Operation Kindness Humane Society and Mission Pet Health Tackle the Shelter Vet Shortage
Operation Kindness and Mission Pet Health open the Dr. Barbara Craig Surgical Mentorship Center.
Spay & neuter is the most effective prevention solution to reduce the number of animals entering shelters.
But expanding access requires something shelters cannot simply manufacture: veterinarians trained to perform safe, efficient surgery at high volume.
Operation Kindness Humane Society and Mission Pet Health are tackling this gap in the system with a new surgical mentorship.
Focused on high-quality, high-volume spay & neuter - the new Mentorship Center is adding 10,000+ surgeries a year while building a more skilled veterinary workforce.
The idea started with Dr. Barbara Craig and the partnership grew from a shared problem.
Through her work with Mission Pet Health's externship program, Dr. Craig saw firsthand the need for extended surgical training for early-career veterinarians.
As Operation Kindness expanded its community veterinary services, shelter partnerships and disaster response work, it kept running into the same barrier: not enough veterinarians trained in high-quality, high-volume surgery and shelter medicine.
Mission Pet Health is a national veterinary organization with a strong focus on veterinarian development and continuing education and was simultaneously looking for ways to invest in early-career veterinarians.
Dr. Craig pushed the idea forward, gained Mission's support, identified Operation Kindness as the right partner, and personally organized spay/neuter clinics as the program took shape.
"The surgical mentorship program has been an amazing opportunity for early-career veterinarians to hone in on their surgical skills, to gain experience, and to feel like they're making a difference and giving back to the community." - Dr. Barbara Craig
The new Dr. Barbara Craig Surgical Mentorship Center in Carrollton, Texas gives early-career veterinarians hands-on training in shelter medicine, with a primary focus on high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter surgery.
Now retired, Dr. Craig remains active in veterinary medicine and continues to practice part-time in Grayling, Michigan.
Not just veterinary training. Shelter veterinary training.
The distinction matters.
The initial goal is to give new veterinarians the repetition and hands-on experience needed for the surgical work shelters need most. For now, that means spay & neuter.
Trainees are exposed to other soft-tissue surgical techniques, but the center intentionally prioritizes sterilization because the need is so great and because repeated surgeries build skill and confidence quickly.
A national study, "The Nonprofit Veterinarian Shortage: Who Will Care for the Pets Most in Need?" cited by Operation Kindness found that 73% of animal sheltering organizations and 72% of access-to-care clinics are short-staffed. Among shelters answering the spay/neuter question, 91% reported a surgery backlog, with 18,648 animals collectively waiting for spay/neuter.
More veterinarians trained for this work means more surgical capacity for shelters and communities.
10,000 more surgeries. Every year.
The immediate impact is substantial.
With the expanded program and dedicated surgical center, Operation Kindness reports about 40 animals from Operation Kindness and partner shelters can receive high-quality spay/neuter surgery each day.
That adds more than 10,000 surgeries annually - beyond the 15,048 surgeries Operation Kindness performed in 2025.
Those surgeries help animals today. The training will multiply the impact tomorrow.
Training that can travel.
Longer term, Mission Pet Health veterinarians who complete the Veterinary Mentorship Program may also work with Operation Kindness' Lifesaving Partnerships shelter mentorship program to support shelters across the country.
"We want to be a true community resource. This program allows us to continue providing the essential veterinary care pets need while creating hands-on training opportunities for the next generation of veterinarians. We believe this innovative partnership can serve as a model for communities across the country. And as our impact grows nationally, our heart will always be in Dallas." - Ed Jamison, President and CEO, Operation Kindness Humane Society
The multiplier is the big idea.
More spay & neuter capacity is desperately needed.
So are more veterinarians who know how to do this specialized work well, safely, and at scale.
Ten thousand additional surgeries a year is meaningful on its own.
Training veterinarians who can carry those skills into more clinics, shelters, and communities is how the impact gets much bigger.
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Operation Kindness
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Mission Pet Health
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