This topic recently came to mind after recalling that euthanasia was an oft-cited reason for skipping the whole vet school thing.

I recommended she try ear plugs made for musicians (and others) who need to preserve their hearing. She seemed much happier afterwards, but I still hope she talks to her doc. Can’t be a good thing … not with her dog’s high-pitched bark.

I don't think about it too too much, although I certainly believe I would have made a good vet (although I do imagine burnout being an issue as I'm just a spot too sensitive about some things).

However, friends, family, co-workers and clients are always asking me why I didn't become a vet.

I give them legitimate reasons.

I'm afraid of needles. In that like black-out-cold-sweat-vomit kinda way... even when they're on TV... and I share the same fear of anything that cuts skin. It's bizarre, really, I can't watch the sedation, initial incision or suturing of an animal, but I can be elbows deep in an abdominal cavity holding bits of innards while the vet works with a scalpel with no reaction).

It's too political. Waltham's just gave something like $9 million to the OVC in exchange for a seat on the board. I decry most commercial fare, vaccinations, preventative flea treatments, etc.

It would be too frustrating. I can't imagine sitting through virology seminars or nutrition courses without opening my big mouth. Like suggesting raw to treat IBD or grain free to treat ear infections (not that far out, but not likely to be taken well in our current system).

But the real, real, really real reason is... I simply can't afford it. Hell, I can't afford to get the degree I need to even get into vet school. It's not that I don't have the smarts, or the drive, or the desire. I just don't have the money.

Sadly, this extends past vet school. I've considered studied a thousand subjects, all connected to animals somehow (I'm really interested in the science behind blood chemistry, genetics, research, virology, nutrition, ethology, et). The end result is that I make just enough to not qualify for assistance. The kind of private assistance available is not for older folk like me (the big 3-0 is coming up in a month) who own their home and have responsibilities. Even if I could get the loans for tuition and books, the myriad little costs coupled with me being essentially out of work for a minimum of 4 years makes it an unreachable dream.

Ok, well thanks a lot Dr K - way to depress me right before bedtime.

I have wanted to be a veterinarian for a very long time. I did all the pre-requisite schooling minus O-chem--I've failed it twice and that was the first inkling of "maybe this isn't for me." But I'm a technician in a very busy ICU and I love my job, so I figured maybe I'd try again in a few years.

Until I began working in places that have interns and residents. I thought my life was difficult and hectic--there is NOTHING like the hell they go through. People treat them like crap because they're not "real" doctors (despite all the extra training they're getting before going out in the world on their own), they have TONS of extra study to do even now that they're out of school, and they are ALWAYS on call. I could not handle that. And yet, were I to go to vet school, I would DEFINITELY want to do at least an internship if not a residency as well--I can see by the way they grow by the end of their intern year, and how far some of our residents have progressed, that you learn exponentially more in the teaching facilities than you might otherwise learn on your own.

Besides, they get very limited time with their patients. As a tech, I get to provide nursing care during my entire shift--not just book care :)

I wish I would have realized my dream job before my body gave up on me.

I wanted to be a vet, would have made a good one too I think. When I take my dogs in, because of my experience, I can talk to the vet and have a good idea what is going on and know enough to decline certain 'routine' services that really aren't necessary for my pet or my service animal.

I just wish now (10 years after having graduated HS) I took my opportunity at college more seriously. I found myself a major slacker in college (though I had made straight As and Bs in HS, but then again, HS was easy and pretty much a repeat of everything I had ever learned before almost from Kindergarten on).

Of course, now life has caught up to me, as the mom of 2 kids (both autistic but one of which has severe developmental disabilities) even if I could go to school, I couldn't hold a job as I have to provide 100% of her care when she is not in school.

Death itself, when it is the most humane option doesn't bother me. The only things I have ever done that seemed a little awkward was loading the cremation ovens at a high kill rate shelter. They were bagged, but you knew what was inside (usually a healthy young adult to middle aged dog) and if the body hadn't made it to the freezer first. Yeah, it was a little weird.

6) I won't have time to ride my own horse (and I don't)

The most common true barrier I see is low GPA and/or board scores.

Are you kidding? It's harder to get into vet school than medical school, probably takes more smarts, costs just as much and in the end you're making but a fraction of what physicians make. But God bless those who do it because I have yet to meet a vet who didn't love animals. Can't exactly say the same about physicians as regards humans.

I agree with LabMom. I was on the pre-vet track in college for about 1.5 years before it fully clicked with me that I was a solid B/B- student in the core classes I was taking and vet school was too competitive for me to get in with those grades.

It's not just plain old euthanasia, although that would be difficult in and of itself, it's CONVENIENCE EUTHANASIA that would do me in. I would refuse, but there's always someone that will do it.

I don't have the patience for those types. People drive me crazy outside of the dog/cat/pet world. I think it would be much worse dealing with them when it came to animals.

I don't wonder why suicide is so high with veterinarians...I think these answers here on your blog are very telling, Dr. Khuly.

Besides the money aspect (paying for the schooling is brutal!), for me, it was all about the 7 years of post secondary education... There's no way I could have hacked it for that long - 3 or 4 is ok, but the 7 years (or more with specialization) seemed so unattainable.
... And to be honest, finding out that my local school only takes the top 8% of applicants was daunting. I certainly didn't want to end up in the Maritimes, or Saskatchewan.
*sigh* I do think I missed my calling though :(

Just a common one that sticks out that I've heard on my path to my own DVM.

7) "Just don't have the time." Generally has to do with time in going back to school but also people are still under the impression that all vets are on call 24/7 now a days. You can do that if you want, but it's not the norm any more.

Joining the veterinary profession has been my career goal since I was very, very young. I chose my high school courses to fit the Animal Biology undergraduate program, and graduated university with distinction. However, despite this and countless hours of volunteer service, I have failed to gain admittance to my local vet school 3 years in a row.

Vet schools are extremely, extremely competitive to get into, so I would imagine that alone would deter prospective vets from applying. Repeated failure is devastating.

Another deterrent would be money. If I were to apply to any vet school other than the local one, I would easily incur a $150k-200k debt (at an accredited school outside the country) once all is said and done.

I worked for a vet for a few years in high school. I loved working with the animals. No problem with the blood and guts (nothing more satisfying than cleaning out a cat bite abscess).

But watching the vet have to deal with clients. No Thank You!

Because I'm so interested in dogs, people are always telling me that I should have been a vet, but it was never something I seriously considered, for a number of reasons.

When I was young, item 4 (blood and guts) was the biggest factor, along with not being able to deal with or cause pain. While I've gotten used to blood over time, I'm still not sure I could cope with the pain aspect.

Now that I'm older, I know it's the people and money factors (items 2 and 3) that would stop me cold.

In addition, I don't think I could handle a job where a mistake could lead to an animal's death or suffering. It would haunt me.

I am a single mother of 2 and just lost my job. Only to come home 2 days ago to find my sons cat Samuri, on the porch. When we opened the door, he anxiously jumped up, but only to limp. We brought him in the house. His hind leg is injured, I felt over the injured leg and do not feel and breaks or dislocation. I am a nurse out of work, but doesnt help my sons cat very much. Can anyone tell me what I can possibly do for Samuri without recomending the Vet, which I dont have any money. Samuri is eating and drinking. Jumps up on my bed and has slept with me last 2 days, but refuses to leave my room when his room was in my sons room. So we have migrated all his things to my room. Please HELP!

All my life I've been told I should be a vet. Instead I went with vet tech. For one, the cost of schooling is just too high. I grew up with parents who were always in debt and I didn't want to go down that road. The other main issue is control...I would be fine running my own practice, but I don't think I could work somewhere that I couldn't set the policies. I have no problem with euthanasia and like you I actually feel a sense of pride when I know I've helped an animal out of pain. I will NOT do convenience euthanasia or assist in it. I was lucky enough as a tech to find a practice where the head vet was open to listening to the techs and adjusting policies, but I'm aware of how rare that is. My ideal practice would not do convenience euthanasia, declaws, ear crops, docks, and would have some kind of charity fund. Trying finding all that as a young vet with massive student debt. Somehow I found a practice that almost fit all of the above expect they did do declaws, but only with a laser and with pain control. As a tech I was allowed to refuse to assist in the declaw surgeries, but if I had been a vet in that practice I would have had to and I say in all seriousness it would have broken me.

I also happen to be very sensitive to ISO gas...to the point I passed out cold during an internship. Everyone thought I passed out from watching surgery...I had to explain I had no problem with blood or guts, but something was wrong with their machinery and it was leaking. What a way to make an entrance!

I can think of -
at list in my country...

Because it's hard to find a job as a vet in clinics,
You may find yourself working in a slughterhouse....
Or in a local dog shelter that put down dogs every day...

And what about animal testing during the studies?

charliebear22: and what would be wrong with the Veterinary School in the Maritimes or Sask?

I often wonder what the percentage of job satisfaction is after decades (or less), no matter what field is chosen. People's values and views change so much through life.

Often, I think it is the talented artist, musician, or author that has it best and never views "work as real work"

My 11 year old daughter has wanted to be a large animal vet from the time she could talk. She has been in gifted since 1st grade and is on the honor roll. We have a farm and she has helped suture wounds, give vaccinations and has seen life from birth to death. Probably a lot more than the average 11 year old. We live in North Florida only 30min. from the UF Vet school and she is looking forward to eventually making it there. I hope she is able to follow her dreams but mostly I hope she is happy in whatever she does do with her life. She has a long way to go :)
Thank you for your wonderful blog. I enjoy reading it!

I don't tollerate fools gladly.

My 'people skills' are actually rated by my peers as 'superior,' but that's because I've spent years and years learning how NOT give people the beatings they so richly deserve. Still, it wears me down and makes me depressed when I'm exposed to too many people whom I feel need a little sense 'whupped into 'em...' Vets, I fear, see far, far too many folks of that description.

Other than my poor grades in high school, I personally find the 8+ years of education very intimidating. I started my education to be veterinary technician after 2.5 years in the military and it has been very challenging balancing my education with work and my marriage. I can't even imagine trying to do so for the length of time to get through vet school! I am also enjoying the decreased liability and freedom offered by being a technician instead. I'll never lay awake at night wondering if the knot I tied for that spay is holding. :)

I worked for a vet for two years, with the understanding I was going on to vet school. He was a great vet and a great trainer. However, I quickly learned that vets examined, diagnosed, operated, and then (in those days) ran out to do the farm calls. It was one animal after another. I, on the other hand, got to assist in the exam room, assist in surgery, medicate, care for, and console the hospitalized pets, etc. I lived at the clinic, and when everyone else left, it was just me and the animals, medicating, cleaning, feeding, grooming, stroking, talking to them, and doing the lab work. The vet never got a chance to do more than a quick pat on the head and a "aren't you the handsome one" to each animal that came through his hands. I wasn't sure I wanted to "move up" and lose that contact time with the animals, so I went into animal welfare instead. I would never trade those two years working closely with a small town vet who handled every type of emergency because there was no emergency clinic to pass difficult cases onto. I'm glad I learned that a veterinarian's profession was not for me before I went off to college.

While I agree with the point 3 money thing, that is not exclusive to veterinary profession. I am a graphic designer and have exactly the same problem. I think I need an agent ;-)

The main reason I couldn't be a vet would be having to deal with cases where the animals cannot be helped. I think I would have to spend my life heavily doped to get over these things. I am a bundle of emotions and I really could not cope with that.

I am too old to change professions now anyway. If I could and was younger, I think I would prefer some kind of research type of thing, as far on the theoretical side of things as possible.

Hello, just found your blog and as a soon-to-be vet school tryout, chose this post to read first, for better or worse :/ So I was wondering, has there been a post on "Reasons to be a Vet"? If not, can you please do one? As an aspiring vet, it's easy to get caught up in the negatives people have to say, especially when they are valid reasons, as some of these are for me.

Being a zoo vet is my dream job, but somewhere along the line, I ended up in medical school. Why? I had already finished college by the time I decided that I couldn't go through with the PhD, and didn't have two prereqs for vet school (technical writing and animal science), but had all the prereqs for med school. So off to med school I went, luckily for me I ended up one of the top 10 schools in the nation. There wasn't any real drawn out, deep thought that went into that momentous fork-in-the-road decision, though.

So today, I get my animal fix as a zoo consultant in treating primate diabetes. I am so privileged to be allowed to work with the vets. If I had to do it over again, I'd have probably put more thought into it, and gone for the vet school. I have a deep, abiding respect and envy for veterinarians, and always will. They are amazing clinicians, and wonderful problem solvers.

(Though, I do hate it when some people in the vet community say it's harder to get into vet school than medical school (it's hard to get into both, ok?), and when people bash physicians that treat humans. I think we should all work together, because there is a LOT both sides can learn from each other.)

I know I am not stupid, with my near perfect GPA (3.91), it's a given that I am not stupid but I am well aware of my limitations. My GPA at this moment in time is based on English, History and writing driven classes. I've taken 3 classes this time around. Failed 1 and passed 2 with B-.

I can take 16-18 credits/units easily & kill in every single class but if that class is math or science driven (like Chem or Org Chem) it will take me the same amount of time it would for 5 classes just to do the work for that one class. AND even with all that time dedicated to it, I still wouldn't get an A.

Mentally, I honestly don't know what that would do to me & I don't know if I want to be a veterinarian bad enough to find out.

So instead, I will concentrate on the things I'd ridiculously good at. Which is non-fiction and fiction writing. That doesn't make me any less intelligent, matter of fact it might make me more intelligent for figuring this out before I wasted anymore of my time.