Volunteer veterinarian

[JestaBell]

The reason I decided to become a veterinarian is to be able to help those who really need it. Growing up I didn't have the money to take my pets to the vet when they really needed it. And as a young kid that was very traumatizing to know your baby is hurt but no one will help because you don't have money. so I want to one day be what I deem a "volunteer vet" as in on my days off do free or low cost surgeries and check ups. And hopefully even do expensive difficult surgeries that most can't afford for a low cost (like I do it free and they just pay for meds and such. No labor cost)
I know there will be legal things to deal with an i am even willing to pay more for extensive insurance. I just want to know if what I want is feasible or not. Any input or ideas ? Thanks

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[CalliopeDVM]

There are multiple ways you can do this, but a lot depends on where you are and what your local regulations are. There may be an organization already doing this in your region, so check for that - there's a well known group in California run by students and DVM volunteers that help with pets of the homeless, for instance, or sometimes local shelters will have a "vet care" day.

If you can't find something already in operation, you could look into starting one yourself, but you would need to figure out who is going to pay for it, where you'd work, what you'd need to do to stay within your Veterinary Board's regulations, and whether or not you'd be in violation of any contractual obligations you might have with your boss at your day job. You'd need to look into what's required to start a charity, see if you can get supplies donated (everything from tables and scales, to syringes and medications), figure out how you'd find your target clients and where you'd set up to work, and how to ensure the people coming truly can't afford regular vet care. And then find a way to find staff to volunteer their time to work there.

 

[DRider13]

@CalliopeDVM Did a sound job of addressing the "volunteer" aspect of your question.

It sounds like your intentions are noble, but there are a lot of other things to consider before actually becoming a veterinarian (volunteer or not).

Have you had a chance to shadow any veterinarians or spend time in vet clinics? If not, I strongly recommend doing so because you may find that this career isn't quite what you hoped for; enormous debt loads, burn-out, and high-suicide rates are all real issues facing veterinary professionals every day.

By volunteering, you may also find that you'd rather help out animals in other ways that don't involve actually being a veterinarian (which is also great!). I don't want to discourage you from the career of veterinary medicine, but it's important to consider that there are many difficult steps to take before you can achieve your goal.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I volunteer my time at least 4 full days a month by providing my services at a means tested low cost clinic (i.e. only people who qualify as low income can come to the clinic). That and sometimes I’ll do feral cat clinics where i’ll Spay/neuter feral cats. That’s probably the easiest way to do it, just volunteer your time at an established nonprofit. My condition for taking a job at any day job is that my schedule and contract allows for my volunteer work.

I work at a lower cost than most other clinics but still regular clinic as my day job. So I can provide life saving surgeries at around $1500 rather than $4000-5000. That might still sound like a lot in other parts of the country, but it’s pretty low here. If someone still can’t afford to pay that, and it is heading towards euthanasia, my clinic has an awesome relationship with a rescue that will take the pet as a surrender and take financial responsibility for the pet at our regular costs. So I don’t run into as many heartbreaking no money situations, and get to do a good number of life saving things, which is awesome. But for most of the time though, I am working as a regular veterinarian that charges for my services, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to make a living.

There are nonprofit community practices that actually hires vets paying comparable salary to most GP jobs, that are out there if your mission in life is to provide services to the underserved. Honestly though, these outreach clinics are physically and emotionally taxing. There is a lot of baggage that comes with serving people who have animals they can’t afford (and somehow usually have more pets than people who are financially responsible for their pets). I personally would not be able to do that day in and day out. When I volunteer, I provide services/surgeries but do not have any contact with the clients themselves and I prefer to keep it that way.

 

[JestaBell]

Yes I am probably going to end up at a non profit, have just had a hard time finding a good one. Originally I did not want to be a vet, for the reasons you all mentioned. It's taxing and heartbreaking and I have always been against it myself. My under grad is in zoology and wildlife conservation, which I also plan to do some work in. But now that I have put more thought into it i do think doing some vet work would be worth it. Even if I can only do something like neutering strays and offering free checkups. As for the location, I'm a big nomad. so I can just move somewhere and then start working there. I don't have a "home" state.

 

[Minnerbelle]

just know that nonprofits do come with their own share of issues as well. Many vets have a hard time with many of them because they have to answer to irrational lay bosses who have an agenda that do not always (or often does not) align with the best veterinary interest of the animals. So many crays in the animal care nonprofit world. It is also a pretty small world.

Also know that what you set out to do when you start vet school is often not what you end up doing, and for most people who don’t specialize, it means they will end up in GP. I was someone who had 0 intentions of ever going into private practice (and actually never set foot in one prior to vet school as anything other than a client), and here I am. I didn’t want to go into shelter work right away after vet school because that would seriously limit my growth as a veterinarian, and also because though I also didn’t have a home base, I ended up in a serious relationship with someone who was stuck in a state where I didn’t have very good nonprofit options for veterinarians nearby.

 

[DVMDream]

But now that I have put more thought into it i do think doing some vet work would be worth it. Even if I can only do something like neutering strays and offering free checkups. As for the location, I'm a big nomad. so I can just move somewhere and then start working there. I don't have a "home" state.

If you're planning on doing this on an all volunteer basis, you'd best find someone who can gift you $250k for vet school.

I think you need to realize that you're going to need to spend the vast majority of your veterinary career doing the job for profit. Love doesn't pay the bills and put food on the table. Then in your free time, by all means do things on a volunteer basis.

But vet school is much too expensive tui think of veterinary work as a side hustle volunteer gig that you just do "on occasion".

 

[JestaBell]

Im very aware of that. I was definitely not planning on doing everything for free, I do have work goals as well. This is just a side thing I would like to do in the future once im financially stable and paid back my debts. Though as a single low maintenance type of person, I can live on very little. So most of my income can and will go to paying debt and saving up for volunteer time

 

[DVMDream]

Im very aware of that. I was definitely not planning on doing everything for free, I do have work goals as well. This is just a side thing I would like to do in the future once im financially stable and paid back my debts. Though as a single low maintenance type of person, I can live on very little. So most of my income can and will go to paying debt and saving up for volunteer time

I think you have some rose-colored glasses still, which is fine, you should since you haven't seen the other side or appreciated what that debt really looks like and how it looks to attempt to pay it off even as a "single low maintenance type" person.

If you want actual numbers for bills/debt/how much you have to pay to get it "paid off" in any sort of decent time frame, let me know. It is shocking just how much money you have to dump into the loans per month to pay them off compared to how much of a paycheck you actually receive.

Definitely still keep your heart on volunteering your time on the side. Your heart is in the right place, but you will probably be doing this while working full time and before debts are paid off. Which is completely fine.

 

[ziggyandjazzy]

There are nonprofit community practices that actually hires vets paying comparable salary to most GP jobs, that are out there if your mission in life is to provide services to the underserved. Honestly though, these outreach clinics are physically and emotionally taxing. There is a lot of baggage that comes with serving people who have animals they can’t afford (and somehow usually have more pets than people who are financially responsible for their pets). I personally would not be able to do that day in and day out. When I volunteer, I provide services/surgeries but do not have any contact with the clients themselves and I prefer to keep it that way.

Definitely agree with this 100%. I volunteered/worked for a service based scholarship for 4 years in undergrad at a nonprofit vet clinic. The vets were paid $40 an hour, in an extremely low cost of living area in the midwest.

Throughout my time there, only 1 vet worked for the clinic for the entirety of those 4 years. And I love her to death, but she was sure burnt out. We had at least a half dozen other vets work at the clinic for less than a year or two. Last I heard, they hired someone just out of a wildlife internship who didnt work there for more than a year. They were hiring relief vets a lot of the time because they had a huge issue actually holding on to vets wanting to work there. The work was exceptionally mentally and physically draining. An office call was $15 dollars when I first started working there. Many people couldn't afford that, or claimed they couldn't. Clients owed thousands of dollars to the clinic.

just know that nonprofits do come with their own share of issues as well. Many vets have a hard time with many of them because they have to answer to irrational lay bosses who have an agenda that do not always (or often does not) align with the best veterinary interest of the animals. So many crays in the animal care nonprofit world. It is also a pretty small world.

I also agree with this. After starting vet school, I learned about how so many of the things the clinic I worked at were SO sketchy. They didnt have a designated surgery suite. Surgeries were done within feet of people eating and sick shelter cats. No ECGs or IV catheters placed for surgery, basically ever. The shelter cats virtually all had URIs. The owner of the clinic (not a vet) personally owned probably nearly 100 cats and a lot were kept in conditions that I personally could never condone.

After my experiences at that clinic, I see how important work like that is, but I just couldn't do it long term. And I don't know many people who could. for me, it's actually a huge motivation for wanting to specialize.