VETERINARY PROTECTION
Concerns raised after two New York City cats test positive for novel coronavirus
Better to be safe than sorry
Windsor veterinary clinics may continue to follow physical-distancing restrictions even after rules are loosened.
Manjit Jammu, a veterinarian who works between a number of Windsor’s clinics including Clearwater Animal Hospital and Lasalle Animal Hospital, said preventing health risks to staff will be a longterm concern.
“I think my plan will be to continue to operate still with PPE (personal protective equipment) on,” he said of maintaining their disease prevention process. “We have to save ourselves and we have to save our clients as well and still do the job.”
This comes after recent news that two New York cats reportedly tested positive for coronavirus.
Veterinary clinics face a number of restrictions under the provincial government’s physical-distancing rules, including owners staying in their cars during treatment, wider use of personal protective equipment and putting off routine or elective procedures.
“There are quite a few things that we can do remotely,” said Scott Weese, a veterinary professor at the University of Guelph. “So, telemedicine is something we can do for a lot of diseases — obviously not going to fix the broken light by telemedicine, but there are certain conditions that we can do a reasonable job of diagnosis over the phone or through Skype.”
Choosing what cases to treat and what to hold back on is a case-bycase decision, said Weese.
“Vaccines really depend on the animal and it’s not that all vaccines are banned, it comes down to what’s the risk to the animal and what’s the ability to mitigate that risk,” he said. “There are things we can do to reduce the risk of an animal getting exposed to a lot of things we vaccinate against — that’s our first choice.”
While it may be stressful for owners parting with their pets during a procedure, having owners stay in their cars may reduce stress for animals, Jammu said.
“In fact, there are not too many pets in the clinic — sometimes they can get panicked, or aggressive by that — so they’re not scared of other cats or dogs in the waiting room,” he said. “It’s relatively quiet and we have more room to examine them.”
Cutting back the number of patients and procedures will have a financial effect on clinics, but Weese said the number of procedures allowed can be ramped up safely to avoid too much financial strife.
Jammu agreed, saying he isn’t worried about the financial future of the veterinary clinics, because everyone is in the same situation. However, he didn’t rule out staff cutbacks and shorter hours. Some staff have already voluntarily taken time off because “they were really too scared,” he said.
“We are working with only few staff members who are still diehards that are taking precautions and they’re very willing to help the pets,” he said.
But Jammu said it is important clinics stay open to alleviate the burden on the 24-hour emergency clinic at the Walker Road Animal Hospital.
Officials at the emergency clinic could not be reached for comment.
“If we close down our routine clinics, if we don’t take any sick patients, then they will be overwhelmed,” Jammu said.
We have to save ourselves and we have to save our clients as well