Hi! Like everyone here and thousands more across the world, I'm thinking of becoming a vet too!

Before I get too caught up making big dreams though, please help me know the reality of being a vet. I would like to ask which, in your opinion, is the hardest/ dirtiest/ worst part of being a vet. Is it cleaning the anal sacs? What else is there that might make regular people turn away?

Please share in detail! The more informed we are, the more equipped we are to decide if we really wanna be vets, or if we just love animals a lot.

Thanks in advance,
Amy

Hi, Amy,

Depends on whether you want to work on farms or with pets.
With pet animals I found the hardest part was sharing the grief of owners when I had to tell them that they should have their pet put down, to save it further suffering, or when a much loved pet died despite the best treatment I could give: to be able to offer treatment, but at a price the owner could not afford to pay ( and veterinary practices are businesses, not charities, and have to be paid for by the fees that they charge).
Cleaning anal sacs is not he smelliest and dirtiest job in pet practice, try removing several weeks' worth of faeces from a cat with a paralysed colon and rectum,
In farm practice removing the placenta from a cow which has calved a week or more, and retained the placenta comes high in the smelly stakes.
Lying in a dirty shed or field delivering a calf can be a bit grim, too.
If you have ANY doubts at all, choose a different career. To be a successful vet it has to be the only thing you feel that you can do.

W

Wow, thanks a lot, <s>Mr</s> Dr Beswick! Many of us on here don't really have a neighbourhood vet to turn to and ask these questions, so your advice hre is really valuable!

I have another question, if you don't mind. It's obvious that a vet should not have an aversion to blood or innards. I'm mentally prepared to be removing swallowed foreign objects from various companion animals. This is normally done via surgery, correct, and not by any other means like say, inducing emesis?

I would also like to know please, what kind of surgery can be the most nerve-wracking and/or require the most skills (but still in the scope of general vet studies)?

Thank you,
Amy

Hi, Amy,

One either is good at surgery and loves it ( as I did), or not!
Every case has to be considered separately, and the appropriate treatment decided upon. It is not always necessary to open up the tummy to remove an obstructing foreign body.

As you get more practice your surgical skills improve, and one can proceed to certificate or diploma level by further study.

One of the best students in my year at university did not see an operation through to the finish until he well into his final year - he always fainted at the sight of blood, but he went on to become a superb farm vet.

W

Hey Walter, I was just wondering how you would go on to specialise in, for example, knee surgery or something?
It's just I met a vet (I think second opinion) who did very complicated procedures, but sadly since work experience students can't observe, I could only look through the door.
How would you go about getting this level of skill and how long would it take?
Thanks,
Hannah

Hi, Hannah,

You have to learn to walk before you can run!
The first hurdle is the basic veterinary degree at any one of the six UK veterinary schools (5 years). If you are set on being a surgeon you would then try to get an intership in surgery at one of those, or in a referral practice and study for your Certificate in veterinary orthopedics, and thsn your Diploma in veterinary orthopaedics.
I guess you are looking at anything from 10 to 12 years from leaving school.

W

Thanks, sorry I should have said that i'm already applying this year - just got back from my Nottingham interview actually!
So from what you said, it would be another 5-7 years after you graduate? I assume you just learn in practice rather than going back to university? or do you go on courses?
Knee surgery was just an example though

Hannah

Hi, Hannah,

I hope your interview at Nottingham went well.
Nottingham is a new School and has not yet produced any graduates, but I understnd that the course there is more inclined towards agricultural animals, and there sia not a great deal of call for for surgery, especially knee surgery, in that field.

You can study for a Certificate in Small-animal Surgery whilst working in parctice, but to acquire a Diploma in that subject you would almost certainly need ot be working in a Veterinary School oe specialist practice.
However, I sugest that you concentrate on getting your veterinary degree first. You may well find ( as I did myself many years ago) that your ineterests change as you go through the course.

W

Ok, thank you - Nottingham was really interesting yesterday, but I'm looking forward to my Bristol one next week I spoke to a man from RVC today about post-graduate things, so hopefully I'll find out some more info soon.
Hannah