Is vet med really such a bad idea?

[Mumsbed]

DD y9 is considering this path as a serious option. I have heard so many negative stories about how depressing and underpaid the profession is for many and find myself not feeling very supportive of her idea / plans. If you or your dc is a vet or vet med student, what are the positives (and negatives)?

It’s a varied and interesting career but there is not much progression and the take over of the corporates has made it harder to ‘put up your plate’ and own a business. Hours and pay are a lot worse than comparable professions. It is pretty galling to be constantly told you are only in it for the money when earning less than half what a GP makes. The drop out rate of new grads in the first 5 years is horrific so everyone left is overworked, burnt out and fed up. It still has bits that make it feel worthwhile but I’m not sure I would choose it again.

I know equine vets and they love it. So maybe getting into a specialist area that you really want makes a difference. Otherwise it seems a bit marmite.

I agree with @Patchworksack . I’ve been a vet for 28 years and would not do it again. The only thinks that’s kept me in the profession is being able to work part time. Luckily DH earns enough to enable that. There are parts to it that I enjoy, and feel the privilege of being able to help animals and their owners, but the mental toll is huge. There is a high suicide rate. Sorry I can’t be more encouraging. I actively discouraged my daughters from going into the profession. I think all you can do is give your DD all the facts, plus it’s such a tough application process now. There are several other careers available now that weren’t available to me when I started uni… eg animal physio.

It seems very corporate nowadays where money rather than care is the drive. My friend left animal nursing as she realised the change when a big business took over the family vets she worked at. Owners were being encouraged to OK extra add on procedures that hadn’t been necessary before.

If your DD is academic enough to consider vet med, there are many easier paths she could take to a with lower barriers to entry, greater financials rewards and less hassle once qualified. Some choose it anyway. My advice would be that ,if she really loves the idea of it, make sure she has seen up close some of the reality before deciding.

@Mumsbed my DD is a 3rd year vet student and she loves it so far. It's a lot of work and lots of EMS, but it's all she's ever wanted to do. She knows that the job is v tough in the UK so, much like doctors, vets are looking abroad for their futures. Her vet school is accredited everywhere, and she'll do the extra exam for America, so can go live and work where she likes.
Or find a job in the UK where vets are treated well. There is a massive shortage and the students realise their worth these days.

It's a lot of different jobs really isn't it? Working with small animals in a very corporate environment is so different to being an equine vet which is very different to being a farm vet. The happy vets I know are all farmers wives. One women I know quite last year having PTS 73 dogs in a week. She was at breaking point mentally. It really is not what most young people think it is.

Im a small animal vet, qualified for 9 years. I love my job, but there are plenty of negatives as well, but I am sure there are with many/most careers. If I had my time again, would I do it still? I honestly don’t know, some days I would, others less sure!

University - it is a hard degree course, understandably. Five years, so a lot to fund cost wise. Requirement for 12 weeks animal husbandry placements in the first two years, and 26weeks clinical placements in the last three years. These are incredibly useful, but can cost money in terms of travel/accommodation etc, and also impact your earning power by reducing holiday time significantly.

Jobs will vary depending on area people enter - smallies, farm, equine being the main ones, with small numbers of people going into government, research etc. Traditional ‘James Herriot’ style mixed jobs are still possible to find, but fairly rarely now. Some jobs will include out of hours, others don’t. My small animal practice we work a 42 hour week on average, no night, four days 9-7 (four days sounds great…but they are long days), and weekend days on a rota.

There’s days where I can have a really varied day, lots of cases where I really can make a difference, challenging cases, appreciative owners. Other days, finances can mean we can’t treat a pet that is treatable, or have to euthanise a young pet with behavioural issues do to owners failing to train them, owners ignoring/refusing to allow you to treat conditions that are painful. Euthanasias can be hard work mentally, but sometimes it’s the cases that owners refuse to make that decision can be harder. All these things can affect people’s mental health and take a toll on them, add in clients complaints about money and how ‘you’ll only in it for the money’ and it gets tiring.

Salary wise - it’s not awful for a vet (vet nurses are a different matter), but personally I don’t think it’s great for the hours, experience etc. Most new graduates will start on £30,000 to £33,000. Generally for our vets who are 7-10 years qualified, all of who either have completed, or are completing post graduate (masters equivalent) certificates, they are on £50-57,000. In certainly not criticising that, but for a five year degree, three years of further study, ten years of experience in practice, 42 hours a week, that doesn’t seem great either.

Its early to get work experience, most practices won’t take students under 16, but certainly at that point it is worth spending some time in practice to see if it’s what they think it will be like.

My husband is a vet. Honestly I don't know of any vet who loves it . I'd try to discourage my kids from following in his footsteps. The hours are dreadful, the clients can be very difficult at times, the pay isn't always reflective of the level of education. It is the profession with the highest suicide rate too.

It's an international career, and unfortunately that's how many current students are viewing it. EMS abroad is seen as a way of getting a job after qualifying. Sad, but true.

@mumsneedwine I think medicine is becoming similar. If the UK can't give them the right opportunities after all those years of studying, at least they can find them abroad.

@HellsBellsHellebores I have one of those too and the offers from abroad for medics are amazing. It's so v sad as the NHS relies on a steady stream of young doctors. We need to get our priorities sorted and work out what things are important.

Can see both of mine living in the southern hemisphere in the next 5 years. Hoping they'll let an old teacher in so we can join them.

Good plan @mumsneedwine

My daughter is shortly doing her finals.
She has a training contract for next year in the mid 30's. After that she's planning on specialising & doing an internship overseas. She's already taken the Navle ( American vet exam) & plans to work in Canada/ America. She was looking at Australia, but apparently the internships are not rated as highly internationally.
We have family in these areas & have lived overseas, so it's not a frightening prospect to us. I think many students may have to look overseas, regardless of their degrees in this post- brexit era.

I'm qualified 15 years and for most of my career as a mixed practice vet I worked anything from 60 - 100+ hours a week incuding on call. Luckily I jave always loved the mental and physical challenge of what I do; the fact that there are endless opportunities to keep learning and keep doing new and interesting things are what kept me in the game.

I specialised within my role and now only work 30 - 40 hours a week (very much considered part time, doing half the hours of most of my direct colleagues!) so have found a niche that works for me, and I am glad I do what I do.

But, careers can be made or broken by circumstance/luck - you have to (1) be lucky to find an employer who will mentor amd support you well in the early days, (2) have a genuine love for medicine/ surgery - in almost a nerdy "would voluntarily do it as a hobby" sort of way - and (3) be a very, very good people person.

If your DC really really finds it interesting and there is nothing else they want to do, they should explore it. If they aren't sure, or have ANY alternative career they think they might like - 100% steer clear.

I’ve been a vet for 18 years, own my own practice and I’m quite involved with students and new graduates.

I love my job now but it has been a love hate relationship over the years. It’s hard, the hours are long, people are rude, you’re constantly being told you are “only in it for the money.” I can honestly say if I were in it for the money I would be in something else that pays better!

These days I do a mixture of clinical work and management/mentoring and I’ve found that is better for me as I spend a bit less time in front of clients. I also have an amazing practice manager who deals with all the complaints so that I don’t have to get too involved in them.

I think now if I could go back I probably would do it again, but I certainly haven’t felt like that my whole career. Fortunately neither of my kids seem to be interested in vet med and I certainly wouldn’t encourage them. But for the right person it can be a highly rewarding vocation. The most important thing is to spend some time in practice and talking to vets in real life to get an idea of what it is really like.

We have two vets in the immediate family and many of their friends are vets they trained with. Between them there's a huge variety of vet careers; specialists in equines, race horses, exotic zoo animals, dolphins and whales, domestic pets, farm livestock, ; and specialist treatments; specialist orthopaedic surgery, acupuncture. They've scattered all over the world for work. Incomes are not vast but they have comfortable lifestyles, travel to see each other etc.Only one of the friends they trained with has left the profession, for personal not work reasons.

Working days can be long and very physically demanding; including emergency and night on-call during weekends and public holidays. The work can be distressing , life and death decisions; and require great tact and forbearance, dealing with upset owners.