According to Griffith Veterinary Hospital director and veterinarian Dr Mark Sayer, the country is roughly 1500 vets short.

"It's been coming up for a while," said Dr Sayer, who also runs several other vet practices in the Riverina, including Kooringal Veterinary Hospital in Wagga Wagga.

"Despite the fact there are an increased number of vets going through, the career span is a lot shorter than it used to be.

"Our business is currently six vets short," he added.

Dr Sayer said this was also impacting larger areas like Albury which no longer has an after hours vet practice.

"That's a town of 70,000 people with no after hours coverage because the vets are burned out and don't want to do it anymore," he said.

Dr Sayer, who has been a practicing vet for almost four decades, said the blame lies with the media and universities.

"Our profession has been glorified," he said.

"People have unrealistic expectations of what it is to work as a vet and that's due to the media and all these glamorous shows.

"I also put the blame for that on the education system. Students get told one thing by the universities but it's a whole different reality."

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All Creatures Veterinary Hospital's Dr Hannah Gardner agreed and said the problem wasn't a lack of students.

"We have a high attrition rate in the industry due to the workload, stressful situations and dealing with clients," said Dr Gardner, who has been a practicing vet for two years.

"We're seeing a lot more people leave the industry in the first three years."

Dr Gardner said she wasn't sure what could be done to reverse this trend, but said the Australian Veterinary Association (AVA) was doing its bit to help struggling vets.

"The AVA is doing a great job at creating mentoring programs and they have a great counselling service we can access," she said.

Dr Sayer said mental health was a priority.

He recalled attending an AVA Conference in Perth where the keynote speaker, who was a psychiatrist, opened the event by announcing vets had just been found to have Australia's highest suicide, divorce and substance abuse rates of any profession.

"That was 12 years ago," Dr Sayer said.

"Is it the job the makes you that way or is it that the personality type that gets attracted to this work is more depressive?"

Dr Sayer said universities need to update their courses to implement effective change.

He said they can start by looking past the ATAR score.

"Universities need to be looking at personalities not just intelligence," he said.

"They can also start with more realistic training to manage expectations as students leave university.

"You need to be emotionally resilient for this job. Just being able to regurgitate information and memorise stuff doesn't make you a good vet."

Despite worsening conditions, Dr Sayer said the industry was cyclical and that it would eventually stabilise, albeit through economic challenges.

"If we do get this recession there'll be a downturn and a sudden need for veterinary services," he explained.

"Then we won't be so busy and our work-life balance will return."

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