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?

Do what makes you happy op, but remember for every miserable client there are two/three/four more who value your expertise and skill/advise. I say this has someone who just dropped £700 on out of office vet care for my precious lab who greedily scoffed the baby’s grapes from the snack box. She is not unhappy about being made to vomit or the bill she is most unhappy about not being allowed to eat it up again!

if you feel you have done your time, then for sure move on.

As a teacher, I would say that animals are more compliant clients than children and as a. Eg you probably usually see them one at a time. Children in a school are dealt with in groups of 30; in a secondary school they move on every hour and are replaced by a different group of 30. They are very tricky after 2:00 pm and can’t be taught anything. Parents will be at least as awkward as pet owners. So think carefully as teaching may turn out to be even more hassle.

Teacher bashing is at least as prevalent as vet bashing.

Jumping out of the frying pan is what I'm seeing by you teaching, unless of course it's in your given professsion. Most pet lovers understand the costs, but when there is no price list for owners to contend with, of course we are going to think we're being screwed over. It needs to be transparent pricing which I completely agree with, why shouldn't it be. And yes, vet prices have been named and shamed as they should but it'll be another profession soon, the bankers, estate agents, train drivers etc have all had a good bashing over the years, so hold your head high and keep doing what you love. I'm under no illusion when I take my pet or self to our respective hospitals that each doc will have all the answers but some people expect the know it all knowledge to be there, and those people are unrealistic.

Have you thought about being a charity vet? The RSPCA doesn’t deal with the public. It gives you the opportunity to help animals without the abuse from clients.

I don't know if you'd be better off teaching (though as a positive sounding woman, I hope you would give it a go.)
As an older woman, my observations about pets are this:
The expectations and costs of keeping a pet are so much higher these days. My parents had cats and we have also always done.
Back then, as a responsible pet owner, you got them speyed, injections, maybe wormed depending on where you got them from. If they had an accident or obvious infection, you took them to the vet. Otherwise not.
That was it, for life.
Now, it seems you treat them like a human. I think this is where unreasonable vet bills come in. People seem to treat their pets like humans. They push them in a push chair and take them to the vet for small things.

I’ve been a vet nurse for over 20 years and in my experience you do not pay more if you have pet insurance. The prices are the same. The only difference is that if a pet is insured, there are more options available for diagnosis and treatments which would result in a bigger bill. It is a relief when a pet is insured, not because the vet thinks they can make more money out of it, but because it means you can do those extra tests, the surgery, prescribe the most effective but expensive treatments.
The vets I work with try their best every day to make things more affordable and available to their clients. This public perception that vets are out to rip you off for their own personal gain couldn’t be further from the truth.

I have a few vet friends. They all prefer being livestock vets than dealing with the owners of small animals. Quite frankly, I am amazed at some of their work on livestock!

As an ex-teacher (albeit, primary school), I would not recommend it. I always say that it is amazing how many ex-teachers end up working with animals, because they are easier and less stressful than the adults around the children in schools!

Not the point of the thread but…

People do realise that they don’t have to have pets?

MyDdog died this year - we’ve chosen not to replace him due to costs.

As an aside @Sadvetatcrossroads the vets were bloody brilliant with him and with a sobbing traumatised me.

Have you explored moving into academia? I’m in a clinical role and have been able to do PT lecturing on a local Uni course.
Have you had a look at doing a PGCE?

Not read the full thread (so apologies if this has been said a lot) but I’d just say - if you’re struggling with the public perception of your job now as a vet, teaching is not the job for you. I try my hardest not to tell new acquaintances what I do these days because everyone has an opinion of teachers and it’s rarely positive.

If that’s just a tiny part of it though - I’d definitely say go for it. I trained later and have no regrets. The job is hard. It often feels too hard but everything I love about it makes it worthwhile.

I completely understand where you’re coming from and I think it’s great that someone with your background and expertise wants to teach. Any education provider would be keen to hire you. I’d go for it and explore that path. Life is too short to be miserable.

That’s reassuring. Thank you for your reply.

I have decades of experience in this field in an independent practice and i am extremely proud of our industry, but I absolutely believe that the corporates and the way they operate have caused the public to label us all as money grabbing.
We see increasingly numbers of clients with unreasonable expectations who clearly begrudge having to come to see us and pay a consult fee when Dr Google tells them otherwise.
in my practice we have always been transparent with our prices , have always helped with prescriptions -even more so now and have always done our best to find ways for the client to get their pet the treatment it needs.
Thankfully the vast majority of our clients are lovely and we genuinely care about them but I have never known us have as many obnoxious ones as we do now, I think this attitude is contempt and is a knock on effect of how society perceives us all because of the greed of some.
I really believe corporates should not be running chains of veterinary practices, it is not a suitable industry for this.
I think over recent time their behaviour and culture has devalued us as a whole sadly.
I can see why the op and others want to leave but give me a load of feral cats any day over a classroom of teens!
There does seem to be a turnaround happening ,from feedback and surveys we are seeing clients who have actively chosen to register with an independent practice.
I hope the op finds her path, it's sad a vet is made to feel this way, they are usually pretty bloody amazing people.

Thanks, that's really interesting.
I really like my local vets, the staff are amazing and they've looked after my dog (and me, for some tough decisions) and I know they do a lot of volunteering too for charity surgery's. However it has noticeably changed since being bought out, and the costs have ballooned to the point I won't be getting another pet. I agree that (like Doctors surgeries and water companies) this isn't something we should let corporations dominate.

Many can't afford to own practices. Equipment is so expensive.

YANBU OP. Listening to the critical thinking of some people I've heard on the radio call ins about this was painful.

If you’re easily discouraged, I wouldn’t recommend it. But if you want to to get out of the trenches and still share your expertise and passion for veterinary medicine, it’s certainly something to consider.

I have a friend who is a vet for the PDSA and loves it, another who works nights ( for emergencies) and also loves her job.
I'm a long term dog handler, love my vet practice as do their general Client base, they are independent, caring and practical in their advice.
I think dealing with the general public these days is unfortunately a nightmare, everyone is very opinionated it seems. For that reason I also agree that teaching could be another nightmare.
Only you can.work out your best way forward, i wish you well

Thank you for the encouragement.

It really is a wholesale change in career I’m considering, though it is recent events in the veterinary industry that have kind of clarified for me that I really don’t want to do it for another 25 years and I don’t want to leave it too late to retrain. Veterinary will still be there if it doesn’t work out.

My plan is to register with a get into teaching advisor, do the work experience in school. Maybe look at applying for 2028 start which gives me 2027 to do any pre course SKE they advise. I can locum while doing this and study this alongside my children’s gcse/a level courses, so we can help each other.

Obviously I am open minded that things may change/I may change my mind as the process goes on, but also that I don’t need other people’s permission to close the door on veterinary. It’s a job so many people say they would love to have done, but after 20 years it’s ok to say I’ve done my time?

I've just spent a year working in a school and it is a thankless, impossible task.

Everything you are describing is the same or if not worse in teaching! Teachers are always getting a bad rep in the news and social media. There is a large percentage of parents who don’t trust the teachers / school and believe their children over the word of the teacher over behaviour problems. The paperwork is relentless. I would stick to working with animals….at least they don’t answer you back 😂

I'm going to tell you that teaching is the most soul destroying career ever. I don't regret ever leaving you are constantly criticized by students, parents, senior leadership, ofsted , press .... Honestly it's relentless and the workload! It really never ever ends. Teaching has it's great moments don't get me wrong but it's only now I'm away from it I realize just how awful it all

@Sadvetatcrossroads I really encourage you to go into this with open eyes (as I feel you are) and get some strong experience (as you plan to).

It is a shame that so many teachers and former teachers want to tell you not to consider the career. I am not saying their views are not valid, they very much are. But that is a shame.

FWIW I know lots of teachers and former teachers and many of those still teaching do love it and cannot imagine doing anything else. Not everyone who does it hates it.

(That said, I very much feel the views of @Maddy70 – only when I stopped classroom teaching (I still tutor as I do love my subject) did I realise how literally ill it was making me – the workload, the pressure, the endless nitpicking from SLT. I think I was unfortunate with my SLT and perhaps my school (in terms of marking requirement for example), and I am not sure behaviour management of teens is my strength, but I did have an amazing team in my dept, the best ever.

Are YBU? Fuck yeah!
Teaching is shite! There may be some exceptions but teaching is horrendous!
You will experience bullying by managers, if you’ve been a vet for 20 years then you’ll be middle aged and a prime target for age discrimination which is rife in teaching. Behaviour is horrific, you’ll likely be verbally abused on a daily basis and maybe even assaulted. Many kids have zero interest in learning which is draining and you’ll be dealing with increasingly entitled parents who think they know their job better than you. 60-70 hour weeks are the norm and when you do get some time to relax, you’ll be reading comments on social media telling you how shit teachers are and how they have too many holidays! Don’t do it! There’s a reason why most teachers are looking to get out! If you won’t listen to this then at the very least get some recent school experience, I can guarantee you it’s absolutely nothing like what you remember from your own schooldays! Especially if you want to teach science to kids who feel that they have been forced to take it!

@Sadvetatcrossroads in the 90's I trained as a RVN. One on the vets I worked with decided to leave and retrain as a primary school teacher. They loved it, years later they taught my ds and became his form tutor. Anyway, best thing they did was retraining. I also left the veterinary work. It's a very different world now than it was back then. Do whatever makes you happy!!