“I don’t think anyone could have predicted a viral pandemic would result in a boost in pet numbers.”

pre-Covid we were bumping along at quite a high stress level but just about where we needed to be. It was generally possible to recruit somebody else and we did have a constant stream of people coming from Europe into the country to work with us, “That has dried up; with coronavirus nobody is moving and we have the complication of Brexit and those are mixed up together.”

7. There are typically about 2,000 job vacancies in the UK veterinary sector every year, but only 900 vets qualify in the country. Vets from the EU have usually filled this gap, but Brexit has seen numbers plummet.

8. James Russell, senior vice president of the British Veterinary Association (BVA), said figures from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) show the UK welcomed 757 vets from the EU between January and August 2019 – but only 250 in the same period in 2021.

A "SLOW BURNER"

9. The situation is expected to be a “slow burner”, with Dr Wilson predicting it could be four to five years before new vets begin filling roles, while lockdown pets could be around for the next 12 to 15 years.

10. Dr Wilson said another side effect of the pandemic was a lot of nervous, frightened young dogs who had not been socialised properly – while puppy farmers have taken advantage of the boom and sold sick dogs to families. 11. She said situations had also arisen where new owners unable to find anywhere to register their pet had led to animals not receiving treatment in the early stages of an illness and having to be put down by the time they have seen a vet when they could potentially have been saved.

12. Ruth Elliott, clinical director at Acres Vet Centre in Airdrie, said the last year or two “really has been a perfect storm”. “This has come upon us quickly,” she told The Independent. “We expected Brexit to bring with it the challenges but nobody could’ve predicted the pandemic.

13. “I can hand on heart say I think the stress levels of the profession as a whole have never been so great. We’ve been suffering for quite some time with stress, with burnout, but it really is unprecedented, it’s strange times, difficult times.

14. “Looking back, if you can imagine your worst day in work, a day where you used to come together at the end of the day and go ‘that was the day from hell wasn’t it’ – that would be a oncea-month scenario, that’s every day now.”

15. Ms Elliot said her practice would ordinarily be able to fit an animal in for a booster shot within the same week, if not the same day, when a client called to make an appointment, but now the waiting time is six to eight weeks, while routine operations can take several months.

16. “We worked through lockdown and that was horrendous, and we didn’t think that could get any worse and we prayed for the time we could have clients back in the building but we’ve had no respite,” she said. “I know personally the number of people looking at therapy, that kind of thing, the calls to Vetlife; the strain on them has increased significantly, the mental health of the whole profession is taking a pounding. “We’ve lost one member of staff from the profession altogether. A member of staff left nursing because of the stress to do the same hours and same pay.”

17. A survey carried out by BVA in spring this year found 70 per cent of those working with small animals were witness to or on the receiving end of verbal or physical abuse in the preceding 12 months. Dr Wilson said physical or verbal abuse was now a “weekly, if not daily, occurrence”.

18. “We’ve always had a level of that. We understand we are dealing with upset people who have a sick pet they are really worried about, and now when they are having to wait longer to be seen … people are angrier, people haven’t had their normal outlets, normal pleasures, everybody is under pressure,” she said.

19. The surgeon appealed for understanding from pet owners and urged people to plan ahead by booking appointments well in advance.

1. perfect storm catastrophe due à une combinaison de facteurs aggravants / staff personnel / shortage pénurie / lockdown confinement.

2. to surge augmenter considérablement / to struggle avoir du mal (à) / to keep, kept, kept up with suivre, faire face à / household foyer, famille.

3. to urge encourager (vivement) / to check vérifier / whether si (oui ou non) / care soin(s) / area quartier / practice cabinet / books ici, consultations (... forcés de ne plus prendre de nouveaux animaux en consultation...) / healthy en bonne santé / at a time d'affilée.

4. lead ici, en chef / surgeon chirurgien / emergency urgences / current actuel / foot and mouth fièvre aphteuse / boost augmentation. 5. single seul (et unique) / rise augmentation / increase hausse / ownership possession, fait d'avoir (un animal de compagnie) / to mean, meant, meant ici, conduire, entraîner / vacancy poste vacant / to fill ici, pourvoir / to lead, led, led entraîner.

6. to bump along continuer tant bien que mal / level niveau / stream flux / to dry up se tarir; ici, s'arrêter progressivement.

7. typically en règle générale / to fill the gap combler l'écart / to plummet chuter.

8. figure chiffre, pourcentage.

9. to be expected to devoir (…devrait...) / to be a slow burner durer longtemps.

10. side effect effet secondaire / frightened apeuré, craintif / to socialise dresser, habituer à être en contact avec les humains / properly correctement, convenablement / puppy chiot / sick malade.

11. to arise, arose, arisen survenir, se produire, arriver / owner propriétaire / to register inscrire; ici, prendre un rendez-vous pour une consultation / stage stade / illness maladie / to put, put, put down euthanasier.

12. to come, came, come upon tomber dessus.

13. as a whole dans l’ensemble / great ici, grand, important.

14. the day from hell une journée horrible (hell enfer).

15. to fit in trouver une place/un rendez-vous / booster shot piqûre de rappel / within dans / appointment rendez-vous, consultation.

16. through ici, pendant / horrendous affreux, horrible /

respite répit / kind genre / strain pression / significantly de façon significative / health santé / to take, took, taken a pounding en prendre un coup / altogether pour de bon / nursing ici, métier de soignant.

17. survey étude, enquête / to carry out mener / to find, found, found ici, montrer, révéler / witness témoin / receiving end ici, victime / occurrence phénomène.

18. to deal, dealt, dealt with faire face à / upset bouleversé / outlet ici, exutoire, soupape.

19. to appeal for appeler à / ahead à l’avance / to book réserver; ici, to book appointment prendre rendez-vous.