By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The veterinarians from Apple Lane Animal Hospital know that the supply chain issues that are rippling throughout the economy are having an effect on them, too.
"Sometimes, you just don't know," said Randall Smith, DVM. "Last year started with pet foods, on the prescription diet side and the therapeutic diet side with shortages. Whether that was paper bags or plastic bags or parts, other parts, ingredients for the food, I don't know, but they were short quite a bit. Some of them, they just chose to stop making."
There's also a concern with equipment, if they have a need for it.
"If we have something, like a part that breaks on something, some of the stuff we need is six to eight weeks out," said Erica Miller, DVM. "Hopefully our stuff holds out til then."
Vet medicine procurement can also be a challenge.
"Especially on some of the off-label generic sides," Smith said. "There's one or two manufacturers and everyone buys from them. If that one manufacturer has a shortage of raw product, or it could even be a shortage of the gel capsules to put the medicine in or paper for the label or plastic for the bottle, it slows everything down. It's just like a bunch of ships off the coast of California."
The surgical glove representative talked to the vets and told them that those are literally on one of the boats waiting to be unloaded, as an example.