interested in equine--veterinarian or chiropractor?

[GOLDenKatie]

I am in my second year of college and in the process of changing majors. I definitely want to do something with animals and am determined to work hard to reach it. If I apply to vet school, I would like to focus on large animals and dogs on occasion. After I get my degree I would also like to get a certificate in animal chiropractor.
I am interested in animal chiropractic but I am not sure if I should go the vet school or chiropractic route.
I havent looked into chiropractic school so I would like to know if its easier to get in to than vet school and what the tuition is like, the difficulty of study (course load). I have realized how much study time is involved and how hard vet school is to get in to from this forum. Thanks to you all, I have gained alot of information about veterinarian school!!
From what I have researched, you either need a DVM or chiropractor degree to get a certificate in animal (equine) chiropractic.
Any help would be appreciated! Not sure if any of you have info on chiropractor school, but any info is great! Thank you!

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[SillyFilly]

Def. DVM and then get your chiro certification!

Sure, it's more work - but you will get more clients, understand what you are doing anatomically, and have a successful venture outside of chiro.

I def. want to do chiro too - it's very worthwhile and after having it done to myself, I was a convert!

 

[pupsforseeing]

If you're primarily interested in horses/dogs first and chiropractic second, I'd say go DVM and then get chiro certification. If your primary interest is chiropractic, though, but you're interested in working on animals, then go to chiropractic school and then do continuing ed to work on animals. In chiropractic school, you'll be learning human anatomy/physio/manipulation, so you wouldn't be ready to work with animals when you got out. If you go the DVM, you'll be more well-rounded in working with animals, and will probably have more opportunities to incorporate chiro into your treatment plans.


I am very interested in doing chiro certification when I get out of vet school, but I have no interest in human chiropractic, so chiropractic school was out of the question for me.

As the daughter of two chiropractors, I'm sold on it I totally took it for granted until I moved 2500 miles away for college and realized not everyone's parents can pop their spines back into place for them (being quite accident-prone, this comes in quite handy for me!). Don't be fooled, though, chiropractic school is also quite challenging, all-consuming and intense! So, don't think you'll be taking the easy way out if you decide to go that route.

 

[fetch]

Unless new laws are successfully being passed, you cannot legally work as a chiropractor on animals unless it is on the order (sometimes direct supervision) of a licensed veterinarian. While chiropractor's are successfully changing their state Practice Act's to reflect their desire to work on animals without veterinarian supervision; there must be a reciprocal change in the same state's Veterinary Practice Act removing chiropractic from the definition of veterinary medicine in order to make it legal.

Sure, there are chiropractors out there who are still working on animals without involving a veterinarian when the law says otherwise, but then it is practicing veterinary medicine without a license. If there are chiropractor's out there whose morals/ethics allow them to do so, the onus in entirely on them. I personally would never give business to any individual so blatantly and willfully contemptive of state laws.

While there are legitimate chiropractor's out there doing much good for many animals, let me illustrate why a veterinarian should be involved. I was involved in a case after the fact where a dog with appendicular osteosarcoma was treated several months for the chief complaint of "lameness" by a chiropractor with adjustments and manipulations. By the time the leg pathologically fractured, prompting a trip to a veterinary clinic, enough time had elapsed that there were grossly visible pulmonary metastases and the window for amputation to be curative had long since passed.

 

[GOLDenKatie]

I visited the AVCA American Veterinary Chiropractic Assoc. http://www.animalchiro.com/ and what I got from it is that you have to be either a certified chiropractor or have a DVM, VMD degree to pursue the additional graduate courses. But Im not sure if you are certified and legal to practice in all states?
Is chiropractic school less expensive than veterinary school? I know veterinarians work way more than 40 hrs a week so I am wondering if chiropractors have more of a set schedule? I know they are less likely to get emergency calls. I am trying to figure out the pros and cons of each profession and I know that I would enjoy working with animals more but I wouldn't have a huge problem working with people..I am trying to get some contacts from local chiropractors that do animals also. Hopefully that will help me!
Thanks

 

[bovine]

I saw this online and thought of this thread. Sorry I don't have anything more constructive to add

 

[dvm'08]

the idea that a human can make any meaningful manipulation of an equine spine is basically, well... physically impossible. Their muscles are so much stronger and they're just so big, you just cant do it.

Chiropractic medicine has its place in small animal med, human med etc... but i think equine chiropractics is a farce.

Just my opinion.

 

[McVillesMom]

Agree with the above - many, if not all, states have laws requiring anyone that does equine chiro, acupuncture, dentistry etc. to be a DVM. Given that, I would go DVM, then chiro.

FWIW, the equine chiro that I used when we lived in Cincinnati was a DVM and he had given up regular practice to do only chiro. He was awesome and stayed very, very busy. I think in the right location, if you are good at it, you might be able to do only chiropractic work - thus no emergency calls He had days that he did farm calls, and days that he scheduled people to haul in to his clinic.