Food animal vet

[H and D]

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Has anyone here worked/interned/shadowed a food animal vet? How did you get in contact with them? Was it difficult finding someone to work with? I assume like equine vets most food animal vets work alone usually out of their vehicles?

I am interested in pursuing a DVM/pHD maybe focused on diseases common between humans and animals specifically pertaining to food animals (or maybe diseases that start in an animal population). Not really sure it is just an idea right now.

However all my experience so far has been small animal clinic, exotics (zoo), lab animals (rodents), and equine. Not sure schools will treat me seriously without the background and experience to back me up.

 

[silverelf]

the association of rural veterinarians have a website and they have this "mentor" program....i emailed one of the vets listed in the program, and he was more than happy to let me ride with him

 

[wivet2011]

Not sure if it helps, but I shadowed a vet that worked mainly with dairy cows. The small animal vet I work for was actually the one that gave me her name. So, if you know a small animal vet, you might see if they know of anyone.

Good luck🙂

 

[cowboyup]

Call them!!!!!! then call them again, I have shadowed dairy vets, equine, small and they were all great. Dont be afraid to get dirty. Some vets worry about libability issues, but with the proper coaxing i have been able to shadow with every vet that i asked.

 

[birdvet2006]

I've shadowed a dairy vet in southern California - got his name/number from my mom, who worked with a vet who had worked with him. 🙂 He had a building where he kept the equipment, but drove around to the various dairies all day. 99.9% repro work.

In the UK where I went to vet school, there used to be an "EMS database" (no longer in existence) where I got contact info from. I shadowed mixed animal vets on the Isle of Man, Islay, and mainland Orkney. Very interesting. What an experience! If you wanted to do this in the UK, the latest and greatest is to look on the RCVS (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons) website and "find a vet" in the area you're interested in.

 

[lcarter103]

I got a job working as a research/veterinary assistant at a veterinary consulting company that provides veterinary services and does research studies with cattle. I found out about the company via word of mouth from a friend of mine who worked there previously. 85% of our clients are feedlots, and the rest is made up of cow-calf operations and dairies. There are 13 veterinarians working at my company, and I've had the opportunity to ride-around with them and see post-mortems (and try a few myself!), surgeries, calving, preg checking, etc., as well as help out with sample collection for the research studies we do (fecal samples, blood samples, liver and lung biopsy samples, taking ear notches, assisting with ultrasounding, tagging cattle, etc.). It's been a great experience and I've learned so much. My company offers ride-alongs to pre-vet students; they get interested students to fill in an application and schedule a day or two where the student gets to ride-along with one of our vets. I'm not sure whether large practices like the one I work at are available where you live, but if they are, I'd definitely call and ask if they offer ride-alongs or shadowing for pre-vet students.