I love everything in vet med, how to combine? Lab animal? Zoo? See what happens?

[Vet2022-20224]

Hi! Most of my experience is in research and lab animal (rodents), so I have been inclined to pursue that route thus far as a vet student. How common are jobs in the lab animal field that combine a variety of large and small animals? I love working with almost every species large, wildlife, small, (need some aquatic), exotic and many specialities (neuro, emergency, surgery, internal).

After just watching an aquatic opportunities presentation, I got overwhelmed thinking of all the things I like.

Does anyone else have that problem and how do you cope? Do my interests sound better for zoo, lab, or I should just keep getting experiences in various fields until I find one that I love more? Its hard to write a statement of interest for a particular field when you like so many!!!

Thanks! Vet med is just so amazing!

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[Lupin21]

Why not be GP then? There are plenty of opportunities to see a variety with that including pocket pets, reptiles and wildlife.

 

[KCgophervet]

I'll preface this by saying lab animal is a pretty small field, so jobs in general are spread out and the number of jobs waxes and wanes with any given year.

That being said, so far in my lab animal career I have worked with:
Baboons, rhesus macaques, cynomolgus macaques, pigs, cows, sheep, horses, turkeys, zebrafish, medaka fish, octopus, African clawed frogs, leopard frogs, turtles, salamanders, naked mole rats, Damaraland mole rats, mice, rats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, ferrets, dogs, and cats. In my lab animal rotations pre-residency I also saw opossums, 13-lined ground squirrels, zebra finches, owls, sparrows, marmosets, squirrel monkeys, capuchins, owl monkeys, pig-tailed macaques, and probably more that I can't even remember at this point.

The jobs could be anything from working with just 1 or 2 species to working with everything under the sun. Academic positions tend to have more variety while industry positions tend to have fewer species. Currently I'm working with mice, rats, hamsters, ferrets, cats, and 2 species of macaques, and that feels just about perfect for me as far as combining variety with not being too overwhelmed. That being said, on campus (and thus for my on call duties), there is a much larger variety of species.

The jobs themselves can also vary, from providing clinical management and oversight, more specialized positions (like surgeons working in medical device companies), more administrative roles (reviewing IACUC protocols), to research based positions.

Obviously I can't speak for other specialties/GP, but personally the species variety was one of the draws of lab animal med for me personally. Feel free to PM if you have any more questions, always happy to chat

 

[DVMDream]

Why not be GP then? There are plenty of opportunities to see a variety with that including pocket pets, reptiles and wildlife.

State laws dictate the wildlife bit. You can't just dive in treating any wildlife you want as a GP, depending on the species.

Honestly, GP is probably the worst for seeing variety.

I'd say pathology.

 

[Lupin21]

State laws dictate the wildlife bit. You can't just dive in treating any wildlife you want as a GP, depending on the species.

Honestly, GP is probably the worst for seeing variety.

I'd say pathology.

I dunno. I see a lot of things. And yes, I assumed she already knew anything wildlife requires paperwork. I mentioned it because she also likes surgery, neuro etc. etc etc. Sounds like GP to me. haha