By Shailendree Wickrama Adittiya
The responsibility of owning a pet is one many of us are well aware of. From feeding them the right food to ensuring they get enough exercise and attention, a pet owner’s day can be quite busy. However, of utmost importance is their health. Visiting veterinary clinics recently, however, pointed to a visible drop in the number of people bringing their pets in for regular health check-ups and vaccinations, as well as specialised care.
According to Sri Lanka Veterinary Association (SLVA) Secretary Dr. Chamari Kannangara, there has been a drastic drop in the number of pets being brought to animal clinics. This drop is as high as 40% to 50%.
She explained that fuel issues are one of the primary reasons for this. People do not have fuel to bring their pets to the clinic, or cannot bear the cost of transport. Three-wheelers are a commonly used mode of transport, but the per-kilometre fare has exceeded Rs. 100, when it was only Rs. 50 quite recently. This poses a challenge to pet owners who need to take their pets to the vet.
The cost of drugs and vaccines has also increased. “Some vaccines have increased by three times. DHP, parvovirus, and rabies vaccines are more than double now in price when we buy them from distributors and importers,” Dr. Kannangara said.
Sri Lanka does not manufacture vaccines for pets, which means that we import the necessary drugs. According to Dr. Kannangara, the parvovirus vaccine used to cost Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,2000. Today, it exceeds Rs. 2,000. With a doubling of price, clients can no longer afford to have their pets vaccinated.
An important factor that Citypet Animal Hospital Managing Director Dr. Sugath Pemachandra highlighted was a change in people’s intention or thinking. The fuel shortage has made it difficult for people to arrange transport to animal clinics and the high cost of drugs has made pet health unaffordable.
Amidst everything going on in the country, people are also unable to prioritise pet health. People are constantly worrying about the cost of living, fuel and gas lines, food shortages, and other issues, which may make it difficult for them to focus on their pet’s health.
Shortage of medicines
When we talk about the medicine crisis in Sri Lanka, focus is understandably drawn to the shortage of medicines for humans. However, one cannot overlook the lack of availability of medicines for animals.
“Vaccines are still somehow available but most of the critical drugs are not, like drugs we use for anaesthesia in small animals as well as medicines given for diarrhoea. The unavailability of drugs is a problem,” Dr. Kannangara said.
The impact of this is significant. According to Dr. Kannangara, not vaccinating a pet can pose a significant risk to humans. “There is no anti-rabies serum for humans at the moment, and, according to our records, clients are not having their pets vaccinated against rabies,” she said.
The SLVA Secretary explained that typically, large-scale clinics send reminders to the client when a pet’s vaccination is due. “This time we noticed that the owners did not come for vaccination even though we reminded them, so there is a very high risk of getting rabies. When the dogs are not vaccinated, there’s a risk because the human vaccine is also not available in Sri Lanka.”
Dr. Pemachandra highlighted the issues with delaying or skipping pet vaccination. According to him, the parvovirus vaccine is very important and animals who contract the disease will display symptoms like bloody diarrhoea and vomiting.
“If you don’t vaccinate an animal for parvovirus, they will definitely get it, especially puppies aged six to 12 weeks. During this time, they have a high susceptibility for parvovirus diarrhoea,” he said.
Canine distemper is another disease that must be prevented through vaccination.
In terms of cats, the main vaccines are the rabies vaccine and tri-cat. Both are available in Sri Lanka, Dr. Pemachandra said, but added that the price has increased, making them unaffordable. This puts the cat at risk of contracting a disease.
He explained that a 40% price increase can be seen with the rabies, DHP, parvovirus, and puppy DP vaccines as well as vitamins and pet products like collars, food, and other accessories.
Pet diets
When talking about pet health, one cannot ignore pet diets. According to Dr. Kannangara, Sri Lanka imports 90% of its pet food and manufactures only 10%. Even then, the raw ingredients are imported. A price hike of pet food has definitely affected pet owners, with prices doubling since last year. In addition to this, the availability of pet food has also become an issue.
“When you feed an animal pet food and they are used to it, they don’t eat other food like rice. They don’t prefer to eat it because, from a very young age, they are used to pet food,” she said. There is also a question of nutrition, since the nutrient content in pet food is balanced.
The unavailability of pet food and a pet’s lack of access to it can lead to various health issues. Dr. Kannangara said the impact may not be seen right now, but with time, we will see the outcome of this in the form of growth retardation, growth problems, and other health issues.
This is a concern for persons who only feed their pets store-bought pet food, which is a small percentage of Sri Lanka’s pet owners. However, those who do feed their pets rice and meat, for instance, are also facing problems due to the price hikes.
“People at least give ‘salaya’, but now they can’t afford to buy it. One kilogramme is Rs. 800,” Dr. Kannangara said, adding that this could lead to people not feeding their pets or even abandoning them. “There will be so many welfare issues in the future if this goes on.”
Impact on animal clinics
From a business point of view, clinics are also impacted by the situation. A drop in clients means a drop in revenue, and animal clinics are now facing a huge issue because they have overhead and utility costs in addition to having to pay staff salaries.
“They have already increased their staff salaries due to the economic problems, so most of the clinics are saying they can’t run the clinics now. They are having so many problems,” Dr. Kannangara explained.
According to Dr. Pemachandra, job opportunities in animal clinics are likely to drop in the coming months, since clinics will not be able to afford to pay their staff.
This follows a growth in the pet industry during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to Dr. Pemachandra, the pandemic was the best time for the pet industry because people had more time and money, compared to now, for pets. Due to working from home for the most part, people had time to groom, train, and feed their pets as well as exercise with them by going on walks, for instance.
“When the owners are with their pets, they know the pet’s condition and what their difficulties or diseases are. At the time, it was the best time for the pet industry,” he said, adding that there was also a high demand for pet products, which encouraged manufacturers and distributors.
“Now, it is completely different,” he said, highlighting reasons like reduced buying capacity as well as a lack of products due to a drop in imports.
Is there a solution in sight?
The SLVA has informed relevant authorities of the drug shortages and, in turn, the Animal Production and Health Department has informed Government authorities. “We are even asking for money from the Indian credit line to bring down essential drugs from India,” Dr. Kannangara said, explaining that despite Indian drugs being used for large animals, most drugs for pets are imported from Europe.
“Due to the lack of dollar issue, companies that bring down those drugs can’t do so,” she said, adding that there have been issues with importing drugs in the past few months.
