The AVMA

Your pet and pet owner interests are near the bottom of AVMA priorities. The AVMA is a union, no better or worse than any union. It looks out for its member’s interests. It’s reported 2022 revenues were $48,376,453. That money is primarily derived from special interest groups, convention exhibitor fees, and drug company advertisements appearing in their journals. There is little to no transparency as to the financial drivers of policy decisions. Through the AVMA’s Animal “Welfare” Committee, they make recommendations – such as the AVMA Guidelines on spay/neuter that gloss over the vast negative findings of research published in their own journal. To the best of my knowledge, none of their 16-member Animal Welfare Committee represents the long-term health interests of your dog or cat. There are many competing interests and tensions within the AVMA – all revolving around power and money. Being a life-member, I am quite ashamed that in their 155 years of existence they have never funded a single study or organized a single symposium to examine, confirm or disprove the negative health issues associated with pediatric age spay/neuter.  They have never encouraged alternative, less dangerous, ways we veterinarians might address the pet overpopulation problem. True to form, on July 14, 2023, seeing the potential of lost veterinarian revenues, the AVMA began to “vigorously” lobby against dog and cat rescue centers being allowed to have competent veterinary nurses (Licensed Veterinary Technicians/LVTs & Certified Veterinary Assistant/CVAs) neuter homeless dogs and cats. A blow to pet rescues operating on a shoestring. They euphemistically title their proposed federal and state bill the “Safeguarding Care For Animals with Veterinarian-Led Teams” aka No veterinary Nurse Practitioners allowed to spay pets, homeless or not. (JAVMA,261(9)1285). In 2023, to protect veterinarian’s revenues, they are vigorously lobbying against California legislature’s Assembly Bill 1399 regarding telemedicine. All humane societies support it. The bill passed the State Assembly 76-0 in 2023 and, as of this writing, awaits Governor Newsome’s potential signature. He has until Oct. 14. The AVMA will not lose gracefully.  According to OpenSecrets, the AVMA spent close to 1.2 million dollars in 2022 on its Washington lobbying efforts. How much they spent on lobbying at the state level is not reveled. Their executive compensation in 2020, according to ProPublica is $3,539,801. Base+Other compensation of their Vice President was $423,367. The salary of their chief governmental relations officer was $350,318. The salary of their chief lobbyist in Washington in 2023 was $207,687. The AVMA is known for its top-level employee largess, three times the number of high earners than the AMA.