Medical person wearing a stethoscope on neck with a white Chihuahua

Shelter medicine saves lives

Provide high-quality medicine and surgery to more pets, for less.

If you’re a shelter that’s looking to improve and extend your veterinary resources, consider our National Shelter Medicine Programf. We offer on-site and virtual support for high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter (HQHVSN) services and other key lifesaving services, all while preserving your staff’s well-being.

Best Friends National Shelter Medicine Program

Every size and type of shelter can benefit, improving shelter medicine to saves lives.

Whether you’re a big city shelter or a rural clinic, you’ll get expert advice, training, and support — even if you don’t have a shelter medicine program in place. We offer shelter assessments and expert follow-up three ways: on-site, virtually, and at Best Friends workshops.

Participants have a choice of these offerings:

Program assessments

Comprehensive shelter medicine program assessments
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Consultations

Infectious disease consultation and outbreak response
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Mentorships

On-site or virtual shelter medicine mentorships
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National Shelter Medicine Program assessments

You’ll get comprehensive or targeted assessments, geared directly to your needs.

To pinpoint where your shelter needs the most support, we’ll send Best Friends staff (most often a veterinarian and a vet tech) to do an on-site, multiday assessment. They’ll ask what areas you want to focus on: program efficiency, staffing, disease prevention and management, healthy housing, population management, and/or animal health. 

After the assessment, they’ll meet with shelter leadership and your medical staff to help identify priorities and find the resources you need to target those areas. Ongoing follow-up can include staff training, help with protocol design and implementation, and targeted programs that address medical populations.

Yes, I’m interested
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Shelter medicine mentorships—virtual and on-site

Get expert help designing and implementing treatment programs that really make a difference.

Are you a solo veterinarian who wants to bounce ideas off another experienced shelter vet? This mentorship is for you. 

Would you like to begin a ringworm or parvo program, but don’t know where to start? We have the resources you need. Sign right up! 

Our virtual mentorships are geared to address the challenges at your shelter: capacity challenges, length of stay, pet health, and adoption and transfer outcomes. 

We’d love to help you tackle population management, program implementation, lifesaving medical programs and more. On-site support may also be available. Just ask!

Who should enroll?

Shelters trying to improve medical programs or start new medical programs will benefit from our virtual mentorships, where we explore your needs and help create lifesaving improvements. If you want to get proactive with population management, you can request on-site support to help get that program going. 

We’ll help you address animal flow and daily population rounds. Targeted advice can really streamline the process and save more lives! 

Yes, I'm Interested
Smiling person wearing protective gloves and a gown holding a young puppy

Infectious disease consultation and outbreak response

Don’t let disease impact your lifesaving work.

Are you seeing more sick pets than usual? Are your pets showing more severe clinical signs? We know a lot about best practices for outbreak response and general management. We’ll help you solve the very real challenges posed by infectious diseases that affect pet health and happiness in your shelter.

Who should request these services? 

If you suspect an outbreak of infectious disease in your pet population, please consider an expert consultation. We’ll help you use your limited resources most effectively and thereby achieve the fastest resolution to the outbreak. If you want to decrease infectious diseases in general and aren’t sure where to start, we can help!

Yes, I'm Interested
People working together in a veterinary clinic setting

Meet the shelters that have shifted into high gear.

Learn about shelters that have benefitted from our National Shelter Medicine Program’s hands-on training to build veterinary care services.
Hear Their Stories

Want to improve training opportunities at your shelter?

The Shelter Collaborative Program pairs mentors from no-kill shelters with colleagues from shelters moving toward no-kill.

Learn about shelter mentorships
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About Best Friends

Best Friends Animal Society is working to save the lives of cats and dogs all across the country, giving pets second chances and happy homes.

Just a few short years ago, cats and dogs were killed in staggering numbers in this country simply because shelters didn't have the community support or the resources to save their lives. That number is now less than half a million per year, but there’s still work to do to ensure a bright future for every dog and cat in America.

Best Friends operates the nation's largest no-kill sanctuary for companion animals and is committed to saving the lives of homeless pets by working with shelters and passionate people like you. Together, we will bring the whole country to no-kill in 2025. Together, we will Save Them All.