What is it like to be a large animal/rural veterinarian?

January 2, 2007 11:26 AM

What is it like to be a large animal/rural veterinarian?

I'm currently a freshman in college, working on my undergraduate degree which I have been planning to use as a pre-veterinary course. For a good part of my life to date I've wanted to be large animal/rural veterinarian (the 9-5 nature of a small animal practice sounds stifling to me, while large animal/rural vets get to travel, meet interesting people, and hold varying hours, all of which seem very appealing).

Unfortunately, while it's easy to see what it's like to be a small veterinarian, I don't have a very concrete knowledge of what it's like to be a large animal veterinarian, especially as far as the day-to-day menial activities go--and seeing as how I'm on my way to devoting 8 years and untold amounts of money to this career, I'd like to have a good idea of what I'm getting into. However, I've been having trouble finding materials or media portraying life as a large veterinarian, which is something I'd like to be more familiar with as I continue down this course. Google hasn't been successful in turning up more than articles on the shortage of rural/large animal vets or very cursory info pages aimed at young children.

So, my question is this: does anyone know of any books or other literature about the lifestyle of a large animal/rural veterinarian? Online articles or blogs would be greatly appreciated as well, as well as other suggestions on how to become more acquainted with the large veterinary lifestyle.

Oh, and I have been looking into finding a friendly vet who might let me shadow them, but this is usually done through the college farther into the course (final year of undergraduate degree at the earliest). However, if anyone knows of any summer internship programs or anything like that, I'd be interested. (I'm in Texas, if it helps.)

Thanks in advance for any help.

posted by internet!Hannah to work & money (5 comments total)

James Herriot's books, starting with All Creatures Great and Small, are all about his life and career as a rural vetrinarian. They're wonderful books, highly recommended. Almost certainly available at your local library.
posted by bonheur at 11:30 AM on January 2, 2007

I just read "A Country Practice: Scenes from the Veterinary Life" by Douglas Whynott, and really enjoyed it. It gives a modern view of country vet life in rural New Hampshire.
posted by nekton at 11:41 AM on January 2, 2007

Amazon link for "A Country Practice"
posted by nekton at 11:43 AM on January 2, 2007

Hannah, my S.O. is a student at A&M's vet school in her 4th year. If you'd like to find out "what it's like" from someone who's less than five months from being done with the program...

Her specialty/focus is large animal reproduction. She worked for the guy that manages A&M's horse herd for her entire undergrad as a horse trainer and general lackey, and made it in on her first application. There's a good chance that she would be able to guide you to some resources.

The one big thing I can tell you is that you need to work on your resume. Get a student job with the Large Animal Clinic, or work for a vet every summer from now until you finish your undergrad. You need have a 3.5+ GPA (Preferably closer to 3.8) to even be *competitive* to enter the DVM program. Even then, very few students will make it in on their first try. The big thing is to be proactive and to show that you really WANT it by following up every avenue, beating down doors, and ignoring "typically don't do it until" ... you need to be atypical to get in.

Email's in the profile. Let me know, the three of us could meet for coffee or whatnot.
posted by SpecialK at 11:48 AM on January 2, 2007

If you can't find work as an undergrad for a vet, at least put in time on a farm. There is an intimidation factor that you can't really judge until you've worked around large animals. I grew up around horses, but there are times when I'm very glad I help care for relatively small paso finos, as compared to other breeds.
posted by Sangre Azul at 12:12 PM on January 2, 2007