Deciding between DVM or MD/DO

[Sonjaw123]

Hi,

I'm going to post this in both types of threads for different opinions, but basically I'm having a hard time deciding between pursuing a DVM or MD/DO. I'm not a traditional student exactly, I already completed a B.A. in Sociology and will be returning to do a post-bacc currently on a pre-med track. Lately though, I've been thinking of switching to pre-vet and I'd appreciate any insights and/or similar experiences. As you can probably tell, I'm interested in too many things and have had a hard time choosing one career field. Anyways, here are my pros and cons of pursuing a vet degree:

PROS:
I love all animals, not afraid of any specific type and not a dog vs cat person
Sometimes I like animals more than humans
I love the idea of traveling and working outside at farms, rescues, etc.
Working with wildlife would be really cool to me
Science classes would be more bearable if they're about animals
Animals would be easier for me emotionally (in medical, I'm interested in pediatrics and would probably take it harder to see dying/mistreated kids)
Work environment seems less stressful
Maybe more free time than a human doctor? Not sure about this
Less School/no residency needed

CONS:
No way to pay for Vet school, was hoping for the HPSP for medical school
I have way more experience with kids than animals
Harder to get into
Less money (Not super important to me)
Possible feeling of having less of a impact


Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

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[<3Ivy<3]

Hi,

No way to pay for Vet school, was hoping for the HPSP for medical school

Is HPSP the army scholarship for med school? If so, they have a DVM equivalent where you get 3 years of tuition and work for them for 3 years or you can work for them after graduation and they help with loan repayment. There are plenty of other scholarships like that if you are willing to put in the work.

 

[wildlifer]

Have you shadowed a veterinarian? If not, I would highly suggest it. It will give you a better perspective of what it is like on a day to day basis and hopefully help you decide which path suits you better.

 

[TrashPanda]

Since most of the pre-reqs are the same for veterinary and medical school, I suggest starting your post-bacc, getting shadowing/volunteer/work experience in both fields, and seeing which appeals to you more.

Going the med school route would be far more lucrative, so don't pick veterinary medicine unless you are very, very sure it's what you want. You won't know it's what you want until you get experience, which is required for applying to vet school anyway (~1,000 hours of veterinary experience plus additional animal experience is considered competitive, but some people certainly get in with less). It sounds like you have little to no veterinary experience yet, so getting some while taking pre-reqs would be your next step.

 

[JRod94]

Hi,

I'm going to post this in both types of threads for different opinions, but basically I'm having a hard time deciding between pursuing a DVM or MD/DO. I'm not a traditional student exactly, I already completed a B.A. in Sociology and will be returning to do a post-bacc currently on a pre-med track. Lately though, I've been thinking of switching to pre-vet and I'd appreciate any insights and/or similar experiences. As you can probably tell, I'm interested in too many things and have had a hard time choosing one career field. Anyways, here are my pros and cons of pursuing a vet degree:

PROS:
I love all animals, not afraid of any specific type and not a dog vs cat person
Sometimes I like animals more than humans
I love the idea of traveling and working outside at farms, rescues, etc.
Working with wildlife would be really cool to me
Science classes would be more bearable if they're about animals
Animals would be easier for me emotionally (in medical, I'm interested in pediatrics and would probably take it harder to see dying/mistreated kids)
Work environment seems less stressful
Maybe more free time than a human doctor? Not sure about this
Less School/no residency needed

CONS:
No way to pay for Vet school, was hoping for the HPSP for medical school
I have way more experience with kids than animals
Harder to get into
Less money (Not super important to me)
Possible feeling of having less of a impact


Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

I figured I'd chime in here because I was in a similar position as you. So I started off on the Pre-Med track, took all the prereq's, the MCAT, I've been an EMT for 3 years so the patient care hours were there. But I was very unhappy where I was. I could feel that it wasn't where I was meant to be. If you really want to see which route you should take, I think you should spend some time volunteering/shadowing/working for a veterinary clinic. It was sort of an eye opener for me when I did it. I knew very quickly that DVM was the track for me.

I'd also like to comment on a few things on your list. While as a veterinarian your main patient is an animal, the amount of human interaction in vet med is very close to the amount of human interaction in human Med. You have to always keep the client in mind because in most cases the animals you will see will be someone's pet, not to say that is always the case but most of the time it is.

You said your main focus in human Med would be pediatrics. I have (unfortunately) experienced the sensation of losing children while I was working as an EMT. It. Was. Rough. It was so very hard to experience. But I think euthanasia in vet med is much harder. You grow attached to your patients when they're little babies and having to put them down is a very sad experience. Many of the vets I work for have to constantly find ways to deal with compassion fatigue.

I hope that my insight has helped you in any way or at least shed some more light on the subject. Honestly, either career path is great. They're both extremely rewarding. I wish the best of luck to you in figuring out which path you should take!

 

[battie]

PROS:
I love all animals, not afraid of any specific type and not a dog vs cat person
Sometimes I like animals more than humans
I love the idea of traveling and working outside at farms, rescues, etc.
Working with wildlife would be really cool to me
Science classes would be more bearable if they're about animals
Animals would be easier for me emotionally (in medical, I'm interested in pediatrics and would probably take it harder to see dying/mistreated kids)
Work environment seems less stressful
Maybe more free time than a human doctor? Not sure about this
Less School/no residency needed

CONS:
No way to pay for Vet school, was hoping for the HPSP for medical school
I have way more experience with kids than animals
Harder to get into
Less money (Not super important to me)
Possible feeling of having less of a impact

I'm going to point out that several of your pros and cons are idealistic at best.

You need to like people, or at the very least, be willing to spend almost as much time with the owner as with the animal. Owner are the one with the cash or card; animals don't pay for themselves.

Right now, we're learning respiration and cardio and it's basically all human med based (as far as images go). The animal correlation is basically in anatomy lab. Otherwise, the average person sitting in my lecture wouldn't be able to tell if I was a vet student or med student unless they stayed for the whole lecture.

Work environment is as stressful or more so (cause at least doctors know the insurance companies will help pay in the long run; vet med does not have that luxury). This is the number 1 reason you need to shadow and get as much experience as you can.

Less money should be one of the most important things to you if you're going into this work. I'll have 225k in debt and if I pay it off in 15 years, I'll be paying an extra 135k in interest on my loans. This will be while making around 60k/year. If that's not important to you, you need to discuss the debt situation with a recently graduated veterinarian.


Really, a lot of people will say if you're torn between one or the other, go MD because then you can have a lot more certainty to get a reasonable return on your investment financially. I'm pretty sure those over in pre-allo will be inclined to agree.

 

[Sonjaw123]

Is HPSP the army scholarship for med school? If so, they have a DVM equivalent where you get 3 years of tuition and work for them for 3 years or you can work for them after graduation and they help with loan repayment. There are plenty of other scholarships like that if you are willing to put in the work.

It is. Unfortunately, my husband is already in the air force so being in the army would be really difficult. For an MD I would do HPSP with the air force, but they don't have a vet program. But I would definitely be willing to look into other scholarships, I know there's a lot more out there.

 

[<3Ivy<3]

It is. Unfortunately, my husband is already in the air force so being in the army would be really difficult. For an MD I would do HPSP with the air force, but they don't have a vet program. But I would definitely be willing to look into other scholarships, I know there's a lot more out there.

I would still look into it because the army and air force are together in the scholarship I believe.

 

[Sonjaw123]

I'm going to point out that several of your pros and cons are idealistic at best.

You need to like people, or at the very least, be willing to spend almost as much time with the owner as with the animal. Owner are the one with the cash or card; animals don't pay for themselves.

Right now, we're learning respiration and cardio and it's basically all human med based (as far as images go). The animal correlation is basically in anatomy lab. Otherwise, the average person sitting in my lecture wouldn't be able to tell if I was a vet student or med student unless they stayed for the whole lecture.

Work environment is as stressful or more so (cause at least doctors know the insurance companies will help pay in the long run; vet med does not have that luxury). This is the number 1 reason you need to shadow and get as much experience as you can.

Less money should be one of the most important things to you if you're going into this work. I'll have 225k in debt and if I pay it off in 15 years, I'll be paying an extra 135k in interest on my loans. This will be while making around 60k/year. If that's not important to you, you need to discuss the debt situation with a recently graduated veterinarian.


Really, a lot of people will say if you're torn between one or the other, go MD because then you can have a lot more certainty to get a reasonable return on your investment financially. I'm pretty sure those over in pre-allo will be inclined to agree.

I really appreciate how straight-forward you are. You're probably right, I do tend to be an idealist. The liking animals more than humans part was more of a joke.

Class-wise, I meant that the pre-vet track at my school involves more zoology courses versus chemistry, etc. But that's really good to know, I don't really know how vet school classes are to be honest.

I've heard from some vet students that the work environment is less stressful in terms of relationships with colleagues and such. Basically compared to being an md and being potentially treated horribly during residency.

Debt is a big problem to me, but also, I currently have a B.A. in sociology. I make about $25,000 right now, my best hope even after grad school in a social service would be like $50-70,000 with also a ton of debt. One of the huge reasons I'm going back to school, and why in comparison, a vet salary does not seem super low to me. My main point is I've never been super money driven or aspired to be rich, just comfortable.

Anyways I realize some clarification might have been needed for some of those

 

[Sonjaw123]

I figured I'd chime in here because I was in a similar position as you. So I started off on the Pre-Med track, took all the prereq's, the MCAT, I've been an EMT for 3 years so the patient care hours were there. But I was very unhappy where I was. I could feel that it wasn't where I was meant to be. If you really want to see which route you should take, I think you should spend some time volunteering/shadowing/working for a veterinary clinic. It was sort of an eye opener for me when I did it. I knew very quickly that DVM was the track for me.

I'd also like to comment on a few things on your list. While as a veterinarian your main patient is an animal, the amount of human interaction in vet med is very close to the amount of human interaction in human Med. You have to always keep the client in mind because in most cases the animals you will see will be someone's pet, not to say that is always the case but most of the time it is.

You said your main focus in human Med would be pediatrics. I have (unfortunately) experienced the sensation of losing children while I was working as an EMT. It. Was. Rough. It was so very hard to experience. But I think euthanasia in vet med is much harder. You grow attached to your patients when they're little babies and having to put them down is a very sad experience. Many of the vets I work for have to constantly find ways to deal with compassion fatigue.

I hope that my insight has helped you in any way or at least shed some more light on the subject. Honestly, either career path is great. They're both extremely rewarding. I wish the best of luck to you in figuring out which path you should take!

I'm glad other people struggle with that as well! Anyways yes, I'm hoping to shadow and volunteer a lot this summer and hopefully that'll give me a clear idea of what direction I want.

 

[mht2k3]

Class-wise, I meant that the pre-vet track at my school involves more zoology courses versus chemistry, etc. But that's really good to know, I don't really know how vet school classes are to be honest.

If you already have a degree, there is no need to get another degree / take any classes outside of the required courses that the vet schools you are applying to list. Anything else is basically just a waste of money.

 

[Sonjaw123]

If you already have a degree, there is no need to get another degree / take any classes outside of the required courses that the vet schools you are applying to list. Anything else is basically just a waste of money.

I didn't take any sciences for my B.A., and basically the required classes= a new degree anyways, as long as my ge's count. Also I'm in a very limited area, there's only one college and the junior college does't have the classes I need. It's slightly my only choice.

 

[Doktor Timo]

This is 100% not meant to be insulting, just factual: your "pros" list sounds like something somebody with no actual knowledge of the veterinary profession would write. Many of them aren't really accurate to be honest (especially the less stress/more free time one), and they don't really grasp what makes vet med unique from human medicine. I don't think vet med is just an "alternative" form of medicine, it's actually a very very different profession. They may both be medicine, but the expectations, cultures, and daily job realities are very different. For that reason, the only way you're really going to know what's right for you is to start volunteering/shadowing veterinarians so you can see what their lives are like and see how the profession works. At the end of the day, I don't think you can make it in vet med unless you really love vet med for its own sake, not because it's "better" than human medicine. I personally never even considered human med because I just don't have a passion for it, and sometimes passion is the only thing that keeps you going.

 

[Mad Jack]

Do you like animals more than you like people, while also having the stomach to watch them suffer? Do you want to confront the reality of many of your patients having to suffer because of a lack of funds in the part of grieving pet owners? Do you enjoy poverty? DVM is the way to go.

Do you like people more than you like animals, and are you content with the frustrations of clinical practice? Do you want to butt heads with family, administration, the government, and your patients on a near daily, if not daily, basis? Do you want a reasonable salary and an unpredictable future? Go physician.

 

[Doktor Timo]

Side note: being idealistic and naive is bad, but so is being cynical and nihilistic. Choosing vet med is not necessarily dooming yourself to a life of animal suffering and poverty. There are a lot of good things about the profession too.

 

[Sonjaw123]

]You're right, I'm extremely naive, that was kind of the point in posting this. I wanted real people and real experiences. I'm currently a teacher full time so no, I haven't had time to shadow yet. I've volunteered a ton at shelters, a wildlife rescue, etc. But only recently have I realized that teaching isn't something that I want to do every day for many many reasons, money being a huge one so if you want to talk about poverty, frankly I'm not really intimidated. Maybe that's naive too, who knows.

 

[DVMDream]

Vets aren't much better off than teachers in regards to money. You can't pay off a $200-400k student debt on a 75,000-80,000 salary. And that salary is generous. And remember that is gross salary, since you still make "a lot" according to our ridiculous, stupid government, you can expect around 25% of that to go to taxes... and that is just federal taxes.

 

[DVMDream]

Hi,

I'm going to post this in both types of threads for different opinions, but basically I'm having a hard time deciding between pursuing a DVM or MD/DO. I'm not a traditional student exactly, I already completed a B.A. in Sociology and will be returning to do a post-bacc currently on a pre-med track. Lately though, I've been thinking of switching to pre-vet and I'd appreciate any insights and/or similar experiences. As you can probably tell, I'm interested in too many things and have had a hard time choosing one career field. Anyways, here are my pros and cons of pursuing a vet degree:

PROS:
I love all animals, not afraid of any specific type and not a dog vs cat person I hope you like people too, you spend more time dealing with people than animals as a vet
Sometimes I like animals more than humans I do too, people suck, still have to deal with them more than animals
I love the idea of traveling and working outside at farms, rescues, etc.
Working with wildlife would be really cool to me wildlife medicine is incredibly difficult to get into, you'd probably have near as good of luck becoming an astronaut. Shadow a large animal or equine vet if you want to be outside, but drop your expected salary by $20-30k
Science classes would be more bearable if they're about animals
Animals would be easier for me emotionally (in medical, I'm interested in pediatrics and would probably take it harder to see dying/mistreated kids) the science between human and animal med isn't that different. Yes seeing a mistreated kid sucks, but I have to deal with dinguses trying to euthanize healthy animals. The latest one "my dog has diarrhea and gets annoying".
Work environment seems less stressful Nope, working as a vet is very stressful. It is still a life you are responsible for. Insomnia after a difficult case or after doing surgery is a constant companion. Dealing with aggressive, rude and demanding people is a daily occurrence in vet med. Everyday I have some client bitching that we haven't returned their call with bloodwork results the day after we submitted the bloodwork and how dare we make them wait. And what do you mean you haven't looked yet, I called 30 minutes ago and you still haven't looked at my dog's bloodwork or you still don't have his meds ready???
Maybe more free time than a human doctor? Not sure about this I work just as much as some human doctors. And might work less than some human doctors. Just depends on the specialty of doctor.
Less School/no residency needed no, same amount of school. Yes, you don't have to necessarily do a residency. Doing an internship though is becoming more common, still not required.

CONS:
No way to pay for Vet school, was hoping for the HPSP for medical school vet school be expensive
I have way more experience with kids than animals get veterinary experience before considering vet med
Harder to get into 1000% not true and depending on who you talk to, some believe vet med is harder. We need more experience hours while still maintaining good grades and there aren't near as many vet schools as human med schools
Less money (Not super important to me) make it important. I know you just want to live comfortably and not be "rich"... but many vets struggle to live comfortably even
Possible feeling of having less of a impact meh, I guess it depends on what area of vet med you go into. I've made an impact on a number of animals lives. I mean, it isn't a human, but I think the humans attached to the animal appreciate what I did.


Anyways, any advice would be greatly appreciated, Thanks!

See my comments above in red. You need vet experience because your pros and cons are off. Which isn't a big deal, you just don't know. Just go get experience.

 

[mht2k3]

I didn't take any sciences for my B.A., and basically the required classes= a new degree anyways, as long as my ge's count. Also I'm in a very limited area, there's only one college and the junior college does't have the classes I need. It's slightly my only choice.

You should be able to just take the courses you need at that college as a nondegree seeking student and not do everything needed for a degree. Most required science courses for vet school are going to be significantly less than the required courses for a degree in bio/chem/whatever.

 

[cdo96]

PROS:
I love all animals

I chuckled at this.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

"Animals would be easier for me emotionally" seriously? Have you ever had to treat a patient riddled with bullets, one with appendages/ears/nose/tail cut off and abandoned (and no...not docking done professionally), one that you know is going to die but the owner refuses to let go, one that you know could live but the owner refuses to treat, one that you know is seriously ill and the owner just takes it home because they don't trust you? I'm not trying to be mean, but this really shows that you need to spend time in a clinic and see the reality of vet med.

Maybe it's because I'm getting a tad bit burnt out and in a weird place in my life, or maybe it's because I'm PMSing and emotional right now and I'm venting , but there have definitely been so many cases since I've started out that stick in my mind and have kept me up at night. The opossum that became my patient because someone shot it, beat the **** out of it with a shovel, starved it in a trap, then finally was brought in because a neighbor found it still trying to live? The puppy that had parvo but was taken home because the owner was convinced we were making him sick for money? The animals that you suspect are victims of sexual abuse?

Of course, you get some horrific/very sad/suspect cases in pediatrics I'm sure. At least you probably have a better chance of successfully prosecuting those if that's what the situation calls for. You just generally don't come into work one morning and find a box of nearly dead kids on your front door when you're a physician. You can't not treat your sick kid and just take it home in most cases. When a pediatrician makes a call to CPS, I have to imagine it's taken more seriously than some of the calls concerned vets make to police.

There are good and bad days in vet med for everyone. Sometimes our DVMs on this board post things like "I didn't have a single patient that left my clinic alive today" and that really reminds you that this is definitely a career that requires you to truly decide you want it...not that you just think it would be easier to handle.

 

[cdo96]

"Animals would be easier for me emotionally" seriously? Have you ever had to treat a patient riddled with bullets, one with appendages/ears/nose/tail cut off and abandoned (and no...not docking done professionally), one that you know is going to die but the owner refuses to let go, one that you know could live but the owner refuses to treat, one that you know is seriously ill and the owner just takes it home because they don't trust you? I'm not trying to be mean, but this really shows that you need to spend time in a clinic and see the reality of vet med.

Maybe it's because I'm getting a tad bit burnt out and in a weird place in my life, or maybe it's because I'm PMSing and emotional right now and I'm venting p), but there have definitely been so many cases since I've started out that stick in my mind and have kept me up at night. The opossum that became my patient because someone shot it, beat the **** out of it with a shovel, starved it in a trap, then finally was brought in because a neighbor found it still trying to live? The puppy that had parvo but was taken home because the owner was convinced we were making him sick for money? The animals that you suspect are victims of sexual abuse?

Of course, you get some horrific/very sad/suspect cases in pediatrics I'm sure. At least you probably have a better chance of successfully prosecuting those if that's what the situation calls for. You just generally don't come into work one morning and find a box of nearly dead kids on your front door when you're a physician. You can't not treat your sick kid and just take it home in most cases. When a pediatrician makes a call to CPS, I have to imagine it's taken more seriously than some of the calls concerned vets make to police.

There are good and bad days in vet med for everyone. Sometimes our DVMs on this board post things like "I didn't have a single patient that left my clinic alive today" and that really reminds you that this is definitely a career that requires you to truly decide you want it...not that you just think it would be easier to handle.

*hugs*

 

[pinkpuppy9]

*hugs*

 

[Sonjaw123]

Wow, I had no clue people would take this so seriously. What I posted was a couple things off the top of my head, not literally all of my knowledge of the veterinarian career, and my main point was just to get in input on whether or not the work to become a vet was worth it, which it seems like a lot of you don't think so.

"Animals would be easier for me emotionally" seriously? Have you ever had to treat a patient riddled with bullets, one with appendages/ears/nose/tail cut off and abandoned (and no...not docking done professionally), one that you know is going to die but the owner refuses to let go, one that you know could live but the owner refuses to treat, one that you know is seriously ill and the owner just takes it home because they don't trust you? I'm not trying to be mean, but this really shows that you need to spend time in a clinic and see the reality of vet med.

Maybe it's because I'm getting a tad bit burnt out and in a weird place in my life, or maybe it's because I'm PMSing and emotional right now and I'm venting , but there have definitely been so many cases since I've started out that stick in my mind and have kept me up at night. The opossum that became my patient because someone shot it, beat the **** out of it with a shovel, starved it in a trap, then finally was brought in because a neighbor found it still trying to live? The puppy that had parvo but was taken home because the owner was convinced we were making him sick for money? The animals that you suspect are victims of sexual abuse?

Of course, you get some horrific/very sad/suspect cases in pediatrics I'm sure. At least you probably have a better chance of successfully prosecuting those if that's what the situation calls for. You just generally don't come into work one morning and find a box of nearly dead kids on your front door when you're a physician. You can't not treat your sick kid and just take it home in most cases. When a pediatrician makes a call to CPS, I have to imagine it's taken more seriously than some of the calls concerned vets make to police.

There are good and bad days in vet med for everyone. Sometimes our DVMs on this board post things like "I didn't have a single patient that left my clinic alive today" and that really reminds you that this is definitely a career that requires you to truly decide you want it...not that you just think it would be easier to handle.

Again, I'm not saying being a vet or seeing animals in pain isn't difficult! I'm more than familiar with compassion fatigue, and have personally experienced it in several ways. My point was literally just that I know myself and what I can and cannot handle. I'm really sorry you had to go through all of that, seeing animals in that state would always be really hard.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

Wow, I had no clue people would take this so seriously. What I posted was a couple things off the top of my head, not literally all of my knowledge of the veterinarian career, and my main point was just to get in input on whether or not the work to become a vet was worth it, which it seems like a lot of you don't think so.



Again, I'm not saying being a vet or seeing animals in pain isn't difficult! I'm more than familiar with compassion fatigue, and have personally experienced it in several ways. My point was literally just that I know myself and what I can and cannot handle. I'm really sorry you had to go through all of that, seeing animals in that state would always be really hard.

We do take it seriously, because it needs to be taken seriously. In general, vets are in bad financial shape with intense work stress and sometimes a personal life that suffers because of it. Our suicide rate and debt? High. Our salary and sometimes job satisfaction? Usually low.

We're not telling you to scrap the idea. We're telling you to get experience in a clinic so you can see for yourself what we've tried to explain, and you can make a decision from there. If you were in our shoes, you'd understand why we (or at least I...) chuckled a little at some of the things you said in your first post. Again, not being mean at all, seriously. You just need to see things for yourself before assuming you can make an accurate pro/con list. If you're able to get any experience, come back to this thread after and see if you still agree with your pro/con list and think it's an accurate portrayal of the profession.

 

[deleted676737]

Because of the debt:salary disparity and mental health issues abound, vet med is a profession that I honestly find really, really difficult to recommend to anyone who doesn't know for absolute certain that it is what they want. And you won't know if it is until you experience it yourself. You need to go get experience---even just a couple of days shadowing your regular vet will suffice at this point, although if you ultimately choose to go for the DVM you'll need at least several hundred hours worth for applications---and see what it's actually like before making a concrete decision. It'd be even better if you could find an MD or DO to shadow, too, so that you can compare and contrast their working lives. Unfortunately, doing animal care work at a shelter or rescue is not the same thing as working as a vet and does not relay an understanding of all of the stresses that come with that.

 

[battie]

Wow, I had no clue people would take this so seriously. What I posted was a couple things off the top of my head, not literally all of my knowledge of the veterinarian career, and my main point was just to get in input on whether or not the work to become a vet was worth it, which it seems like a lot of you don't think so.

We don't know you, so being given this pros cons list was all we had to go off of in regards to give you a good opinion. We take it seriously because vet med for many recent graduate has a serious negative effect on some lives (such as PP's point of high suicide). We're a pretty realistic bunch and will say it how it is.

 

[TheGirlWithTheFernTattoo]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned here, that I thought I would throw out:
You said you don't think you would enjoy teaching. Do you mean teaching in a scholarly setting or just teaching in general? Vet med is hugely about education of pet owners, so if you don't like the idea of teaching you may not enjoy that aspect of the job. I have no idea what the comparison is to human med for that, though I am sure there is lots of patient education there as well.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

[Trilt]

"Animals would be easier for me emotionally" seriously? Have you ever had to treat a patient riddled with bullets, one with appendages/ears/nose/tail cut off and abandoned (and no...not docking done professionally), one that you know is going to die but the owner refuses to let go, one that you know could live but the owner refuses to treat, one that you know is seriously ill and the owner just takes it home because they don't trust you? I'm not trying to be mean, but this really shows that you need to spend time in a clinic and see the reality of vet med.

Maybe it's because I'm getting a tad bit burnt out and in a weird place in my life, or maybe it's because I'm PMSing and emotional right now and I'm venting , but there have definitely been so many cases since I've started out that stick in my mind and have kept me up at night. The opossum that became my patient because someone shot it, beat the **** out of it with a shovel, starved it in a trap, then finally was brought in because a neighbor found it still trying to live? The puppy that had parvo but was taken home because the owner was convinced we were making him sick for money? The animals that you suspect are victims of sexual abuse?

Of course, you get some horrific/very sad/suspect cases in pediatrics I'm sure. At least you probably have a better chance of successfully prosecuting those if that's what the situation calls for. You just generally don't come into work one morning and find a box of nearly dead kids on your front door when you're a physician. You can't not treat your sick kid and just take it home in most cases. When a pediatrician makes a call to CPS, I have to imagine it's taken more seriously than some of the calls concerned vets make to police.

There are good and bad days in vet med for everyone. Sometimes our DVMs on this board post things like "I didn't have a single patient that left my clinic alive today" and that really reminds you that this is definitely a career that requires you to truly decide you want it...not that you just think it would be easier to handle.

Meh. I think it's not a bad point. I do think OP needs experience to really know where they stand, but I know, personally, that I'd prob put a bullet in my head if I had to do human medicine; the human side of things really, really impacts me and any specialty with a lot of mortality or bad news would be horrible for my psyche. My mother is a school nurse who occasionally deals with the CPS and I absolutely couldn't do it. Same reason I know I couldn't do emergency (veterinary) medicine; I need happy healthy fluffy things to stay sane.

It's a valid thing to consider. And I have treated almost all the things (or variants thereof) that you mentioned.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

Meh. I think it's not a bad point. I do think OP needs experience to really know where they stand, but I know, personally, that I'd prob put a bullet in my head if I had to do human medicine; the human side of things really, really impacts me and any specialty with a lot of mortality or bad news would be horrible for my psyche. My mother is a school nurse who occasionally deals with the CPS and I absolutely couldn't do it. Same reason I know I couldn't do emergency (veterinary) medicine; I need happy healthy fluffy things to stay sane.

It's a valid thing to consider. And I have treated almost all the things (or variants thereof) that you mentioned.

Maybe, but you're saying all of this after having the experience in vet med and knowing you *can* deal with it. OP seems to have no evidence that she can handle vet med emotionally (which isn't to say she couldn't, she just needs to find this out).

Also, not that this is directly relevant to what you're trying to say, but it's not like vets don't see things with humans that they should call CPS or the police for. In my experience, those suspect cases with the family dog is often not the only problem in that house. It may not be common, but it happens. Kids and scared SO's say the darndest things when they're alone with you in a room. This is exactly how I ended up with my second cat, actually.

 

[Sonjaw123]

Maybe, but you're saying all of this after having the experience in vet med and knowing you *can* deal with it. OP seems to have no evidence that she can handle vet med emotionally (which isn't to say she couldn't, she just needs to find this out).

Also, not that this is directly relevant to what you're trying to say, but it's not like vets don't see things with humans that they should call CPS or the police for. In my experience, those suspect cases with the family dog is often not the only problem in that house. It may not be common, but it happens. Kids and scared SO's say the darndest things when they're alone with you in a room. This is exactly how I ended up with my second cat, actually.

It's not so much that I know for sure I can handle vet med, it's knowing that I cannot handle seeing humans on certain situations long term. I've volunteered almost as much as I've worked, from multiple homeless shelters to a rape crisis center as well as teaching at a low income school with many abused and neglected kids. To be honest I've gotten experience in a lot of career fields because I've had a hard time finding something that fits completely. But to be honest, yes I agree with trilt, it would be nice to treat fluffy things. I'm not under any illusion that it wouldn't be difficult emotionally, I was really just hoping that the positive experiences would hopefully outweigh the negative. But yes, I'll see for myself.

 

[pinkpuppy9]

It's not so much that I know for sure I can handle vet med, it's knowing that I cannot handle seeing humans on certain situations long term. I've volunteered almost as much as I've worked, from multiple homeless shelters to a rape crisis center as well as teaching at a low income school with many abused and neglected kids. To be honest I've gotten experience in a lot of career fields because I've had a hard time finding something that fits completely. But to be honest, yes I agree with trilt, it would be nice to treat fluffy things. I'm not under any illusion that it wouldn't be difficult emotionally, I was really just hoping that the positive experiences would hopefully outweigh the negative. But yes, I'll see for myself.

I think they can, for sure. It also depends on where you end up geographically, what area of vet med (or human med, for that matter) you end up in, etc, that has a role in what your caseload is like.

Sometimes the depression you can fall into is like cancer, though. You can do your best to treat it, but it can still just say 'Screw you' and get bigger. It isn't always just seeing sick animals that hurts...it's the people that vilify you on Yelp or Facebook, the loan bills that you can barely pay if you want to eat and have a roof over your head, the friends/family you don't get to see a lot, etc.

If you're dead set on some form of medicine, I'd get more experience in both human and vet med. The grass is always greener on the other side, but I think you could do a more thorough comparison that way.