The Equine Vet Shortage

feel the only way to have a better worklife balanceand all that entailsis to leave equine vet med entirely.
The draw to companion animal medicine is real Better pay the average starting salary for an equine vet is about half what a companion animal vet makes limited or no emergency duty and shorter work weeks are all enticing specifically to veterinarians who might be interested in starting and spending time with a family.
Why Havent You Replied?
Though designed to make life easier smartphones have been both a blessing and curse to equine veterinarians. The ability to snap a pic and send it to the vet has alleviated many unnecessary farm calls but it also comes with an expectation of vets being always on.
Some horse owners expect nearinstant responses to texts calls and emails forgetting that not every vet has a technician with them to free up time for rapidfire replies. Though it can be easy to forget that vets have more than one client when your horse is in the throes of an emergency its critical that you allow them some time to respond.
Setting boundaries for clients early is essential says Rhonda Rathgeber Ph D. DVM of Hagyard Equine Medical Institute. Vets letting clients know in advance when they will be unavailable is also helpful as is providing contact information for an available vet.
Though a horse owner may think its just a text its important to realize that the expectation of a responseoften for which they arent getting paidadds to the feeling that vets must be accessible 247. To alleviate the angst this immediateresponse mentality might cause ask your vet what time of day is appropriate to text or callas well as how long it might take to get a response.
To keep vets practicing in the field its important for you as

a client to help set them up for success.
Financial Assistance Programs
For those not entrenched in equine veterinary medicine it can seem that not much is being done to address the vet shortage issue from a national scale but multiple programs and initiatives have been enacted to try to encourage more vets to relocate into rural areas.
One of these is the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program VMLRP. This program will pay up to 25000 a year for three years toward the student loans of vets working in areas designated by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture NIFA part of the