Car park vet consultations for our furry friends

On their regular check-ups to the vets, our furry friends are receiving extra love and plenty of pats from nurses at West Gippsland Vet Care.

In an effort to stay open, the vet clinic chose to implement contactless service and provided car park consultations for their customers.

Pets had a designated carer who walked them through treatment, while their owners wait in the car.

“The animals are without their owners when they come into the clinic so it’s both hard for some owners and hard for some animals.

“You get the odd animal that’s a little bit more stressed but certainly with lots of pats and treats, the nurses can calm those animals down and take that stress away,” managing director Ben Smith said.

With a rising number of COVID cases in Baw Baw, Dr Smith fears the clinic could shut down if a staff member becomes a close contact.

The car park consultations aim to minimise the risk of the clinic being closed for an extended period of time, while keeping their staff and customers safe.

“We’ve got a duty of care to our patients, which are people’s pets, and if we can’t offer that service then the pets and animal welfare is the thing that’s going to suffer the most,” he said.

West Gippsland Vet Care operates clinics in Warragul and Drouin and have rostered on extra staff to accommodate for their furry clients.

The clinic is a “fear-free” accredited practice, which means they perform procedures and treatments in a way that’s stress free for animals.

The business has split into three separate teams, one in Drouin, one in Warragul, and a large animal team.

“That’s so we don’t cross over, and we’ve got a team that can function if a member becomes a close contact,” Dr Smith said.

The large animal team is operating as usual with COVID safe practices.

Dr Smith said a large majority of customers have been understanding of the changes.