Shelter Veterinarian (Full Time)

ESSENTIAL SKILLS

• Knowledge of contemporary shelter medical protocols including vaccination on intake, risk assessment and infectious disease principles. Familiarity with symptoms of diseases common to dogs and cats. Knowledge of preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic veterinary treatment of companion animals.
• Must be comfortable with routine spay and neuter and ideally comfortable with High Quality, High Volume Spay Neuter (HQHVSN) techniques. Ideally would also be comfortable with other soft tissue surgery such as mass removals and enucleations; and dental extractions.
• Strong communication skills in a frequently challenging environment where multiple cases are sometimes managed concurrently and often communication with an adopter or foster parent, sometimes through a third party such as veterinary nurses or animal care staff. 
• Comfortable with both individual and herd population health management for companion animals in a shelter environment. Must be able to make treatment recommendations for an individual animal including identifying when the needs of the animal exceed the shelter's capacity to care for them, and to recommend the needed care that a foster, adopter or rescue/transfer partner would need to be provided. 
• Comfortable with advising on euthanasia decision making, to alleviate and prevent suffering. The shelter veterinarian is not soley responsible for euthanasia decisions that relate to shelter capacity such as space, however they should regularly advise the shelter management team of animals that are at risk of suffering or in need of care that is not easily provided in the shelter setting.
• Interested in the implementation and training, maintenance and refining of medical policies and procedures, keeping abreast of contemporary shelter veterinary medical practices and supporting of MAR’s goal of continuous improvement in lifesaving, adoptions, and high quality care. 
• Must be comfortable with electronic medical records, DEA controlled drugs logs, email communication and google software system. The ideal candidate should have experience with PetPoint shelter software program, however training is available on the job and through web based programs.
• Comfort and ability to work with animals of unknown disposition and those who may exhibit medical and other problems, as well as aggressive tendencies. Ideal candidates should have some behavior knowledge of shelter animals and interest to work with shelter staff to help develop enrichment programs. 
• Ability to lift and move objects and animals weighing up to 30 pounds for short distances and to humanely restrain an animal when necessary.

RESOURCES AVAILABLE

• Partnership with the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine includes no cost consults with teaching staff when at shelter for rotations and frequent communication with the Penn Vet Shelter Medicine Program.
• New surgery suite with operating table, dental machine and wet table, and Cardell pulse-oximeter/ECG 
• Ability to send out bloodwork and diagnostics through outpatient lab services such as IDEXX and Antech. 
• Staffing support includes two Veterinary Nurses (1 full and 1 part time) and six full time Animal Care team members (who are cross trained to provide vaccinations on intake, administer topical or oral treatments as needed, performs daily health monitoring and enrichment for animals in our care).
• Management support includes both the Shelter Manager and the Director of Operations who are available resources that offer support in veterinary care, animal welfare needs, and are members of the daily population team. 

EDUCATION AND LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS 

• Veterinary licensure in the State of Pennsylvania or licensure in another state with the intent and ability to gain licensure in the State of Pennsylvania within 2 weeks of being hired. 
• Knowledge of, interest and passion in, or continuing education performed in the field of shelter medicine, high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter and high-volume, low-cost veterinary medicine. 
• Valid driver’s license with no record of convictions.
• DEA licensure or the ability to apply and obtain a DEA license (application costs can be covered by the shelter at time of hire)

IMMEDIATE SUPERVISOR Executive Director

HOURS FLSA STATUS: Exempt Position - hours are flexible based on candidate availability. Daily hours and days of the week may vary according to the needs of the shelter. MAR shelter veterinarians are typically off during weekends and evenings but generally are available for on-call consultations in the event of patient emergencies or general triaging. 

BENEFITS: Paid Time Off (vacation, sick, personal), health/dental/life insurance, 401K, coverage of CE (continuing education) or conference costs, coverage of fees for DEA licensure/maintenance.

EMPLOYMENT There is no minimum period of employment guaranteed or implied by acceptance of an employment offer. It is the policy of the Morris Animal Refuge that even exempt positions are governed by the needs of the agency, which means that employment is for no specified term and either party may terminate employment at any time. The Executive Director has final authority over these decisions and determinations.