Thinking of becoming a vet?

Simple answer: Yes. A week spent in an abattoir is compulsory as placement in 3rd/4th year, plus visits to chicken and red meat abattoir as part of rotations.

I think if you really want to be a vet, then just go for it, and you will learn to deal with grossness. Most of 1st and 2nd year is spent dissecting dead dogs (at liverpool the dogs we get are put down the morning of our dissection so are often still warm!). I will admit to having quite a weak stomach - I am sensitive about smells and did find myself feeling a bit eurgh on my recent abattoir visits - but you do just learn to deal with it.

How old are you? Have you done any work ex? If I were you I would get some vet work ex and be honest with the vets that your not sure if you can cope with the blood and gore of an operation - its a simple test to see how you fare. Saying that 2 of my housemates fainted during work ex (both times it was during eye ops - they both hate eyes!).

Despite my weak stomach I have found I am a real surgery geek and absolutely love scrubbing in on colic surgeries etc, and I have realised that becoming an equine surgeon is what I want to do! So don't be put off just yet!
 
Yup is the answer.
Agreed with above, I'm doing a Biovet degree then hopefully going onto Veterinary and we have already in first year done things like worms, horse hearts, lungs, and then were given a full piglet - the smell isn't good but you do just get used to it (even though I was never bothered by it myself) - I found myself a bit of a nanny at taking people out to get fresh air! (and giving drinks my bag was always full of Capri Suns haha!) Next year we get a full dog and a horse's leg as well as repro organs. I have to say atm, our lecturers aren't too fussed whether people do the dissections or not but they did say that next year it'll get tougher as they start to become important for our exams.
Get some work exp and mention to the vets that you aren't sure....they may have you watching from the door or something so you can make a quick exit if need be :)
There is a lot of blood, odd smells, and not very pleasant things but if you really want this, you'll just have to get used :)
If you just can't get used to it, why not see if there is any other aspects of the veterinary career in which you don't have to deal with that side of it? There's nutrition, research, lab work etc - I understand not everybody wants to do this, but its a way of keeping in with the vet side but not having to be in with all the guts and gore if people don't want to.
Good luck.
 
Just going into year 10, so doing my work experience this next year.
Definitely will do both weeks or at least one week at vets.. well hopefully; they get booked up very quickly! However, I live on a farm and so my parents use a local vets often so can ask them early.:)
I was also think about being a veterinary nurse because you don't have to do the operations and the course is shorter. Although, I realise the pay isn't particularly high, especially compared with vets!
Have you been to the slaughterhouse yet?
 
you still have to be in with the ops and often scrub in as a vet nurse so if you dont like the ops that wont be a suitable alternative.

also, it is very different type of people who become vets and nurses. I'd hate to be a nurse - far far too much cleaning for my liking. there are also massive differences in the qualifications needed - vets need all A's/A*'s at GCSE and A-Level, nurses need A-C at GCSE.

the whole abatoir thing isn't that bad. you spend your entire first 2yrs chopping up dead greyhounds, horses, cattle etc which gets you used to dead things. i really thought i'd hate it and wouldn't cope with it, but you get used to it. going to an abatoir and seeing them killed isn't the nicest thing in the world but it's a necessity and if done properly they know nothing about it.
 
I think I would find the training the worst part.
I would hate that I would be practising on dead animals, even though it's what you have to do to learn before going on to living animals. As for the abattoirs, I am pretty sure I would hate it. Do you have to watch or take part in the killing of the animals?
The grades I wouldn't worry about to much, for GCSE I am predicted straight A's and am on a fast track course (doing them a year early, meaning I can retake any I aren't satisfied with).
 
you dont have to kill anything when you go to the abatoir. bear in mind, you will be killing animals as part of your job as a vet though. not all are ill. i have put down many healthy dogs as rescue kennels are just so overcrowded - very unpleasant job. i hated the abatoir but it's bearable knowing you only have to do a few days - you do have to watch them get killed and then how they examine them for any medical probs.

PS - vet schools dont look kindly on retakes in general so not a good plan to be thinking about doing them early and then retaking them. better to take longer and get them right first time.
 
Echo pretty much everything Star has said! There is a huge difference between vet and vet nursing, and nurses get far more of the shitty jobs and are exposed to all of the gore that vets do! For me personally, I don't think I would get the same satisfaction from nursing, and I am lucky enough that my grades were good enough that I could do what I wanted.

I have done all of my abattoir stuff now (I have just started my final year) and didn't find it so bad. We are shown every step of the slaughtering process from holding pen/stunning/killing/processing and while its not pleasant, the abattoirs we visited were very good and it is important for vets to have a good grasp of what happens to food animals.

The work ex you do this summer should give you a better idea of whether veterinary (in any form) is for you. As star says, killing animals is part of the job, and even as a student you will witness animals being killed. When I was on work ex at your age (14) my vet took me with him to shoot a horse, and I have seen several more shot and killed by injection since then (and held most of the injection ones). You do get used to it - I have a tendency to get quite attached to the horses I look after at uni (not a good idea), and so I do feel sad when horses are PTS, but I have only been truly upset watching a horse PTS once (a horse that I nursed 24/7 for nearly a week)

Vet schools are very keen on prospective students understanding that it is not just living animals we deal with. They look favourably on students who visit an abattoir as work ex as it shows an understanding and realism about what the course entails.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top