No around the clock vet care currently available in Albury-Wodonga

A lack of vets and nurses across Albury and Wodonga and the closure of the region's emergency centre due to the COVID-19 pandemic has seen practices scale back their services to protect the employees they still have.

Family Vet Care, which has clinics in Albury and Wodonga, has after hours care until 10pm and opens for limited hours on weekends, primarily for its own clients.

"We were finding that our staff were working all night if we were opening it up to just anyone and everyone," practice manager Dr Mara King said.

"There was a big increase in veterinary work throughout COVID with extra animals moving into the area from the cities and those sorts of things.

"We were forced to make a very difficult decision to reduce the after hours offering to look after the welfare of staff and to retain them."

Dr King said it wasn't ideal for Albury-Wodonga pet owners to have to travel 90 minutes to the nearest emergency centre in Wagga, but it all boiled down to staffing.

"The veterinary industry is completely private, there is no government incentives whatsoever. We can't offer massive amounts of money to try and attract staff because the clients can't pay for those services," she said.

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"We have a program to support new grads to ensure they have a good experience and are well supported. We've also been very active in training veterinary nurses."

Lavington-based Dr Jana's Pet Hub is in a similar boat and practice manager Dr Sally Whitwell said there needed to be an understanding from the public about the difficulties within the industry.

The Wagga Road clinic offers care through the night to clients and has a telephone triage service to assess the need for emergency care.

"Probably the general perception is that veterinary care is already expensive, but with no Medicare or PBS, the general public don't really take that into account. Unless we're able to charge for our services, given all the overheads that we have for a bricks and mortar establishment, then we can't pay for the equipment that we need and the staff that we need to run it," Dr Whitwell said.

"It's a matter of getting more vets to come down to the area, but us as employers have to make sure there's attractive workplaces for them to work. It's that delicate balance between looking after staff, the team members and also doing the best that we can for the pet owners and patients.

"We've tried to put a lot of effort into educating people to not ignore things that are going on with their pets and get them seen sooner. That way we can get you in during hours and it doesn't become an after hours emergency."

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