Weekend Shelter Medicine Veterinarian

Weekend Shelter Medicine Veterinarian Part-Time | Saturdays and/or Sundays | 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM Brief Description

Department:
Shelter Medicine

Reports To:

Medical Director, Shelter Medicine

Where exceptional medicine meets extraordinary impact.

At PAWS Chicago, shelter medicine is far more than routine wellness care—it's advanced, fast-paced, lifesaving medicine practiced every day.

As one of the nation's leading comprehensive animal welfare organizations, PAWS Chicago is committed to building a No Kill Chicago through innovation, collaboration, and exceptional veterinary care. Our medical team treats thousands of homeless and at-risk animals each year, achieving an industry-leading 97.83% Save Rate while caring for some of the region's most medically vulnerable patients.

Our veterinarians diagnose and treat everything from severe trauma, neonatal illness, and complex infectious disease to chronic medical conditions requiring long-term management. We are recognized for treating—and saving—patients with diseases many shelters once considered untreatable, including canine parvovirus and feline panleukopenia, through evidence-based protocols, dedicated isolation facilities, and an experienced multidisciplinary team.

Shelter medicine offers a depth and breadth of clinical experience unlike any other veterinary discipline. In a single shift, you may stabilize an emergency patient, manage a litter of critically ill neonatal kittens, develop treatment plans for infectious disease, collaborate on behavioral care, oversee recovery of postoperative patients, and help prepare healthy animals for adoption.

If you're looking for a position where every day challenges you clinically, develops your medical expertise, and allows you to save lives on a remarkable scale, we'd love to meet you.

The Shelter Medicine Veterinarian provides comprehensive medical care for animals in PAWS Chicago's shelter and foster programs, ensuring continuity of care seven days a week.

Working alongside an experienced medical and animal care team, this veterinarian delivers individualized patient care while supporting the health of the shelter population as a whole.

This role combines emergency medicine, internal medicine, infectious disease management and collaborative case management in a leading shelter medicine program.

This part-time position works Saturdays and/or Sundays at the PAWS Chicago Medical Center (3516 W. 26th St). Weekend veterinarians are integral members of the medical team, ensuring critically ill patients receive exceptional care while supporting new admissions, ongoing treatments, and medical decision-making throughout the weekend.

Deliver Exceptional Patient Care

• Perform comprehensive physical examinations for shelter and foster animals.
• Diagnose and treat a wide range of medical conditions, from routine illnesses to medically complex and critically ill patients.
• Provide emergency assessment, stabilization, and intensive medical care as needed.
• Manage infectious diseases, including canine parvovirus, feline panleukopenia, upper respiratory disease, dermatologic disease, gastrointestinal illness, and other common shelter conditions.
• Monitor hospitalized patients and adjust treatment plans based on patient response.
• Administer vaccines and preventive medical care according to shelter protocols.
• Perform minor surgical and sedated procedures, including wound management, laceration repair, abscess treatment, and other medical interventions.
• Coordinate advanced surgical cases with PAWS Chicago's surgical team.
• Participate in daily medical rounds with veterinary technicians and animal care staff.
• Apply evidence-based shelter medicine principles to protect both individual patient welfare and overall population health.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of medical protocols and shelter medicine best practices.

Advance the PAWS Chicago Mission

• Deliver compassionate, high-quality veterinary care that gives every healthy and treatable animal the opportunity to find a loving home.
• Serve as a collaborative partner across departments, helping create positive outcomes for animals, adopters, foster volunteers, and the community.
• Uphold PAWS Chicago's commitment to innovation, transparency, and excellence in animal welfare.

What You'll Bring

Required Qualifications

• Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM or equivalent).
• Current Illinois veterinary license or ability to obtain licensure.
• Minimum one year of shelter medicine experience or equivalent…