If you’re interested in transitioning into veterinary relief work in Indiana, or if you’re looking to add Indiana to your current practice area, this article has you covered. We’ll discuss licensing, common areas of practice, salary and Indiana relief veterinarian job availability. You’ll have a good basis to see whether a switch to veterinary relief is right for you!
Working as a Relief Veterinarian in Indiana
Relief vets in Indiana encounter a wide variety of issues in their patients. As a more rural state, relief veterinarians may see more instances of bites and wounds, issues with cold exposure, poor dentistry, and fleas, ticks and other parasites. Spay/neuter, vaccinations, and other general health topics are common in both rural and urban areas. The Indiana board of animal health highlights a few areas of concern that relief vets should be aware of:
- Blue/green algae poisoning
- Canine brucellocis
- Rabies
Indiana relief veterinarians working along the coastline of Lake Michigan should be on the lookout for Lyme disease, as a few cases have been reported. Indiana is not yet a high-risk state for Lyme.
Vet Licensing in Indiana
If you’re coming in from out of state, you can get a license by endorsement in Indiana. Indiana requires proof of five years of practice in another state as well as a background check. You’ll have to pay a $150 application fee, and the background check is another $40. Your license is valid until April of the next even-numbered year. If you’re looking at getting licensed in both Illinois and Indiana, you will be renewing one of those licenses every year.
Wage and Tax Information
The mean annual wages for veterinarians in Indiana was $99,210 in 2021, and the state income tax rate is 3.23% This lands it squarely in the middle of the pack amongst its neighbors. Indiana relief vets on the northern and western borders may have a chance to increase their income by taking occasional jobs in Illinois, especially the Chicago metro area, or commuting up to Michigan. As always, these rates are averages for full-time clinic employees. Relief rates often run slightly higher than full-time employees. Ask us today about current rates and job availability in your area!
| State | Salary | Tax | Net |
| Michigan | $109,170 | 4.25% | $104,530 |
| Illinois | $102,550 | 4.95% | $97,474 |
| Indiana | $99,210 | 3.23% | $96,006 |
| Ohio | $98,010 | 5.25% | $92,864 |
| Kentucky | $96,240 | 5.00% | $91,428 |
Salaries above $100,000 per year are common in the greater Chicagoland area in the northwestern part of the state as well as in the South Bend and Fort Wayne metro areas. These are shown in green in the state map on this page. The lowest average salary was $91,000 in the Lafayette metro area.
It’s interesting to note where the veterinarians are, proportionally to all jobs in the area. The highest proportion of veterinarians is in central Indiana, and the lowest proportion of vets is in the Elkhart metro area.
How Indiana Relief Vets Balance Work and Play
From relaxing in peaceful natural landscapes to the thrill of amusement parks, Indiana relief veterinarians have a wide variety of options to balance the hard work they do at the clinic. Here’s a few of our staff’s favorite getaways.
