Also called: Shelter Vet
Keeps animals in shelters healthy and performs high-volume spay/neuter surgery.
Does 30 spay and neuter surgeries before lunch, checks a room of newly arrived kittens for disease, and designs programs to stop outbreaks spreading through a shelter of 300 animals.
Estimate; nonprofit pay is often lower than private practice.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 8 years after high school. DVM degree; shelter medicine residency optional.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Animal Science, Biology, Pre-Veterinary, Zoology.
Growing much faster than average (about 10% over 10 years).
Low risk for 10 years. Shelter software tracks outbreaks; 30 spay/neuter surgeries a day and checking new arrivals stay hands-on.
Classes: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, Statistics, Spanish.
Official data: O*NET occupation 29-1131.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.