Veterinary technician Keith Cisneros, left, and veterinarian Dr. Cynthia Sweet, DVM, right, perform a geriatric checkup on Maddie, a 14-year-old boxer, at Belcaro Animal Hospital, 5023 Leetsdale Drive, in Denver, on June 18, 2024. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)
Dr. Cynthia Sweet has been a veterinarian for about eight years and loves her job, but it’s clear there’s more to the job than just “playing with puppies and kittens all day.”
Sweet has worked at Belcaro Animal Hospital in Denver for four years since moving to Colorado from Wisconsin. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the hospital to offer curbside service only, leading to a surge in pet adoptions.
“We’re fully booked and honestly we’re not back on track yet,” Sweet said. “We’re not seeing any signs of slowing down, which is a good thing, but it’s taking a toll on everyone involved.”
Longer wait times and packed doctors’ schedules aren’t just a result of the pandemic: A veterinarian shortage has been building for some time, and its effects are being felt by pet owners of cats, dogs and other pets, as well as rural Colorado residents who drive miles for farmers and ranchers looking for help.
With the job market for many professions tight due to the pandemic, workers in the veterinary field are in particularly high demand. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for veterinarians in 2023 is 0.5%. The national unemployment rate is 3.6%.
According to the 2024 American Veterinary Medical Association Report on the Economic State of the Veterinary Profession, in 2023, 95.7% of graduates reported receiving a job offer or advanced education opportunity two to three weeks before graduation.
“Our graduates receive an average of 2.5 to three job offers each, and almost all are employed by the time they graduate,” said Sue Vandewoude, dean of Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
The hot job market isn’t surprising given the growing number of pets: In 1988, there were 52 million pet-owning households, said Dr. Laura Morgado, dean of the University of Minnesota’s College of Veterinary Medicine.
“There were 87 million households with pets last year,” Morgado says. “That number has grown dramatically, but the number of veterinarians has not grown dramatically because the number of veterinary schools has not grown dramatically.”
Morgado said the number of veterinary schools has remained stable for decades, but new programs are expected to start in recent years.
There are 33 accredited veterinary colleges in the U.S., including one that has been approved to start a program, and 12 others are in various stages of development, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA).
The association lists a total of 127,131 veterinarians in the U.S. According to the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association, there are 4,010 veterinarians who reside in Colorado and are licensed to practice in the state, and 275 who are licensed to teach.
AVMA President Dr. Lena Carlson believes the veterinary industry is beginning to recover from the disruption of the pandemic: “We’re seeing workforce challenges and veterinarians are returning to normal.”
But Carlson, who has worked as a physician in Pocatello, Idaho, for 25 years, said the shortage of health care workers is more acute in some areas, including rural areas and academia.
“Simply adding more staff or more veterinarians to the system doesn’t necessarily solve the problem, so we’re focusing on targeted solutions,” Carlson said.
Rural Dilemma
Colorado established a program to pay off a large portion of graduates’ loan debt as part of a strategy to attract more veterans to rural areas, and the Colorado Legislature last year increased the payment from $70,000 to $90,000 for new graduates who commit to four years of work in rural areas.
Nationwide, it’s harder to attract veterinarians to rural areas, where they have fewer facilities, lower pay and longer hours. But Colorado, like some other states, has a big demand for veterinarians. Rural areas have not only cats and dogs, but also horses, cows, goats, sheep and other livestock that need care.
Agriculture is a major driver of Colorado’s economy, contributing approximately $47 billion annually to the economy, and the Colorado Farm Bureau lists cattle and calves as the state’s No. 1 agricultural commodity.
But ensuring farm animals have access to medical care isn’t just a financial issue, Vandewoud said.
“The lack of veterinarians in rural areas has public health implications. There are many cases where a veterinarian is really important to look at potential risk factors for human health,” VandeWode said.
A veterinary diagnostic laboratory determined the presence of avian influenza in a dairy herd in northeastern Colorado in April, VandeWode said, a discovery made after the cows began showing certain symptoms.
Colorado is home to widespread West Nile virus and other diseases that can jump from animals to humans, and we rely heavily on veterinarian surveillance and diagnosis to reduce the risk to public health, Vandewoud said.
Colorado Cattlemen’s Association Vice President Erin Carney Spahr said attracting more veterinarians to rural areas is a priority for the association. About 40 percent of the more than 125 CCA members who responded to a recent survey said their need for veterinarians is unmet. And 56.5 percent said the shortage is affecting the health of their livestock and the economics of their operations.
“There’s a big demand for veterinarians in rural areas, but it’s also hard to find people willing to leave urban areas to practice,” said John Stocking, senior operations dean at California State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, citing pay disparities as one reason.
“On average, a veterinarian in rural Colorado can expect to make around $40,000 a year,” Stocking says.
That’s about half the expected income of a new graduate working in a small animal clinic in an urban area. Most veterinarians graduate with a lot of debt: The average debt load for a CSU student is $155,423, according to university officials.
“I graduated from CSU with $209,000 in debt,” said Carrie Kunz, who graduated in 2017.
Thanks to state loan repayment and federal programs, Kunz was able to reduce her debt to about $43,000. She has a practice in Yuma; her husband grew up in the area. About 70 percent of her practice is small animal care.
Kunz, a San Antonio native, also cares for horses, sheep, goats, cows and “everything but snakes.”
“It was an unusual situation for us, coming from a city background like me, to end up living in a town of 3,500 people,” Kunz said.
Veterinarians working in rural communities have to be independent, Kunz said, and she is on call in case of emergencies, “but I think the positive side is that you get to really get to know your patients and the community.”
Kunz knows rural practice isn’t for everyone, but she’s working to encourage more veterinary students to consider it: She has hosted about a dozen CSU students for a two-week training session in Yuma.
“We feel like that hands-on approach is really important for students who are interested in veterinary medicine,” Kunz said.
CSU expands veterinary programs and facilities
To meet the demand for veterinary services both in rural areas and at Denver-area clinics, CSU plans to expand facilities and programs on its Fort Collins campus. The first phase of the facility, called the Veterinary Health Education Complex (VHEC), will include a new primary care center and a new livestock veterinary hospital.
Congress has provided $50 million for the project, which will cost $230 million and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2026.
The classroom expansion will allow CSU to increase the number of students in each class from 138 to 168, said Kelly Hall, associate professor of clinical sciences, who is co-chair of the executive committee overseeing the project.
The 213,000-square-foot facility will include high-tech testing simulation rooms and space to accommodate team-based learning. Hall said the curriculum updates will include greater attention to student wellness and to the stresses of the job.
A 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that veterinarians are two to four times more likely to commit suicide than the general population, with experts blaming burnout, compassion fatigue, and pressures like access to euthanasia drugs for the causes.
“Wellness is emphasized throughout all four years,” Hall says, “and there are opportunities from the very beginning to discuss issues that cause stress in veterinary medicine.”
Hall said the building itself has been designed with students’ well-being in mind: “There will be spaces within and throughout the building where people can gather quietly or meet in small groups. The architects have paid close attention to the light, color and texture of the spaces.”
Sweet, one of five veterinarians at Belcaro Animal Hospital, said the hospital will soon be adding a sixth veterinarian, after its staff was reduced to just four during the pandemic.
“I can’t speak for everyone, but most vets are exhausted. We’re doing as many appointments as we can all day, and we’re exhausted,” Sweet said.
She would welcome vet schools paying more attention to the realistic pressures students will face in the field.
“I love being a veterinarian and I love helping animals and people,” Sweet said. “I come home to three pets – two dogs and a cat – they’re my family, so it means a lot to me that I’m helping other people come home to happy, healthy pets.”
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