Volunteers and professionals combine to provide help for animal owners

Yu Zhe, a vet who manages a pet hospital in Shanghai, is working day and night to answer questions from animal owners.

She has been living in the hospital for more than three weeks, taking care of 18 cats and dogs around-the-clock.

"I moved to the hospital because it is so busy. Many owners brought their sick pets here before the lockdown," said Yu, a manager at Shanghai PAW Veterinary Hospital in the city's Huangpu district and deputy director of the Shanghai Pet Industry Association.

"I was initially very happy because I liked being with animals and also enjoying my time alone," Yu said.

However, she gradually found her workload becoming increasingly heavier, and she only slept four to five hours a day recently.

The animals at the hospital have different illnesses. The pets include a cat that fell down stairs and broke its spine and another with impaired liver function and hyperthyroidism－overactivity of the thyroid gland that results in a rapid heartbeat and increased metabolism rate. Yu changes the animals' dressings and administers medicine to them every day.

She has also been receiving more calls from pet owners, who ask her about their animals. At one time, she received more than 200 phone calls every day and her WeChat kept beeping.

Yu said: "Many pet owners haven't prepared enough supplies for their animals. Also, during the lockdown, many pet hospitals have been closed, so sick or injured animals cannot be treated. I barely have time to eat."

As a result, on April 7, she formed a help group on WeChat, inviting her colleagues to join and answer questions.

As of Saturday, the group had been joined by more than 160 pet owners. Yu said, "When we solve an owner's problem, we ask him or her to quit the group so that we can help other owners and pets."

One colleague of Yu's helps owners get food and other supplies for their pets, while three vets are responsible for online treatment and prescribing medicine.

Yu said: "If pet owners live nearby, we send medicine and other supplies to them via delivery riders. If not, we refer them to the nearest hospitals, where vets are on hand."

The team at Shanghai PAW Veterinary Hospital has also drawn up a list of people who may be able to foster pets whose owners have COVID-19, along with hospitals and clinics that can help in such circumstances.