The shortage of vets in rural areas - and even the city - continues to bite hard with vets working long hours and increasing numbers of practices unable to provide out of hours services.
According to the Australian Veterinary Association's website, there are presently 13 vet vacancies in SA but some practices - especially in more remote areas - have given up trying to fill jobs.
Those in the profession say there is no silver bullet to the crisis but strongly believe the federal government should offer incentives such as wiping HECS debts for those graduates who work in the country for a certain time - similar to that offered to doctors.
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They are also calling for more university places for vets and even legislative changes.
Each year about 60 vets graduate from SA's only vet school. The new head of the School of Animal & Veterinary Sciences at the University of Adelaide, Rob Woodgate, says to increase this number would require more government funding.
"The courses are expensive to run and intensive so for us to increase the number of places, we would need more investment to expand our facilities,animals and teaching staff," he said.
This year the first students in the University's Bachelor of Veterinary Technology have also graduated, with the majority of the 39 graduates heading into private practice.
Prof Woodgate says vets have a heavy workload so the vet techs may be able to share some of this.
"Vet techs are more developed overseas in countries such as New Zealand as a support and may help fill the gap but it also needs to be done properly, " he said.
"We need to look at the legislation of what a vet has to do and what other trained individuals may be able to do as part of the team."
Prof Woodgate says the rural vet shortage is nothing new with new schools established at Adelaide and Charles Sturt University at Wagga, NSW- where he previously worked- about 15 years ago to produce more country vets.
He says the federal government, the vet profession and universities need to come together to solve the situation which is now not just confined to rural practices.
He believes the findings of the Australian Universities Accord, a review into higher education due to be released soon, will start the discussion.
"It is not an easy job so we need to look at how vets can be better supported," he said.
Mount Gambier vet Rebel Skirving says the biggest issue remains the number of vets leaving the profession within five years of graduating, with the reality of the job not matching their expectations.
This is putting greater pressure on other vets who are doing the "hard yards".
"For many, working long hours is not about earning a living. They might be the only vet for 100 kilometres and are working like dogs to keep their communities running," she said.
"We are seeing people travelling further to access vets and our vets are also travelling further to call outs and, especially on long weekends, they are being swamped."
Dr Skirving acknowledges there is a huge amount of emotional pressure on vets.
"A vet may know there is a way to use their training to treat an animal but the owner may not be able to afford the cost so to euthanise that animal can be pretty depressing for everyone," she said.
She says owners often compare the cost of their human medication with that of their pets, not realising that human medication is heavily subsidised by the government.
"I am not necessarily saying we need Medicare for pets but if more people had pet insurance it would be certainly help," she said.
Dr Skirving says with the vet shortage, graduates are "calling the shots" on their employment terms and demanding higher starting salaries.
This is making it more difficult for practice owners to be able to afford to ease them into the workload and have other vets support them.
Clare Valley vet practice owner Louise Lehmann knows she is in a fortunate position to have enough vets to service their clients, which stretch from Yunta to Yorketown.
But she has also had to be flexible to retain great staff with her team at Clare Valley Veterinary Services comprising two full time and three part time vets.
"We have four vets in various stages of motherhood but we are lucky we seem to be in a position where we can get enough back at any one point," she said.
Dr Lehmann would welcome more vet places being offered at universities, especially with the majority of female graduates only choosing to work part time after having children.
"Ninety per cent of vets are women, we need to start looking at what is happening three or five years down the track after they graduate- we are losing half of them," she said.
She would also like to see the Veterinary Surgeons Board of SA offer part time or temporary registration to vets who may only want to work one or two days a week. They are currently charged the same fee as vets working full time.
She says university placements have been an important part of attracting vets to Clare with four of their staff starting as students.
"It would be worth the government looking at cutting HECS debt for regional vets. They won't all stay but if we can show them how great mixed practice can be, a lot will," she said.
Ms Lehmann, who came to Australia from Scotland for 18 months in 1997 and "never went home", says there needs to be less red tape for overseas trained vets becoming registered in Australia.
Ninety per cent of vets are women, we need to start looking at what is happening three or five years down the track after they graduate- we are losing half of them.
- Louise Lehmann, Clare Valley veterinarian
In recent times she faced "significant roadblocks" and lengthy delays in having two overseas vets, who had considerable experience, registered in Australia.
"I accept the need to sit and pass exams but even to get a temporary registration in order for a vet to get that experience was harder than it should be."
NEW PRACTICE OPENS IN LUCINDALE
Rural veterinarian Hayley Smith is bucking the trend returning to her hometown to open the first vet clinic at Lucindale in decades.
She worked at a practice at Kingston SE for a few years after gaining her degree before establishing Lucindale Veterinary Services in September last year.
"I was never one of those kids who didn't know what I wanted to do and always loved working with animals," she said.
"It was always in the back of mind even as a kid that I wouldn't mind owning my own practice and creating something from scratch."
Dr Smith admits it was a bit daunting going out on her own but she has had fantastic support from her family and experienced veterinarian Lew Schinckel has been assisting on surgery days.
She is also really appreciative of the community's support, who enjoy the convenience of having a local vet rather than travelling 30 minutes to either Naracoorte or Kingston with their pets.
"The farmers also like that during calving the travel time is less, which could be the difference between life or death of the calf," she said.
Dr Smith says she enjoys the country lifestyle and knowing most of her patients and their owners but she can understand the out-of-hours work could put many people off.
"In my previous job, one night I remember doing a caesarean on a dog at midnight with the vet nurse and that took a couple of hours by the time we got the puppies going. We still had to rock up to work the next morning," she said. "If you had the manpower to give those who were on call the next morning off, it would make such a difference."
She says "money talks" in any profession so strongly supports recent graduates willing to work in the country having their HECS debts wiped.
"I will be looking for a vet and a veterinary nurse in the near future but it is on my mind about whether I will even be able to get a vet," she said.
