ABOUT VETERINARIANS BY: ALYSSA GLADHILL

OVERVIEW Veterinarians are people who care for animals and help people too. There are six career paths in Veterinary Medicine… Private Practice- They care for sick or injured animals in clinics, zoos, farms, etc. They can also be specialized Teaching & Research- Teaching Veterinary medicine and trying to cure or end animal diseases Regulatory Medicine- Inspecting animals used for consumption (USDA) and that are imported into the US Public Health- Working and trying to control and prevent animal disease. Examining the safety of medicines and pesticides/pollutants on animals and people Uniformed Services- Working in the US Veterinary Corps or US Air Force in biomedical research and development Industry- Working in pharmaceutical and biomedical research to exam and supervise the production of drugs, chemicals, antibiotics, and vaccines for humans and animals.

You should take science and math classes in high school to better prepare yourself. You need A minimum of two years of college (most people get three or four years) Four years of Veterinary school After you pass the national exam and state exam, you can practice Veterinary medicine. You can also become specialized if you want. But you will need additional education. Most people will do an internship and residency and then pass the exam. EDUCATION

MONEY AND HOURS Almost all veterinarians work long hours. Many are on-call. There are many variables that determine a veterinarian's annual salary but "the median annual wage of veterinarians was $82,040 in May 2010." (bls.gov 2012)

JOB OPPORTUNITY AND OUTLOOK The veterinarian profession is growing since the demand for vets have become higher. "Employment of veterinarians is expected to grow 36 percent from 2010 to 2020" (bls.gov 2012). Nowadays, people are willing to pay more for veterinary care because they see their pets as family. The best places to find a job once again depend on your career path. "For instance, if you want to be a equine/large animal vet or food and farm animal vet, the best place to look for a job would be in a more rural area with farms. You’ll find it difficult to find this type of work in New York City." (American Veterinary Medical Association 2011).

TRAINING AND SKILLS In high school, you should try to get as much experience with animals as possible and also vary the types of animals you work with. You can become a vet assistant, volunteer at a animal shelter, shadow a vet, jobs like that will help you greatly later on. Communication and leadership skills are also a big help. "It's essential for veterinarians to have good communication skills so their clients can understand what is going on with their animals and do their parts to help resolve the problem" (American Veterinary Medical Association 2011). Leadership skills look good on your application and resume.

WHAT DO VETS DO A DAILY BASIS? The following answer is from Dr. Kimberly May ( an on-staff veterinarian for AVMA) who was an Equine veterinarian and specialized in surgery. "Our days start pretty early, depending on the schedule for the day. I worked in a horse hospital, and did surgery as well as lameness exams (to find out why a horse was limping) and other procedures. My typical work day would start around 7-7:30 AM, when I would examine all of my patients in the hospital and look at their charts to see how they did overnight (we had technicians there around the clock to watch and treat the horses). Then I wrote instructions for each horse to make sure that the technicians knew what each horse needed that day, made sure they were getting all of the medications they needed, took blood samples if any tests were needed, looked at x- rays, and looked at any new test results from that morning. After that, it was off to surgery. We could do 1-3 surgeries a day. To prepare the horses, we would place a catheter in their vein (so we could give drugs into the horses' bloodstream), wash out their mouths, brush them off, clean out their feet, and give them any medications they might need before surgery. Then we would put them under anesthesia, do the surgery (we did many types of surgery), and let the horse wake up while in a thickly padded stall(to keep them from hurting themselves while they woke up). After surgery and a quick lunch, we usually spent the afternoon dong lameness exams or seeing other appointments. To figure out what was wrong with the horses we might have had to take x-rays, do throat endoscopy (where you put a long tube with a camera inside it up the horse's nose so you can see its throat), do ultrasound exams, or many other procedures. We used to get a lot of emergency cases sent to us, so we often had to reschedule things to fit those in. I did a lot of emergency surgeries, but many of them were at night. Most horse vets are 'on-call' all the time, meaning they might have to see sick or injured horses at any time of the day or night. We often spent a long time at work, taking care of patients and treating emergencies. I remember working 40 hours straight (with no sleep) many times- you get tired, but it is so stimulating that the excitement keeps you awake. Plus, knowing you saved an animal's life is worth the missed sleep. One of my favorite parts about practicing veterinary medicine was that no two days are the same- you'd see a wide variety of horses and diseases, and get to do different procedures. It's very hard to be bored!"(American Veterinary Medical Association 2011).

WHY I WANT TO BE A VETERINARIAN Like most veterinarians, I knew I wanted to be one from a young age. I think I was seven or eight years old when I made that decision. One reason why is that for as long as I can remember I have loved animals. They have always fascinated me. And now that I'm older and have a more of an understanding of the career, I still stand by my decision. I like the idea of excitement and the rewarding feeling you get knowing you've saved or have improved an animal's life. I also like the fact that it's hard to be bored since no two days are the same in practicing veterinary medicine.

CITATIONS American Veterinary Medical Association. "Veterinarian Information." interview. 26 Apr "Summary." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 26 Apr Web. 30 Dec