On August 26th, Dr. Karen Morris from the Nashua Humane Society, addressed the Rotary Club of Nashua regarding, the Challenges in 21st Century Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Morris spoke about staffing concerns, the cost of pet care, and pet overpopulation.
• She discussed staffing issues related to burnout, compassion fatigue, the veterinary school pipeline, and educational debt
- There are only about 30 veterinary programs available in the country, and there is a need for more veterinarians
- There is no public veterinary college in New England, which is extremely unfortunate
• There is a large problem with the cost of care for animals, and many large corporations that have bought many of the private practices over the last few years. This has greatly changed the landscape and financial aspect of veterinary care
• Dr. Morris spoke about pet overpopulation due to backyard breeders, puppy mills, and unintentional breeding
- She spoke about educating pet owners on spaying and neutering animals, and having these conversations in a sensitive way
• Dr. Morris discussed steps we can take to improve some of the problems with current veterinary medicine, including:
- Support for higher education/reduction of higher education cost
- Educating pet owners about veterinary medicine
- Adopting pets vs. ‘shopping’ for pets.
• Dr. Morris shared some success stories from a few amazing adopted animals that found their forever homes.
• Dr. Morris answered questions from Rotarians, including on whether pet insurance is necessary.
- She recommended pet insurance for dogs, and considering the cost for pet insurance for cats vs. placing money in a savings account.