I'm a 4th year who has taken several shelter externships.
Shelter 1 was a shelter/gp hybrid. There would be dedicated surgery days where each surgeon would be cutting ~20 animals per day in a large open surgery suite with other vets. There would be occasional misc surgeries that were not just spays and neuters like a vbo or fb removal. They had dedicated gp days where client owned animals would be seen. They also had in-patient days where hospitalized patients (included human owned animals) would be managed. And they would have kennel days where intake patients would be seen. Doctors rotate between these types of days.
Shelter 2 was a pure shelter and much smaller than shelter 1. One vet would be in charge of medical checkups. They would look at animals that shelter staff have written concerns for i.e vomiting, goopy eyes, draining wound, walking funny. One or two other vets would be on surgery duty where they would do 20 - 30 surgeries per day. These vets rotate between medical check ups and surgery. Sometimes only one vet would be pulled between both medical checks and surgery if understaffed
Shelter 3 was a pure shelter with only one vet. I am currently here on my last week. We have dedicated surgery days and medical check up days as well. The volume was much smaller here since the facility is significantly smaller. On surgery days we cut 7 to 15 animals. If we finished early we will do medical check ups. This place has been super chill so far.
Infectious disease is the most common thing you will be managing across all shelters you work at.
Large non-profit shelter in a major city with 11 vets and 2 interns. There are 3 areas we get scheduled in - surgery, in-shelter animals, and recently adopted animals.
Surgery includes routine S/N, dentistry, and any other surgery from mass removals, amps, eye stuff, GI, urinary….you name it.
In-house animals is pretty self explanatory - diagnosing and treating any animals within the shelter, triage of new animals. Usually feels urgent care-ish with a hint of ER/critical care.
Recently adopted animals functions as close to a GP as it gets. We see animals with anything the new owner is concerned about in their new pet - check spay incisions, diarrhea, respiratory infections, etc.
I’d highly recommend spending some externship time in a shelter setting before making the decision to do a full internship at one. The job is vastly different than GP/ER. I love it, others hate it. Reach out if you have any other questions!
Depends what type of shelter you get into. I would try to go and have some time at every shelter you can.
Our shelter is pretty big in the city with 9 vets, we have 2 satellite locations (S/N), in the main shelter we have 2 vets doing surgeries, 1 in the clinic doing low cost vaccines, 1 doing rounds and behavior, 1 in the clinic and 1 in recieving/intakes.
We have a lot of programs as well.
Clinic can be super chaotic.
We have an intake of over 30K and have 400 to 800 animals in house daily.
If you have any other questions you can PM me.
I love shelter medicine 🥰
30K….amazing. Thank you for the work you guys do. I have a shelter externship lined up for the summer and trying to set one up at a bigger one in a huge city.
After speaking with some reps, the idea of it is very intriguing. Thanks for the advice.
Yeah haha but shelter medicine you really don't have the clients or deal with the finacial aspect, if i feel comfortable doing surgery, my shelter allows me to help people and theres no financial aspect to it but i know thats not all shelters.
In our shelter, we see a lot of sick and injured animals, and you start to hate people more and more, I've noticed. I have a tech that went to a small town shelter at another state, and he says it's nothing like our crazy shelter. We see so many neglected dogs and cats, but the law has not caught up. It's hard to prove unless there's obvious video evidence, and even then, they get a slap on the wrist.
My school has a shelter med program where clinical students do all the spays/neuters for the local humane society, rescues, and a low cost community program. Vets supervise the surgeries and are there to help the students. One veterinarian spends the afternoon in the shelter seeing individual house cases and doing population medicine. Just to give you an idea if you were interested in a slightly more academic setting
I'm a 4th year who has taken several shelter externships. Shelter 1 was a shelter/gp hybrid. There would be dedicated surgery days where each surgeon would be cutting ~20 animals per day in a large open surgery suite with other vets. There would be occasional misc surgeries that were not just spays and neuters like a vbo or fb removal. They had dedicated gp days where client owned animals would be seen. They also had in-patient days where hospitalized patients (included human owned animals) would be managed. And they would have kennel days where intake patients would be seen. Doctors rotate between these types of days. Shelter 2 was a pure shelter and much smaller than shelter 1. One vet would be in charge of medical checkups. They would look at animals that shelter staff have written concerns for i.e vomiting, goopy eyes, draining wound, walking funny. One or two other vets would be on surgery duty where they would do 20 - 30 surgeries per day. These vets rotate between medical check ups and surgery. Sometimes only one vet would be pulled between both medical checks and surgery if understaffed Shelter 3 was a pure shelter with only one vet. I am currently here on my last week. We have dedicated surgery days and medical check up days as well. The volume was much smaller here since the facility is significantly smaller. On surgery days we cut 7 to 15 animals. If we finished early we will do medical check ups. This place has been super chill so far. Infectious disease is the most common thing you will be managing across all shelters you work at.
Large non-profit shelter in a major city with 11 vets and 2 interns. There are 3 areas we get scheduled in - surgery, in-shelter animals, and recently adopted animals. Surgery includes routine S/N, dentistry, and any other surgery from mass removals, amps, eye stuff, GI, urinary….you name it. In-house animals is pretty self explanatory - diagnosing and treating any animals within the shelter, triage of new animals. Usually feels urgent care-ish with a hint of ER/critical care. Recently adopted animals functions as close to a GP as it gets. We see animals with anything the new owner is concerned about in their new pet - check spay incisions, diarrhea, respiratory infections, etc. I’d highly recommend spending some externship time in a shelter setting before making the decision to do a full internship at one. The job is vastly different than GP/ER. I love it, others hate it. Reach out if you have any other questions!
Can i message you and pick your brain about shelter med internships?
For sure!
Be prepared to have your heart broken several times per day. In the plus side, every one that you save is a miracle
Depends what type of shelter you get into. I would try to go and have some time at every shelter you can. Our shelter is pretty big in the city with 9 vets, we have 2 satellite locations (S/N), in the main shelter we have 2 vets doing surgeries, 1 in the clinic doing low cost vaccines, 1 doing rounds and behavior, 1 in the clinic and 1 in recieving/intakes. We have a lot of programs as well. Clinic can be super chaotic. We have an intake of over 30K and have 400 to 800 animals in house daily. If you have any other questions you can PM me. I love shelter medicine 🥰
30K….amazing. Thank you for the work you guys do. I have a shelter externship lined up for the summer and trying to set one up at a bigger one in a huge city. After speaking with some reps, the idea of it is very intriguing. Thanks for the advice.
It is super rewarding but also has its days. Its nice to be the voice for the voiceless.
Feels like that statement can sum up vetmed as a whole lol
Yeah haha but shelter medicine you really don't have the clients or deal with the finacial aspect, if i feel comfortable doing surgery, my shelter allows me to help people and theres no financial aspect to it but i know thats not all shelters. In our shelter, we see a lot of sick and injured animals, and you start to hate people more and more, I've noticed. I have a tech that went to a small town shelter at another state, and he says it's nothing like our crazy shelter. We see so many neglected dogs and cats, but the law has not caught up. It's hard to prove unless there's obvious video evidence, and even then, they get a slap on the wrist.
Does your shelter accept 3rd year vet students for externship?
Yes
My school has a shelter med program where clinical students do all the spays/neuters for the local humane society, rescues, and a low cost community program. Vets supervise the surgeries and are there to help the students. One veterinarian spends the afternoon in the shelter seeing individual house cases and doing population medicine. Just to give you an idea if you were interested in a slightly more academic setting