COMPLETE OFFICIAL LIST: What Veterinary Field Are You Pursuing? SEE LEGEND!!!

Hahaha, awesome.

But Mongolian Marmot Wrangling isn't on there this is NOT a complete list oh god I feel so violated and angry.

edit: for real though I could pick three of those, Academia-Teaching/Research/Genetics, so I guess I'll just pick genetics...

nsdhfk said:

Darn, how did I miss that one?

I personally chose surgery. For me, it's the "hands-on" saving the life of an animal that's appealing, and you get to see "instant" results, as opposed to internal medicine, which just seems slow and painful to deal with.

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I want to do research on and teach Genetics to vet school students, that's why I could pick all three - they are all three tied into my goals.

Holy Canoli! You out did yourself.

I selected "S-Feline Practice Only" although that's just the way I'm leaning right now. After a few years of vet school, it's anybodies' guess where I'll end up.

I chose S-Feline Only, but I'm also interested in feline geriatrics (which currently falls under the internal medicine umbrella)--little old lady and gent kitties are the best!!

Equine mostly, a few cows/goats/alpacas would be fun too. I am really interested in lameness and sports medicine, colic and gastrointestinal issues and behavior. I'd love to do some research at some point on equine behavior. Specifically stereotypical behavior like cribbing and weaving.

Nice list. But once again, we're missing something....

tap....tap.....tap......

JK!!

philomycus said:

Nice list. But once again, we're missing something....

tap....tap.....tap......

JK!!

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I love squirrels too. I want to have a bunch of them cruising around my house, leaping on me as I walk down the hallway. I think it would add a certain excitement to my day that is lacking.

Lab Animal for me!!! It is the field I am in now, and its where my passion lies I also really like emergency/critical care, but there are plenty of emergencies in the field i'm in, so I get my fill!

I am interested in becoming board certified in neurology, though I am also interested in oncology and radiation so we'll see how classes go (though I guess that is for all of them!).

Anesthesiology holla!

I put mixed, but could see myself doing exclusively large animal or equine. Or heck, after vet school it could be something entirely different. I'm really interested in lameness/orthopedic issues, especially in horses

Small animal all species ... including exotics! I do love the felines, though

I will hunt down cancers and destroy them . My PhD research is on Human brain tumors, but brain tumors are not such a problem in most companion animals (at least not yet, we have much bigger and maybe slightly easier targets to pursue first). Luckily I study gene regulation, so I can easily hop into whichever cancer type needs me the most (i.e. the one where I can get research funding ). Ultimately, a faculty position at a vet school doing basic and clinical research is where I am headed (so I could also be classified as research and teaching, but the oncology is the major focus).

I want to do mostly small animal.......but I really like horses too and I plan on continuing to own them. I know I want to specialize in behavior, but I also really like radiology. I am also kind of interested in nutrition and anesthesiology..........so who knows! I'll see how classes go.

I also thought it would be neat to do zoo animals......but I know that's hard to come by, I just thought it would be something cool to do later on.

this poll is much better! I put lab animal medicine, but im also interested in public health

Exotics all the way.

We have a wallaby coming in tomorrow and I am very excited!

oh, sad...despite the many options on this poll, I am still an "other."

I am interested in shelter medicine...it is intellectually stimulating because it combines epidemiology/disease control (basically applying herd health concepts to populations of small animals), behavior, emergency/critical care, basic small animal medicine (primarily parasitology & dermatology), surgery (mostly spays/neuters- a vet I work with can do a cat spay in under 10 minutes!; the shelter I work at has also done amputations, enucleations, and other interesting surgeries). An added bonus is that you're working with homeless/unwanted animals that really need the help.

sheltervet said:

oh, sad...despite the many options on this poll, I am still an "other."

I am interested in shelter medicine...it is intellectually stimulating because it combines epidemiology/disease control (basically applying herd health concepts to populations of small animals), behavior, emergency/critical care, basic small animal medicine (primarily parasitology & dermatology), surgery (mostly spays/neuters- a vet I work with can do a cat spay in under 10 minutes!; the shelter I work at has also done amputations, enucleations, and other interesting surgeries). An added bonus is that you're working with homeless/unwanted animals that really need the help.

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I heard that shelter medicine is close to becoming a boarded specialty. I think that's really cool. We even have a shelter medicine club at UTK!

Lab Animal Medicine Takes The Lead!!! Not that it's a competition, in fact, i'm entirely surprised to know that there is that many (4!) people on here wanting to be board certified in the field. Either way, a big woohoo to those in support of the research animals!

Equine surgery. Colics, dystocias, and broken bones, bring 'em on

sheltervet said:

oh, sad...despite the many options on this poll, I am still an "other."

I am interested in shelter medicine...it is intellectually stimulating because it combines epidemiology/disease control (basically applying herd health concepts to populations of small animals), behavior, emergency/critical care, basic small animal medicine (primarily parasitology & dermatology), surgery (mostly spays/neuters- a vet I work with can do a cat spay in under 10 minutes!; the shelter I work at has also done amputations, enucleations, and other interesting surgeries). An added bonus is that you're working with homeless/unwanted animals that really need the help.

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Correct me of my ignorance but I have always thought doing the shelter thing would be too depressing because you'd have to put down so many healthy animals. What are your thoughts on this?

VelcroSky said:

Correct me of my ignorance but I have always thought doing the shelter thing would be too depressing because you'd have to put down so many healthy animals. What are your thoughts on this?

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I work in a shelter right now - the DVMs are not usually the ones to perform euths. California has a program where kennel staff and vet techs can become certified to perfomr euths, so those are the people who do it where I work. It can be very difficult emotionally to see certain cases, but is also very rewarding when a patient gets healthy and goes to a good home.

The main reason I don't want to do shelter medicine (full-time, anyway) is that you often can't go in-depth and follow through on many cases due to budget limitations. For example, hyperthyroid cats are euthanized in the shelter where I work.

Of course in private practice the client's finances provide a constraint too, but not constantly!

Therio! Yay!!!

I am interested in small animal and exotics. I chose small animal only although I am also drawn to surgery. Time will tell...

VelcroSky said:

Correct me of my ignorance but I have always thought doing the shelter thing would be too depressing because you'd have to put down so many healthy animals. What are your thoughts on this?

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The shelter I work for is an open admissions one, which means we don't turn any animal away (resulting in over 30,000 animals received every year!); we don't have any time limits, and as long as an animal is healthy (both physically & temperamentally), they remain on the adoption floor until they find a new home. This being said, we still euthanize many aggressive or unhealthy animals, such as unthrifty kittens. It can be sad & depressing at times, but it is worth it to know that we are giving a second chance to thousands of unwanted/stray/abandoned/neglected/abused animals...these are the animals that don't have a loving owner to take them to the family vet.

nsdhfk said:

Just curious: How does the shelter generate enough income to house/feed/treat etc 30K animals each year! Not to mention all the ones from previous years that are probably left over?

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About 60% of the operating budget comes from fees paid for animals or services, and the other 40% is from donations.

Moooooooooooooooo!

As a woman, I should not be so eager to violate all those nice ladies who give us milk, but what can I say? I have a gift. I was going to do Mixed at one point as I thought that it would be more lucrative, but new statistics say that is not necessarily so. If I can afford it, I would like to work with cows exclusively, and marry someone who has olfactory damage, if a porcine vet hasn't snapped them up first, heh heh.

And I think shelter medicine is really cool, but it would break my heart.

First off -- Hi all!

I'm one of those that'll be competing for zoo specialty. I'd love to be able to work with the big cats especially..

(Realistically.. I'd say I'll be doing exotics eventually.)

fargeese said:

Moooooooooooooooo!

As a woman, I should not be so eager to violate all those nice ladies who give us milk, but what can I say? I have a gift. I was going to do Mixed at one point as I thought that it would be more lucrative, but new statistics say that is not necessarily so. If I can afford it, I would like to work with cows exclusively, and marry someone who has olfactory damage, if a porcine vet hasn't snapped them up first, heh heh.

And I think shelter medicine is really cool, but it would break my heart.

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Just the moooo alone got me laughing, I LOVE cows, but I have no desire to work on them!

ECC - emergency and critical care! Yeah!!

sheltervet said:

oh, sad...despite the many options on this poll, I am still an "other."

I am interested in shelter medicine...it is intellectually stimulating because it combines epidemiology/disease control (basically applying herd health concepts to populations of small animals), behavior, emergency/critical care, basic small animal medicine (primarily parasitology & dermatology), surgery (mostly spays/neuters- a vet I work with can do a cat spay in under 10 minutes!; the shelter I work at has also done amputations, enucleations, and other interesting surgeries). An added bonus is that you're working with homeless/unwanted animals that really need the help.

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Me too!

Great thread! Thanks for starting the poll.

I picked "S-Critical Care", but I'm not 100% sure. Internal medicine, feline specialty, and shelter medicine are also strong possibilities. Either way I'll probably do some shelter work and lots of spay/neuter on the side even though I'm not remotely interested in surgery otherwise.

Equine all the way!!!!!

is it ok to not really know yet? i initially started all this thinking i wanted to be feline surgery specific, but now i realize i want more variety and may be open to mixed animal...but i dont really know yet! i *do* know i want it to be surgery though.....i luuuuuuurv surgery...

Pigsfoot said:

is it ok to not really know yet? i initially started all this thinking i wanted to be feline surgery specific, but now i realize i want more variety and may be open to mixed animal...but i dont really know yet! i *do* know i want it to be surgery though.....i luuuuuuurv surgery...

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Yeah, of course it's okay. I don't think it is a good idea to have your plans set in cement. Vet school will most likely be the best chance you have to get a taste of a large variety of the different fields that you can go into. If you have your blinders on you're likely to miss a lot of stuff.

Honestly I have no idea, at this point I'm leaning towards emergency medicine but that's probably because that's where I've had the most experience. I probably won't figure it out until vet school.

you forgot to add wildlife medicine

That would probably fall under exotics (non-zoo).

I put behavior specialty but I am interested in clinical medicine (small animal) as well and hope to combine the two--maybe not actually get boarded in behavior but I have a strong interest in it. I am also playing with the idea of emergency critical care but am not sure if I could do the hours.

Public Health and conservation medicine focus as of now. I would also like to be involved in wildlife and large animal medicine throughout the course of my career.

More people interested in zoo medicine than I thought. Does anyone know what the actual turnover rate is? I bet it's only a handful of people/year in the whole country...I've heard it's really hard to get into.

I dont know the "rate" but I talked with some people and it is a very very very very hard field to get into. They said it was one of the hardest because of the few spots open. She also said a lot of people that start at zoo medicine turn out in exotics and stuff.

ylrebmik said:

I dont know the "rate" but I talked with some people and it is a very very very very hard field to get into. They said it was one of the hardest because of the few spots open. She also said a lot of people that start at zoo medicine turn out in exotics and stuff.

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Believe it or not a lot of zoo animal folks end up in lab animal medicine/

wow. I didn't know that.

I love working with exotics.

I'm the only one who chose avian? EDIT: Oh i should have chosen S-avian. The clinic I work for is an exotics clinic, and I know I would NOT want to do large animal. I love birds, parrots specifically, and macaws even more specifically! I also really like reptiles. Maybe I should have gone with exotics (non-zoo)?

I'm also a dog person and such... but I do want to volunteer to get more experience at the New england aquarium, New England Wildlife Center, Stoneham or Franklin zoo, MSPCA at Nevins farm, and Salem Animal Rescue league!

I love all animals, but I first and foremost love parrots. My seven parrots are my life, and I would love to work with them.

-Kara