Hespeler Animal Hospital

Interested in becoming a veterinarian?

My daughter is thinking about becoming a veterinarian. She loves animals. What kind of training will she need? Is it hard dealing with the public? What about having to put animals to sleep? Do you recommend she pursue this as a career? What do you like about your job?
If she can’t get accepted into the program, what other jobs might she consider that will allow her to work with pets?

I highly recommend veterinary medicine as a career. I think I have the best job in the world. Working with animals is lots of fun, and so is working with their owners. Vets work more with pet owners than with the animals themselves, so it’s important you like people if you want to be a veterinarian!

One of the things I really enjoy about my job is my ability to educate people about pet care. I love teaching, and I get to do this every day with my clients and staff. (It’s also why I enjoy writing this column so much.)

Every day I work in my practice is so interesting! There’s always something different going on every day. Working through a mysterious case to try to come up with a diagnosis very challenging; it’s like being a detective, trying to put all the clues together, to figure out what’s causing a certain illness in my patient. It’s one of the many things I love about veterinary medicine. Also, after you’ve figured out what’s going on, it’s very gratifying when an animal responds well to treatment.

Yes, not every patient gets better and some have diseases we can’t cure. And yes, having to euthanize dogs and cats is one of the hardest parts of my job. However, since I don’t have the unpleasant task of killing healthy pets like a shelter veterinarian has to, almost all of the animals I “put to sleep” are terminally ill or suffering. So, I take comfort in knowing I’m doing something to help them, so they don’t have to go through a painful death.

I graduated in 1986 and things have really changed since then. For one, pets are more important to people than they used to be in the past. Dogs and cats are important members of the family, so their owners are willing to do more and more to keep them healthy. Secondly, technology has changed so much. Medical advances mean we can offer better and better care. Medicine is constantly evolving and there’s more and more knowledge every year. It makes it hard to keep up, but it also makes my job very exciting.

Training to become a veterinarian involves 6 years of medical school at a university that offers the program. There are currently several universities offering the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program. One is the University of Guelph; the others are located in P.E.I, Quebec and in Saskatchewan. It’s a very difficult course (some say even harder than training to be a “people doctor)”, and the schooling doesn’t stop when you graduated if you’re dedicated to staying current in your field. However, it’s definitely worth it.

Veterinarians have many job options. We can work in private practice, in teaching or research, in government jobs such as food inspection or prevention of infectious disease outbreaks, or we can work for pharmaceutical or food manufacturers. Those of us who want to work in clinical settings can work as general practitioners, or we can specialize in disciplines such as surgery, dermatology, cardiology or ophthalmology.

There are plenty of animal-related jobs for people who want to work around animals. Your daughter could become a veterinary technician, a groomer, a trainer, or a zoo-keeper. She could work on a farm, at the Humane Society, or in a retail store that sells pet supplies.

I highly encourage your daughter, and anyone else who has aspirations of becoming a veterinarian, to pursue their dreams. I couldn’t imagine doing anything different.

http://canadianveterinarians.net/about-career-medicine.aspx
http://www.vin.com/Careers/OtherCareers.htm
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientEd/