Hm.. I spoke to a veterinary pharmacist this semester. I will be a secondary source on what I know about veterinary pharmacists.
She said that she does not directly deal with the animals, but rather she simply fills prescriptions that come to her.
In situations, where an animal (not usually treated) is hurt, the physicians go to her explaining the situation. Then, she relates the animal to another (domestic or livestock) animal for a starting point. Then, she is pretty much challenged to figure out with different tools the best way to administer the drug (different for a turtle and an amarillo, etc.), how much drug to be compounded to be allotted to the animal (may have to use titration, must consider the weight of the animal), etc.
The equipments are pretty cool and some of the pills are enormous.
As for her educational background, she took on her position without knowing a SINGLE thing about animals. In pharmacy school, I believe they do offer extra classes where you could study this subject, but she went in not knowing a single thing and not really sure that she would even like it. However, this has been her favorite job out of a lot that she has taken on, such as retail, drug information, etc.
Unfortunately, there are not a lot of veterinary pharmacists out there. I think she knows pretty much the names of all the other veterinary pharmacist. I would think that as an independent pharmacist, you could maybe establish your own veterinary pharmacy clinic... but.. I'm not sure.
Also, I believe in the great thing about hospital and retail pharmacy is that you leave you work there. In veterinary pharmacy, she said sometimes she came home, lied in bed, and then, BAM! She figures out how to administer the drug and with which tool
. She, then, gets excited to see if it will work, tries it, and it has worked so far!
Also, there is this type of drug for sheeps where.. I think as the sheep are herded into the barn... the farmer can be at a high place and just pour this drug on top of the sheeps and the drug will seep right through the skin. So, veterinary pharmacist, also, deal with a lot of unique drugs. This was a method of "administering the drug." It's a pretty exciting field.
If I were you and very interested, I think I would just e-mail up a veterinary pharmacist or call one up and shadow. There is a lot to learn, but it's all very interesting.
