This is the reality on some days for Dr Tim Reed of Port Macquarie Veterinary Hospital.

He has been working in the profession for 28 years in South Africa, England and Australia.

The current vet shortage is the worst he has seen.

"There has been a shortage of vets for a few years now. Since COVID-19 hit, the workload has gone up dramatically because everybody has rushed out to get puppies and kittens," he said.

"Less vet numbers, more animals and the stress load went up."

Dr Gary Turnbull has worked as a veterinarian at East Port Veterinarian Hospital for over 20 years and said he has never seen the profession hit with so many challenges.

"The veterinary shortage was first identified in 2017 and it has been progressively worsening since then," he said.

"I don't think that it's an overstatement to say that it's a crisis and it's global in scale."

Dr Turnbull is a clinician at East Port Veterinarian Hospital and is also a director at the Lincoln Institute, which is an educational organisation in the veterinary profession.

He has been involved in studying the veterinarian shortage since 2017.

"The problem doesn't appear to be a lack of graduates from veterinary schools, but rather a premature attrition of veterinary professionals from clinical practice," he said.

"In our own study, we surveyed Australia and New Zealand in 2017 and we're now currently collating results on a global sustainability study and collecting data from across about 20 countries."

Dr Turnbull said the average career span of a veterinarian has reduced to about six years.

"That is pretty dire when you consider that it's five to six years of training to become qualified in the first place," he said.

He also says that the demand for veterinary services increased during the first two years of the pandemic as more people adopted and bought pets.

"Pet ownership skyrocketed during that time, along with the shift in people's lifestyles and also in their spending," Dr Turnbull said.

"Just in the last couple of months that has started to ease off again."

Dr Turnbull said it's the shortage of human resources that continues to worsen within the profession.

"It's now at the point where practices can no longer function in the way they traditionally have, such as being unable to provide an after hours service and an inability to open on weekends," he said.

"Some practices have shut their doors either temporarily or permanently."

Veterinary hospitals across Port Macquarie are experiencing the impacts of the national staff shortage.

"We just don't have enough veterinarians in our area to meet the demands of the public, that's the bottom line," Dr Turnbull said.

"Most of the practices locally, to my understanding, are significantly under-resourced."

"Priscilla and I have been at East Port Veterinary Hospital for 22 years and for the first time, in the past six to eight months, we've had to close the books and tell people that we can't take on new patients."

East Port Veterinarian Hospital also had to close for one weekend because there was no staff.

There are the equivalent of three full-time vets at East Port Veterinarian Hospital, but they would need double that to keep up with the demand.

"To really be at our full capacity, we would need six veterinarians," Dr Turnbull said.

Dr Reed said Port Veterinary Hospital has experienced an increase in people calling the practice because they're unable to get an appointment with their regular vet.

"We're now carrying a bigger workload and on a daily basis we're getting calls from people who say their normal vet can't see them and we then try and fit them in," he said.

"We were a seven vet practice and now we have six. We are fortunately placed in town at the moment and there are other practices that are battling more than us."

The emotional strain is also becoming more of a challenge for vets.

Dr Reed said vets can be having to euthanase an animal in one room while having four patients in the room next door.

"The challenge is for the 25-year-olds coming out of uni who might not be emotionally hardened to deal with juggling emotions," Dr Reed said.

Dr Turnbull said the problem facing vets is complex.

"Some of the areas that need to be addressed include student selection into veterinarian schools to find better suitability," he said.

"We deal with human emotion and relationships everyday and some veterinarians aren't up-skilled appropriately to do the work with humans that they need to do."

Dr Turnbull said one of the reasons why vets leave the profession is the poor remuneration.

"That's very contrary to popular belief. People tend to think vets are paid a fortune, but a 2017 survey of Australian graduates found that veterinary science graduates came in last and historically they have been among the lowest paid graduates," he said.

Veterinarians are calling for understanding from the public during this challenging time.

"The profession really needs the general public to be kind at the moment. Those that are in the profession are really trying to do their best and it's a hell of a strain," Dr Turnbull said.

"The more love people can show, the more they can respect and appreciate what everyone's going through."

Dr Reed agrees.

"I don't think a lot of clients realise that we're up through the night and then back in the practice in the morning," he said.

"There's no great solution. I think it would be helpful if members of the public were aware that if they're kept waiting a while, we're doing our best.

"A lot of vets are on the verge of a breaking point and I don't think people realise how tough it is.

"Empathy towards your vet can go a long way."