Roo is the leading online veterinary relief services platform. We connect quality Veterinarians, Veterinary Technicians, and Assistants in search of freelance work with exceptional animal hospitals looking to fill short-term personnel needs.
What is relief work?
Beyond our platform, Roo aims to empower a community of smart, trustworthy, agile, and resilient veterinary professionals who value freedom, flexibility, and work-life balance.
Roo helps veterinarians find great hospitals to work at, matching skilled doctors with shifts in need of coverage. As a relief veterinarian with Roo, you'll start by creating a profile, which only takes a few minutes. Then, you can conveniently browse available relief shifts in your area and select shifts when and where you want to work. After working a shift, rate your experience to let other relief veterinarians know how it went. You'll then get paid within two business days.
Roo aims to provide full transparency of all our hospitals to ensure the best possible matching and make every shift a success. Relief veterinarians and hospitals have profiles that provide key information and user-submitted ratings. Our website and app enable you to search hospital shift opportunities by location/distance, shift/appointment type, support staff availability, and skill sets required. We also provide dynamic pricing, compensating you accordingly for your market and the type of work performed.
It's easy, quick, and convenient. Your time is valuable, and Roo is here to give you your time back.
A relief veterinarian (sometimes called a locum tenens veterinarian) is a freelance contract professional who fills in for veterinarians when they are sick, vacationing, or out on leave, like a substitute teacher for the animal healthcare industry. Veterinary relief professionals ensure animal hospitals can continue to remain productive and service the same number of pets and clients while allowing their full-time staff to take time off, aiding their work-life balance as well. Sometimes, during busy periods, animal hospitals may employ relief vets to help lighten the load on their staff, reducing burnout.
Traditionally, relief workers have had to manage their own hospital relationships, accounting, taxes, travel, and insurance, but Roo handles almost all of this for our veterinarians, making relief work easier and more accessible for all.
Roo puts you in control of your schedule, giving you the freedom to create flexible work hours and the work-life balance that's best for you. Our website and app provide a variety of hospital relief shift opportunities, allowing you to work where you want, when you want.
Additionally, the nature of relief work allows you to explore new clinics and specialties without committing long-term for a unique learning experience, to keep your skills sharp, or just to break out of your routine. If you end up finding a hospital you love, Roo can help you get full-time placement.
Ultimately, we aim to empower veterinarians so you have a better work schedule, a community full of other professionals to learn from and network with, and other support vehicles that will improve your quality of life.
Roo offers a variety of shifts, specialties, and appointment types, all of which will be visible on the shift post and hospital profile before you book your shifts.
Shifts/hospitals are searchable by the following specialties: small animal, exotic animal, shelter/non-profit, and emergency/specialty.
Shifts are also searchable by the following appointment types: mostly well, mostly un-well, emergency, surgery expected.
We may adjust or add to these categories as we continue to improve our product for you.
Yes! Even if you're employed full-time, you can always pick up relief shifts to earn extra money. Relief work is also a great way to try out other hospitals to see if they're a better fit and learn from other doctors. Or, you could become a travel vet, practicing on the road anywhere you're licensed by picking up relief shifts wherever Roo is available.
You never know what you'll find, and Roo is free to join with no membership fees and no penalties for inactivity so you have nothing to lose!
Signing up to become a Roo relief veterinarian is as easy as clicking this link and creating a profile. Join now and start finding relief vet jobs near you!
Roo currently provides veterinary relief services in these states and metro areas, and we are constantly expanding. Don't see your area in our coverage? Let us know we should bring Roo to your area by signing up.
Roo is completely free for veterinarians. There's absolutely no cost to join, and there are no monthly fees. You'll only make money with Roo.
As part of our orientation process, we will ask to validate your license(s) in any state(s) in which you intend to provide relief work. There may be additional documentation required depending on the state and their requirements.
Roo has created a helpful veterinary licensing requirements resource for our users detailing the DVM licensing process for every state where Roo provides service and more. Many states offer temporary licenses and relief licenses, which can be helpful if you want to become a travel vet and pick up shifts as you visit new places.
Once you have created a profile, a member of the Roo Team will be in touch with you to arrange an orientation meeting. After this meeting, you should be approved within 24 hours. If you don't hear from us, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team. Once your profile is approved, you can begin booking relief shifts right away.
Roo aims to ensure quality professionals are on the platform, and we take pride in knowing every veterinarian who will be representing Roo. As such, we want to hear from you before we approve your profile. We also have to ensure that you’re licensed to practice.
While we don’t require you to have personal liability insurance to work Roo shifts, it is highly recommended. Thankfully, Roo has teamed with the AVMA to offer PLIT plans that are affordable and convenient.
Since relief vets are independent contractors, neither Roo nor the hospital is responsible if something goes wrong during a shift. This means it’s up to you to make sure you’re covered. Having your own personal liability and workers comp plans will ensure you’re prepared.
We’ve set up Roo so that you can be paid out fast! You can input your bank account information when you set up your profile, and all payments will be direct deposited into this account.
Once you complete a relief shift and rate the hospital, we trigger your payment to be processed in as little as 2 business days (NOTE: How long your payment takes to make its way into your account depends on your bank and their processing times).
The compensation for each Roo shift is determined by our dynamic pricing model, which accounts for location, type of work performed, demand/urgency, and other factors. The total amount each shift pays is displayed when browsing and selecting shifts, so payment will always be transparent when booking shifts.
At Roo, we pride ourselves on our transparency. Therefore, we recently released our average veterinarian payment data so you can get an idea of what Roo vet shifts tend to pay. However, the best way to see exactly what a shift will pay is to simply browse shifts on the Roo app or online platform. We're always transparent about our pricing, and we'll let you know exactly what you'll get paid up front.
Roo offers a number of ways for you to earn even more, including through our promoted Boosted Shifts, which provide higher pay in exchange for high-demand shifts or shifts that need to be filled urgently.
We also offer various promotional rewards to relief vets who are active on our platform. Details for specific promotions and other offers will be emailed to you, so be sure to subscribe to our Roo email notifications to be eligible. Progress towards any promotions you're participating in will be automatically tracked in your Roo app.
At Roo, our goal is to make relief work easy for veterinarians, and that includes providing significant help with your taxes as an independent contractor. Our article on how to file taxes as a relief vet is a great place to start.
Roo's platform automatically keeps track of your hours and earnings to help you file your taxes each year. When you first sign up, our tax center will automatically issue a W-9. If your earnings add up to over $600 in a single year, Roo will provide a single 1099 form that covers all relief income you earned through our platform for the calendar year. We even track your mileage for you, which can be applied as a tax write-off.
Additionally, we have a partnership with Fit Money CPA to support you with any tax needs that go beyond our expertise.
We’ve gone to great lengths to help you find exactly what you’re looking for cheetah-fast in the nation’s largest relief network! When you first log in to our website or mobile app, you'll land on our map search page. You can simply click "Shifts" to return to this screen at any time.
Enter your address, city, or zip code to find something nearby. You can also use the date filters to select a range of dates or set specific dates when you’re available. There are so many more filters to choose from to help you find that Goldilocks shift that’s “just right.”
Once you see a shift that looks like a match, smash that "Request” button. This lets the hospital know you're interested. They'll have up to 72 hours to “Confirm” your shift request, which makes it official. We’ll send you an email to let you know.
You can request up to 3 shifts on the same date to increase your odds of getting confirmed. The first hospital to say yes wins, and we’ll automatically remove any overlapping requests to ensure you don’t get double booked.
Then, all that’s left is to do what you do best: help pets and earn more!
No, Roo does not have any monthly requirements or minimum number of shifts/hours you need to pick up to stay active. Freedom and flexibility are our core values, and you are free to build your schedule however you like. Complete just one shift or as many as you want — it’s up to you! With Roo, you define your own work-life balance.
Roo has no penalties of any kind for inactivity or taking time off. In fact, we encourage it. Work as much or as little as you like. Take a vacation or just some personal time, enjoy a long parental leave if you're welcoming a new child into the world, or simply take a break from it all. Whenever you're ready to return, Roo will be right here waiting for you.
Every Roo shift will indicate what kind of work you'll be doing and if there will be another doctor on site for full transparency before you book anything. We'll let you know if surgery is expected, what types of surgery might be included, even how many appointments you can expect to fulfill during your shift. You can even filter shifts by specific types of work you wish to perform. We want every shift to be a perfect fit for both doctor and hospital, and this starts with letting you know what to expect.
You can now cancel shifts quickly and easily using the Roo platform, and we’ll notify the hospital. To cancel a shift, please find the shift you’d like to cancel in the Roo mobile app or online platform and use the “cancel shift” link.
Keep in mind, canceling can leave the hospital without a vet for the day, which can create problems for the hospital and hurt client relationships. Therefore, we limit the number of cancellations allowed over a 30-day period or within 4 days of an upcoming shift.
If something comes up and you need to cancel a shift that's within 4 days, please reach out to customer support for help.
You can use your Roo Inbox in the Roo app or online platform to send messages to hospitals ahead of confirmed shifts. This is a great way to ask any questions like what's their dress code, where to park, and more.
Prior to your shift, the hospital may contact you at least 24 hours in advance regarding any details you should know.
You're welcome to contact Roo at any time by email at hello@roo.vet, or you can call us at 1-833-Roo-Vets. You can also use this link to reach out to our amazing Customer Support team.
You can also use the Roo Chat feature in our app to contact us directly as well. We look forward to speaking with you.
