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Have you ever refused to work with a animal?
I want to help, and work with all kinds of animals but I am worried about the amount of time it may take me, I also worry that there will be an animal that I trouuble to work with.
#working #veterinary
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Michael’s Answer
Please note that I am not a practicing vet; that being said, I want to share my thoughts with you because I find the question to be an important one. Time management skills are essential for a veterinarian to be successful in their career, on and off the job. In order to grow as a person, you should start early with putting a proper work-life balance into place. Its just as important to have some free time and use that wisely towards building and sustaining relationships in your personal life. There may be times when an animal that is usually in your care falls ill, but you are not available to take care of it because, for example, the animal broke a leg late in the evening and you were out to dinner with a friend. Emergency clinics are designed to provide complete service to animals that are sick or otherwise need attention. A dog who broke a leg will have been treated at the emergency clinic, but starting on the following day, he or she will require after hospitalization care and who better to take attend to that than his or her regular vet, you! Yes, the animal kingdom is vast; if you go into dairy practice, you will attend to cows and small ruminants, mainly on large and small farms; you will be able to attend to the occasional question regarding a cat on one of the farms, but really you are not "set up" to do surgery like a small animal vet. Specialization has allowed to provide better and better care for animals because the vet has specialized skills as well as the most up-to-date equipment. Proper care requires diagnostics that will also require specialized skills and specialized equipment so one animal, one case, several vets may collaborate in order to come up with the best treatment plan. No one is expected to know it all. That being said, you take an oath when you become a veterinarian that you will take care of animals; I would say that this means you can't really refuse to take care of an animal when you are called upon to do so. Being a vet means you have to make sure that the animal you examine or treat needs to be well restrained. It's something you learn how to do. You learn how to judge if you are in a position or not to provide proper restraint, either yourself or through the help of others.
Proper practice management will dictate that more involved procedures where state-of-the-art medicine and surgery are available will likely be expensive; sometimes an owner will not be able to afford such a procedure, though it may be the one that is needed for their animal. No one likes to turn people away for that, and most practices will work hard to provide for payment options. Practicing medicine is really not about providing options; one should always go for the best available for the animal, but the reality is sometimes another option, less costly, might still provide for some relief, if not an optimal solution.
Proper practice management will dictate that more involved procedures where state-of-the-art medicine and surgery are available will likely be expensive; sometimes an owner will not be able to afford such a procedure, though it may be the one that is needed for their animal. No one likes to turn people away for that, and most practices will work hard to provide for payment options. Practicing medicine is really not about providing options; one should always go for the best available for the animal, but the reality is sometimes another option, less costly, might still provide for some relief, if not an optimal solution.
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Hannah’s Answer
Being a vet you will be able to choose a specialization. There are tons of directions to go: Large animal, Horses, Small animal, exotic animals, ETC. Once you are in Vet school you will be able to experience many of the above options, and will choose which you want to focus on as your specialty.
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Krista’s Answer
Veterinarians can specialize in certain paths just like doctors. There are veterinarians who are the "do it all" type, however, these are typically rare. There are four main categories of veterinary medicine: small animal (dogs, cats, sometimes rabbits), large animal (horses, cows, etc.), wildlife (raccoons, squirrels, etc.), and exotics (birds, reptiles, amphibians, etc.). While some diverge from these, typically these are the four main categories that people fall into. Therefore, if you decide you want to do small animal veterinary medicine you will mainly work with dogs and cats. You don't have to work with animals that you don't feel comfortable around. For example, if you don't like snakes, the exotics path might not be the right path for you. However, there is typically going to be more than one veterinarian present (unless you have your own solitary practice) so if you are ever having trouble with an animal, you will almost always have others to go to for help. Over time, you will begin to learn through gaining experience (EXPERIENCE IS SUPER IMPORTANT) which path is right for you. Try starting out with a kennel tech position or shadowing, and working your way up to see what you like. Good luck!