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Isabella Bustamante

Professor Kate Kimball

ENC 2135

21 October 2022

Factors that Impact the Veterinary Shortage

“Having to do with the beasts of burden,” is the Latin meaning of the word veterinarian.

Veterinarians have always taken on a huge burden when entering the profession. When I entered

the veterinary field as a volunteer at an animal hospital, the place I volunteered at was incredibly

understaffed with only one veterinarian since the other veterinarian quit during the pandemic.

The understaffing creates a brutal work environment. The future generation of potential

veterinarians is aware of the intensity of the job, so many become less willing to take on that

burden and make those sacrifices, which in turn creates a shortage of veterinarians. The shortage

of veterinary professionals has been a prominent concern since the early 1700s, when the

profession was created, but more recently their trend of decline has increased significantly.

Several social, environmental, and geographical factors that contribute to the recent exponential

decline in veterinarians.

COVID-19 had an enormous impact on the entire world, and has also caused a lot of

changes in the veterinary field. The pressures and concerns from patients and doctors of

veterinary medicine created an intense workplace environment in veterinary clinics. This being

said, COVID-19 added more stress and intensity in the veterinary workplace. Audrey Curtis is an

experienced volunteer who worked at an animal hospital during the beginning of the pandemic.

“COVID-19 had a large impact on the practice I was working in. The stress of wondering if you

were going to catch this unexplored virus was very threatening. This was on top of our insane
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flow of patients” (Audrey Curtis). The stress of handling the pressure of the pandemic and pace

at an animal hospital can be overbearing. Working at an animal hospital is a very fast-paced and

emergent work environment. This is due to the urgency and the amount of patients needing to be

seen. Matthew Salois has a Ph.D. in economics and is the American Veterinary Medical

Association’s Chief Economist, and Gail Golab has a Ph.D., is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine,

is certified as a member of the Australian and New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists, is a

charter diplomate of the American College of Animal Welfare, and is the American Veterinary

Medical Association’s Chief Veterinary Officer. “During the pandemic the amount of visits

from patients went up…Clients were spending more time at home with their pets, which gave

them the opportunity to spot health issues more readily and… Many also had more disposable

income that they could now allocate to pet care” (Salois and Golab). Because there was an

increase in patients, this added another element to the veterinary workplace environment. As

mentioned earlier, animal hospitals are already very stressful, urgent, and fast-paced

environments. Adding an even larger amount of patients would create an insanely unbearable

and overworked environment. The influx of patients during the pandemic would indicate why

clinics were so overwhelmed. It’s hard to function well as a team when that team is overworked

and overloaded. This also can be especially intense in the workplace when there are not enough

doctors or support staff. “Many hospitals are operating with fewer team members and dealing

with higher turnover” (Salois and Golab). COVID-19 was able to cause a higher rate of which

veterinarians were leaving the industry. This caused many hospitals and clinics to become

understaffed, which added even more pressure and anxiety to the veterinarians and staff. The

more pressure the team is under, the more likely they are to leave or become burned out.
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As more pressure is added to the veterinarians and the veterinary staff due to the effects

of COVID, it will create an even bigger shortage in veterinarians as they begin to leave to take

care of their well-being. Carrie Jurney is a veterinary neurologist (interviewed by Sarah Zhang

from The Atlantic) who discussed the effects of the pandemic on veterinarians. “All of my

friends who were at retirement age just retired immediately” (Zhang). For the veterinarians, their

life and their family members lives were not worth the risk of staying in at their job. At the end

of the day, veterinarians are people too. They were as scared as everyone else when the

pandemic seemingly exploded internationally and the fear of losing their loved ones was enough

for them to leave the field. The higher turnover rate and retirement rate created understaffed

hospitals and clinics, which were already low on staff to begin with. “Over the course of the

pandemic, those who remained saw their jobs get worse. Owners stressed by lockdowns became

angrier and more unruly towards veterinary staff” (Zhang). Due to the tensions rising over the

pandemic, lockdowns, and scary media regarding COVID-19, many people were overwhelmed

which clouded their mental judgement and empathy. This created many problems in the

veterinary clinics, as clients would get frustrated and take their anger out on the veterinary staff.

Many of the staff members in a veterinary clinic were burnout and overwhelmed, especially with

the added pressures of the pandemic. Veterinarians are already under an overwhelming amount

of pressure, which is evident by the high suicide rates the profession has had over the years.

“Female veterinarians are also 3.5 times as likely to die by suicide as the general population, and

male vets are about twice as likely, according to a 2018 CDC study” (Zhang). The amount of

pressure veterinarians are under can contribute to a declining mental health which would only

worsen with the elements of the pandemic. Additionally, Audrey Curtis later went on to explain

that she witnessed veterinarians and veterinary technicians quit or retire during the pandemic.
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Due to the intense stress in the work environment, which contributed to a higher turnover and

retirement rate in the veterinary workforce, this created an even bigger shortage in the amount of

available veterinarians.

Veterinary students accumulate large amounts of debt from their undergraduate degree to

their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree. The amount of debt a person gains from attending a

Veterinary school is large and has an impact on a student’s decision to enter the field. Esther

Honig is an investigative journalist who has been cited by US Senators, she was the recipient of

the UC Berkeley 11th Hour Food and Farming Fellowship, and she has been recognized by the

Society for Professional Journalists. Honig interviewed many people for her article regarding

veterinary medicine including Mark Stetter who is the dean of the College of Veterinary

Medicine at Colorado State University. “Vet school loans are hefty: an average of $143,757”

(Honig). That is an enormous number. We have to consider the fact that once students graduate

from veterinary school and become veterinarians, they are not going to be able to pay their debt

off immediately. Because of this interest is going to build on their veterinary school loans and

that number will continue to increase. Another fact that must be taken into consideration is that

veterinarians also have to pay off their debt from their undergraduate degree. So on top of the

national average of $143,757 (Honig), veterinarians have even more debt to pay off from other

schooling. The amount of debt a student would have to choose to take on in order to become a

veterinarian is unruly. Most students aren’t able to make that sacrifice and they are not willing to

be paying off student loans for the rest of their life. Larissa Caner is a university student who was

interested in veterinary medicine. “Originally, I wanted to become a veterinarian. I have always

loved animals and I would have loved to take care of them. I decided to pursue another career

path because as I looked into becoming a veterinarian, I realized that it would be illogical. I
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wouldn’t have enough money to pay off my debt, let alone for a stable lifestyle” (Caner).

Students who are interested in the career, such as Larissa Caner, get deterred from entering the

field just as they begin looking into it. The large amount of debt, low income, and long hours

aren’t worth taking care of animals to many students. The future generation wants a stable

income, with vacation time, and they want to be able to retire without worrying about their

student loan debt.

Veterinarians need a higher income to live a sustainable lifestyle and to pay off their debt.

This will attract more students into the veterinary medicine field. Malinda Larkin is the senior

news editor for the established American Veterinary Medical Association. She researched

veterinarian’s salaries and their debt to income ratios, while also getting thoughts from Bridgette

Bain who has a Ph.D. and is the associate director of analytics at the American Veterinary

Medical Association. “Dr. Bain encouraged employers to consider personalizing compensation

to attract new graduates, whether through relocation bonuses, more time off, or larger signing

bonuses. She also recommended communication across institutions, including veterinary

colleges, to identify successful strategies for debt management.” (Larkin). Because there is a

need for more veterinarians, veterinary clinics and hospitals need to provide higher wages and

more incentives in order to attract more students into the field. As I stated earlier, students will

continue to not enter due to the lack of money and the high debt they would accumulate. Brooke

Bright is a former veterinary technician who worked for several years in veterinary medicine. “I

was a veterinary technician and received minimum wage. I was barely able to afford my

apartment. I want to pursue veterinary school but without the guarantee of a proper income I am

not able to do that. If veterinarians were paid more, I would be able to attend veterinary school

and eventually pay off my debt. Unfortunately, that’s not the case” (Bright). Students and
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veterinary technicians want to pursue their dreams and become veterinarians. But they are

consistently held back. Most of it comes down the lack of money, benefits, and large debt. As the

debt to income ratio gets higher in veterinary medicine, the more students give up on their

dreams to become veterinarians. This eventually leads to less veterinarians entering the field,

which contributes to the decline in the amount of veterinarians.

There is an uneven distribution of veterinarians in certain specialties, which creates many

problems within the animal healthcare community. The uneven distribution of veterinarians is

largely due to the fact that veterinary students pick a field based on how much income they can

make in order to pay off their debt. “53% of graduates went into companion animal practice and

25% into advanced education.” (Larkin). These statistics show that a large amount of graduating

veterinarians enter into the small animal field. Since the other 25% of graduating veterinarians

went into advanced education, we can assume that the others went into other areas such as rural

animal medicine or zoo animal medicine. This means that the percentages of each area were so

nominal that it wasn’t even noteworthy. This indicates how small the percentage of veterinarians

entering other fields are. There is not a large amount of veterinarians who enter other areas

besides small animal medicine. This is actually not due to a large income division. Clinton Neil,

Rodney Holcomb, Kellie Raper and Brian Whitacre all work in the Department of Agriculture

Economics at different universities in the United States and they all collaborated to research the

spatial density of veterinarians and how it affects their income. “Since there is little difference in

income earning opportunities between food animal and companion animal veterinarians, it is

likely that animal healthcare access will continue to decline” (Neil Et Al.). It is not the difference

in income that is creating the decline in veterinarians. It is the uneven spatial density of

veterinarians. Since there is already an incredibly small amount of veterinarians, there are not a
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lot of veterinarians willing to give up their lifestyle from the suburbs or the city, willing to live in

rural areas to work. The result of this distribution creates a strong and negative impact on animal

healthcare. “The U.S Department of Agriculture identified 187 mostly rural areas that lack

sufficient access to a veterinarian. Rural wages have not kept up with rising student debt …The

shortage isn't due to lack of interest, Stetter said. His department recently conducted a survey,

which found that 30 percent of students said…that they want to work in rural areas as food

animal veterinarians. Less than 10 percent of graduates actually take a rural job” (Honig). As

debt continues to rise in veterinary medicine, more students in veterinary school are realizing

that the career they want to pursue in veterinary medicine is not attainable or reasonable to

pursue. This creates an incredible decrease in the amount of veterinarians all other fields besides

small animal medicine and specialty work (from advanced education). Due to this the amount of

veterinarians will continue to drop in areas such as in rural veterinary medicine (Food animal

medicine) and in zoo veterinary medicine.

The veterinary shortage was influenced by COVID-19, the disproportionate distribution

of veterinarians, and the amount of debt a student has to succumb to when entering the field.

Although the world has been in a veterinary shortage since the beginning of the profession in the

1700s, we should consider the reasons for this shortage and strive to change the future of

veterinary medicine in order to create more accessible animal care.

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Works Cited

Bright, Brooke. Personal interview. 20 September 2022.

Caner, Larissa. Personal interview. 20 September 2022.

Curtis, Audrey. Personal interview. 20 September 2022.

Honig, Esther. “Shortage of Rural Veterinarians Puts Farmers, Food Supply at Risk.” NPR,

NPR, 16 June 2018,

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/06/16/620387349/shortage-of-rural-

veterinarians-puts-farmers-food-supply-at-risk.

Larkin, Malinda. “Increase in Veterinarians' Starting Salaries Long Overdue, Economist Says.”

American Veterinary Medical Association, 17 Nov. 2021, https://www.avma.org/javma-

news/2021-12-01/increase-veterinarians-starting-salaries-long-overdue-economist-says.

Neill, Clinton L. Et Al. “Effects Of Spatial Density On Veterinarian Income: Where Are All Of

The Veterinarians?” Applied Economics 51.14 (2019): 1532–1540. Web.

Salois, Matthew, Et Al. “Are We in a Veterinary Workforce Crisis?” American Veterinary

Medical Association, 25 Aug. 2021, https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2021-09-15/are-

we-veterinary-workforce-crisis.

Zhang, Sarah. “The Great Veterinary Shortage.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 6 July

2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2022/07/not-enough-veterinarians-

animals/661497/.