By Cathy M. Rosenthal
There was a week recently when a busy, five-day-a-week nonprofit spay/neuter clinic was open for only one day of surgery.
Not because demand disappeared. The appointment book was full.
Not because funding had run out. The operating room was ready.
Not because the technicians stayed home. They were there, waiting.
The clinic simply couldn’t find enough veterinarians trained in high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter surgery (HQHVSN) to keep the operating tables running.
More Than a Funding Problem
Funding remains essential for spay/neuter. But for many nonprofit clinics, the bigger challenge today isn’t money—it’s finding enough veterinarians trained to perform high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter surgery.
This isn’t just one clinic’s experience.
In the 2024 study, The Nonprofit Veterinarian Shortage: Who Will Care for the Pets Most in Need?, researchers (Susanne Kogut, Meredith L. Montgomery, and Julie K. Levy) found that 73% of animal sheltering organizations reported they were short-staffed for veterinarians, while 74% reported shortages of veterinary support staff. The study also found that 66% of shelters had vacant veterinarian positions they were actively trying to fill.
The consequences are impossible to ignore. More than 90% of organizations reported backlogs in spay/neuter surgeries, with nearly 18,650 animals already waiting for surgery among the organizations surveyed. Meanwhile, 79% of access-to-care clinics reported clients were waiting longer than usual for care, and more than half said those delays stretched two months or longer.
Without enough veterinarians trained to perform high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter surgery, clinics reduce the number of surgery days despite overwhelming demand. Pet owners wait longer. Unplanned litters continue to be born while families remain on waiting lists.
The ripple effects extend far beyond the clinic. Animal shelters take in more puppies and kittens. Rescue groups stretch already limited resources. Municipal shelters absorb additional costs. And ultimately, more animals enter a system already struggling to keep up.
A Call to Action
Perhaps one of the clearest signs that the field is recognizing this challenge came earlier this year when the ASPCA announced a major expansion of its grantmaking for shelters and spay/neuter clinics. In announcing up to $14 million in funding, the organization acknowledged something many nonprofit leaders have been experiencing for years: affordable spay/neuter surgery has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, and workforce shortages continue to limit access to care.
That acknowledgment from one of the nation’s largest animal welfare organizations matters.
For a time, many funders shifted their attention toward other emerging needs. Shelters were making tremendous progress, euthanasia was declining, and spay/neuter appeared to be one of the field’s greatest success stories.
Then the pandemic reminded us otherwise. It exposed just how dependent those gains were on veterinary capacity. When surgeries stopped, backlogs grew. When experienced veterinarians retired, operating schedules shrank.
The numbers tell the story. Researchers at the University of Florida found that low-cost spay/neuter clinics still haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic capacity. They estimate the national shortfall has grown to more than 3.7 million missed spay/neuter surgeries, driven in part by ongoing veterinarian and staffing shortages
The demand never disappeared. The workforce did.
A Generation of Expertise
The challenge is also becoming generational.
Many of the veterinarians who helped build the high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter movement over the past three decades are reaching retirement. These are the surgeons who developed efficient techniques, mentored countless young veterinarians, and helped transform spay/neuter from a niche service into one of animal welfare’s most effective population-control strategies.
As they leave the workforce, they’re taking decades of experience with them. Unless the next generation is intentionally trained and mentored, that expertise risks disappearing faster than it can be replaced.
The challenge isn’t simply finding veterinarians.
It’s finding veterinarians with the training, confidence, and desire to perform 30, 40, or even 50 surgeries in a day. High-quality, high-volume spay/neuter is a specialized discipline requiring skill, efficiency, and mentorship.
Add to that the reality that many new veterinarians graduate with relatively little hands-on surgical experience. Some enter practice having performed only a handful of surgeries before beginning their first job. That’s not a criticism of veterinary education; it’s simply the reality nonprofit clinics are navigating.
Teaching the Next Generation
That’s why mentorship has become one of the most important investments our field can make. If we want affordable spay/neuter to remain accessible five or ten years from now, we must do more than fund clinics. We must invest in the veterinarians who will lead them.
Buildings can be constructed. Mobile units can be purchased. Operating rooms can be equipped. But none of them matter without skilled surgeons standing at the table.
Because every day an operating room sits quiet despite a full appointment book, another litter is born somewhere that might have been prevented.
The future of affordable spay/neuter won’t be determined solely by how many clinics we build. It will depend on whether we build the next generation of high-quality, high-volume, spay/neuter veterinarians to keep them running.
References
- Guerios, S.D., Clemmer, G., & Levy, J.K. (2025). The Pandemic’s Cruel Aftermath: Progressive Decline in Spay/Neuter Capacity. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 12.
- The Nonprofit Veterinarian Shortage: Who Will Care for the Pets Most in Need? (2024). Journal of Shelter Medicine and Community Animal Health. Kogut, S., Montgomery, M., & Levy, J.K.
- ASPCA. (2025). Expansion of Nationwide Efforts to Increase Access to Spay/Neuter and Support Animal Shelters. (News release.)
