Veterinary specialists
(taken fromhttps://www.avma.org/public/YourVet/Pages/veterinary-specialists.aspx)
A veterinary specialist is a veterinarian who completes additional training in a specific area of
veterinary medicine and passes an examination that evaluates their knowledge and skills in that
specialty area. Veterinarians can be specialists in behavior, ophthalmology (eye diseases), internal
medicine, surgery, dentistry and many more areas.
You can be referred to a veterinary specialist if diagnosing or treating your pet's health problem
requires specialized equipment and/or expertise that your veterinarian doesn’t have.
It's critical that you, your veterinarian and the veterinary specialist communicate and work together
to provide the best care for your pet.
Here's a list of veterinary specialties recognized by the American Board of Veterinary Specialties,
with very simple descriptions of what these specialists do.
Anesthesia: veterinarians who focus on making sure animals feel less or no pain associated with
veterinary procedures
Animal Welfare: veterinarians with specialized training and experience in animal welfare
Behavior: veterinarians with additional training in animal behavior
Dentistry: veterinarians who perform procedures on animals' teeth
Dermatology: veterinarians who study diseases and conditions of the skin
Emergency and Critical Care: the "ER docs" and intensive care specialists
Internal Medicine, which includes specialties in
Cardioloy: the study of diseases and conditions of the heart and circulatory system
Neurology: the study of diseases of the brain, spinal cord and other parts of the nervous
system
Oncology: the study of tumors and cancer
Laboratory Animal Medicine: veterinarians who work in research or in practice, making sure that
laboratory animal species (rabbits, rats, mice, etc.) receive proper care.
Microbiology: veterinarians who study viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc.
Nutrition: veterinarians who work to make sure that animals' diets meet their body's needs for
nutrients
Ophthalmology: veterinarians who study diseases and conditions of the eye
Pathology: veterinarians who study disease in animals
Pharmacology: veterinarians who study how medications/drugs affect animals
Poultry Veterinarians: veterinarians who work with chickens, turkeys and/or ducks, usually in food
production settings
Preventive Medicine: veterinarians who study how diseases are spread and how they can be
prevented
Radiology: veterinarians who focus on the study of x-ray, ultrasound, computed tomography (often
called CAT scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and other imaging procedures that allow us
to see "inside" an animal's body
Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation: veterinarians who focus on returning animals to normal
function after injury, lameness, illness or surgery
Surgery: veterinarians who specialize in performing surgery. A certified surgeon will be certified in
either small animal surgery or large animal surgery. Within these groups, many surgeons will focus
their work in one of these two subcategories but are not limited to them:
Orthopedics: these surgeons focus on bones, joints, ligaments, tendons, etc. of the body's
skeletal system
Soft Tissue surgery: these surgeons focus more on the internal organs and non-bone
tissues of the body
Theriogenology: veterinarians who specialize in animal reproduction
Toxicology: veterinarians who study the effects of poisons and other toxic products on the body
(and how to treat animals affected by these toxins)
Veterinary Practitioners: veterinarians in clinical practice who have additional training and expertise
in certain animal species
Avian Practice (birds)
Equine Practice (horses)
Beef Cattle Practice (cattle raised for meat)
Feline Practice(cats)
Canine/Feline Practice (dogs and cats)
Exotic Companion Mammal Practice (ferrets, rabbits, mice, rats and other small mammals
often kept as pets)
Food Animal Practice (cattle and pigs)
Dairy Practice (cows that produce milk)
Reptile and Amphibian Practice (snakes, lizards, salamanders, turtles, etc.)
Swine Health Management (pigs)
Zoological Medicine: veterinarians who work with zoo collection animals, free-living wildlife, aquatic
species and companion zoological animals
