Animal Experience Question

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Quinticx

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So I know its fantastic to have veterinary experience by either working at a vet clinic or shadowing a vet. I am curious how strict admissions committees are on animal experience vs vet experience. I work at a cat cafe and am counting that as animal experience hours (~2,200 hrs). I know it sounds like a stretch at first, but there is a lot of cat care that goes into it. I have to give them daily meds, which includes shots, pills, creams, and eye drops. I also have to be able to tell when they aren't feeling well and give them appropriate medications that we have on hand until we can get them into a vet. I was wondering if this would be viewed positively by a committee or negatively since its not direct supervision from a veterinarian.

Thank you.

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Sounds like animal experience to me! I would just try to be conservative when counting your hours, so if you spend most of your shift making coffees, working the register, cleaning, etc. I wouldn't count the entire time you're there as animal experience. Just know that you will need a substantial amount of veterinary experience as well, many schools have a minimum required number of veterinary hours, and it's rare for people to be accepted with just the minimum. I would say at least 500 hours is competitive, but it depends on what the rest of your application looks like. You'll also need a letter of recommendation from a vet who knows you well.
 
Luckily, someone else does all the register and barista work, I just stay with the cats my whole shift! But yeah, I could probably knock it down to 2,000 for a more conservative estimate. And I plan on shadowing a vet really soon, so that will boost up my vet hours thankfully. I still have 2 years until I apply, so I have time to get those in. Thank you!
 
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Luckily, someone else does all the register and barista work, I just stay with the cats my whole shift! But yeah, I could probably knock it down to 2,000 for a more conservative estimate. And I plan on shadowing a vet really soon, so that will boost up my vet hours thankfully. I still have 2 years until I apply, so I have time to get those in. Thank you!
Try checking with whatever vet you take the cafe cats to! They may be willing to let you shadow! Ask if you can come for a day or two and if it goes well and they like you, ask if you can come back. But you’ll definitely have an easier time wherever you ask by asking for a short term thing versus a long term thing because then they’re not locked into something if it doesn’t end up working out on either end, yours or theirs.
 
So I know its fantastic to have veterinary experience by either working at a vet clinic or shadowing a vet. I am curious how strict admissions committees are on animal experience vs vet experience. I work at a cat cafe and am counting that as animal experience hours (~2,200 hrs). I know it sounds like a stretch at first, but there is a lot of cat care that goes into it. I have to give them daily meds, which includes shots, pills, creams, and eye drops. I also have to be able to tell when they aren't feeling well and give them appropriate medications that we have on hand until we can get them into a vet. I was wondering if this would be viewed positively by a committee or negatively since its not direct supervision from a veterinarian.

Thank you.
I am not sure if your question is meant to be worded this way. It sounds like you mean to ask if it counts as veterinary experience.
It DOES count as animal experience as does anything involving direct contact with animals. It does NOT count as veterinary experience. Veterinary experience is under the supervision of a veterinarian-there is no wiggle room here.
 
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