BRYAN, Texas — A shortage of veterinarians is increasing the workload of one local private practice.
According to today's veterinarian business on average about 2,000 veterinarians are retiring a year, one local clinic is experiencing an increased number of patients.
Although locally this shortage may look a bit different.
“We are seeing not necessarily a shortage of veterinarians but a shortage of veterinarians that are wanting to practice in local practices,” said Kristen Norris, a practice manager for West Brazos Animal Center.
But Norris says their secret weapon is relationships a private practice allows you to build with patients.
With the vet school down the street, you’d assume they’d be flocking her way but this is not the case.
”Use alternate methods of getting them into the practice doing great internships and ex-tern ships to kind of attract them to our practice,” added Norris.
The pandemic forced many clinics to reduce the number of patients they see.
“Because there were a lot of clinics who couldn’t get patients in or that have decided to not see new patients or clients, we’ve taken on a lot more than expected,” said Norris.
The West Brazos Animal Center sees about 700 patients a month with one doctor under their roof. That’s a workload for 2 to 3 veterinarians.
For patients struggling to find an appointment, Kristen Norris suggests calling well in advance for preventative medicine. But if it is an emergency, they will not turn you away.