Opportunities to travel while being a vet?

[BurntFlower]

.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Mistoffeles]

Hello all, I have a question that's been on my mind for a while. I love to travel, and I've been visiting many countries throughout my life, and I was wondering if the vet profession provides opportunies for world travel. And if not, do you earn enough and have enough time as a veterinarian to travel every now and again?

Thank you!

As with any specialty, I should think that this depends on how you apply it. If you are a self-employed veterinarian, it is likely that (after paying your loans down/off) if you have a well-maintained and income-generating practice, you'll be able to afford some travel each year. Of course, if you don't have associates, you'll need to find someone to cover your patients while you're away.

If you're a specialist (i.e., boarded in a sub-discipline), there will likely be chances to travel to conferences and symposia (sp?). If you work as a government veterinarian, perhaps chances to visit other countries to observe their best-practice methods.

There's also the Peace Corps option. A colleague of mine decided that she probably didn't want to be a vet anymore (at least not in private practice), but while figuring out what she *did* want, joined the Peace Corps, and used her knowledge to teach sustainable animal husbandry practices in Africa.

As always, YMMV.

 

[sumstorm]

The vet my mother worked for (still in practice) traveled internationally 2-4 times a year. He is the only vet in the practice (mixed animal primarily SA) and his wife is the office manager/head tech, they employ 2-4 additional techs.

Having said that, they did not have children, which can be expensive and limiting in some ways.

He was also the only vet for about an hour's drive. And he did a lot of things that I see sent to specialistis now (or at least, while living in cities that have specialists) including joint surgeries. I don't know if he still travels; he has had a rough decade. He had cancer in his leg, then a car wreck injured both he and his wife and she lost her arm.

Most of their travel involved SCUBA diving.

 

[DollyyLlama]

check out the USDA APHIS foreign service! they even have a scholarship (claudia cartwright).. gotta go, at work

 

[InfiniVet]

There are so many opportunities to travel while doing veterinary work it'll blow your mind.

To get a very small glimpse,

Google: International Veterinary Student Association.

Also:

http://www.worldvets.org/Trips.html
http://www.animalbalance.net/
http://www.aavmc.org/GIVE/

If you are interested in something specific (species/location/research vs clinical, etc), pm me. I will help you get some information 🙂

 

[JuniorJumper]

I know that one of the SA vets I worked for got to travel a lot for continuing education. He's been in practice about 25 years now and he's been to a lot of different countries and all over the US.

 

[BurntFlower]

Thank you everybody for the replies! They've been really helpful. 🙂

 

[TurtleLover]

Hey, I just got back from a 2 week volunteer veterinary medicine trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua through an organization called VIDA. It was an amazing experience and they said that we can come as veterinarians too to work for them, and there the vets actually get paid to do the trip.

Here is there website: http://www.vidavolunteertravel.org/veterinary.php

And feel free to ask me any questions about the trip, its all very fresh in my mind. I just got back today! 😀

 

[BeagleOne]

Oh, please tell about the trip! That kind of work is the reason I became a vet and even though I'll be starting paramedic training in six weeks and will have limited travel opportunities for the next year VIDA sounds like a really worthwhile organization and I'd love to go on one of their trips.

 

[TurtleLover]

Oh, please tell about the trip! That kind of work is the reason I became a vet and even though I'll be starting paramedic training in six weeks and will have limited travel opportunities for the next year VIDA sounds like a really worthwhile organization and I'd love to go on one of their trips.

I definitely will! I am just on the way to the airport now to find housing around LSU. So I will fill you in when I get back later this weekend. Apparently my travels are non-stop this summer! 😀

 

[MarineVet]

Thanks for sharing that. I noticed you are going to LSU. You will meet Ricardo Fernandez, a friend of mine that is also going to vet school.

 

[MarineVet]

Can vet students apply to that program?

 

[BurntFlower]

x

 

[TurtleLover]

Ok, I'm back in town!!

The trip was not a pre-paid trip. I had to pay $1695 plus my airfare. But it pretty much included all of our meals and hotels/homestays. I only ended up spending about $250 of spending money for the entire 2 week trip which was split up between food and gifts for people back home/myself.

The trip was amazing! We went to the poorest cities and really got immersed in their cultures...especially with the homestays. You were eating native food and learning to speak the language...but no worries, all of the staff also speak english!

We were there for 13 days, and had 6 clinic days. The rest of the days were used for traveling or educational/recreational days. So you not only get to do clinical work, you get to enjoy the countries you visit as well.


I visited Costa Rica and Nicaragua. As far as the clinics are concerned...which I'm sure is what you all are wondering about....they were quite interesting. You learn to work with limited supplies and with no A/C and barely any electricity. You see what these animals look like and you really appreciate what you have in the US. Now don't forget, it's not like that everywhere, we were in the poor areas.

We had an orientation when we got there explaining what we were going to be doing and how we would set up at the clinic. Then we had a class to learn to do sutures. Then on our first couple of clinic days, we followed the animal through everything. We did full exams, and if it was going to be spayed or neutered we prepared pre-meds, pre-anesthesia, and the anesthesia cocktail. Then we put in catheters in females and knock them out with injectable anesthesia. The males you just give directly into the vein. Then you shave them and take them into surgery where we assisted the vets doing the surgery. Then they let us suture up the skin.

We would graduate from skin sutures to subcutaneous sutures and skin sutures. Then they would let us make the incision line and use the spay hook (thats actually really hard to use!) Then in the last couple of clinic days we were doing surgeries with the doctor assisting us. It was pretty awesome!

I learned to do 3 different sutures, spay, and neuter (open and closed methods). I also learned how to put in catheters and inject directly into the veins.

I also learned how to deal with massive loads of ticks, fleas, mites, etc.!

OH! we also worked with large animals for one day giving them vaccinations. It was really cool to do that as well. We had to put the needle in first, then hook up the syringe...all while trying not to get kicked. LOL. We saw a lot of cows, horses, goats, and 1 pig.

Well if you want anymore info, feel free to PM me and I'll let you know. I also have all of the pictures posted on my facebook if you are really interested.

 

[BurntFlower]

.

 

[World Vets]

World Vets has many opportunities for pre-vet students to volunteer. On most trips, students will have the opportunity to learn hands on surgical techniques. We just had a team return from San Juan Del Sur Nicaragua where we had 5 vets a 6 students (along with some techs and assistants). We had 3 vet students, 3 pre-vet students and 1 pre-med student. All of the students got one on one instruction from veterinarians and most were able to perform a spay from start to finish by the end of the week. Trips are available year round (Mexico, Honduras, Panama, Jamiaca, Peru, Romania, Nicaragua etc). Check out the world vets blog at http://www.worldvets.blogspot.com or the website at http://www.worldvets.org . It cost $40 to join World Vets and all members are eligible to sign up for trips. Trip costs average $500-$1000. The group usually stays in a great accommodations (on the beach or with a private pool) and there is free time for recreation (ie surfing, scuba diving, zip-lining, playing with monkeys, swimming with dolphins etc). World Vets trips are great for your vet school application and letters of reference can also be provided on request! Several new trips will be posted in the coming weeks.

 

[sofficat]

Christian Veterinary Missions sends vets and vet students all around the world. This year, Auburn students went to South Africa and 3 different countries in South America. I just got back from India. They have short term and long term mission trips. They are a great organization!