Shelter Medicine Resources for veterinarians
How to support a Shelter
New York State Animal Shelters need per-diem veterinarians to help them meet the required standards. We put together a list of shelters needing veterinary help. Take a look, maybe one is near you.
Our Shelter medicine experts put together the following resources to support your work.
What sort of veterinary help do animal shelters need?
There are a wide-range of services that animal shelters and rescues need. Don’t worry if you can’t provide all of them. Just offering to help with one could make a huge difference.
Although Shelter Medicine is a specialist area of veterinary medicine, don’t let that put you off if you don’t have a background. There are copious resources available, and organizations in NY that can provide consultancy services to get you started.
Also the members of our Animal Welfare committee will be happy to talk to you to set you off in the right direction. Just contact our office and we can connect you.
Here is a list of the ways you can help:
- Oversight of in-house medical services provided by an LVT or other staff
- Creating and overseeing Standard Operating Procedures
- Staff training
- General physical examinations
- Vaccinations and other preventive care
- Spay/neuter surgery at the shelter
- Spay/neuter surgery at an off-site clinic
- Other medical/surgical services
Why shelters need you! And why maybe you need them.
Let’s start by talking about what it mean for you to work with an animal shelter. Veterinarians are motivated by a desire to serve and help animals. But sometimes work in a busy commercial practice doesn’t provide enough of a sense of meaning to satisfy that urge to contribute. Finding some time during the month to work at an animal shelter could provide a balance, and you will have deep satisfaction from knowing how much of a difference you are making in the lives of these animals, and how it helps them toward adoption.
Animal shelters are constantly struggling to provide sufficient care for populations where there are inherent hazards, such as the spread of infectious diseases. They don’t just need help with individual animals, they need help with creating systems and an environment that keep animals safe, and provide the right care for incoming animals.
They also face a ticking clock towards the implementation of the Companion Animal Care Standards Act that takes effect in December 2025. The animal shelter community itself was a strong advocate for this legislation, through their industry advocate the NYS Animal Protection Federation. This sets minimum standard for staff training, record-keeping, and management systems. Shelters need veterinarians to help them setup some of the systems required to comply with the new law.
Find a Shelter that needs help.
General resources
This first section may be of particular help if you are new to shelter medicine and are looking for an overview. But they are just as valuable for seasoned shelter veterinarians.
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Shelter Medicine advice and consultation services These groups can help you be successful when you support an animal shelter |
NYSVMS Animal Welfare committee can help point you in the right direction and answer some general questions as you find your way. | Contact NYSVMS staff |
| Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine has a strong Shelter Medicine department that offers a range of consulting and subsidized diagnostic services. | https://www.vet.cornell.edu/hospitals/maddiesr-shelter-medicine-program/about-us/contact-us | |
| ASPCA’s Shelter Medicine team is available to help with topics like infectioous diseases, shelter management and record-keeping and much more. They have a request for help form on their site. | https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/shelter-medicine-consults-and-support-animal-shelters | |
| University of Florida Shelter Medicine Program in the College of Veterinary Medicine also offers consultations. | https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu/shelter-services/shelter-health-assessment/ | |
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Association of Shelter Veterinarians
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This is a great site to quickly get up to speed with current practice in shelter medicine | https://www.sheltervet.org/home |
| Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters – a pivotal resource for the care of shelter animals | https://www.sheltervet.org/resources/guidelines | |
| Humane Society Veterinary Medical Alliance |
Look for the Shelter Medicine section in their webinars tab, as well as news articles | https://www.hsvma.org/ |
| Association of Animal Welfare Advancement | Great collection of best practices documents and webinar recordings | https://theaawa.org/ |
| Humane Society of the United States |
Includes a range of shelter medicine resources | https://humanepro.org/topics/shelter-medicine |
| Shelters United | Veterinarian of Record Toolkithttps://sheltersunited.com/vor/welcome/ | |
| Maddie’s Fund |
Includes Maddie’s University – a online learning university for all things animal welfare | https://www.maddiesfund.org/learn-and-connect.htm |
Other resources
These resources go into more detail about specific aspects of veterinary care in the context of animal shelters
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C Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program/Shelter Health Resources |
This has info sheets on various infection diseases (so people know that the info can be helpful for private practice as well, not just shelter/population medicine) |
https://www.sheltermedicine.com/library/ |
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Information on Retro testing cats in shelters |
Discussions about the value of testing for FeLV and FIV and a webinar recording from Maddie’s fund |
https://www.maddiesfund.org/new-aafp-felv-fiv-guidelines-5-critical-takeaways-for-your-shelter.htm |
| University of Wisconsin – Shelter Medicine Guidebooks |
Free guidebooks on Parvovirus, Panleukopenia, Ringworm(including information on caring for in private home) and a guide to Raising Underage Kittens |
https://sheltermedicine.wisc.edu/library/guidebooks |
| AHAA Canine Vaccination Guidelines | Good guidelines – but there is a shelter medicine part that recommends vaccines at 2-3 weeks, which is not universally accepted as best practice. | https://www.aaha.org/resources/2022-aaha-canine-vaccination-guidelines/vaccination-of-shelter-dogs-and-puppies/ |
| AHAA/AAFP Feline Vaccination Guidelines | See comment above | https://www.aaha.org/resources/2020-aahaaafp-feline-vaccination-guidelines/ |
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ASPCA Pro HQHVSN resources
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Guidelines for HQHVSN surgery, techniques, setup, etc (and ASPCA Pro has many other shelter-related resources) |
https://www.aspcapro.org/spayneuterlibrary |
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Shelter Animals Count database |
Shelter animal statistics | https://www.shelteranimalscount.org/ |
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Access to veterinary care
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A 2018 report on barriers, current practices and public policy related to accessing veterinary care | https://pphe.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/avcc-report.pdf |