Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program and our faculty members serving on the Shelter Medicine Organizing Committee are proud to join with the Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) in support of a new specialty in our field, Shelter Medicine Practice.
We encourage our friends and alumni to contact the American Board of Veterinary Specialties (ABVS) in support of the proposed Shelter Medicine specialty.
Learn more about the proposed specialty
To share information about the proposal, the Association of Shelter Veterinarians has created a 1-page informational summary as requested by the ABVS. Additional supporting materials are also available at the ASV web site. At these links, you will find:
- Information about the specialty development process
- The full petition for a recognized specialty in Shelter Medicine
- FAQs
- A request for public comments
Support excellence in Shelter Medicine
Public comments can be very influential, and we hope you’ll lend your support. Like our colleagues at the Association of Shelter Veterinarians, we truly believe that the development of a formal recognized veterinary specialty in Shelter Medicine will provide improved veterinary medical services to the profession and the public — and will help optimize care for millions of animals through education, research and the pursuit of clinical excellence.
We believe our field is deserving of this distinction as a unique and challenging field of veterinary medicine. If you have questions for ASV’s Organizing Committee for a Specialty in Shelter Medicine, please visit the ASV website or contact the Committee. If you’re as excited about this opportunity as we are, go ahead and submit your comments now.
Submit your comments
ASV’s formal petition for a specialty in Shelter Medicine under the auspices of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners was officially submitted to the to the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA’s) Board of Veterinary Specialties in 2012. In December 2012, the ASV received official notification that the 
petition was in good order and would be sent out for a period of public comment. The AVMA recently posted a news article regarding the petition’s public comment period, which is open through August 2013.
Signed comments should be submitted to the AVMA at dbanasiak@avma.org or the address below by September 1. All comments will be considered by the ABVS at their fall meeting before any final decision is made with regards to recognition as a Veterinary Specialty.
David Banasiak, AVMA Education and Research Division
1931 N. Meacham Road, Suite 100
Schaumburg, IL 60173-4360
We hope you’ll join us in supporting this important step for the field of Shelter Medicine. We have much work to do for our nation’s homeless animals… and we’re just getting started!