Getting experience

[pirateslayme]

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I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of good websites that make it easy to find opportunites for prevets to gain veterinary experience. I ideally would love a paying job as a vet assistant but there never seems to be any openings in my area. Just wondering uf there is something I'm missing and if there are any recommendation on finding vet work.

Currently I am volunteering in the shelter med department at the SPCA and in the past I have helped with research with sea turtles in Mexico through the earthwatch org and have volunteered at the zoo. I also applied for a healthcare internship at the farm sanctuary but won't hear back till march. I realize that this is no where near the amount if experience I need bur I am just starting out on this journey to becoming a vet. So...does anyone know if any good websites?

Also, my passion is wildlife and I hope to work as a vet in a zoo or sanctuary. However it is really hard to break into zoo medicine I have heard and am wondering if anyone out there has worked with vets in a zoo before. I have volunteered at a zoo but that wasn't medically related. And when I tried to apply to work at the vet hospital there weren't any positios opened. I have followed up a couple rimes after that but so far no luck. Plus they also said that if I volunteered at the hospital I wouldn't be exposed to anything medical. Does anybody have any experience with this and do you have any advice in terns if gaining experience with vet wildlife??

 

[nyanko]

Yeah, there's really no quick answer to this or any link anyone can give you that will make it "easy." You sort of need to do the legwork yourself. Working at the SPCA is a good start - definitely keep on trying to talk to local vets, put yourself out there. You may just have to start out shadowing somewhere, or working as a kennel assistant, but prove yourself and one day you might have a job waiting for you.

As far as zoo med is concerned, possibly searching the AZA site for internships and such would be good, though you may have to deal with a non-paying one.

 

[cowgirla]

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of good websites that make it easy to find opportunites for prevets to gain veterinary experience. I ideally would love a paying job as a vet assistant but there never seems to be any openings in my area. Just wondering uf there is something I'm missing and if there are any recommendation on finding vet work.

Currently I am volunteering in the shelter med department at the SPCA and in the past I have helped with research with sea turtles in Mexico through the earthwatch org and have volunteered at the zoo. I also applied for a healthcare internship at the farm sanctuary but won't hear back till march. I realize that this is no where near the amount if experience I need bur I am just starting out on this journey to becoming a vet. So...does anyone know if any good websites?

Also, my passion is wildlife and I hope to work as a vet in a zoo or sanctuary. However it is really hard to break into zoo medicine I have heard and am wondering if anyone out there has worked with vets in a zoo before. I have volunteered at a zoo but that wasn't medically related. And when I tried to apply to work at the vet hospital there weren't any positios opened. I have followed up a couple rimes after that but so far no luck. Plus they also said that if I volunteered at the hospital I wouldn't be exposed to anything medical. Does anybody have any experience with this and do you have any advice in terns if gaining experience with vet wildlife??

Have you considered traveling for an internship? Even just for a summer. I know the Bronx zoo offers internships, theres a zoo up here in maine that offers internships, even Disney Animal Kingdom. A lot of wildlife centers and zoos offer paid summer internships, but chances are, you'll have to find a place to live. It might not be "medically related" but it gets your foot in the door, and you still get the animal experience.

I got my first job as a paid assistant after volunteering for almost a year. When they position opened up, they knew me, they knew what I could, and they offered me the job. I'm only really interested in mixed/domestic animal hospitals though.

 

[ORvetgirl]

As far as working with zoo vets, I doubt you'll find anything that pays, but even if a zoo doesn't offer/advertise "vet internships," you may be able to get one just by contacting the vet directly. By contacting my local zoo's head vet directly by email, I was able to shadow/volunteer with the zoo vets 1-2 days a week all summer a couple of years ago.

 

[Sophie10]

I don't know if this would be any easier to get your foot in the door, but I know that some specialists do zoo animals (like internal medicine doing mobile ultrasound). It wouldn't be likely that you would get to see MOSTLY zoo animals, but you could get to see SOME with a specialist.

 

[rileyroo]

i volunteered with zoo vets for 2 years, definitely wasn't a paid position. but very awesome experience.

 

[pirateslayme]

Hey all!

First, thanks for the great advice this has been really helpful🙂 I did want to clarify something though and that is that although a paid position is always preferable I am by no means against volunteering. Most of my great experiences have been through volunteer work and am willing to do anything to gain more and more experience with the vet field.

rileyroo, how did you get the position working with the zoo vets? Did you have to work your way up or was it a cool position that you just applied for? Just curious.

Right now I am willing to do anything to work towards working in zoo medicine and am just curious how people got started with it since it seems to be more difficult to gain experience that way than through small animal practice.

 

[rileyroo]

rileyroo, how did you get the position working with the zoo vets? Did you have to work your way up or was it a cool position that you just applied for? Just curious.

i applied for it and was selected. then i met with the vets and the hospital supervisor and set up my schedule. i worked with them once a week every week for 2 years and when i wasn't in school (summer, christmas break, etc) i had the opportunity to come in for other exams, surgeries, treatments, etc.

 

[168135]

I'm going to ask this on here, because it is relevant.

Does anyone know of any volunteer work that you don't have to pay to do?

I can't afford to spend $1 000 - $4 000 to do "volunteer" work for a month. We had a guy give a presentation on the volunteering he did in Greece on sea turtles. My heart sank when I figured out how much it was. We asked the guy why he chose to volunteer there. After he got his degree, he backpacked across Europe and tagged that on to the end of his trip 😛 I wish I have that kind of money 😛

I was talking to some of my classmates and those who could have benefitted from the experience, could never afford it 🙁

 

[cowgirla]

I'm going to ask this on here, because it is relevant.

Does anyone know of any volunteer work that you don't have to pay to do?

I can't afford to spend $1 000 - $4 000 to do "volunteer" work for a month. We had a guy give a presentation on the volunteering he did in Greece on sea turtles. My heart sank when I figured out how much it was. We asked the guy why he chose to volunteer there. After he got his degree, he backpacked across Europe and tagged that on to the end of his trip 😛 I wish I have that kind of money 😛

I was talking to some of my classmates and those who could have benefitted from the experience, could never afford it 🙁

I'd be interested too. Have looked into a few organizations, but can't really it, especially if I won't be collecting a salary for however many weeks. I could possibly come up with airfare, but even that's stretching it depending on where I need to fly to.

 

[HopefulAg]

Girl I know went to South America (Costa Rica I think?) to do something like that and she just took out loans for it. She said something about it being a drop in the bucket of vet school loans, which is true I'd imagine, but she hasn't made it into vet school yet!


But all the same, I'd imagine loans are still an option, just have to pay them back and I don't think a loan for that would qualify as an educational loan, so you couldn't defer payment either.

 

[bunnity]

To the OP, if you're interested in zoo medicine you could look into a wildlife center. Not quite the same, but it's working with wild animals and pretty easy to find a volunteer position around here. If you are in PA by any chance I could list you off a few.

As far as the paying to volunteer, you are paying for that intensive experience of volunteering in another country. It has its advantages over plain old volunteering down the street, and that's what you are paying for (and the plane ticket). I see nothing wrong with doing that, if you have the money, but I would never take out a loan to volunteer! There are plenty of free opportunities to be had without leaving your country much less your city.

 

[Lechatnoir]

Some places don't advertise that they have openings. The clinic I work at never does. When they are looking for new employees they look through resumes that people drop off or usually they hire someone that a current employee knows. It can't hurt to just stop by places and ask them or leave your resume even if they say they have no openings.

 

[pirateslayme]

Funny that someone mentioned cheap ways to volunteer abroad because I am always trying to find those kind of opportunities that won't burn a hole in my pocket. I haven't really found any that won't cost, esp since many of the orgs are non profits a lot of the money goes towards research. I did an opportunity like this in high school working with Sea Turtles but now I really can't afford it which sucks. Right now I would love to volunteer with wildlife in Africa but first I need to make some money.
Also, back to the original question: bunnity I actually live in California but I have a lot of family in PA and go back frequently. It would be nice to know of the wildlife centers out there just in case I am ever back for an extended period of time. The only place I know of out there working with wildlife is the wolf sanctuary. Could I hear your suggestions? Thanks!!

 

[bunnity]

If you're in western PA there is the Animal Rescue League Wildlife Center in Verona (about a 20 minute drive from Pittsburgh). I interned there and loved it. You could also check out the National Aviary, which takes volunteers and interns, and of course the zoo. On more of the conservation side there is Beechwood Farms outside Pittsburgh. Further north Pitt runs summer lab classes at the Pymatuming ecology lab station and has a couple wildlife and bird classes there.

I'm in eastern PA now and still not as familiar with it but there is the Schulykill wildlife center, Delaware Valley Raptor Center, and the AARK wildlife center. Hawk Mountain is worth a visit if you are in the area, not sure if you can volunteer around there or not, but a cool place nonetheless.