allergies

[hoosier1]

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Hello, I've always wanted to be a veterinarian since I was a young, but I get really bad allergies when I make contact with hairs or fur of animals. Are there any alternatives in vetmed where I can work with animals indirectly and improve their quality of life? Thanks in advance for any responses 🙂

 

[verbal_kint]

look into public health dealing with animals.

 

[HeartSong]

Research like biomedical research. Wildlife management if you are interested in improving and maintaining the lives of wildlife. Zoo curator, or you could become a specialized vet/ marine biologist where you would end up working as a vet for marine animals at a zoo (though this is an extremely competitive field of veterinary medicine.) Here's a couple of sites that might be useful.

http://www.ahsc.arizona.edu/uac/career/careeranimals.htm
http://www.arkanimals.com/ark/uac_science_animal_careers_8.html

The second site has several pages about how to decide what animal career is right for you and how to get started in it. The link is to the page just dealing with research type careers but you might want to look at the other pages as well. Hope this helps.

 

[VeganSoprano]

I agree that public health is a great idea. You also might look into nonprofit work.

I know a lot of vets who are allergic to animals, though - your allergies may well be manageable.

 

[muttmommy]

Greetings! I have been allergic to dogs, cats and horses (among other things) since I was very young. Being a rebellious child, I told the doctor where to stick it (at the tender age of five) and proceeded to bring home all three in quick succession to my parents' dismay. I won't lie and say it wasn't heck on my allergies, but I was willing (and still am) to deal with them in order to have what I'd always wanted - a pet. Now, I will say that as I have aged (don't ask and I won't tell), my allergies have moderated somewhat but I remain allergic to animals. I completely understand your situation and empathize.

To some degree, your decision may or may not depend on how willing you are to put up with allergies to be with animals. For me, there was no question. I didn't care what doctor said what (my dad happens to be one of those doctors) - I was going to have animals and that was that. That would eventually translate itself into a career in veterinary medicine. While it may not always be so pleasant for those around me to have to listen to my snuffling, etc., for me it is the right decision and one I'd make again, in spite of what some critics might say. Pls. note that I do not advocate putting your life on the line though - if your allergies are too life threatening, then by all means, do not sacrifice your life.

Don't write off vet school yet. Like the person before me said - there are lots of vets out there who are allergic. 🙂 Good luck!

 

[verbal_kint]

Also, allergies can develop with increased exposure. I know plenty of vets and techs that are now allergic to cats, crickets (techs in the animal labs at my university), etc because of constant exposure to them. The head of the labatory animals at my university is so allergic to ferrets that she can't be in the same room as one.

Allergies are a bitch, but hey, you just gotta deal, and do your best against them. always change out of your scrubs or clothes after working with animals, wash your hands, limit exposure, etc.

 

[southerncomfort]

If your allergies are severe enough, there may be the possibility of undergoing a course of "allergy shots" --sorry, I don't know the proper term for them.

I'm allergic to EVERYTHING!!!--as in, when the doctor got my results in, he just said "Let's just go over what she's NOT allergic to" (and that was a very short list). Anyway, I did the allergy shots over a few years--that was like 20-25 years ago by now, so it may be a shorter course.

And now, I'm pretty allergy free when it comes to my old nemeses. I still have reactions to some medications and wasp stings, but all better otherwise.

 

[mammalmama]

A career in public health is not a bad idea if you don't want to work directly with animals. The CDC is a great place to work. Most diseases that humans get start in animals, so if you can find a vaccine or a cure in animals then humans won't contract the disease. My mom works in the communicable diseases department at our county public health agency. She is always incontact with the CDC or the state veterinarian about human diseases and which animals they come from. If you are into research this might be the career for you.

 

[brooke104]

Hello, I think that another option would be to go into veterinary clinical pathology. I don’t know much about it, but you might want to look into it. You would have to go through four years of vet school and I don’t know how bad your allergies are. But, if you can deal with them for four years this might be an option. Again, I don’t know much about it. But, I think that you analyze chemistry, body fluids, tumors and stuff like that. I’m sure that you do much more than that as well, I just don’t know exactly what. I’m not sure about how much contact you would have with animals in this field. Does anybody else know more about it? Also, the vet that I volunteer for has allergies. He grew up on a farm and has had them his entire life, but he says that he doesn’t mind. Here are some websites where you should be able to find out more about becoming a veterinary pathologist:

http://www.asvcp.org/index.html

and

http://www.acvp.org/

I hope that this helps. 🙂