I was wondering what the average salary is. I am considering vet school. I really love birds, so I would naturally like to specialize in the area.

AMVC Market Stats (http://www.avma.org/membshp/marketstats/1yremploy.asp)
This link has salery info

Areas of Practice (http://www.avma.org/membshp/marketstats/usvets.asp)
This one breaks it down by type of practice

Hope this helps!

Whoah! Those numbers are phenomenal. I always knew vets were in it for the money, but I had no idea just how much...

;)

Originally posted by Supernumerary
[B]Whoah! Those numbers are phenomenal. I always knew vets were in it for the money, but I had no idea just how much...

;) [/B

I don't know if I'd say that vets are "in it for the money".

Vet med is the least lucrative of all medical professions-- the starting salaries for vets (~39,000 over all) is not much better than starting salaries that alot of fields offer with only a bachelors. The only vet sub-groups with salaries that reflect their years of education (as compared to other fields that require 8 or more years of schooling) are usually small animal specialists, and vets in industry jobs.

...Unless of course you were being facetious, in that case disregard my tirade ;)

I was wondering what the average salary is. I am considering vet school. I really love birds, so I would naturally like to specialize in the area.


I recently read in a vet magazine that starting salary is $42,500 or so. (Not great I know but you don't become a vet for the $$$)

WOW?!? I thought vet's were on par with MD's and DDS's in terms of salary. Do people not bring their pets to the vet or is reimbursement for procdures/check-ups just low. Vet's are fee for service and the vets in my hometown seemed to make a lot, what's the deal?

I am seriously surprised and curious, so any insight is welcome.

Veterinary salaries can be on par with MD's but I doubt they will ever be on par with DDS's. Truth be told, since most vets undercharge for their services, that gets carried through the entire practice, from owner to associate to technician to receptionist. With the advent an increase in popularity of veterinary pet insurance and the re-hashing of vaccine protocols and increase in online pharmacies and such I anticipate great increases in the fee structure for vets in the future. As an example, a cat or dog spay may run in the neighborhood of 100-200$ while the same surgery for a human may run upwards of 20K. Salary is also somewhat dependent on location. And the new grad salaries reported in the survey do include internships, which often pay in the 20-30K region. Avg. salaries for grads from Cornell range upwards of $55K/year for small animal only practitioners. That's an avg. so you know some go higher and some go lower.

Vets in private practice who own their own operation likely do much better then the numbers quoted here.My friends cocker spaniel has chronic ear infections.... in NYC it is hard to walk out of the vets office for less than $200 for a routine visit.Everything is itemized..culture,smear,meds.This is on a regular basis.Any kind of minor surgey is more expensive.There is no undercharging issue here and I saw no shortage of patients.While the cost of running such an office in terms of overhead is no doubt very high,its hard to imagine that large amounts of money are not being made.I can assure you a successful veterinary practice in an middle/upper income neighborhood can be highly profitable! As for smaller towns and rural areas I'm sure its a different story.

Yes, I think industry makes a lot more money than regular DVM's. I'm not sure about bird vets not making money. I bet in the right niche they would be quite successful. I do know that I've been told zoo vets make the lowest salaries and emergency vets make the highest. Academia is lower than private practice. And boys make more than girls.... Sigh.

Academia is always lower than private practice. :) But research in academia is much nicer (albeit lower paying) than corporate research... less stress to produce results.

And in regards to guys making more than girls... one good thing to do is push for a higher starting salary at your first job. Your pay raises and any subsequent jobs will pretty much be based off of what you are making, so starting even $1k-$2k higher than what is offered will make a difference in the long run. Traditionally, guys have been better at assessing their own worth and negotiating a higher starting salary... us girls need to catch up. :)

i have friend who is attending Penn Vet School. She always tells me that she is not doing this for money, yet she is quite worried about all the loans she has to pay back upon graduation. I give you guys all props for staying with program that you really love.

I would say there's a huge difference between being "in it for the money" and desiring to sleep inside a building and eat food on a regular basis! Being concerned about $ doesn't mean you're "in it for the $".