having a pet in vet school?

[schoolhopefull]

To any current vet students - do you have a pet at school? if so, is it manageable with classes and do you have enough time to spend walking a dog? do vet students often end up with animals from the teaching hospital?
I hope to be accepted into the class of 2025 and am wondering if I should take my dog or leave her with my parents.
Thank you!

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[SkiOtter]

do vet students often end up with animals from the teaching hospital?

I feel like more students end up with an animal from junior surgery than an animal from the vth.

I have a dog with me at school and I know a lot of other people do to. She’s younger though and can handle being in a crate for 6-7 hours when I’m at school. When I started school, I had a 14.5 year old small dog who couldn’t be home alone that long without needing to go outside so I left her home with my parents. Having a dog at school is definitely something you can make work, but you do have to think about what’s best for your pup. If you’re planning on spending every day at school in the anatomy lab after class for a few hours and studying at your school library and not at home, it may be less ideal for your dog. I personally study at home most of the time and only go to school if I’m really not able to focus at home. It allows my dog to spend time out of her crate and even if we’re not playing the whole time, she can sit next to me.
Daycare a couple days a week on your longer days can also help, you just have to work it into your budget. This semester I was taking my dog twice a week for half day daycare and picking her up at lunch and taking her home. She got to play with other dogs and get some energy out and not be cooped up in her crate for the morning.

 

[MixedAnimals77]

Lots of classmates have pets. Like ski said it's something you have to work out for you, your pet and situation. When I first moved we lived in an apartment was less than ideal shes small but thankfully my husband got off work at 1pm so I didnt have to run home over the lunch break to take her out. Now we live in a hose with a dog door and yard-everyome is much happier and we can be gone later if needed. Not having a pet can make finding housing easier or less expensive too as another aspect to consider.
As ski said most animals in the vth are already owned and few people surrender their pets at least here. Quite a few people get their pets from jr sx or from someone who's looking to rehome pets from other people that have contacted them on our school fb page.

I think the biggest thing to consider is 4th year. Years 1-3 here are all didactic so it's easy to make keeping a pet doable even with some of the longer days. 4th year though here we are gone for a full month on an external rotation so finding a pet sitter can be difficult if the housing isnt pet friendly. Personally I'm going to hopefully be out of town for 2 months straight but I wouldnt be able to do that if I didnt have my husband to care for our dog and would have arranged my schedule differently.

 

[britzen]

Echoing what was said above...

If you're the sort of person who is going to head to class at 8 am and then spend time after class ends in the library until 10 pm... Don't bring your dog.

If you're the type who likes to study at home and will figure out a way to care for a dog when you can't make it home on a long day (dog walker, doggy daycare, giving up your lunch hour to let them out), you'll have plenty of time for them.

There are obviously people in between that too. Having pets in school is very doable. I probably spend between 40-60 hours per week on school work. Year 1-2, I probably spent about 30 hours physically at my school during the week and did everything else from home. I do occasional clubs or similar during lunch or after class, but not that much. I have tons of time for my dogs.

 

[mmmdreamerz]

I had one cat in undergrad, got a kitten the summer between undergrad and vet school, and got a dog second year. Having animals has truly been my saving grace throughout vet school. I do agility with my dog and that gave me a hobby beyond studying and kept me sane. It’s not for everyone and it’s definitely a little more challenging at some points during 4th years, but I’m so glad I have my animals.

 

[MOOSEygoosey]

To any current vet students - do you have a pet at school? if so, is it manageable with classes and do you have enough time to spend walking a dog? do vet students often end up with animals from the teaching hospital?
I hope to be accepted into the class of 2025 and am wondering if I should take my dog or leave her with my parents.
Thank you!

Hey just throwing in my 2 cents but the above is accurate. It's a scenario-dependent situation. I adopted a teaching beagle who was 9 years old and was going to be retired however, the only reason I was able to adopt him was because a wonderful technician offered to foster him for me and potty-train him. If I hadn't had her I wouldn't have been able to take him because I didn't have the time to potty-train a geriatric dog in block 1 of vet school (anatomy!). She ended up having him for about 3.5 months too so that was a long time and we discovered some underlying health problems (idiopathic epilepsy and B1 CHF) so that added another difficulty to this whole process. I brought my cat and bird and there was some stuff where my cat went to go live with my long-term boyfriend for a while because my housemate's cats and him were not getting along and it wasn't fair. My bird I also felt bad for because I felt there were times she wasn't getting enough attention. My balancing act has come with time and I wouldn't change anything about it! My animals have been so important for my mental health (my beagle is just the happiest dog in the world, my cat is a snuggle monster, and my birb and I have lovely conversations and watch tv together) and they force me to take breaks from school! One thing that needs to be mentioned though is I was very nervous about how I would handle all of them during my clinical year and I'm so lucky that my bf is able to move in with me during my clinical year so he will be taking a lot of that responsibility on during that year but that's something a lot of 4th years end up needing to pay someone to help them with. So mental health for yourself is important and if a pet will help that that's wonderful but you have to make sure they're there to just live and have a good time and not be locked up until you need them (not insinuating you would it's just sometimes school gets so stressful they fall by the wayside). Good luck

 

[ZZ801832]

I brought 2 large breed dogs to vet school, one of which is a high energy, anxiety-ridden adolescent. I had both of them in undergrad so I knew what I was getting myself into. I'm not trying to get top grades so I don't mind sacrificing study time for the dogs. For me, they are a good outlet and keep me sane/fit so it works. My roommates also enjoy their company, so they get plenty of attention. Some of my classmates spend their evenings in labs and like to study at school so it wouldn't be a good fit for them, which is fine too.

 

[battie]

I personally didn't have a dog during school cause I wanted to be way too active in events and clubs to be fair to the dog. However, the majority of my friends have pets, they just schedule their lives around them. This involves going home during lunch to let them out, figuring out babysitters during breaks/externships, putting money aside/taking out extra loans in the event of a medical emergency. Basically the same steps you would take to own a pet as an adult with a 50 hour a week job, more or less. It's definitely doable!

 

[CoffeeQuestionMark]

To any current vet students - do you have a pet at school? if so, is it manageable with classes and do you have enough time to spend walking a dog? do vet students often end up with animals from the teaching hospital?
I hope to be accepted into the class of 2025 and am wondering if I should take my dog or leave her with my parents.
Thank you!

Most of my classmates have pets. It is manageable for sure.

The most difficult things are if your friends want to study right at the end of the day, but you have to go home to let your dog out first. Or during junior surgery. Or during 4th year when you might be working 60-100 hour weeks.. My roommate just doesn't walk her dogs. I disagree with not walking your dogs, so probably would advise on a dog walker.

 

[littlesteffi]

Does anyone know anything about bringing a dog from the US to the UK?

 

[SkiOtter]

Or during 4th year when you might be working 60-100 hour days

I hope I'm not working 100 hour days 🥵

 

[CoffeeQuestionMark]

I hope I'm not working 100 hour days 🥵

Oops

 

[EngrSC]

Does anyone know anything about bringing a dog from the US to the UK?

I have a friend that took a large breed dog from the US to RVC, and another friend that brought 2 dogs from England to the US. I believe they both had to start the process several months in advance to avoid quarantine. The specific steps may depend on the country you’re wanting to move to or it may all be the same for the UK (no idea). But any local vet (to you) that has the ability to sign health certificates will likely know the process or have a staff member that is knowledgeable.

 

[SkiOtter]

But any local vet (to you) that has the ability to sign health certificates will likely know the process or have a staff member that is knowledgeable.

(I almost guarantee they won’t actually know the process specifically for the UK and will have to look it up on the APHIS website)

 

[EngrSC]

(I almost guarantee they won’t actually know the process specifically for the UK and will have to look it up on the APHIS website)

It must depend on the clinic. I worked in a practice that did a lot of international health certificates (military city) and we had a receptionist that was super knowledgeable and organized things. If she hadn’t done a specific country before she would look it up but that was rare.

 

[SkiOtter]

It must depend on the clinic. I worked in a practice that did a lot of international health certificates (military city) and we had a receptionist that was super knowledgeable and organized things. If she hadn’t done a specific country before she would look it up but that was rare.

Yeahhhh military is a whole different ballgame. Most vets don’t do domestic health certificates that frequently, let alone an international one.

 

[ResoluteMike]

To any current vet students - do you have a pet at school? if so, is it manageable with classes and do you have enough time to spend walking a dog? do vet students often end up with animals from the teaching hospital?
I hope to be accepted into the class of 2025 and am wondering if I should take my dog or leave her with my parents.
Thank you!

First through third year were fine. 4th year rotations are super variable. It is pretty bad when you start looking at a 60 hour week as relatively easy and I can take care of myself and maybe my pets. My dogs are currently staying with my wife and kids since I can't care for them pretty much for the rest of 4th year. My cat is too much of a jerk to inflict on my family, so she just has to deal* with variable breakfast and dinner times.

*She doesn't. I get an earful for two hours before each meal now.

 

[britzen]

Does anyone know anything about bringing a dog from the US to the UK?

You can look it up here

Travel With a Pet | Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service

If you want to travel with your pet to another State or country, you'll need to meet these requirements whether you're traveling by plane, car, train, or boat.

www.aphis.usda.gov

Main rules seem related to microchipping, rabies vaccination timing, and tapeworm treatment. The main penalty if you screw it up is that your dog will probably spend 21 days in quarantine in the UK because they'll revaccinate it for rabies and then make you wait until the immune system has had enough time to do its job. That would probably cost thousands of dollars and be no fun for your dog. (Unlikely but they could also refuse entry and send your dog back to the US.)

 

[EngrSC]

Yeahhhh military is a whole different ballgame. Most vets don’t do domestic health certificates that frequently, let alone an international one.

To clarify, it’s a standard general practice in a city with a lot of military, not a military-specific clinic. And we did quite a few domestic and international health certs, both military and non-military related. A second clinic I worked in (in a different city) also did some international, though not quite as many. If the OP calls around, he/she can find someone that knows something.

 

[SkiOtter]

To clarify, it’s a standard general practice in a city with a lot of military, not a military-specific clinic. And we did quite a few domestic and international health certs, both military and non-military related. A second clinic I worked in (in a different city) also did some international, though not quite as many. If the OP calls around, he/she can find someone that knows something.

I figured it was not a military specific clinic, but when you have a large military presence with a lot of people in the military who have to move frequently with their pets, you definitely start to know the process more. My vet got maybe one or two domestic travel certificates a year and the whole time I was working there, the closest thing we ever had to international was Hawaii.

 

[genny]

(I almost guarantee they won’t actually know the process specifically for the UK and will have to look it up on the APHIS website)

My clinic does a lot of them, and we still look it up because regulations change. We make owners read rules on the APHIS website too.