Urgent vet care for pets will always be available
THIS is a worrying time for everyone. Every morning, we wake up and think: “What next?” Everything seems so uncertain. This week, I want to ease one concern that people may have: during this crisis, what will happen if their pet falls ill or needs the vet urgently? Will vets stay open?
My aim this week is to reassure people as best I can.
First, if your pet needs the vet for any reason, then you should just phone your local vet as usual. If, for any reason at all, they are unable to see your pet themselves, they will let you know how to find a vet who will see you. Vets are obliged under their professional code of conduct to ensure that the animals under their care are able to get veterinary help twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty two weeks a year. This obligation has not changed because of COVID-19. In the past, vets used to have a direct on-call rota for after-hours work, and many vets across Ireland still do this. In some areas, vets now have a shared after-hours rota, so you may see a different vet from the normal day time vet. And in other areas, there may be a centralised pet emergency clinic that serves vets in a wide area, with full time vets and nurses employed just to cover night and weekend work.
Regardless of the way it’s done, the system ensures that whenever you phone your local vet, you should be informed about how to get prompt veterinary help for your pet.
Will all vets definitely stay open during the COVID-19 crisis? As I write this, that is certainly the intention, but it’s impossible to predict how this may change. Every day it seems that the national picture shifts, and government policy adapts to meet the need to control the virus. Having said that, even in areas where there have been the strictest lock-down controls around the world, it’s been recognised that animal health is essential to society. Veterinary care for urgent cases has been continued even in places that have been locked down. So even in the worst case scenario, with complete shutdown of our society, measures should be in place to provide veterinary care for your pets should they need it. Whatever happens, you should always be able to phone your local vet clinic to receive instructions on how to have your pet seen by a vet.
What about possible risks to humans going to vets and potentially meeting other people that could be carrying the virus? Again, this should not be something to worry about. We all know that because there is currently no vaccine available to prevent COVID-19, the best way to avoid becoming ill is to avoid exposure to the virus. Vets are already experts in preventing the spread of viral infections: as part of our job, we have to care for animals that can suffer from far more lethal and contagious infections than COVID-19. Fortunately, these pet diseases (such as Parvovirus) do not affect humans, but vets have many years of experience at controlling dangerous infections in their clinics. This latest crisis has meant that we need to adapt such controls from being animal-centred to being people-centred.
All vet clinics in Ireland are now taking simple preventive measures to ensure that members of the public and staff members are protected from the Coronavirus.
Everyone in Ireland is now familiar with the general preventive actions: avoiding close contact with anyone (defined as being within 2 meters of each other), avoiding touching our eyes, nose, and mouth, covering our coughs or sneezes with a tissue, then throwing the tissue in the bin, washing our hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds (or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer), and everyone staying at home as much as possible.
As well as this, new protocols are in place for disinfecting surfaces in veterinary clinics, including workstations, keyboards, doorknobs, counter tops, and stethoscopes. Hand sanitizers are now present in vet clinics in multiple locations.
Veterinary team members who have any symptoms of respiratory illness are staying at home and following medical advice on self-isolation. If a vet clinic team member is ever confirmed to have COVID-19, advice will be followed from the HSE on how to proceed, to ensure that the rest of the team, as well as the public, are kept safe.
If an owner wants to ensure complete self-isolation, vets are beginning to use telemedicine to help assess the animal’s condition and needs. This may be done via video apps online, or even just using the old-fashioned telephone. It’s never as good as seeing a patient in person but it can at least be a first step to solving a problem. If an animal owner is ill with COVID-19, and if their pet needs to be seen in person, the ill owner will need to ask a healthy family member or friend bring their sick animal to the vet clinic.
As the situation progresses, animal care may begin to be restricted to only severely ill animals and emergencies. Vets may need to use personal protective equipment (PPE), including masks, gowns, and gloves. Some vets are already meeting ill animals at their cars, rather than asking owners to bring them into the building.
This is a difficult time, but remember: a vet should always be available for your pet if they have urgent need of help.