Veterinarian job description

Eighty-three percent of veterinarian jobs are in veterinary services, the Occupational Outlook Handbook reports, which in practice means private clinics and animal hospitals. The rest scatter to farms and ranches, laboratories, classrooms, zoos, and the slaughterhouses and food plants where inspection veterinarians check that animals are healthy and safety rules are followed. BLS put the median at $130,100 in May 2025. The lowest tenth earned under $73,920 and the top tenth over $215,700.

Core Duties and Responsibilities

Treatment leads the O*NET task list: prescribing medication, setting bones, dressing wounds, and performing surgery. Close behind come vaccinations against diseases such as rabies and distemper, examinations to pin down an illness or injury, and collecting blood, urine, feces, and tissue for analysis. Veterinarians run radiographic and ultrasound equipment and read the images themselves. A large part of the job is talk: advising owners on feeding, sanitation, and treatment options, explaining which diseases can pass from animals to people, and counseling clients through euthanasia decisions and the death of a pet. Many also train and supervise the staff who handle animals, and some take on scheduling, payments, and budgets.

Common Skills and Technologies

Reading comprehension and active listening are level at the head of O*NET's skill list, with active learning next and science, critical thinking, and judgment close behind. The Handbook adds manual dexterity for surgery and compassion for owners who are frightened or grieving. Surgical tools, x-ray machines, and ultrasound are the working equipment. For software, the postings O*NET tracks name Microsoft Office tools and Adobe Acrobat, alongside medical software for the patient record.

Education, Training, and Career Path

This is a Job Zone Five occupation. In O*NET's survey, 79 percent of the veterinarians who answered said the work needs a doctoral degree, and 12 percent said post-doctoral training. The route is a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM or VMD) from an accredited college, a program that usually runs four years and ends with a year of clinical rotations. Every U.S. licensing jurisdiction requires the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination, and most states add their own exam on state law. Few states accept another state's license. Past general practice, the American Veterinary Medical Association recognizes 48 specialties, and more than 16,500 veterinarians hold diplomate status in at least one. The Handbook projects 9 percent growth from 2025 to 2035, about 3,100 openings a year.

Sources: O*NET 30.0, 29-1131.00 Veterinarians, https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-1131.00. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, 29-1131, https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, Veterinarians, https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/veterinarians.htm. International Council for Veterinary Assessment, https://www.icva.net/about-icva/overview/. American Veterinary Medical Association, https://www.avma.org/education/veterinary-specialties.