I'm torn between being a vet or a D.O.

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Hi everyone, I've been thinking alot lately about whether I want to become a vet or a D.O...I love both aspects of medicine and have a passion for both caring for animals and people. I switch back and forth constantly, but currently I'm into the D.O. side of medicine. I have volunteered at an emergency pet clinic by my house and I loved it, however I am volunteering at the hospital right now and I love that too 😕 ...If anyone could give me advice to why you have chosen to become a vet, that would be great!
 
This probably isn't the greatest answer, but I never even considered human medicine because humans gross me out (in a medical sense)... like, human poop/pee? Yuck! Cadavers? NO WAY. Rashes, bumps, saliva, and tongues are all completely okay for dogs and completely gross in people.

Whatever passion I have for helping people would be impeded by that, so I choose to help people through their pets. Animals are an original passion.

Sorry, there's not really a better answer than that for me! 🙂
 
If you love doing both and can't decide, then I'd become a DO. If all else is equal for you, you may as well take home 2-3x the salary you would as a veterinarian.
 
twelvetigers said:
This probably isn't the greatest answer, but I never even considered human medicine because humans gross me out (in a medical sense)... like, human poop/pee? Yuck! Cadavers? NO WAY. Rashes, bumps, saliva, and tongues are all completely okay for dogs and completely gross in people.

Whatever passion I have for helping people would be impeded by that, so I choose to help people through their pets. Animals are an original passion.

Sorry, there's not really a better answer than that for me! 🙂
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Couldn't agree more! Human medicine has never even been an option for me. I considered optometry, but only because I love the eye. Basically, I chose to become a vet because I couldn't imagine myself doing anything else for the rest of my life. It is the only thing that fits me I guess; I know that sounds cliched. But yea, being a D.O. would most defiantly be more lucrative and less difficult to get accepted to (if what my med student friends tell me is true of course). That's just my $0.02.
 
Unlike everyone else.... I actually love human medicine. The honest answer is that I really dislike the US health care system. I was an EMT for a few years and I got sick of pleading with people to go to the ER for lacerations that needed stitches when they didn't have insurance. That was one of the things that bothered me the most. Now on the other hand if I lived in canada and could get my medical education for $60,000 and could work in a socialized health care system then I probably would have gone that route.

For now I'll go take care of animals.

And to be fair, there is also about a snowballs chance in hell I could have gotten into a US MD school with my grades...
 
Do both. If I had a lot of money and nothing to do with the rest of my life I'd pursue, albeit probably have to buy my way, into both med and vet school. I think it'd be neat. I ran into an endocrinologist once with both M.D. and D.V.M.
 
My personal experience probably won't help you too much... I was considering working in human medicine for a while but once I started getting experience I realized that while I liked the medicine aspect, I was not a fan of people-hospitals or working there.

Having spent four years working in the human medical field, I can tell you that human medicine has a ridiculous amount of red tape. Human medicine is a bureaucracy and there are a lot of nurses, techs, staff (dietary, transport, housekeeping, admitting, med. ethics, rehab, laundry, central supply, sterile supply, maintenance, lab, pharmacy, security, phlebotomy etc etc) filtering in and out and affecting your patient. There are a million little wheels in the giant machine and it can be hard to keep track of everything. Many times I spent half an hour on the phone trying to find where a patient was (I was an EKG tech), so it can be a little alarming. Compare that to an average practice with say two vets, two techs, and a receptionist. Add in insurance, malpractice, and HIPAA issues, along with the mountains of required paperwork, and I'd say you have a pretty good reason to choose vet medicine.

On the other hand, you probably should think about salary, and that you will probably make more as a human doctor. I don't think a person should choose either profession just for the money, but since you have a genuine passion for both it's a good thing to consider.
 
Thank you so much to all of you who have replied to my question! You have really brought forth some great reasons why you are becoming a vet. 🙂 I agree with you on everything, and I guess I just need time to think about it all and get more experience in both fields to see which one I love more. Yes, the money issue has been a factor with me (I've been told by many vets not to go into veterinary medicine because of the money), but honestly, if I love my career and am happy in life, that is WAY more important obviously...I hope to hear even more responses, that would be wonderful, if not, thanks again!! 🙂
 
ArkansasRanger said:
Do both. If I had a lot of money and nothing to do with the rest of my life I'd pursue, albeit probably have to buy my way, into both med and vet school. I think it'd be neat. I ran into an endocrinologist once with both M.D. and D.V.M.
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I'm on another forum with a woman whose application(s) was rejected several times by vet schools, was accepted into an MD school on her first try, tried again to get into vet school, etc. Her story is inspiring for me, and I have it bookmarked: http://www.ultimatedressage.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6165208#6165208
 
Wow, that was such an amazing and truly inspiring story! Thank you for sharing that with me! 🙂
 
My two cents are that if you are happy doing either one, choose a D.O. An equine vet I once worked with told me to go into vet medicine if that's the only thing you can envision yourself doing. Good luck! Oh, and I have heard of students applying to both med school and vet school...the vet school somehow found out and crossed them off the list😱
 
I do enjoy human medicine, I don't enjoy the human health care system. And I don't really enjoy humans -- for example I don't think I could stand being on-call, coming in to treat drug addicts, drunks, etc when I could be having time with my family. I'd feel a lot better being on call coming in to fix GDV, that's just me.

But if you like medicine, think the health care system is something you can live with, and don't mind working on people, then maybe consider going for humans. You'll be enjoying yourself and making much more dinero.

Also on the money aspect -- people will spend big bucks to save another person. Many of them are not willing to break their wallets over an animal. ("What!? $1,800 to fix grandma!? We'll just put her down then." You'd never hear that with people but it happens all the time for pets) If you get bothered about not being able to save a life just because of financial cost, then vet med might be difficult for you.
 
Thanks for those last 2 responses...I have a lot to think about and actually accomplish with shadowing and gaining experience and such between vet vs. human. :xf:
 
Outside of the vet vs human debate, I think it is probably more important to assess why you are looking at a DO (versus MD).

As in, are you interested more in preventative/holistic practices? Because it is reportedly 'easier' to get into? Or is there some other reasoning?

Generally speaking most people who choose vet med have had a strong desire to do only vet med. Those who don't tend to drop out of the profession after a few years.

I guess for me I see no way to help you choose because you haven't given us much info. What do you love about the hospital environment you are in?--is it working with people? Is it working in a large scale facility with heaps of modern equipment?

What do you love about volunteering at the vet clinic you were at?--is it the emergency cases and the rushing around? Is it the puzzle of trying to figure out what hurts without being told? T

here are a few variables that are basically absent for me at least to provide a sort of real opinion on the matter.
 
Nexx said:
Outside of the vet vs human debate, I think it is probably more important to assess why you are looking at a DO (versus MD).

As in, are you interested more in preventative/holistic practices? Because it is reportedly 'easier' to get into? Or is there some other reasoning?

Generally speaking most people who choose vet med have had a strong desire to do only vet med. Those who don't tend to drop out of the profession after a few years.

I guess for me I see no way to help you choose because you haven't given us much info. What do you love about the hospital environment you are in?--is it working with people? Is it working in a large scale facility with heaps of modern equipment?

What do you love about volunteering at the vet clinic you were at?--is it the emergency cases and the rushing around? Is it the puzzle of trying to figure out what hurts without being told? T

here are a few variables that are basically absent for me at least to provide a sort of real opinion on the matter.
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Well where to start with all of those questions?! haha I appreciate it, but geeze! 😉 Anyways, well the reason I'm interested in D.O. is yes the holistic/preventative care. However, the so-called "easier to get into" isn't that great of a gap between M.D. and D.O. schools...I have the grades to get into an M.D. school possibly, but am going the D.O. route because I think they have a litte more to offer and I plan on being a primary care physician, which is what like 70% of D.O.'s are. There are several other reasons, but I think thats good enough because thats not why I'm on this thread. 🙂

I have learned alot from you all and realize that most of you haven't even considered human medicine and are determined to become a vet no matter what...I on the other hand, yes I love animals (I have 3 dogs-they're my babies haha). Of course I enjoyed the experience while working with the vet, the techs and animals...I guess what really sparked an interest was the few emergency cases we got (I worked several days from ~7pm-2am), which is why I am still thinking about it. If I did decide to go into vetinary medicine, I guess I wouldn't be the typical with most of you being so determined and all. 😉 I've practically been researching all day about vets, schooling, salary, specialties, etc. I've heard some inspiring responses and I am grateful for you taking the time to do so, therefore I don't need you to get me to change my mind. All I was asking of you, was to give me your opinion to why you are choosing to be a vet, thanks.
 
Just a quick note on the 'ease' of getting into a DO program, I pretty much attribute anything like that to rumour/speculation.

Anyhow I really don't want to change your mind one way or another but just give you more to think about now that I have a better picture of things. Your initial question was just an either/or statement and the two jobs, while similar are completely different 🙂

Pursuing a DO degree is probably going to have more of a holistic approach than a vet med degree. In a vet degree you may get 2-3 short courses in holistic approaches depending on your university, but pursuing a more holistic education in vet med tends to be in addition to your 4 year degree. Basically in that regard it boils down to how deeply you value your time and the holistic approach to things.

If you have time I would suggest volunteering at a GP (preferably a DO) and at a general veterinary practice, as well as considering volunteering at a large animal practice if there is one located near you. These would give you a better idea of what to expect in the daily activities of general practices (and at least on the plus side give you experience for the vet school applications should you go that route).

For me, I've worked in a human path/micro lab and couldn't stand dealing with the bits of people that I had to handle (fibroid uterus from a person? blech... doing a U/A on one of my professors :barf: ) -- at least adults. So one of my backup options if I hadn't gotten into vet school would have been PA school with a specialisation in paediatrics. PA school because it is "easier" to get into but more importantly because I would have much the same duties/abilities as a MD but less responsibility/liability/insurance costs/etc and after devoting 11 years to the medical field (primarily vet) I wasn't ready to go off and do a business degree or something that didn't involve medicine.
 
Ok great thank you! I'll be searching for more places to volunteer and shadow vets such as possibly a large animal practice...I'll definitely talk to the general vet that I take my dogs to. 🙂

Woah, see working in a human path/micro lab sounds like so much fun to me! I love that gross stuff...I loved my microbiology class and am really interested in pursuing Internal Medcine with a subspecialty of Infectious Disease!! 🙂

Thanks again for your input, good luck with your studies and finishing up your school.
 
fwiw, not all of us are the "I've wanted to be a vet as long as I can remember" types. I didn't figure it out until my early 20's. Before that I had seriously considered human medicine and spent a couple hundred hours volunteering in a human hospital. As I got more interested in vet med I spent hundreds more hours in an animal hospital. Getting that experience helped me decide.

There are also quite a few non-trad students pursuing vet med. In my class we have a wide variety of backgrounds - we're really a pretty mixed bag from all different paths.
 
I pretty much agree with bunnity. Vet. med. has all the fun stuff of medicine (science and art of medicine, helping patient) without all the BS (insurance, medicare, disjointed care, hyperspecialization, predatory lawyers). Not that veterinary medicine is perfect but I think human medicine is getting worse -- and the US will eventually pull the trigger on some sort of universal health care and who knows how that's going to work?

Of course if money is a major factor for you, the decision is easy. But for me, I'm willing to drive a 10-year-old Honda to have a career where I love to come to work every day.
 
Bill59 reminded me, I wanted to say earlier that the BS/red-tape/paperwork stuff can seem insignificant before you actually experience it; if I had read a post like mine before my hospital job I would have thought, eh, no big deal. I imagine that even with shadowing it might not be something you would see. I think it's something you can only fully appreciate as an employee.

Because of that, and since you're still on the fence I'd really recommend a job in a human hospital. Get a job in transport, dietary, secretary, EKG, supply or even phlebotomy or CNA if you have the resources to take the courses. Seeing human healthcare from the bottom up gives you a totally different perspective than you would see from the top down shadowing a doctor. You will see some really sad stuff and some really cool stuff, and you will see and experience the paperwork, the drunks, the smells, the bureaucracy, in all their glory. If you hate it, or (like me) enjoy it but realize that's not the environment you want for your life, then go ahead and be a vet. If you love it, then you'll have some great experience for your application and you'll be a better person / doctor for it.
 
twelvetigers said:
This probably isn't the greatest answer, but I never even considered human medicine because humans gross me out (in a medical sense)... like, human poop/pee? Yuck! Cadavers? NO WAY. Rashes, bumps, saliva, and tongues are all completely okay for dogs and completely gross in people.
Click to expand...

:laugh: I feel the exact same way!
 
Yes, I do realize that not all of you have only wanted to be a vet forever...what I meant was that I admire all of your dedication to stick with it, while as I am constantly on the fence about deciding what I want to do with my life because I have such passions for both professions which is weird because they're very different aspects of medicine!

Now about the whole "working at the bottom to see what its like?" I do know what its like even though I'm not necessarily paid...its intimidating just volunteering doing the dirty work that no one notices such as stocking rooms, cleaning up rooms after each patient, and have been working in medical records for awhile (what a joke that place is)...I do know I couldn't stand actually working (for money) in a type of job like that in a hospital. I do realize that there are stupid people in this world (junkies, drunkies, those with no insurance, etc.) that the hospital is filled with and I'm fine with dealing with people like that. I will only be working in a hospital when I am in medical school and my residency, well that is my current plan anyways because I plan on owning my own practice and probably have a cash-only business (i.e. not dealing with my patients insurance companies).

As for the money issue, I'm not going to lie and say I don't care, because I want to live comfortably...it is so aggrevating to me that vets aren't paid more?! However, not becoming a vet wouldn't be like I was giving up on my "true passion" or anything because I love human medicine just as much and will find something I love if I do decide that route. If later on down the road and I'm in medical school or even in my residency and becoming a vet is still calling my name, then obviously I'll know that I made the wrong decision and pursue what will truly make me happy in life.
 
I just thought I would toss another perspective in. I was torn between human/animal medicine as well. There are couple of factors, 8 years after graduation, that swayed me.

I LIKE comparative medicine...I like seeing the links/similarities/differences in and amongst species. Why is this population of a species suseptible but not this one? How do these different agents present similarly, or why does a single agent present differently?

I also like human medicine, but when people say we go to any expense to save human lives, it isn't true. Lots of people don't get preventative care or decent medical treatment even when they are sick. Often, it isn't costs an individual doctor can absorb. If you have something wrong that a doctor believes they can fix by a certain treatment, they may push that treatment and/or refuse other treatments, even if the statistics are in favor of the patient's preferred path of treatment. Then there is the tangle of lawsuits (thought that does occur in vet med as well.)

There are a number of other issues, such as alleviation of pain, consequences of pharmaceuticals and polypharmy (and the retraction of drugs that are effective for an individual due to issues...even if the individual is ok with the risks.)

However, for me, it really comes down to a fascination with the variety of species. My personal thought is if you aren't sure, take some time to figure it out. I believe it is better to take a couple of years to explore and understand yourself, than to hurry into a field to decide that you aren't content.
 
Thanks, yes I am still considering, though I feel like I won't ever actually make the decision to go back to going into vetinerary medicine. I don't know, only time will tell, but in the mean time, I'm going to start studying for the MCAT in the fall so I'm going to continue on with as if I am going into human medicine. 🙂
 
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