Volunteering with veterinarians at shelters and animal care facilities is the best way to explore and confirm your dream of becoming a veterinarian.
As a volunteer shadowing in a veterinary hospital, you can see exactly what a veterinarian’s day looks like. By watching hospital procedures, you'll learn medical terms, animal husbandry techniques, education names, basic anatomy and so much more. If you volunteer at a shelter, you contribute to the well-being of animals in distress while gaining valuable skills in essential caregiving tasks — these can include feeding, administering medications and offering socialization and mental stimulation to the animals under your care.
With 22 dogs per 100 people, Chicago is the top city in America for dog lovers! In addition, estimates suggest there are around 150,000 privately owned cats with 30,000 entering shelters annually and around 23,000 annual shelter adoptions. Thousands of veterinary and shelter teams support these animals in Chicago and are looking for volunteers to help them.
Animal Volunteer Opportunities Near Chicago
PAWS Chicago
Experiences
Shedd Aquarium
Experiences
Abell Animal Hospital
Experiences
Metropolitan Veterinary Center
Experiences
1Wright Way Rescue
Experiences
The Anti Cruelty Society
Experiences
Download the
Vet Volunteer App!
Get Updates On Locations Nearby!
Through its news feed, the Vet Volunteer app keeps you up to date on the latest postings by shelters and veterinary hospitals that are welcoming volunteers in your city. The library of locations is populated by volunteers like you who are actively tracking their hours.
Remember to Track Your Hours!
You'll need to remember and record all you volunteer hours and tasks for your future veterinary college applications. The best way to record your activities is through the Vet Volunteer app. It allows you to write what animals you worked with, what type of experience you had and, most importantly, log exactly what you did each day -- this keeps all your information in one place for easy reference later on in your veterinary journey!
