Shelter Veterinary Assistant

Location: Buncombe County Animal Shelter

Regular schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Friday & Saturday, 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. with some flexibility

Pay: starting at $19.25-$20.50/hour, depending on experience. Up to $21.70/hour with CET certification and on-call pay.

Help Animals Get the Medical Care They Need

As the only open-intake animal shelter in Buncombe County, Asheville Humane Society provides medical care to animals with a wide range of needs, histories, and medical conditions. Every animal deserves compassionate, high-quality care from the moment they arrive.

As a Veterinary Assistant in Shelter Medicine, you'll make sure animals get the care they need to be healthy and ready for their next step. Every day looks different. You might complete an intake exam, run a fecal or cytology, help with an emergency triage, prepare medications, or provide medical care to a pre-adopted animal before it goes home.

Your team 

You'll join a core shelter medicine team of 2 veterinarians, 1 RVT, and 3 veterinary assistants, and you'll work closely with our Intake, Operations, Behavior, and Adoptions teams. You'll also be part of a larger medical team of 3 veterinarians, 2 RVTs, and 8 veterinary assistants across shelter medicine, surgery, and foster.

If you have veterinary experience, enjoy shelter medicine, and are comfortable working with animals of all sizes and temperaments in a fast-paced environment, we'd love to meet you. If you don't meet every qualification but you're excited about shelter medicine, we encourage you to apply.

What You'll Do

Intake and exams

• Perform thorough physical exams on all animals at intake, and identify and triage medical concerns following our Medical SOPs.
• Complete each animal's intake workup, including age-appropriate vaccinations, testing, and preventatives, in a timely manner.

Diagnostics and treatment

• Perform and read in-house diagnostics, including fecal analysis and skin and ear cytology, and operate standard bloodwork equipment.
• Make basic diagnostic and treatment decisions within established protocols.
• Accurately calculate dosages and prepare and fill medications.
• Assist with emergency triage under the direction of veterinarians and promptly report serious or life-threatening conditions.

Handling and infection control

• Safely handle and restrain animals of all sizes and temperaments, including animals with unknown histories, using low-stress techniques.
• Apply infectious disease control practices and keep medical intake areas clean and properly disinfected.

Teamwork and communication

• Enter and maintain accurate medical documentation in a timely manner.
• Coordinate with Intake, Operations, Foster, Surgery, Behavior, and Adoptions to move animals toward adoption, including medical care for pre-adopted pets.
• Communicate medical information to non-medical staff, adopters, and the public.
• Train entry-level staff and volunteers on basic medical handling and procedures.
• Perform other duties that support the mission and daily operations of Asheville Humane Society.