Survey: What kind of vet do you want to be?

[loo]

There are plenty of places for a vet to work other than places where the main goal is profit.

Where would they be? Or places where no "sacrifices" are made?

Are you thinking of a career that involves public policy? Don't need to become a veterinarian to do that.

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[Hollycozza]

I'm quite interested in equine surgery, but am starting out in mixed practice (25% equine, 25% beef cattle, 50% smallies) on Jan 12th, very exciting

Also I'm interested in dairy consultancy, but wont be doing any of that for a while since no dairy in my first job. And gotta love small ruminants, who wouldn't love goaties!

 

[Truth74]

I'm quite interested in equine surgery, but am starting out in mixed practice (25% equine, 25% beef cattle, 50% smallies) on Jan 12th, very exciting

Also I'm interested in dairy consultancy, but wont be doing any of that for a while since no dairy in my first job. And gotta love small ruminants, who wouldn't love goaties!

They are cool, aren't they? Especially the babies!

 

[nyanko]

Logical Utilitarian ethical system.

Thanks for responding; that certainly makes perfect sense.

I just wish that all of the extreme crazy animal rights people could be so logical. I'd have to worry a little less about being firebombed, then.

 

[Pandacinny]

I wasn't asking to be attacked. There are plenty of places for a vet to work other than places where the main goal is profit. I understand that, in some cases, sacrifices have to be made. But I'm not interested in "sacrifices" so that we can have better makeup, or "sacrifices" to tell us that bleach and smoking are toxic. We know that. I want to help animals, and I just don't have the heart to work in an environment like that. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, because I know that the vets there work hard to ensure the animals' welfare- I said IT'S NOT FOR ME. Thanks for reading closely, guys. I really appreciate the assumptions.

Huh? You made a huge generalization about the poultry industry and about laboratory/research, basically saying they're cruel and only care about money. This is despite the fact that I don't think you have any firsthand experience in either field, but I may be thinking of another poster so I apologize if I'm wrong. For my part, I can say that lab animal people/researchers often find themselves having to combat the misconception that they injure and kill defenseless animals all day because they get some sadistic pleasure from it or because they only care about money. Hearing someone interested in the veterinary field perpetuating a stereotype like that certainly merits a response, in my book.

Also, as to the non-profit sector, it's not necessarily any better. There are many, many similarities between sheltering and lab animal. I should know - I came into lab animal after having done shelter work for years. In fact, I would say that the lab animals are provided better, more consistent care than the animals at many shelters. The staff are better trained and better paid. Labs are also subject to many more regulations than shelters, meaning they've got to toe the line more as far as animal welfare goes. And labs have real, set policies for everything, often written or approved by a veterinarian. I'm not trying to knock sheltering here - I'm very interested in sheltering as a career path, too, and know a lot of shelter vets. I'm just saying that it's not necessarily better working in the shelter than in the lab, on a day-to-day level. I can't speak to other non-profit parts of vet med.

I'm not trying to attack you personally here, I just think you should go get some more experience before making up your mind that an area of vet med is cruel and terrible.

 

[mmoldenburg]

My first passion is and always has been horses, so equine is definitely tops on my list.

But I am also interested in food animal practice, specifically dairy cattle, and since my undergrad I've had a growing interest in nutrition (of all species, not just large animal).

 

[237397]

For me, I'm a vegetarian, and I would have trouble working in an environment where the animals all have numbers above their heads counting down to slit throats. Have you ever seen a factory farm? It's disgusting. As an animal lover, I refuse to take any part in it. If I thought I could improve the conditions, then perhaps, but all those people care about is the profit.
Plus, I'm against animal research except in cases where the welfare is STRICTLY regulated, and where the reason for the research is to directly save lives, not to find out how much poison you can pour down a puppy's throat before it dies.

I didn't realize I would spark such a heated debate! Thanks for sticking up for food animal vets, guys. It may not be the best-understood facet of veterinary medicine, but I believe it has its merits. I guess it's time for me to defend myself, now...

Yes, I have seen a modern broiler (i.e., meat chicken) farm, and the only thing that I might consider disgusting about it is the slight smell of ammonia. Are you talking about the processing plants? I've seen that, too. The birds are killed in a very humane fashion, and after that I can't imagine what would be disgusting--they are going into food production, after all. Just because a poultry vet's patients are destined for death doesn't mean s/he can't have compassion for them, or that they can't live a good life. If you think about it, every vet's patient is ultimately destined for death. And really, sometimes a pet will suffer more before it dies than the chicken does.

I agree that farmers are concerned about profit. They're trying to make a living, just like you and me and everyone else. But let me tell you a secret: the chicken won't grow if it isn't happy and healthy. The hen won't lay an egg if it is stressed. If the farmer kept these animals in truly miserable conditions, the birds would not produce and the farmer would not make a profit. Does this make sense? Because the farmer is interested in profit, he must also be interested in the welfare of his flock. The two concerns are inseparable.

I've talked about the chicken, the farmer, and now it's time to make a bigger connection: economics and the world hunger crisis. When the poultry vet improves profitability, more chicken can be produced at a lower cost. This drives down the price of chicken (chicken is super cheap in GA--the poultry capital of the US), which means that more people can afford a high-quality protein source (I don't mean to hate on vegetarians or vegans, but tofu is not a high-quality protein source based on its amino acid patterns), which means less malnutrition (especially among lower-income classes). Food animals in general are great at converting low-quality food that humans and pets can't eat (think corn stalks, low-quality soybeans, etc.) into a high-quality product that humans can eat. There would be a tremendous waste of crops if we didn't have cattle and other food animals to eat it, and we don't have enough arable land in the world to feed vegetables to all the people in the world. In fact, countries in which malnutrition is a major health concern do not have a reliable source of meat. We don't think about this much in the States because... well, we don't have to.

In conclusion, food animal veterinarians work with everyone's best interests at heart.


Unrelated, but Ladyhitokiri, good luck on ISU! I've only heard good things about them. You're probably more qualified than me... but they're my dream school, too! <3 food animal med!

 

[LadyHitokiri]

Unrelated, but Ladyhitokiri, good luck on ISU! I've only heard good things about them. You're probably more qualified than me... but they're my dream school, too! <3 food animal med!

Thank you! I wouldn't say that...about me being more qualified.

I hope you hear from them soon! Good luck!

 

[Malhi]

Also, as to the non-profit sector, it's not necessarily any better. There are many, many similarities between sheltering and lab animal. I should know - I came into lab animal after having done shelter work for years. In fact, I would say that the lab animals are provided better, more consistent care than the animals at many shelters. The staff are better trained and better paid. Labs are also subject to many more regulations than shelters, meaning they've got to toe the line more as far as animal welfare goes. And labs have real, set policies for everything, often written or approved by a veterinarian. I'm not trying to knock sheltering here - I'm very interested in sheltering as a career path, too, and know a lot of shelter vets. I'm just saying that it's not necessarily better working in the shelter than in the lab, on a day-to-day level. I can't speak to other non-profit parts of vet med.

My sentiments, exactly! I too, am interested in both shelter medicine and lab animal medicine and think they share similarities. I don't want to get into this debate but I am vegetarian too. I am considering lab animal medicine because I don't want to see animals suffer unnecessarily. I know that this is an area that is beneficial to both animal and human health and I can help make conditions better for the animals who are being used to make life better for the rest of us.

 

[hopefulvet21]

post was a mistake sorry.

 

[Raimes]

I'm extremely interested in Large Animal specifically Equine, but would also do small animals of course. I don't think I could sit in an office all day, when you've been around horses in the 9 degree weather, doing emergency calls in the dead of winter feels like home.

 

[wolfspeaker]

Large Animal, predominantly cattle(beef and dairy) and swine, maybe some horses thrown in there(not really a strong interest). Large interest in reproduction and obstetrics. Nothing nailed down of course, I've got 8-11 years to decide

 

[aussiered]

I always thought that I'd be equine all they way. That's the reason behind me working at a practice with an equine surgical specialist for the past two years. But in the past year I've found myself getting much more into the small animal side of things and now I would love to get into smallies orthopaedics and I'm also really interested in oncology.

But there's just so much and the thought of limiting myself at this stage to one set idea makes me sad because I want to try everything. And I figure that over the next five or so years my interests will change so many times anyway...

 

[SmallAndLA]

I'm looking at becoming a large animal vet, dealing primarily with dairy cattle and possibly beef cattle (I like cows). But I've explored specializing in ophthalmology as well, along with public health and military service.

I'm going to wait and see if I get in this cycle, and decide for certain after being in school for a year or two -- my interests have changed over the years without being in vet school, and I can only imagine they'll change a bit once I'm in.

 

[CurrySpice]

I'm very interested in surgery, probably equine, but not quite sure of that one yet.

 

[VeganChick]

I'm looking at becoming a large animal vet, dealing primarily with dairy cattle and possibly beef cattle (I like cows). But I've explored specializing in ophthalmology as well

The ophthamologist at our SA hospital is actually doing more equine work than SA work these days - it appears there is a need for equine ophthamologists.

 

[david594]

I'm a small animal person with a big interest in high volume spay and neuter.

 

[VeganSoprano]

Emergency and critical care.

 

[Badger Girl]

SA for sure. Maybe emergency/critical care. I would love to specialize in some kind of canine medicine, but really don't know what kind of options I have...especially around here in Wisconsin. Can anyone enlighten me??

 

[Shanomong]

I'm a vegan because I don't like animal suffering. If I could make even one of these animals' lives just a wee bit better before the inevitable, that is what is important to me. Do I approve of factory farming? Of course not. But as a (future) veterinarian, my priority is the animals, not the statement.

Very well said! I'm a vegetarian, not a vegan, (pesco-lacto-ovo if you want to get specific lol), and it's not because I'm against people eating animals or lab animal research. I think it actually looks pretty awkward to group those ideas together... I don't eat meat because I don't necessarily agree with the life that many of those animals have to live prior to their death...it's not the death itself that bothers me. I eat seafood because they fish live pretty fishy lives before the end... and I buy organic/cage-free everything, and I try to get the meat with the seal of humane treatment when I buy meat for my husband... I also try to avoid eating out too often for the same reasons. My concern over this would certainly make me more inclined to go into food animal medicine to ensure good living conditions for these animals... not less. The animals don't know they have "numbers over their head" counting down to their "throat slashing".. if they live a good life then up until the very last moments they'll be happy...

That said I am sitting on my leather couch (ironically purchased in order for my cat to continue living a humane existance... she peed on the cloth couch and if she ruined one more big piece of furniture I could have strangled her ), I own several suede jackets, and I don't monitor what goes into my make-up or any of that... but then again I'm also not researching the child labor history of every manufacture of every stitch of clothing I wear either... some things you just have to leave up to the system (and hope it works!) in order to maintain sanity at least I do... being a vegan is hard work! And honestly I personally don't feel compelled to do it... I like my happy medium. My dad is vegan though, but for his own health reasons. I'm not sure the all-encompassing lack of animal-derived goods is part of the actual definition of "vegan"? I think that's just a fairly logical assumption for most vegans... He's cool with animals and is really proud of me and my career choice, but animal welfare has nothing to do with his veganism


And...

I didn't realize I would spark such a heated debate! Thanks for sticking up for food animal vets, guys. It may not be the best-understood facet of veterinary medicine, but I believe it has its merits. I guess it's time for me to defend myself, now...

Yes, I have seen a modern broiler (i.e., meat chicken) farm, and the only thing that I might consider disgusting about it is the slight smell of ammonia. Are you talking about the processing plants? I've seen that, too. The birds are killed in a very humane fashion, and after that I can't imagine what would be disgusting--they are going into food production, after all. Just because a poultry vet's patients are destined for death doesn't mean s/he can't have compassion for them, or that they can't live a good life. If you think about it, every vet's patient is ultimately destined for death. And really, sometimes a pet will suffer more before it dies than the chicken does.

I agree that farmers are concerned about profit. They're trying to make a living, just like you and me and everyone else. But let me tell you a secret: the chicken won't grow if it isn't happy and healthy. The hen won't lay an egg if it is stressed. If the farmer kept these animals in truly miserable conditions, the birds would not produce and the farmer would not make a profit. Does this make sense? Because the farmer is interested in profit, he must also be interested in the welfare of his flock. The two concerns are inseparable.

I've talked about the chicken, the farmer, and now it's time to make a bigger connection: economics and the world hunger crisis. When the poultry vet improves profitability, more chicken can be produced at a lower cost. This drives down the price of chicken (chicken is super cheap in GA--the poultry capital of the US), which means that more people can afford a high-quality protein source (I don't mean to hate on vegetarians or vegans, but tofu is not a high-quality protein source based on its amino acid patterns), which means less malnutrition (especially among lower-income classes). Food animals in general are great at converting low-quality food that humans and pets can't eat (think corn stalks, low-quality soybeans, etc.) into a high-quality product that humans can eat. There would be a tremendous waste of crops if we didn't have cattle and other food animals to eat it, and we don't have enough arable land in the world to feed vegetables to all the people in the world. In fact, countries in which malnutrition is a major health concern do not have a reliable source of meat. We don't think about this much in the States because... well, we don't have to.

In conclusion, food animal veterinarians work with everyone's best interests at heart.


Unrelated, but Ladyhitokiri, good luck on ISU! I've only heard good things about them. You're probably more qualified than me... but they're my dream school, too! <3 food animal med!

You should print that and hand out copies at all of your interviews!! lol Very well researched, logical, and convincing! A+!!

 

[PigCowSheep]

Large animals please Food and Fiber animals specifically.

I spent last summer working at a farrowing site of a large scale hog confinement in Iowa (yup, Iowa residency :-D) and really liked it. My personal "quest" is to find a cure for PRRS, as my site manager told me if I did that I'd make millions :-D