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10 Best Vet Apps and Tools Every New Veterinarian Should Know About

10 Best Vet Apps and Tools Every New Veterinarian Should Know About

Caleb Frankel, VMD | | 6 min read

Starting out in veterinary practice can be challenging, but the right vet apps and tools can help you provide confident patient care in less time. We asked the Instinct team to share their favorite veterinary apps, digital tools, and resources they’d recommend to help new veterinary school grads succeed.

From clinical calculators to handy diagnostic and treatment resources, these veterinary apps can enhance your decision-making, boost efficiency, and give you critical information when you need it most. Here’s our top list of the best vet apps and tools every new veterinarian should know about.

1. IAVPM CRI Calculator: A Must-Have Vet App for Infusion Calculations

A must-have app for anesthesia and critical care cases

Constant-rate infusions (CRIs) are essential for pain management, sedation, blood pressure support, insulin administration, and more. But as you’ve probably discovered already, calculating them accurately can be a bit of a nightmare.

The IAVPM’s CRI Calculator veterinary app takes some manual math out of the equation (pun intended). It helps you determine precise drug dosages, infusion rates, and duration for CRIs, saving time and sparing you the math headache.

💡 Pro-Tip

The app is free to download, but you’ll need to be an IAVPM member to access it. You can sign up at the reduced post-grad rate here.

2. Plumb’s Veterinary Drugs: Your Go-To Veterinary App for Drug Information

An essential reference for accurate, efficient prescribing and safer patient care

You probably heard Plumb’s mentioned at least once in school (if not a hundred times by every instructor). You’ve probably even used it already. But in case you haven’t heard, it’s not just a drug handbook anymore.

Plumb’s is an easy-to-use vet app and website with practical, up-to-date information on veterinary drugs. In addition to a drug interaction checker, a built-in calculator, and some other helpful tools, Plumb’s also has an extensive library of printable drug handouts for clients, covering common (and uncommon) questions clients often have about their pet's medications.

💡 Pro Tip

Plumb’s is also built into Standards of Care, a full clinical decision support tool for veterinarians that offers a hefty discount for recent veterinary graduates. See #6 below for more details on this!

  • Website: plumbs.com
  • Platforms: Web and mobile app (Apple and Android)
  • Price: Starting at $135/year

3. RECOVER CPR App: Essential Emergency Vet App

A lifesaver during high-stress emergency situations

A coding patient can feel like complete chaos without a systematic, predictable process and detailed monitoring. The RECOVER Initiative, which offers online courses for veterinary CPR certification, developed the RECOVER CPR vet app to streamline your CPR process.

Use the app to record essential data from the code and then send yourself a PDF with all the details. Keep track of your 2-minute cycles, assess compression rates by tapping on the screen, and use the built-in metronome function to guide compressions and ventilation.

4. VetCalculators: Veterinary Calculator App for Quick Clinical Math

An excellent backup for high-pressure, time-sensitive clinical scenarios

Precision in veterinary medicine is vital, but making accurate calculations can be nerve-wracking, especially in the middle of a challenging or time-sensitive situation.

VetCalculators is a great tool that simplifies complex calculations and automates some of the key steps so you can stay focused on the most critical aspects of patient care.

This handy vet app provides a range of calculators tailored for veterinary professionals. From calorie and chocolate toxicity calculators to fluid therapy estimations to anesthesia-related dosages, this tool simplifies complex calculations, saving time and helping you minimize errors.

  • Website: vetcalculators.com
  • Platforms: Mobile app only (Apple and Android)
  • Price: $11.99 to download + $3.99/month subscription

5. Headspace: Meditations and Mental Health Support

A game-changer for long-term wellbeing in veterinary practice

Veterinary medicine can be tough on the mind and the heart. Challenging clients, complicated cases, high-stress emergencies… it can all add up to be emotionally and physically draining, so it’s crucial to carve out time to process tough emotions and build resilience.

Many of us on the Instinct team use Headspace to guide meditation and mindfulness. It’s an easy-to-use app that makes an activity like meditation more approachable and easier to incorporate into your daily routine. With mini-meditations, sleep meditations, and dozens of other formats, Headspace can help you improve focus, reduce anxiety, and promote overall well-being.

💡 Pro Tip

Calm is another great app for building these skills and getting support managing mental and emotional burdens. But remember: Apps like Calm and Headspace are just one part of the self-care formula. Seek help from real humans often.

  • Website: headspace.com
  • Platforms: Web and mobile app (Apple and Android)
  • Price: Starting at $12.99 per month

6. Standards of Care: A Clinical Decision Support Veterinary App

Still have your nerdbook from veterinary school (plus a few favorite textbooks full of notes in the margins)? Us too. But sometimes you need an answer that your nerdbook and your (heavy) collection of textbooks can’t answer.

Standards of Care is a comprehensive veterinary app designed specifically for real-world practice. It combines detailed clinical monographs, algorithms (originally from Clinician’s Brief), differential diagnosis lists, client handouts, and all of the features of Plumb’s Veterinary Drugs—all accessible in a few taps.

💡 Pro-Tip: As we mentioned above, new graduates are eligible for discounted access—learn more here.

  • Website: standards.vet
  • Platforms: Web and mobile app (Apple and Android)
  • Price: Starts at $250 for the first year for new graduates

7. Animal Drugs @ FDA: Authoritative Veterinary Drug Database

A free resource every veterinary professional should have bookmarked

So we wouldn’t necessarily call this one “innovative,” but it’s certainly helpful.

This searchable database by the US Food and Drug Administration gives you access to information on approved animal drugs, including labels, client information sheets, safety information, and research summaries.

8. VetPrep: The Best Vet App for NAVLE Exam Prep

A powerful study partner built specifically for busy veterinary students

Are you ready for the NAVLE? Silly question–who’s ever really ready for boards? There are dozens of test prep resources available, but our favorite is VetPrep.

It offers practice questions, personalized study plans, and performance tracking to enhance exam readiness.

All of their information is relentlessly reviewed, and the platform makes it easy to track your progress, focus your studying, and even practice under pressure with timed modes. It’s a great mix of reading material, review lectures, and practice questions developed in a format designed to fit into your hectic schedule.

  • Website: vetprep.com/index.jsp
  • Platforms: Web and mobile app (Apple and Android)
  • Price: Starting at $309 for 45 days

9. The APCC App by the ASPCA: Veterinary Toxicology App

An essential reference for emergency and general practice teams alike

Poison ingestion is a common presenting complaint, and making pet owners aware of what can be toxic to their pets and how toxicities present can make a difference in these cases.

The APCC App contains a comprehensive (and searchable) list of household and other poisons for dogs, cats, horses, and birds, with the toxins divided into different sections like household hazards, cold weather hazards, warm weather hazards, and so forth.

10. Instinct EMR: Next-Generation Veterinary Practice Management Software

Of course, we have to mention our full practice management system, Instinct EMR, the industry’s first practice management software with integrated digital treatment sheets and built-in safety tools like Plumb’s.

As a team of veterinary professionals, we built Instinct EMR to solve the problems we’ve all encountered with existing practice management systems, like frustrating manual data entry, confusing interfaces, and complicated user experiences.

Instinct EMR combines the beloved Instinct Treatment Plan platform with a complete practice management system that helps you:

  • Improve workflows with integrated patient check-in and assessment, charts and vitals, digital treatment sheets, medical records, and invoicing systems
  • Increase practice profitability with convenient charge capture
  • Enhance patient outcomes with automated patient safety features like drug calculators and built-in Plumb’s

When you find yourself in practice, wrestling with a practice management system that just doesn’t work the way you need it to, do yourself and your team a favor and tell the practice manager about Instinct. 😉

Why Vet Apps Are Essential for Today's Veterinarians

As a new veterinary professional, having access to the right vet apps can significantly enhance your clinical efficiency, decision-making, patient care, and even mental health. From stress reduction apps like Headspace and Calm to decision-making aids like Standards of Care, the best veterinary apps empower you to provide optimal patient care and thrive in our busy, ever-evolving field.

💬 Which veterinary apps and tools do you rely on? Connect with us on Facebook and LinkedIn and share your favorites!

*All prices are listed in USD unless otherwise noted. Prices current at time of publication. Visit the listed website for each vet app to see the latest pricing and offers.

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