AIBU to consider teaching after becoming disillusioned with veterinary work?

[Sadvetatcrossroads]

I have been a small animal vet for 20+ years and have gone as far as I feel I can with it. I am a senior vet with responsibility for other staff and many other functions related to the safe running of a practice. I am kind, experienced and efficient, but feel really disillusioned with the profession.

As individuals we are so committed to our patients and clients, we always try to find a way to make things affordable and go the extra mile (giving clients a lift home, rescuing wildlife etc) but it all just feels so hostile now. The media and even MPs talk about “extortionate” prices, as if we are literally criminals. Clients distrust our advice (the same people who will ask their GP to run bloods, automatically think we are upselling by suggesting them). People assume that a 2 hour dental procedure under anaesthetic should cost the same as 20 minutes in a dentist chair subsidised by the NHS.

And for the budget prices people want to pay, using only our crystal ball and magic wand, owners expect correct diagnoses and effective treatments, and complain when things don’t work out perfectly, or that we can’t save their fur baby who has multiple health conditions and is the equivalent of over 100 in dog years, or they were kept waiting while we dealt with an emergency walk in (no a&e to send them to). They say they want an nhs for pets but would not be happy if we left them waiting for hours to be triaged or a year for a knee op. And to be honest, I know that veterinary medicine is expensive but I don’t really know where all the money goes either (corporate), it definitely doesn’t go on payrises or bonuses for our staff.

I enjoy teaching vet students, I can stand on my feet dealing with awkward people and explaining complicated things for 9 hour days. I have a very strong bladder and like teenagers.

Aibu to think about jacking it in and training to be a teacher?

I did the same, for the same reasons. I enjoyed teaching, but I enjoyed teaching in a very good academically selective independent school the most. The kids were motivated, funny, and bright enough that I could explore Biology in depth with them. In state comprehensives I had to teach all three sciences which wasn't really my bag, and was more about crowd control.

Go for it, I left the veterinary world ten years ago and I do not miss the clients (I miss the animals) but its got so much worse in that time, costs have risen and people expect so much but dont want to spend any money, theres constant vet bashing on social media, its really tough!

If you're looking for a job that makes you happier, teaching is probably not going to be it.

Yes, the kids can be great. That is the bit that the public don't always get. It is unfortunately, only half of the job. Literally. Face to face teaching hours will only make up about 1/2 of your working hours.

But management are mostly horrific, bullying and expect you to virtually kill yourself for the job. OFSTED drive individuals to their deaths (Ruth Perry) and at least half of the population will think you have unfairly long paid holidays (you won't) and are only in teaching to be on a power trip. Similarly, half of the parents will never back you up and encourage their little darlings to rebel at the slightest opportunity. You'll work every evening and at least one day of the weekend. You'll be expected to work before school, at lunchtime and after school. Going to the toilet will become a luxury. Teachers and nurses are renowned for bladder infections because they frequently have to hold it all day.

If none of that fazes you and you're up for a 70 hour week job, fair enough!

Could you be a vet teacher at a veterinary college, or do you mean being a secondary school teacher of science?

@Sadvetatcrossroads won’t teaching be worse?

” They say they want an nhs for pets” what? and who do they expect to pay for that?

Vet college would be much better.

I mean, a vet is probably sturdy enough to become a teacher, how does the pay compare?

Biology teachers aren’t as in demand as physics and chemistry teachers so you’d end up teaching those too, would that be a problem?

Why not teach other vets? I do hear you, but I am also horrified at whats happened to vet prices over the last 5 years. I am seriously contemplating not having pets in future and I speak as a lifelong pet owner and fostered/adopter. Could you work in a related field? Veterinary publishing? Training? Seems a shame to work that hard and leave it behind. And teaching is a bear pit from what I understand.

Do you think it has gone downhill / up in price since they changed the law allowing the corporations to move in? Is there a way to go back to what it was with only vets being allowed to own practices?

Honestly, if you don’t like the press and MPs constantly telling you that you should somehow be doing an incredibly skilled job for less money, teaching may not be the escape you think it is!
Teachers are expected to somehow meet the needs of every SEN child, regardless of how complex those needs are, while teaching 30 children at once. Add the Ofsted pressure, immense workload and the constant narrative that you’re a lefty, work-shy, part-time holiday queen who’s somehow overpaid, and it can feel remarkably familiar.
You might find you’re just swapping one profession that society takes for granted for another!

I would probably be very very reluctant to change to teaching given the difficulties you described. If you think it's hard dealing with clients, wait till you meet parents... I am joking, of course (or am I?)
If you enjoy teaching, I would explore lecturing positions on vet degrees. You may not need to hold a PhD to be a visiting lecturer.
Or, why not transition into human healthcare and train to be an AHP. You can do a two-year pre-reg masters in, say, occupational therapy which is a lovely job. You will have to check recruitment in your area as some parts of the country have shortage of vacancies while others are struggling to fill posts.

What sort of teaching were you considering? Personally I’d hate to work in a secondary school, but lecturing on a degree level or FE agricultural college course in something like animal biology, equine science or vet nursing etc, could be rewarding.

Is this triggerded by radio 4s phone in today on the subject?
I think the main issue is that the information about the prices and why the rapid inflation with no explination to the public.
When you google senior vets salary it says about 150k. I dont know if this is true.
Unfortunatley my aunty had to sell her furniture to pay high vet bills for her cat from a big chain vet. PDSA eventually put the cat down advising her the big chain should of done this.
There is some kind of missing information being kept from the public which is causing the hostility

YABU to go into teaching if you're already sick of being vilified. It's awful.

So you are annoyed by public opinion and misunderstandings about your profession and you think it would be better to be a teacher?

Sorry OP but I laughed out loud at this.

I don't think you're being unreasonable in wanting out and being unhappy with the way things are going.

On the other hand I can see why people are getting upset at the cost.

I had to take my dog to the vets a few weeks back, for a recurrent issue that is all on file with them.

2 years ago, the same thing happened - he spikes a temperature as his immune system overreacts to something, as a result of vaccine damage and SRMA as a pup.

The standard protocol is to bring his temp down and anti-inflammatories, take bloods, give some antibiotics in case there is something trundling about causing issues - send him home and see how we are in 24 hours. This has worked three or four times now and is well documented.
This costs me around £240 ish.

But this time, he had to be in, have fluids (he was not dehydrated) spend the whole day in the vets, on top of the above protocol.

He came home at 7pm, so they could give him the next dose of anti-inflammatories - I could have done this myself but they didn't tell me that is why they were keeping him in. I was charged £35 for administering these (oral) meds.

The full bill for that 1 day was over £800. Because now they are part of a big corporate chain. And they've been made to upsell stuff like a full days hospitalisation, fluids, administering meds, that are not necessary.

Now you may sell 'well it may not have been the same thing, it might be different, they needed to observe'.. but I would counter that no one was properly observing him in a small kennel in the vets as well as i could monitor him in his bed in my living room with me next to him all day.

So now I don't trust my vets, and that is a shame because up until the big man leaving and selling out to a corporate chain, they were excellent!

Interesting question

ironically it was the same CMA who said it was unfair that only vets could own vet practices.

We were the generation of vets who expected to buy in as partners and instead our retiring bosses sold to corporates for more than any individual could get a business loan for (you can’t really blame them). The corporates overpaid for practices in a feeding frenzy and now want their money back, plus extra to make the profits look good in case they ever float on the stock market. There are of course other factors at play, Brexit/ukraine/increased employers NI etc. and the increasing demand for advanced diagnostics with high investment costs which everyone pays for indirectly.

As a teacher, I say don't do it OP. You say you've been a vet for 20 plus years, would it be possible to step back a bit and hand over the reins to others? I don't know how old you are but could you start thinking about going part time?

If you don’t like the media and general public criticising your profession, kindly, teaching is not for you!

It sounds like you’re planning on teaching in schools? In which case it sounds like you may be underestimating the job which is so much more than the time stood in front of the class trying to teach.

Go for it! The PGCE is a wonderful qualification. Supportive tutors, varied placements, interesting assignments, interesting peers and colleagues (of course not all!!), digging deep and learning a great set of skills (it sounds like you already have), nice kids, and if you don't like it you can return to vet

Definitely not true about salaries. There are some senior vet jobs up to around £75k but these are usually difficult positions to fill. Average vet salary £45-55k

Everyone thinks they can do better than teachers and they come in for some serious hate online and from parents.

it won’t be an improvement in that respect

Maybe we should stick to non big chain vets in the hope they are more reasonable.
Can any vets willing to answer if a senior vet really does get 150k roughly

The obvious answer would be to lecture in Vet Med at a uni? I’m sure you would walk straight into a job like that with your experience

I would far rather do that than teach in a
school!