Meet the Vets

Dr. Jill Caruso, DVM

A Childhood Decision

Born and raised in Belleville, NJ, Jill Caruso decided to become a vet at a very young age. When she was just 4 years old her father took her beloved dog, Susie, to the vet and did not return home with her. Too young to understand Susie’s illness, Jill decided then and there she would be a vet when she grew up so she could save animals like Susie.

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A Rescue Vet Is Born

After high school Jill worked in a veterinary office before enrolling in William Patterson University where she majored in Biology and minored in Chemistry. After graduation she attended Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in St. Kitts, Basseterre, where she started a rescue to save dogs and cats on the island, and spearheaded a spay/neuter program to reduce the local population of homeless animals. An externship at the San Francisco SPCA gave Jill her first taste of shelter medicine.

Upon graduating from Ross University in 2003, Dr. Jill Caruso worked in a Long Island, NY, emergency hospital before joining a private practice in Brooklyn, NY, in 2005. At the practice in Brooklyn she forged her first partnership with a local rescue group, Sean Casey Animal Rescue; her veterinary service helped save the lives of thousands of animals over the next 8 years.

Making A Bigger Impact

In 2013 Dr. Caruso opened Faithful Friends Animal Hospital in order to take a bigger role in rescue medicine. She hopes to set an example for other veterinary practice owners that they can make a difference in the rescue world while still remaining profitable. Her long term vision is to open an additional practice that is 100% dedicated to performing low cost veterinary services for rescue groups.

Jill Caruso lives in Belleville, NJ with her daughter, fiance and their rescue pets: 2 cats she rescued in vet school, a cat who was hit by a car in Newark and sustained a broken back, a Boston Terrier with congenital defects, a Hermann’s tortoise, a chameleon and a hermit crab. In her free time, Jill enjoys spending time with her extended family.