The APDT Chronicle of the Dog Summer 2020 | Page 25

VETERINARIAN’S PERSPECTIVE
As I first sat down to write this, we
had been ordered to shelter in place
for the past three days, watching in
horror as to what was playing out
in other countries. It was like those
nightmares one has, where something
is chasing us, but we can’t run, let
alone walk, away from it.
Veterinarians are considered essential workers in many states
based on orders from governmental agencies, which allow us to
work in order to help protect the food supply, treat emergency
cases, and end animal suffering. We have even been called to
work alongside our human healthcare colleagues in states such
as California and New York. We take all of this very seriously
when we take our oath to “promote animal health and welfare,
relieve animal suffering, protect the health of the public and
environment…”
This does not come without stress and anxiety, especially when
there is a highly contagious zoonotic disease in our population.
How are veterinarians and their staff supposed to adequately
care for their patients if, by interacting with owners and other
staff members, they contract or transmit COVID-19? Given
that most veterinary exam rooms are too small to allow for
appropriate physical distancing, how do we ameliorate the
animals’ stress when the pet is removed from the owner in
order to care for it in the hospital? How do we help dogs
understand that people wearing a mask are not scary aliens?
Veterinarians are also constrained by individual state laws
that prohibit establishing a valid veterinary-patient-client
relationship via telemedicine, something by which other animal
professionals do not have to abide. In California, the current
law is even more strict, in that veterinarians cannot treat via
telemedicine a current patient for a disorder that we didn’t
previously diagnose in-person.
Veterinarians, along with human healthcare professionals,
are also being asked to prioritize or delay non-emergency
procedures in order to bolster the personal protective
equipment supply chain for the front-line defenders in the
human healthcare field. However, at what point is the line
drawn? Are vaccinations for puppies, as well as children,
considered important if we are to decrease the mortality from
other infectious diseases? Are rabies vaccinations important
to protect public health, especially in a rabies-endemic area?
Are spays considered an urgent procedure if done to prevent
pyometra? Is an ear infection considered urgent or lifethreatening?
As most veterinarians are type A people, we so
deeply wish we had the answers to write out a linear narrative.
We can choose to focus on the end phase of grief, which is
hope. Hope for the creation of new ways of connecting, for the
development of a vaccine, for medications to treat symptoms.
Hope in continuing to rethink animal sheltering, when we
hear that many shelters have been able to greatly decrease, or
even eliminate, the numbers of animals they house. Hope in
continuing the trend of decreasing relinquishments to shelters.
Hope in promoting the importance of behavior and training,
as owners more closely interact with their pets, and potentially
helping them identify problem behaviors that they would
have previously ignored. Hope that we continue to strive for
kindness and caring over divisiveness and bitterness.
We are all part of this thing called life...veterinarians and
dog trainers and grocery store clerks and politicians. Let us
continue to embrace the human condition and support one
another during this COVID-19 crisis though kindness, hope,
and resilience.
Dr. Melissa Bain is a
veterinarian and Professor of
Clinical Animal Behavior and is
board-certified by both the
American College of Veterinary
Behaviorists and the American
College of Animal Welfare. She
received a master’s degree in
Advanced Clinical Research from the UC Davis School of Medicine
in 2007. She is a past president of both the American College of
Veterinary Behaviorists and the American Veterinary Society of
Animal Behavior. In 2016 she was selected as the Bustad Companion
Animal Veterinarian of the Year, awarded by the American
Veterinary Medical Association, and in 2019 she was selected to
receive the Companion Animal Welfare Award from the World Small
Animal Veterinary Association. Additionally, she is the director of
Professional Student Clinical Education for the UC Davis Veterinary
Medical Teaching Hospital. Her responsibilities include student and
resident education, clinical case management, and research.
The APDT Chronicle of the Dog | Summer 2020 23