e who takes care of animals in a clinic. This is wrong because veterinarians are considered vets from all sorts of fields, from the easier professions like kennel owners and dog groomers to the more difficult ones like surgeons and farm vets. Doctors of veterinary medicine are medical professionals, whose primary responsibility is protecting the health and care for animals and pets. Veterinary schools have been around for hundreds of years. The first school of veterinary medicine opened in 1762 (Duncan 63).
Its founder was Alexandre Francois. He sought to make veterinary medicine a respected science (Duncan 63). After Francois, veterinary medicine grew and became organized. The American Veterinary Medical Association was established in 1863 (Duncan 63). Unfortunately, most of the schools established back then closed down because they were so expensive and people didn’t have the money to afford it. However, today veterinary medicine is very known and common.
More people are buying pets and are willing to pay for their care. College is a major part of becoming a vet. The average veterinary student has to take six to eight years of college. The first thing to do is to decide if veterinary medicine is the right path for you. In the senior year of college during the basic 4 years, an aspiring vet will apply to a 4-year veterinary program.
The first two years of the vet program consist of general science classes at college levels (Career: Veterinary). The last two years of vet school are when a student does clinical rounds, which is where the students have hands on training and get to see what a real vet does. After the last two years of vet school, the student will complete a 3-year residency. After the residency, the student is eligible to sit for the licensing exam. Only about 85% of those who take the exam pass (McCarthy 3). Vet schools require a GPA of 3.
0 or higher with high scores on the Veterinary Aptitude Test, GRE, and MCAT. There are very few vet schools in the United States. There are only 27 vet schools (McCarthy 8). Most of the schools are state funded, so applicants stand a better chance of being accepted to a school in their home state.
Competition is intense to get into a vet school, and only half of these who apply are admitted. “Some of the top colleges that are recommended in the United States are Michigan State University, Penn State, and Texas A&M for veterinary medicine,” (Randell). Randell recommends future vets, like myself that live in Michigan, to “go to MSU, because it is a home state college where you have a better chance of getting in. Plus it’s one of the top vet medicine colleges in the United States. “While veterinarians are in college, they have to memorize the veterinarian’s oath. Where a doctor solemnly swears to use his or hers scientific knowledge and skills.
The veterinarian’s oath is:”Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health, the relief of animal suffering, the conservation of livestock resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge. I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics. I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence” (What is a Veterinarians?). There are many people in the veterinary profession. There are more than 58,000 veterinarians (What is a Veterinarian?).
With 80% of them being male, and only 20% of them female (What is a Veterinarian?). Only half of the people who apply to vet school get in, because there are already plenty of people in the veterinary profession. The salary for a vet depends on how long they have been with the profession and their specific field. Most vets earn an average of $50,000 a year for the first five years (Career: Veterinary). After five years, the average is $80,000 a year (Career: Veterinary). The average salary after 10 to 15 years is $100,000 a year (Career: Veterinary).
These salaries are mainly for regular animal doctors. Depending on if the vet is a surgeon, a travel vet, zoo vet, or a kennel owner determines the salary. Veterinarians can either work for others or they could work in private practice. When you work in private practice there is much more work to be done. One person has to do the work for about six people. They have to do the scheduling, appointments, payments and billings, and even sending specimens to the lab, plus helping and caring for the animals.
On the other hand, when a vet works for others like in a clinic, they mainly work with the animals, and have assistants do the other work. There are many different types of veterinarians in the world. Some work on large animals, small animals, dead animals, or all types. An inspector performs autopsies on dead animals to determine what caused the animals death and how to prevent the problem for other animals.
Some of them also research what animals are susceptible too (Career: Veterinarians). Other inspectors explore what medicines can treat the diseases. An easier area for a vet is working in kennels. The kennel owners run facilities to care for pets while their owners are gone. The kennel owners are responsible to feed, exercise, bathe, and care for the animals. Another form of a veterinarian is a zookeeper.
Zookeepers both care and treat the animals, feed, exercise, and bathe the animals, or monitor the zoo animal’s behavior. The most common type of a vet is an urban location vet, also known as a clinic vet. A clinic vet mainly works and cares for mostly small animals and house hold pets. Most vets prefer working in urban locations.
Another type of vet is a groomer. They don’t seem like a vet, but are because they care for animals in their own way. Groomers bathe animals, brush and trim their coats, and they cut their nails. There are also road vets, which spend most of their time on the road commuting to ranches and farms.
Road vets mainly work on large animals, such as horses and cows. The above are only a few of the types of vets. When veterinarians are working and caring for animals they have to be alert and aware of the animals feelings. The veterinarians have to be able to react to anything that may happen. They also must be able to calm and reassure the scared and frightened animal that everything is going to be ok.
Veterinarians do a lot to keep animals healthy. Veterinarians have a lot to do for animals. They give animals their annual check-ups every so often to make sure that everything is ok, and also give them their annual shots and pills. The normal clinical veterinarians have to check the heart rate, ears, blood pressure, eyes, nose, throat, joints, muscles, most everything a doctor does for a person during their annual check-up. Veterinarians take x-rays on some animals to look for tumors or clots in the body. Veterinarians do a lot to care for animals to keep them healthy and to make sure they are in no pain.
Veterinarians are very caring people to animals. Vets want animals to be well kept, healthy, have a good behavior, be on the right diet, and to be in no pain. Even though it takes a lot of work to become a veterinarian, it is still worth the hard work to help those loving, cute animals.
