This article was originally printed in the Nov/Dec 2025 issue of the California Veterinarian magazine.

California shelters are facing a crisis in veterinary staffing: 60% report unfilled veterinary positions, most of which do not have any veterinarian, and therefore no premises permit, no controlled substances to treat animals, and minimal ability to provide even the most basic veterinary care.

The extensive negative impacts of this shortage include prolonged lengths of stay, reduced adoptions, higher disease levels, and increased euthanasia. ¹ This crisis translates to over 340,000 shelter animals lacking access to veterinary care each year in our state. ² In short, the majority of animals entering California shelters are entering shelters with either no veterinarian or that are understaffed on veterinarian support.

Many factors contribute to this crisis, and both the CVMA and San Francisco SPCA are committed to connecting the veterinary and shelter communities as part of our ongoing endeavor to increase access to veterinary care for California pet owners. Of immediate priority, we are imploring California veterinarians to become licensee managers on the premises permits for shelters, or otherwise provide care to shelter animals.

Most shelters offer paid positions with benefits, and the work can either be full-time or part-time to augment a position in private practice. Shelters look for creative ways to involve veterinarians in their daily operations. Whether it be population health, community clinics, spay/neuter surgery, and others, there is place for you in shelters and the animals will thank you for it!

Shelter Medicine and You

“Shelter medicine” as an identified veterinary specialty has existed for more than 30 years, and its growth and value during that period have been rapid and unprecedented. While the development of a specialty college has elevated shelter medicine to a higher level, you do not need to be board-certified to provide veterinary services at a shelter.

In fact, most shelter veterinarians are not board-certified. Working as a shelter veterinarian provides extensive opportunities for professional growth. Not only can you potentially increase your income, but your reputation in the community will benefit, as pet owners appreciate the presence of a veterinarian in their local animal shelter.

If you work in both shelter and private practice sectors, and someone meets you when adopting an animal, they are more likely to seek you out for future veterinary services due to their familiarity with you and your background knowledge about their pet. Plus, the specialized knowledge that you will gain working in a shelter, with the particular conditions regularly seen there, will expand your experience and expertise.

There is also little question that spending time working with shelter animals can reignite the passion for veterinary medicine that brought you to the field in the first place. Shelter medicine is efficient and paced according to how veterinary professionals like to work. Without clients to contend with, a veterinarian can help large numbers of animals daily through maximal use of skilled and professional shelter staff teams.

In fact, California law has removed many burdensome practice barriers in shelter practice, enabling a veterinarian to delegate tasks to other staff members in order to help a greater number of animals. In learning about population medicine, herd health, and how to advise shelter managers on the care of resident animals, veterinarians will expand their scope of practice and change their career path for the better.

How to Get Involved

Please reach out to your local shelter(s) to determine their veterinary needs. The law is clear that you do not need to be onsite every day at a shelter to oversee veterinary care for resident animals. Your involvement can be partially remote and you can keep your current practice, and the SF SPCA and CVMA can provide guidelines and checklists to ensure compliance with the law for any shelter. ³ Should you opt to sign onto a shelter premises permit as licensee manager, you must “maintain whatever physical presence is reasonable” to ensure ongoing compliance with minimum premises standards. ⁴ To achieve this, a licensee manager may be a full-time employee of the shelter, or alternatively, work closely with shelter staff on aspects covered by the premises permit but need not be physically present on a full-time basis.

If you have not been a licensee manager before, it is relatively easy as long as you and the shelter involved have a good working relationship and solid agreement on delegation of duties. Any licensed California veterinarian can be a license manager, and the application process is easily completed online through the California Veterinary Medical Board BreEZe registration platform. Click here to register.  Even before registering as licensee manager, a veterinarian should undertake an initial visit for comprehensive evaluation of the shelter.

By working in a shelter, you will make a real difference in animal and pet owners’ lives, expanding access to veterinary care for animals that would otherwise go without it. Working with shelter staff and shelter animals, you can join a growing wave of veterinarians redefining what modern shelter medicine looks like. You have an added opportunity, as a benefit of your license, to practice with purpose—combining medicine, leadership, and public service.

“Working as a shelter veterinarian provides extensive opportunities for professional growth. Not only can you potentially increase your income, but your reputation in the community will benefit, as pet owners appreciate the presence of a veterinarian in their local animal shelter.”

Works Cited
¹ “Access to Veterinary Care in California Animal Shelters.” California Access to Care Working Group and the Program for Pet Health Equity. 2022. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/5ae46f84f8c3438d9c32126d54681936

² “Hundreds of thousands of animals impacted while shelters struggle to cope with the statewide veterinary shortage.” San Francisco SPCA. 2023. https://www.sfspca.org/access-to-veterinary-care-survey-2023/

³ The checklists are based on the relevant regulations, found at 16 California Code of Regulations, § 2030.

⁴ 16 California Code of Regulations, § 2030.05 (d)