Hi,

I am 14 years old and am hoping to become a vet when I am older. I know that you need a lot of work experience to even stand a chance at veterinary and I was wondering if anyone had any tips on getting started. I recently tried to get work at a cattery but was turned down due to being too young to get the right insurance. Will my local vets be the same? How shall I go about getting the experience I need?

Georgina

Hi,

Can any vet students reading this offer any advice to Georgina?

W

riding stables often have lower limits on insurance for volunteers/work experience because they need the insurance for younger riders anyway, so there would be a good place to start, and once youve got some work experience it will be easier to find others. Ask if you can watch the vet when he visits etc.
try all your local vets, some of them will have lower work age requirements, but unfortunately for a lot of places it is 16.

Hi...its really good that your thinking about work experience already! Does your school require you to do work experience at the end of year 10? If so that could be a good way to do a few weeks of veterinary work experience (I know a boy who managed to do that in my year) and I worked at a farm park for 2 weeks. If not you could just try and get a lot of stable work under your belt (even if it means actually riding then helping out as extras). Also some farms and kennels might be able to offer you some work. Although, like annaconda said, you will probably have to wait until your 16 to get most of the work experience you need. Hope this helps.