The Morris Animal Refuge (MAR) is seeking a full time shelter veterinarian to join our shelter and lifesaving mission. The Shelter Veterinarian is an essential member of the MAR senior leadership team and is primarily responsible for performing all aspects of veterinary care including physical exams, diagnostic tests, surgical procedures, monitoring population health, and maintaining proper record keeping for all of our sheltered animals. The shelter veterinarian also performs daily rounds, initiates and follows up on treatment plans for both shelter and foster animals, assists the shelter management team with daily population decisions, and assists the shelter staff in implementing and following disease control protocols and animal care procedures.
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.
About Morris Animal Refuge
As the only privately funded (non-animal control) open admission shelter in Philadelphia (and one of the few remaining in the country), MAR provides care for a wide range of animals, from those ready for placement in a new home to those that may need treatment or consultation for minor health or behavioral issues.
As a life saving organization, Morris Animal Refuge is committed to the mission of finding forever homes for all adoptable animals. Morris Animal Refuge seeks to expand the definition of what animals are considered to be "adoptable" and to support other shelters and rescue organizations by transferring in animals. Throughout the history of animal sheltering, only young, perfectly healthy animals with no recognized behavioral issues were considered suitable for adoption. We’ve turned to an adoption counseling method, which focuses on finding best fit between adopter and animal, and we've begun to build resources for medical care and behavioral rehabilitation through our Life Saver Fund.
Our shelter is operated by a small team of dedicated animal welfare advocates. Our overall staff size consists of 17 employees (including both front line and management). Benefits i...nclude paid time off, health/dental/life insurance, coverage for continuing education, 401K, and other perks discussed at time of recruitment and hiring.
