its website, Guardian Veterinary Centre has a message posted that reads: “Due to several factors, we are experiencing an unprecedented demand for emergency services in Edmonton. We will be limiting our capacity to care for non-urgent patients. To manage this high demand, we may need to sporadically implement our triage protocol when we’re unable to see all patients.”

As for why there’s been an increase, Abbott said there are many factors including the pandemic adoption boom and veterinary shortage.

READ MORE: Long-standing shortage creates strain on rural Alberta veterinarians

“I think (it started) right as COVID started. More people were staying home. More people were getting pets and it started to increase at that point for sure. Hasn’t seemed to level off at any point yet,” she said.

Abbott said her clinic has been seeing patients from as far away as northern B.C.

“When you go to any vet clinic, be patient. Everyone is working very hard.”