NAVEC - North American Veterinary Ethics Council

07/19/2026

https://navec.org/the-planning-of-the-veterinarian-shortage

Fifty years of “surplus” forecasts. Twenty years with zero new veterinary schools. NAVEC Head of Research Edward Timmons, PhD, on how the veterinarian shortage was planned — and the two reforms that would ease it.

07/03/2026

If corporations caused the veterinary shortage, why can’t they hire enough vets?

That question matters because many pet owners are angry for understandable reasons. Bills are higher. Appointments are harder to get. Clinics feel less personal. Corporate ownership is more visible than ever.

But the shortage itself does not behave like a problem caused by corporations having too much control over veterinarians.

If veterinary labor were plentiful, corporate groups would not need to offer huge sign-on bonuses. Clinics would not sit understaffed. Rural communities would not be left with no veterinarian at all.

Corporate groups can outbid small clinics, shelters, and rural practices for the limited supply of veterinarians. But that does not explain why the supply is limited in the first place.

To understand the shortage, follow the gates: veterinary schools, the national exam, and the pathway for foreign-trained veterinarians.

Read the article:
https://navec.org/high-vet-bills-veterinary-shortage-gatekeepers.html

Six-figure bonuses, closed clinics, and rural care deserts point to a deeper problem: who controls entry into the veterinary profession.

06/30/2026

The veterinary shortage in America has reached a crisis point. How did we get here? How do we solve it? Visit our crisis page to learn more: https://navec.org/crisis

06/29/2026

Ask any shelter operator: the crisis is real.
Shelters cannot save animals without veterinary care.

NAVEC is building a national coalition to fix the veterinary bottleneck behind delayed surgeries, closed intake, longer shelter stays, and animals left without care.

Follow NAVEC for data, reform updates, and action steps.

06/29/2026

https://navec.org/animals-running-out-of-time

Shelters and nonprofit clinics cannot hire veterinarians, and for the animals most at risk that has become a preventable-deaths crisis. The structural cause is now part of the federal antitrust record.