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| Companion animal owners should ensure that their pet's tick prevention is up to date. Image(c) Anne Fawcett 2020 |
As the pandemic situation develops, it appears that
veterinary hospitals around the world are considered essential services and
remain open to provide animal care. That said, some may have reduced hours and
the majority (those at which I work included) now instituting non-contact or
low-contact veterinary visits.
These are where the veterinary team has no or minimal
contact with the human (client) – we still have contact with the patient. But
what it may mean is that the client leaves the animal, waits outside the
premises while the animal is examined, and then is telephoned for the history.
No doubt there will be some teething issues, but these
measures are designed to ensure that animals can be continue to be treated
while minimising risks to clients and veterinary teams and complying with
social distancing (or more accurately, physical distancing) recommendations.
We are likely to see a rise in the practice of
telemedicine or remote consulting. In the USA, the FDA has announced that it regulations
may be relaxed to facilitate telemedicine. You can read more here.
Veterinarians are also being asked to make ventilators
available for human patients. At this stage, an inventory is being conducted –
the ventilators remain on site in veterinary hospitals but at least those who
may need them know how many they can call upon, and where they are.
What does this mean for animals? It means that now, more
than ever, owners need to ensure that their pets are on up to date tick prevention,
and that they have enough prescription medication to manage conditions like
chronic airway diseases. It means that owners of brachycephalic dogs need to be
extremely careful that these dogs aren’t overexerted or overheated. You can
read more about the measures here.
