The Louisiana Board of Veterinary Medicine was created within the Department of Health and Hospitals to promote the public health, safety and welfare by safeguarding the peoples of the State of Louisiana from incompetent and dishonest practices of veterinary medicine; to encourage more effective utilization of the skills of licensed veterinarians for the health and welfare of animal patients in the delegating of certain veterinary health care tasks to qualified Registered Veterinary Technicians; and to provide the most humane restraint, capture and death possible for unwanted, diseased, dangerous, and discarded animals with the training of Certified Animal Euthanasia Technicians for animal control. The right to practice veterinary medicine is a privilege as set forth by the Legislature and enforced by the Board.

Per Act 515 of the 2018 Regular Session, effective August 1, 2018, the Louisiana Board of Veterinary Medicine was moved to the Department of Agriculture and Forestry.