Last month, Hesh, a pregnant Husky, found herself undergoing an emergency c-section at Ospika Animal Hospital when complications arose during the birth process. While a few puppies were still-born, Hesh had a successful litter of six purebred Huskies that are all healthy now, one month later.

Hesh’s owner, Marissa Baerg, was in contact with her vet the entire birth process. But once Hesh’s labour became more difficult and strenuous, so did the process to find a veterinarian hospital open and available to accept Hesh as soon as was needed. The regular hospital that Hesh usually sees was all booked up. Thankfully, Ospika Animal Hospital came to the rescue and helped Hesh and her owners through a difficult time.

COVID-19 is one of the factors preventing easy access to after-hours and emergency care in veterinary clinics. Even during regular hours, veterinarians are reported to be overwhelmed and backlogged.

Now, one month later, a response to the burnout veterinarians are experiencing has clinics utilizing a new after-hours emergency service called VetTriage. This service is based in the United States, and requires callers to pay a fee before being connected to any available clinics. 

In response to criticism from the media and animal owners, a few veterinarian clinics have posted about how overwhelmed they have been lately. To some local vets, VetTriage is an excellent service to make sure the veterinarians are cared for too, as suggested in this Facebook post.

Listen to the interview with Marissa Baerg on CFUR-FM: