Why Are ER WAIT TIMES SO LONG?

Ever since before the hearty days of the COVID-19 pandemic veterinary emergency rooms and urgent cares have been inundated with a bevy of pet emergencies. Shortages in staffing compounded these issues and further increased wait times as emergency clinics navigated these staffing shortages. Enter the COVID-19 pandemic and its unfortunate effects on the way our world works. Suddenly pet owners spending more time at home with their existing pets or adopting new pets began to see idiosyncrasies in them. Things such as “Did my pet always have that lump?” “Did my dog always eat grass?” With general practices overloaded and understaffed veterinary emergency rooms became overflow centers for all sorts of varying cases from the extreme to the simple. This has created a backlog in veterinary wait times. Of course, as an industry, we are still dealing with the preexisting staffing issues compounded by the new “normal” created by the pandemic. As such the world of veterinary ER has been trying to find a balance between lower staffing and increased need. Sadly these existential issues facing us mean veterinary emergency rooms have had to increase wait times and even limit the amount of cases that can be taken during any given time. We at Pet Urgent Care wish our pet-owning community that we work hard to minimize our wait times and that our staff do their best to minimize wait times. Please be patient with our staff as they work diligently to handle the sometimes overwhelming case loads.