Veterinary Medicine Commons^™

Pandemics And Animal Welfare: A Mixed-Methods Inquiry Into How The Covid-19 Pandemic Has Affected The Companion Animal Industry In Northwest Arkansas, Sabrina G. Cox, Isabel Whitehead

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

The first cases of coronavirus reported in the United States came in January 2020 (World Health Organization, 2020). In the two years since then, countries around the world have been affected by COVID-19 and the subsequent social, economic, and mental health issues. Previous research shows that the animal healthcare field is already overrun with burnout, substance abuse, depression, and increased levels of stress (Gardner and Hini, 2006), and the pandemic has only compounded these issues (Mair et al., 2020). Observing a lack of meaningful reporting on the issues affecting veterinary staff led the researchers to investigate staff members’ practices, day- …