The VET Recruiter’s annual Workforce/Workplace Survey has become a key barometer for understanding the state of both the Animal Health industry and the Veterinary profession. By posing identical questions across these two sectors in 2024 and 2025, the survey provides valuable insights into evolving workforce sentiment, career satisfaction, and long-term retention trends.
The data paints a nuanced picture. While the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession remain interconnected, their trajectories are diverging in meaningful ways. According to the results, Veterinary profession is grappling with persistent structural challenges—such as understaffing, overwork, and pay dissatisfaction—that continue to weigh heavily on morale.
By contrast, the Animal Health industry shows signs of incremental improvement, especially in communication, work/life balance, and compensation practices. For employers and recruiters, these contrasts underscore the importance of tailoring strategies to the unique realities of each field.
(Editor’s Note: Data and analysis discussed in this article are based upon the results of The VET Recruiter’s 2025 Workforce/Workplace Survey and do not necessarily represent nor mirror trends within the Animal Health industry or Veterinary profession to an exact degree.)
Demographics: Gender and Age Trends
The demographic composition of the workforce as portrayed in the survey results reveals much about each sector’s future challenges and opportunities.
- Veterinary: The Veterinary profession remains overwhelmingly female. In 2024, approximately 64% of respondents identified as female, and by 2025 that proportion had grown further to around 83%. This steady feminization of the profession carries implications for workplace culture, flexibility policies, and leadership development pathways. According to the results of the 2025 survey, nearly 60% of respondents were under 45 years old, a figure consistent with 2024.
- Animal Health: According to the survey results, the Animal Health industry reflects a more balanced gender mix. In 2024, roughly 64% were female, but by 2025 that figure had shifted back slightly to about 58% female. Unlike the Veterinary profession, Animal Health professionals skewed older in terms of who participated in our survey: in both years, over 70% were age 45 or older.
Perceptions of Workforce Shortage
Few topics dominate professional discourse more than workforce shortages, and here the surveys reveal shifts in perception between 2024 and 2025.
- Veterinary: In 2024, there was virtually unanimous agreement that the profession faced a severe workforce shortage. By 2025, the sense of crisis softened somewhat. About 37.9% strongly agreed with the shortage, 28.7% agreed, and 15.3% somewhat agreed—a combined 82% still in agreement, but lower than the near-100% consensus of the prior year.
- Animal Health: The change in perception was more pronounced here. In 2024, about 63% agreed there was a shortage, but by 2025, that figure dropped to 58.4%. Dissent (those who believe the shortage is overstated or not a significant issue) rose slightly.
Workplace Concerns
The survey data sheds light on what professionals worry about most in their day-to-day work.
- Veterinary: The list of concerns is long and stubbornly persistent. Understaffing dominated in 2024 and rose to 42% of mentions in 2025, underscoring how deeply employment challenges are felt. Overwork and underpayment were each cited by 34.5% of professionals in 2025, while management and communication issues were reported by 31–32%. Very few reported having “no concerns”—only 22.5% in 2025 compared with 19% in 2024.
- Animal Health: The picture here is somewhat brighter. In 2024, overwork and poor communication were common complaints. By 2025, however, reports of overwork dropped to 21.1%, while communication and balance issues also declined modestly. Importantly, the share of professionals reporting “no concerns” rose to 31.6%, suggesting incremental improvement. Compensation and leadership remain ongoing challenges, but overall, workplace stressors appear to be trending in the right direction.
Compensation Satisfaction and Pay Raises
Compensation remains one of the clearest differentiators between the two fields.
- Veterinary: Satisfaction levels remained largely steady between 2024 and 2025, with many respondents in the “somewhat satisfied” category. However, fewer identified as “very satisfied,” and dissatisfaction remained at about 28%. In terms of raises, 39% of survey respondents received a raise in 2024, and that number rose slightly to 46% of respondents in 2025. While this shows progress, the fact that a majority still did not see a raise highlights financial constraints in Veterinary practices. Importantly, though, Veterinary salaries overall have been increasing in recent years, even if survey respondents did not always feel the benefit in a given year.
- Animal Health: In 2024, only 45% of survey respondents reported receiving a raise. By 2025, that figure surged to 71%. Satisfaction also improved: nearly half (47.3%) reported being satisfied or extremely satisfied in 2025, while dissatisfaction declined.
Happiness with Current Role
- Veterinary: Between 2024 and 2025, veterinarians’ job satisfaction stayed fairly consistent, with averages near 6.3 in both years. In 2024, scores leaned more toward midrange ratings, with stronger representation at 5 and 6. By 2025, slightly fewer respondents chose those midpoints, while extremes (both 1–2 and 9–10) became more common. The largest group in both years was those giving an 8, around 23%. Overall, satisfaction remained steady but became more polarized, reflecting growing diversity in veterinarians’ workplace experiences.
- Animal Health: In Animal Health, satisfaction shifted slightly from 2024 to 2025. The average stayed close, but the 2025 results show a clearer tilt toward higher scores, especially 9 and 10, which together accounted for over 36%, up from about 20% the prior year. Midrange scores like 5 remained strong in both years, while very low scores (1–2) held steady but minimal. Overall, 2025 reflects modest improvement and a more optimistic distribution of experiences across the field.
Retention Outlook
When asked whether they envisioned retiring with their current employer, responses revealed a sharp decline in loyalty across both sectors.
- Veterinary: Agreement with this statement fell from 61% in 2024 to just 39% in 2025, while disagreement rose to 36.5%.
- Animal Health: Loyalty was initially stronger in 2024, with 75% expressing intent to retire with their employer, but by 2025 this dropped to 44.8%, with disagreement rising to 31.6%.
Job Seeking and Career Mobility
The survey also highlights shifts in openness to career change.
- Veterinary: Active job seeking declined between the two years. In 2024, 24% were actively seeking roles within the Veterinary profession and 4% outside of the profession. In 2025, only 14% were actively looking within the profession, though 12.5% were open to Animal Health opportunities and 3.5% were considering roles outside altogether. Importantly, 32% said they were not actively looking but remained open to change.
- Animal Health: Activity increased. In 2024, 34% were actively looking within the field (and 9% outside). By 2025, this grew to 39.5% actively seeking, while fewer said they were not looking at all.
Year-over-Year Insights (2024 to 2025)
The 2025 survey confirms that while both professions face ongoing challenges, their trajectories differ:
- Workforce shortages remain a dominant concern, but perceptions of urgency have softened slightly since 2024.
- Veterinary workplaces remain weighed down by chronic issues like understaffing, overwork, and poor leadership.
- Animal Health workplaces show modest but meaningful improvements in communication, balance, and satisfaction.
- Compensation diverged sharply: Veterinary raises rose modestly, but Animal Health surged ahead. Still, Veterinary salaries overall have been trending upward in recent years.
- Retention is eroding: Fewer professionals in both fields expect to retire with their current employer.
- Career mobility is rising, especially in the Animal Health industry, though Veterinary professionals remain broadly open to change.
For employers, the message is clear: competitive pay, improved workplace culture, and genuine leadership development are not optional. They are essential to attract and retain top talent. For professionals, the trends highlight a market with both opportunities and risks, underscoring the importance of aligning career moves with personal and professional values.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping Animal Health and Veterinary professionals to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of Animal Health and Veterinary organizations. If this is something that you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.