Life as a Vet Med Student
You NEED to know this before starting
Hi, my name is Cala. I’m a vet med intern working to get a certificate in exotic’s pet medicine, and currently writing a thesis about birds and bats.
I started this journey five years ago, freshly graduated from highschool, not knowing exactly what I was getting into. And if you’re in that situation right now, this post is for you.
Everyone gets into vet med excited, thinking they will now dedicate their lives to saving those that can’t talk, that this will be like practicing medicine, but without the unnecessary human interaction. Or thinking they will interact with animals from day one and be happy surrounded by puppies.
And I don’t want to be that person, come here and tell you that’s not what we do and you should choose something else if that’s what you want.
But honestly, this career is humbling.
Vet med is glorified enough already, so I come here to tell you the HARSH reality. It’s not all bad, I promise. But I wish I knew the extent. The good, and the bad, before starting this career, and I wouldn’t change my decision if I could, but I’m here to help you take it from an informed place.
The work field is infinite
This is honestly a good thing, and one of my favorites about the field.
I was part of a friend group during college, we were 8 in total, a small percentage of the entire generation. And NONE of us work in the same thing, even when we studied the same classes.
As I said, I’m working with wildlife and exotic pets. But my friends are working in laboratories, raising sheep, or cows, or pigs, working in a dog’s clinic, slaughter houses, and even government institutions.
The only thing I hate about it is that we don’t have the time to be together as we used to. But I think it’s amazing the wide range of areas we can work at as veterinarians.
Which brings me to my second point.
We study multiple species
And while it has advantages once you graduate. It’s ridiculous while studying.
Human doctors have to study only one species. As vets, we cover AT LEAST 8, and I’m going with the easy common study plan. Even when I don’t work with dogs, it’s part of the program. And even if you want to work with dogs, it’s part of the program for you to also study cats, and cows, and horses, and poultry, and pigs, and sheep, and goats. And if you’re like me and want to study wildlife or exotic’s, you’ll also see bunnies, and rats, and mice, and hamsters, and other birds, and reptiles, and GOD, the whole variety of animals you could find at a zoo.
It’s honestly ridiculous.
I swear our minds can’t hold ALL that information at the same time. And it’s kinda useless when there are species you are NEVER going to see again in your life.
I understand we need to know a bit of everything, because our range is wide and we should know what every field works with. But if you thought human doctors had it hard studying every single system in detail, try studying every single system in detail from EIGHT different species.
Like, some things are shared, but I mean, cows have a completely different system from dogs. And horses also have a completely different system from cats. And don’t get me started on birds or reptiles, or fish.
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So, no, it’s not easy. And unfortunately, it’s also not optional.
You won’t see animals soon
And this is a sad one. But for at least the first years of training, you won’t pet a dog, or be in a clinic, or a farm, or see a puppy — unless you are already working in the field — .
The first half of the career is WILD. Content is hard, and practice involves only seeing dead animals.
If you don’t like the rotten smell, or seeing corpses, or blood, my best advice is for you to go for another degree. And I say it from my heart. You’ll only see dead animals at the start, and it’s not for everyone.
Gosh, it was NOT for me, I wanted to die.
Which brings me to the next point.
Mental health is undervalued
I don’t want to say you should not take this if you prioritize your mental health. But I mean…
We have one of the highest rates of suicide for a reason.
Our job is underpaid, underfunded, and undervalued, and that’s after FIVE years of seeing corpses, while getting into school debt.
You are expected to work for free and live from vocation and love for animals.
People won’t understand why you charge for your work and will beg every single day for free work. And still expect you to know everything about every animal and breed on the planet.
You have to see animals die all the time even when you try everything. And still, if it dies, it was your fault.
You have to work extra hours because animals won’t get better when your shift ends.
People will blame YOU for not being available late at night, AND early in the morning.
And I don’t want to get too much into this point, because it’s just sad. But if you want to work with animals, there are easier careers, better paid, much appreciated, and where people don’t expect you to be better than God. So I will encourage you to take those if it fits into what you want.
It is rewarding
Not everything is bad and horrible. It is hard, I’m really not going to sugarcoat it in the end. But we work for the animals, not for the people. And when a patient gets better, it’s the most rewarding feeling in the entire world.
When you figure out a diagnosis, when a patient responds to treatment, gets better from a fatal illness, when they recover from a difficult surgery, even when they give birth is rewarding.
Not going to lie, is not every day that this happens. But it’s amazing when it does. And it reminds you what you work for.
There are also some good tutors, and some of them will give you faith in humanity again.
So, if you think you can handle the hardships, I will encourage you to take this path.
And if you think it’s too much, there are several other ways you can work in a vet clinic, or at a zoo, or for conservation or research, so don’t be dissappointed, maybe your path involves animals but not vet med. And that’s ok!
