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Veterinary assistants

Official title Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers (SOC 31-9096)

Also called Vet assistant, Lab animal caretaker, Laboratory animal technician, Animal care technician

In brief

In May 2025, BLS counted 126,580 US veterinary assistants, with median pay of $38,150 a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is an estimate of 30,000 from 1962, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for veterinary assistants: Electronic veterinary practice management software + in-clinic diagnostic analyzers, 1985 to 2010.

What the sources say

Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 9.1% from 2025 to 2035.

BLS Employment Projections 2025-35

AI exposure studies

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

Last updated .

Cite this page
APA

Future History. (2026, October 11). Veterinary assistants: jobs and pay since 1962 [Data set; data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35]. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/31-9096

Chicago

Future History. "Veterinary assistants: jobs and pay since 1962." Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. Last modified October 11, 2026. https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/31-9096.

BibTeX

@misc{futurehistory_31_9096, author = {{Future History}}, title = {Veterinary assistants: jobs and pay since 1962}, year = {2026}, month = oct, howpublished = {\url{https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/31-9096}}, note = {Last updated 2026-10-11. Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35}, }

The access date is today's date on your device.

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19001925195019752000now
2026
Known then as Kennel man / Animal attendant (informal, pre-credentialing era)
Known then as Veterinary aide / Animal caretaker (military and clinic roles, early formalization)
Known then as Animal technician (term introduced in UK study, adopted by US research sector)
Known then as Animal health technician / Veterinary assistant (AVMA dual title era)
Known then as Veterinary assistant / Laboratory animal technician (modern split)
Known then as Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers (BLS SOC 31-9096)
Known today as Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers (BLS SOC 31-9096)
Projected to still be called Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers (BLS SOC 31-9096)
Data from the May 2025 survey
US Employment
127K
Est.

Stated in source: BLS OEWS

Official statistic
Report an error
Median Annual Wage
$38,150
Est.

≈ $37,172 in 2024 prices (derived by us, CPI-adjusted)

Official statistic
Report an error
Beat · 1882

The New York Veterinary Hospital at 117 West 25th Street employs "canine specialists" who had already been working there for roughly 18 years by 1900, placing their start around 1882. These workers ran the Canine Department, handled animal admissions and housing, and assisted in procedures, though their titles and pay were not separately documented from general hospital labor. This is the earliest traceable instance of a specialized veterinary support worker in a US private clinical setting.

Beat · 1920

The internal combustion engine triggers a crisis in US veterinary medicine. The rapid disappearance of working horses from American cities collapses equine practice almost overnight: veterinary graduates drop from 867 in 1918 to fewer than 250 by 1922, and all urban veterinary colleges outside Penn and Ohio State close. Surviving veterinarians pivot to companion animals, and as small animal clinics open in cities and suburbs, demand for hands-on animal care workers grows. The kennel man of the pre-automobile era, previously half stable hand, becomes indispensable in the post-automobile small animal practice.

Beat · 1926

The US Army Veterinary Corps introduces the formal role of "veterinary technician" to assist commissioned veterinarians as animal nurses. This is the first official use of a title that would not reach civilian credentialing until the 1970s. The military model includes standardized training for restraint, medication administration, and post-procedure monitoring, establishing protocols that would eventually migrate to civilian practice and educational curricula.

Beat · 1954

A British medical journal publishes a study introducing "animal technician" as a formal occupational title, describing the role as "a new type of scientific assistant" modeled on the medical laboratory technologist. The concept is shared in the United States and becomes the conceptual foundation for the research-side credentialing effort that would follow in the 1960s. This is the first time the research caretaker role is distinguished from general laboratory labor in published professional literature.

Beat · 1961

The State University of New York at Delhi opens the first formal veterinary technology education program in the United States, established through collaboration among UK institutions, the US Army, Ralston Purina, and SUNY. The first class graduates in 1963. This is the institutional origin of the clinical assistant credential pathway. By 1968 additional programs open at Michigan State, Central Carolina Community College, Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, and Colorado Mountain College, beginning the national spread of formal training.

Beat · 1966

Two landmark events occur in the same year. Congress passes the Animal Welfare Act, the first US federal law mandating humane care and treatment of animals in research facilities, requiring USDA registration and annual reporting. The same year, the Animal Care Panel transforms into the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS), which will establish the certification tiers (ALAT, LAT, LATG) that give the research caretaker stream its first formal career ladder. The AWA transforms the laboratory caretaker from an informal worker into someone operating within a legally enforceable regulatory framework.

Beat · 1976

New York passes the first state licensing law for animal health technicians in the United States, establishing the first official credential for the clinical assistant stream. The same year, NAVTA (National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America) is in its early organizational phase (formally organizing in 1981) and the occupational identity of the veterinary assistant is beginning to split formally from the higher-credential technician role. AVMA is developing standardized accreditation criteria that will eventually produce 47 CVTEA-accredited programs by the end of the decade.

Beat · 1985

The 1985 amendment to the Animal Welfare Act establishes Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) at every research institution using regulated animals. IACUCs require documented review of animal care protocols, which expands the administrative infrastructure around laboratory animal care and creates demand for experienced caretakers who can serve in compliance and oversight roles. The same year, AVMA validates the Professional Examination Service Exam that will become the Veterinary Technician National Exam (VTNE), first administered in Maine in 1986. The credential hierarchy across both the clinical and research streams is now largely in place.

Beat · 2016

Fear Free launches on March 31, 2016, with over 800 veterinary professionals registering in the first month and 110 completing the certification course within the first four weeks. Founded by Dr. Marty Becker, the program reframes veterinary restraint from a force-first model toward behavioral reading, pre-visit anxiety medications, and environmental modification. By 2018 entire clinics can achieve Fear Free practice certification. The movement reflects a broader premium on the behavioral judgment that has always been central to the veterinary assistant's job: the ability to read an animal's stress level and respond appropriately is now a formalized, credentialed skill rather than an assumed informal competency.

How to read this number

OEWS is a point-in-time survey snapshot, not a continuous time series; BLS advises against using it for year-over-year trend comparison.

Each dot is a cited figure over time; the dotted line only links them (values between aren't measured). Hollow dots are estimates.

Official statistic: Copied by a script from a statistics agency table or a published study's table, not retyped by hand. BLS figures and the forecast and exposure tables are also re-checked against that table on every data run. Researched context: Researched from the cited source rather than copied from it by a script, so it is not machine-checked yet. Spot a mistake? Each figure has a “Report an error” link.

Cited forecasts · present → 2035

Will AI replace veterinary assistants? What the research says

Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, we show the disagreement rather than an average.

Each figure is stated by the named source; we publish no forecasts of our own. Where sources disagree, the spread is the honest signal.

What published forecasts say
Forecast change in the number of people doing this work, as published by each named source. Bars share one scale on every role, centred on zero and reaching the end at ±30%. Grey marks a small change, 3% or less either way.
BLS Employment Projections 2025-35
→ 2035
+9.1%
BLS National Employment Matrix, 2025-35 cycle, line for SOC 31-9096 (Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakers): 132.1 thousand jobs in 2025, projected 144.2 thousand in 2035, a change of +12.0 thousand (+9.1%). Matrix employment counts all jobs in the occupation, including self-employed workers. The average for all occupations in this cycle is +3.5%.
Official statisticReport an error
How exposed is this work to AI (research measures)
Scores as published by each study. Each row says what it measures. These measure what AI could technically do, not forecasts of jobs lost.
Eloundou et al. (2023), "GPTs are GPTs"
2023 study · Share of tasks exposed to LLMs (β, human-rated)
14.8%
of tasks
What this measures

Published occupation-level exposure from the paper's occ_level.csv for O*NET-SOC 31-9096.00 Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers. Shown: human-rated β = 0.148, the share of the occupation's tasks an LLM could do in at least half the time at equal quality, counting tasks that need LLM-powered software at half weight (β = E1 + 0.5 × E2). Other published measures for this occupation: human-rated α (LLM alone) 0.148 and γ (all LLM-assisted) 0.148; GPT-4-rated β 0.222. This measures how much of the work an LLM could touch, not how many jobs disappear.

Official statisticReport an error
Today, in this role

What's changing day to day for veterinary assistants

Three parts of your work where AI is already doing real lifting, and what stays yours.

AI is sitting alongside you hereHandle front-desk and scheduling duties including booking appointments via AI-assisted platforms, processing prescription refills, and communicating post-visit care instructions to pet owners.

Handle front-desk and scheduling duties including booking appointments via AI-assisted platforms, processing prescription refills, and communicating post-visit care instructions to pet owners.[6],[2]

Tools picking this up
Where your edge is

Treat AI scheduling and reminder tools as a baseline; differentiate by excelling at the empathetic client communication that automated messages cannot replicate.

AI is sitting alongside you herePrepare and run in-clinic diagnostic samples (fecal, blood smear, urine sediment, fine-needle aspirates) using point-of-care AI analyzers such as VETSCAN Imagyst, which classify findings and flag abnormalities without waiting for an external laboratory.

Prepare and run in-clinic diagnostic samples (fecal, blood smear, urine sediment, fine-needle aspirates) using point-of-care AI analyzers such as VETSCAN Imagyst, which classify findings and flag abnormalities without waiting for an external laboratory.[5],[7]

Where your edge is

Learn the sample-prep requirements for each VETSCAN Imagyst module (fecal, cytology, blood, urine); the AI output is only as reliable as the sample quality the assistant produces.

AI is sitting alongside you herePosition and capture diagnostic radiographs, then upload images to an AI radiology platform (such as SignalPET) that returns an automated interpretation report within minutes for veterinarian review.

Position and capture diagnostic radiographs, then upload images to an AI radiology platform (such as SignalPET) that returns an automated interpretation report within minutes for veterinarian review.[8],[9]

Tools picking this up
Where your edge is

Become proficient in optimal positioning and exposure settings so AI reports are generated from high-quality images; poor technique degrades AI output and increases need for retakes.

Where veterinary assistants go next

Natural next steps for someone with your foundation: not exits, evolutions.

What each move takes

Veterinary technicians perform the same hands-on clinical tasks as assistants but with formal credentialing (VTNE exam) and broader procedural scope, including anesthesia monitoring and complex lab work. Assistants already hold most of the foundational skills; the gap is the associate degree and licensure exam.

What you'd add
  • · AVMA-accredited veterinary technology associate degree (2 years)
  • · Veterinary Technician National Examination (VTNE) preparation
  • · Anesthesia monitoring and intubation technique
  • · Dental scaling and prophylaxis procedures
What it takesSome new skills to pick up
Tools of the era

How has the work of veterinary assistants changed since 1882?

The tools that defined the work, one line per era. Select an era to see how it reshaped the work.

  • Physical restraint + basic surgical instruments (pre-anesthesia clinic era)

    In the early veterinary hospitals of the 1880s and 1890s, the assistant's primary tool was their own body. Holding a dog still for examination, cleaning kennels with carbolic acid, and passing instruments to the surgeon were the core functions. There were no standardized restraint devices, no monitoring equipment, and no reliable general anesthesia for small animals. Chloroform had been used in horses since the 1840s, but its application to dogs was inconsistent and dangerous. The assistant's knowledge was embodied: how to read an animal's body language, where to place hands on a struggling patient, how firm a grip was too firm. Nothing in this era automated those judgments.

  • Military-model veterinary aide system + early colony management (Army Veterinary Corps)

    The US Army Veterinary Corps formalized the veterinary aide role in 1926, training enlisted personnel as "animal nurses" to support commissioned veterinarians in both large-animal and small-animal work. This military model introduced standardized protocols for restraint, medication administration, and post-procedure monitoring that would eventually migrate into civilian practice. In parallel, research institutions running animal colonies in the 1940s and 1950s developed their own informal caretaker training as the scale of postwar biomedical research expanded. The Animal Care Panel (ACP), formed in the late 1950s, began circulating information about best practices among the research facilities. These two streams, military clinical aide and research colony worker, were the twin roots of the modern occupation.

  • Animal Welfare Act compliance protocols + AALAS certification system

    The 1966 Animal Welfare Act transformed laboratory animal care from an informal occupation into a regulated one. Research facilities had to register with USDA, maintain records, and demonstrate humane husbandry, which meant animal caretakers needed to follow documented protocols for the first time. The same year, the Animal Care Panel became the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) and established its three-tier certification structure (ALAT, LAT, LATG) for research caretakers. On the clinical side, New York passed the first state licensing law for animal health technicians in 1976, and the first state-standardized exam followed. These regulatory and credentialing frameworks did not introduce new physical tools but they redefined the job: the competent caretaker was now someone who could pass a written exam, follow a written protocol, and document their work in a way that USDA inspectors could audit.

    Effect on the work

    AALAS certification created a career ladder within the research caretaker stream that had not existed before. Caretakers who pursued ALAT certification could advance to LAT and eventually LATG, commanding higher wages. The 1985 AWA amendment establishing IACUCs further expanded the institutional infrastructure around animal care, increasing the number of documented oversight roles that experienced caretakers could grow into.

  • Electronic veterinary practice management software (PIMS) + in-clinic diagnostic analyzers

    The first practice information management systems (PIMS) for veterinary clinics arrived in the mid-1980s, and by the 1990s software packages like Cornerstone (IDEXX) and AVImark were standard in larger practices. For the veterinary assistant, these systems moved appointment scheduling, patient records, and billing into digital form, reducing the paper-filing burden but adding a data-entry component to the job. The more material change for patient-facing work was the arrival of in-clinic blood analyzers and digital radiography in the 1990s and 2000s. Machines like the IDEXX Catalyst and VetScan platforms gave assistants the ability to run complete blood panels in-house in several minutes, rather than sending samples to external labs and waiting days. Digital radiography replaced darkroom film processing with instant digital images on a workstation. Both changes shifted the assistant from sample logistics and darkroom work toward machine operation and quality control, but the physical sample collection and patient positioning that preceded them remained human.

  • Fear Free handling certification + low-stress restraint protocols

    Fear Free, founded in 2016 by Dr. Marty Becker, reframed veterinary restraint from a force-and-hold model toward behavioral reading, environmental modification, and pre-visit sedation protocols designed to minimize stress in the patient. Hundreds of veterinary professionals registered in the first month of certification launch. By 2021, entire clinics could become Fear Free certified facilities. For the veterinary assistant, this was not merely a philosophical shift but a skills overhaul: learning to read feline stress signals, administering pre-visit anti-anxiety medications per protocol, modifying positioning techniques to avoid pain responses, and managing the examination room environment. The Fear Free era raised the technical bar for assistants, validating the behavioral judgment that had always been central to the job and giving it a credential path.

  • AI radiology, AI point-of-care diagnostics, and AI clinical scribes (SignalPET, VETSCAN Imagyst, CoVet)

    Three AI platforms entered widespread clinical deployment between 2023 and 2025 and collectively changed what a veterinary assistant's shift looks like. SignalPET interprets veterinary radiographs across many pathologies within minutes, turning the assistant's radiology work from film processing into image-quality control and upload management. Zoetis VETSCAN Imagyst applies AI classification to seven sample types including fecal parasites, blood smear, cytology, and fine-needle aspirates, delivering results in minutes without an external laboratory. CoVet and similar AI scribes capture the examination conversation in real time and generate SOAP note drafts using species-specific templates, freeing the assistant from simultaneous handwriting during exam. The net effect of all three is that the assistant's cognitive load for documentation and results interpretation is reduced while the throughput per shift increases. Physical restraint, specimen collection, and direct patient monitoring have not been automated; the tools sit downstream of the hands-on work, not in front of it.

    Effect on the work

    AI tools have expanded what a single assistant can accomplish per shift, contributing to productivity gains in a sector with persistent staffing shortages. The tools do not appear to be displacing headcount; BLS projects 9% employment growth from 2024-2034, consistent with an augmentation rather than substitution dynamic.

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Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers employment and pay by year

On record since1882
Latest US employment126,580 (May 2025)Source: BLS OEWS May 2025Official statisticReport an error
Latest US median pay$38,150 (May 2025)Source: BLS OEWS May 2025Official statisticReport an error
Outlook+9.1% by 2035Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35Official statisticReport an error
View all 28 years of cited US data, each linked to its source
YearUS employmentAnnual pay (median unless marked)SourceReport
196230,000n/aEst., NBK500428 Researched contextReport
196638,000n/aEst., Animal Welfare Act of 1966 Researched contextReport
198055,000n/aEst., Patterns of Animal Use Researched contextReport
1991n/a$14,000Est., Veterinary Practice News Researched contextReport
199974,000n/aEst., BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook Researched contextReport
200364,490$18,020BLS OEWS May 2003 Official statisticReport
200470,200$18,660BLS OEWS May 2004 Official statisticReport
200569,890$19,610BLS OEWS May 2005 Official statisticReport
200670,310$19,960BLS OEWS May 2006 Official statisticReport
200771,190$20,770BLS OEWS May 2007 Official statisticReport
200871,950$21,210BLS OEWS May 2008 Official statisticReport
200971,350$21,700BLS OEWS May 2009 Official statisticReport
201070,530$22,040BLS OEWS May 2010 Official statisticReport
201172,530$22,830BLS OEWS May 2011 Official statisticReport
201271,500$23,130BLS OEWS May 2012 Official statisticReport
201371,800$23,550BLS OEWS May 2013 Official statisticReport
201471,060$23,790BLS OEWS May 2014 Official statisticReport
201575,620$24,360BLS OEWS May 2015 Official statisticReport
201679,990$25,250BLS OEWS May 2016 Official statisticReport
201784,400$26,140BLS OEWS May 2017 Official statisticReport
201889,480$27,540BLS OEWS May 2018 Official statisticReport
201997,030$28,590BLS OEWS May 2019 Official statisticReport
202098,810$29,930BLS OEWS May 2020 Official statisticReport
202198,970$29,780BLS OEWS May 2021 Official statisticReport
2022111,880$34,740BLS OEWS May 2022 Official statisticReport
2023115,770$36,440BLS OEWS May 2023 Official statisticReport
2024114,190$37,320BLS OEWS May 2024 Official statisticReport
2025126,580$38,150BLS OEWS May 2025 Official statisticReport
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