Hands-on vet experience?

[wheekyspice]

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I recently started shadowing in a small animal clinic, have a date set up to shadow in an exotics clinic, and have an emergency small animal hospital I'm planning to contact. Other than shadowing, the only veterinary experience I have lined up right now are shifts in the spay/neuter clinic at the animal rescue where I regularly volunteer - my first clinic shift isn't until this weekend so I'm not exactly sure what it entails, but I imagine it will mostly be things like cleaning and non-medical animal care...so the only thing distinguishing it as vet rather than animal experience is that it's under the supervision of the clinic vet.

I'm kind of at a loss as to what I should be doing to get hands-on experience. My animal experience is at a rescue with dogs and cats, and beginning early next year will also be at a zoo with goats, cows, pigs, and chickens. So between that and small animal + exotics private practice and emergency + shelter medicine, I feel like I'm doing my best to get varied exposure to different species, types of vet work, etc. My experience is definitely going to be the weakest point of my application, though (I'm applying in 2018 and just started accumulating hours earlier this year, so my numbers won't be particularly impressive), and I want to make an effort to add some of the hands-on veterinary experience that a lot of schools seem to look for.

What are some types of hands-on veterinary experience that you all have gotten, particularly those of you who don't work in a vet clinic? Getting a job in the field isn't an option for me right now, so I would love to hear from any of you who've managed to build up quality hours as volunteers.

 

[katashark]

I recently started shadowing in a small animal clinic, have a date set up to shadow in an exotics clinic, and have an emergency small animal hospital I'm planning to contact. Other than shadowing, the only veterinary experience I have lined up right now are shifts in the spay/neuter clinic at the animal rescue where I regularly volunteer - my first clinic shift isn't until this weekend so I'm not exactly sure what it entails, but I imagine it will mostly be things like cleaning and non-medical animal care...so the only thing distinguishing it as vet rather than animal experience is that it's under the supervision of the clinic vet.

I'm kind of at a loss as to what I should be doing to get hands-on experience. My animal experience is at a rescue with dogs and cats, and beginning early next year will also be at a zoo with goats, cows, pigs, and chickens. So between that and small animal + exotics private practice and emergency + shelter medicine, I feel like I'm doing my best to get varied exposure to different species, types of vet work, etc. My experience is definitely going to be the weakest point of my application, though (I'm applying in 2018 and just started accumulating hours earlier this year, so my numbers won't be particularly impressive), and I want to make an effort to add some of the hands-on veterinary experience that a lot of schools seem to look for.

What are some types of hands-on veterinary experience that you all have gotten, particularly those of you who don't work in a vet clinic? Getting a job in the field isn't an option for me right now, so I would love to hear from any of you who've managed to build up quality hours as volunteers.

I used to go in to help for vet night at our local wildlife rehabilitation facility. I volunteered there on other days as well. So I had animal and vet experience from there. I also had aquarium vet experience and shadowed some specialists. I worked in a clinic for added hours. I got veterinary experience over the span of 1.5 years before I applied and my numbers were fine. I had animal experience before that as well. Shadowing is fine for experience! The more you shadow somewhere, they sometimes let you start to help with hands on things as well.

 

[2021ProspectiveDVM]

I've found that if you are consistently shadowing at a clinic they will eventually let you do more and more hands-on things. Also, I've found that mixed animal practices and large animal practices involve students and let them help much more than at small animal clinics.

I think you're doing a great job of getting a variety of experiences which some schools care more about than hands-on experience.

 

[SnowshoeDog143]

I definitely agree with 21PDVM. If you shadow at a clinic, help out all you can and keep asking questions! And be humble. Don't act like you know everything. Take it seriously like it were a paid job (show up on time, call if you can't make it..) After awhile when they have gotten used to you, they will allow you to be more hands on. Also keep in mind that some larger small animal hospitals have policies that really limit volunteer handling of animals. Large animal vets will usually allow you to do more, but if you want to go into small animal medicine you want to make sure you have experience in small animal clinics.