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California's Veterinary Staffing & Consulting Firm

Great medicine starts with great people, in practices built to last

Since 1993, Veterinary Staff Unlimited has staffed and guided animal hospitals from first lease to final handshake. Rooted in Los Angeles. Devoted to the people who care for animals.

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Good medicine is a staffing decision.

Thirty-three years · Fifteen thousand careers · One firm that answers the phone

Our Mission

To keep independent veterinary practice strong: the right people in the right hospitals, owners guided through every stage of practice life, and the wellbeing of those who deliver the care protected at every step.

Staffing Division

A registry of 15,000+ veterinary professionals, ready for placement

Relief veterinarians, registered veterinary technicians, and trained support staff, matched to your hospital's culture, caseload, and schedule.

  • Relief and permanent veterinarians
  • Registered veterinary technicians and assistants
  • Client service and practice management professionals
  • Placements built around work-life balance, for the candidate and the clinic
Candidates: join the registry
Joseph Makkar in a conference room discussing staffing with a professional
Consulting Division

A proprietary process for every stage of a practice's life

We improve operations, finance, and marketing, and we find the misfit in your organization: the place where structure, people, and strategy stopped lining up. Then we fix it. From first lease to final handshake, our strategic process carries clinics through every chapter.

I
StartupLaunch it right
II
GrowthBuild the team
III
TurnaroundFind the misfit
IV
ExpansionScale with control
V
SuccessionExit on your terms

Operations, Finance & Marketing

Hands-on improvement of the three engines of practice health: how you run, how you earn, and how you grow. Built from three decades inside working hospitals, not from a binder.

New Graduate Programs

Special programs for veterinarians graduating veterinary school: mentored placement, contract guidance under California's new rules, and a first job that starts a career instead of burning one out.

Negotiate from Strength

We hold solid relationships with a large network of clinics, including corporate groups. That puts us in a better negotiating position for you than going it alone, on contracts, placements, and partnerships.

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Success Stories

Results our clients live with every day

Three decades of engagements, from bare-shell startups to practices sold on the owner's terms. Here is the kind of work we're proudest of.

Clinics Started & Expanded

We've taken practices from empty shell to first patient, and guided established hospitals through expansions that grew revenue without breaking the team.

Profitability Turnarounds

Pricing, scheduling, inventory, and payroll discipline that moved struggling practices back into healthy margins, measured month over month.

Vendor Negotiations That Beat the Buying Groups

Major upfront rebates and best-in-market pricing on large equipment, lab services, and supplier contracts, at times better than the exclusive members-only buying groups.

Paperless & Modernized

Full transitions from paper charts to digital workflows, plus practice websites designed and built to convert callers into clients.

Handbooks & SOPs That Hold Up

Employee handbooks and standard operating procedures written for California law and real practice floors, not binder shelves.

Sale-Ready Financials

Financial cleanup and performance improvement that prepared owners for sale, walking into negotiations with numbers buyers respect.

Free Guides

Take our thinking with you

Three guides, no email wall, no sales call. Download and use them.

The Candidate Playbook

Every term we negotiate on your behalf: compensation, schedule, bonuses, CE, and the contract clauses that protect your career.

Download PDF

The Employer Pipeline

How we find, screen, and prepare veterinarians, and onboard them into your clinic's culture so they stay.

Download PDF

Practice Management Focus Areas

The full map of the disciplines we manage, measure, and improve inside veterinary hospitals.

Download PDF

Training Division

Trainings that keep your team sharp and your hospital protected

Training is one part of what we do, delivered alongside staffing and consulting so your people grow while your practice does.

Compliance Training

OSHA workplace safety, harassment prevention, and workplace violence prevention (SB 553), online in English and Spanish, with automatic retraining reminders. One flat rate of $499 per hospital per year.

Team Development

Client service, communication, and practice-floor skills coaching delivered through our consulting engagements, shaped to your hospital's culture and caseload.

Leadership & Management

Practice manager and lead-role development for the people who hold your hospital together, from scheduling and conflict to finance fundamentals.

Compliance courses are hosted on the VSU Training Platform. Staff training login →

Wellbeing

The best medicine is practiced by people who are okay

Veterinary medicine carries a weight the public rarely sees. Compassion fatigue is real, and stress levels across the profession have gone through the roof. Our clinics are built around work-life balance, and our door is open when it gets heavy.

Work-life balance, by design

We place candidates into schedules and cultures that let them stay in this profession for decades, not months. A placement that burns someone out is a failed placement.

If you're struggling, reach out

Compassion fatigue, burnout, and crisis are not weaknesses. They are occupational realities in our field, and help exists. We keep a page of trusted organizations ready for you or your team, any time.

Visit our Wellbeing & Support page
Joseph Makkar, MBA
About Us

Joseph Makkar, MBA

Head Consultant & Founder, Veterinary Staff Unlimited

Joseph has spent 35 years managing, consulting for, and staffing veterinary hospitals across California and the nation. A veterinary practice executive with an Executive MBA from Pepperdine's Graziadio Business School, a ten-year past Certified Veterinary Practice Manager, former AAHA marketing liaison, and past VetPartners member, he built Veterinary Staff Unlimited into one of the country's largest veterinary-specific staffing and consulting firms.

Behind him stands a team of regional directors and head recruiters managing a registry of more than 15,000 candidates available for placement.

Regional DirectorsOverseeing hospital relationships and consulting engagements across California regions
Head RecruitersScreening, credentialing, and matching every candidate in the registry
Good to Know

New laws that change the game for independent practices

Sacramento moved this year, and most of it favors hospitals that pay attention. A few headlines from our Regulatory Watch:

AB 692 · Golden handcuffs, unlocked

Sign-on bonus clawbacks in agreements signed on or after January 1, 2026 are largely void. Recruiting just got fairer for independents.

AB 516 · Technicians can do more

Registered veterinary technicians and assistants may perform any task not expressly prohibited. Use your whole team.

VACSP · The permit inspectors check

Assistants who obtain or administer controlled substances need a current Veterinary Assistant Controlled Substance Permit.

Read the top 10, clarified
Make a Payment

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For your security we do not collect card numbers online. Submit your payment details below and we will call you the same business day to complete payment by phone, or call us directly at (310) 838-9300 ext. 101.

Contact

Let's talk about your hospital

Registration, consulting, enterprise pricing, or just a conversation. Reach out and we will respond promptly.

Phone
(310) 838-9300 ext. 101
Toll-Free
(800) 963-7730
Email
admin@vetstaff.com
Mail
Veterinary Staff Unlimited
13157 Mindanao Way #783
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
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