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Partly cloudy skies. High 81F. Winds NW at 15 to 25 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

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Sarah Stewart is the only receptionist to make it through the pandemic at Stockdale Veterinary Hospital.

Everyone else she worked with in the front office ended up leaving during the crisis because of strains on and off the job.

If the cause wasn't the daily pressure of working on a skeleton crew, then odds are it was an impatient customer's indelicate outburst that became the last straw.

"It varies from people being understanding ... to people who cuss us out and make us cry,” she said. "It's bad."

Life has been unusually hard at veterinarian offices during the past two years, for staff and customers alike. People desperate to get their pets the care they need have had to wait for hours, in the best case, or weeks, months — if they can get an appointment at all.

It's not just a problem in Bakersfield, and so the solution isn't always as simple as driving to another city. The root problems of supply and demand have been felt across the state.

There are steps pet owners can take to make the experience more bearable until veterinarians are able to catch up with a workload that grew during the pandemic even as supply diminished.

One thing still critical to getting through it all is understanding. That is, recognizing that staff are operating under difficult conditions, and using best practices that can improve prospects for quick and efficient service.

Factors that have made things harder lately on veterinarians predate the pandemic, noted Jennifer Hawkins, executive director at the Southern California Veterinary Medical Association.

Veterinary positions would sometimes go unfilled for more than a year, she said by email, because professional training takes so much time — eight years at the top end — and veterinary schools have had a hard time keeping up.

A contributing factor she pointed to is the one-stop-shop aspect of vets' offices and hospitals. They go beyond diagnostics and medical treatment, cleaning teeth and cutting hair, and every animal requires proper handling that isn't necessarily time-efficient.

Too often pets have had to go without the preventive care their owners became accustomed to prior to 2020. More than a year after physical-contact restrictions were lifted, effectively speeding up delivery of care, vets like the ones at Stockdale Veterinary Hospital are still trying to go through a backlog of pet needs.

Hawkins emphasized how people working in the profession tend to be motivated internally. That's been important, but it's not to be taken for granted.

Most pet owners have shown extreme gratitude, she wrote, while others around the region have verbally abused staff, leading too many professionals to leave the field altogether, adding to the burden on those who remain.

Her advice was for pet owners to call as early as possible in order to schedule veterinary attention.

Stewart at Stockdale Veterinary Hospital had tips to offer, too. Anyone going to an emergency clinic should be prepared for a wait that can go on for hours, she said, depending on the severity of the medical need.

Another good idea is to keep calling around, she said. Eventually an appointment will open.

"There's a lot in town," she said, "and hopefully somebody can get to you."

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