Working with animals

[tagimnottheit]

DD14 says she wants to work with animals. She is academic, not top 5% more top 25% in her high-achieving state comp. Vetmed is one option, but it’s very competitive and sounds incredibly intensive.

I saw someone mention their DD studies around 60 hours a week including lectures, which made me wonder what other options there are for working with animals. DD is very hands-on, natural problem solver and not phased by much.

She’s previously been sharing a pony, helps run pony club at her yard for DofE and has a natural way with animals, as well as a genuine interest in them. How about equine physio? What other fulfilling careers or degree options are there that would allow her to work with animals?

Hartpury has loads of open days (I think one in October, November and December are coming up). I would advise to come and have a look and speak to them. It's a very nice place, but my daughter is doing A-levels and her friends mainly equine, so I don't know the details of all the courses

So very different perspective from those above (and I'm prepared to receive some criticism here...) but I am a research scientist, and although I no longer work with animals for much of my career I did. The animal houses for research institutes/universities all need trained staff to manage and work at them. Although I know many animal lovers might feel uncomfortable with the idea of animal experimentation, in fact the laws about animal welfare are very strict and tightly controlled (far far less suffering seen there than in the many cases of irresponsible pet owners who can't take care of their pets for example). In fact a large part of the job is enforcing and improving animal welfare standards, so the (animal lover) workers I knew there were fulfilled by their work. There were a few trained vets but most people took biology or related degrees and then moved into that field.
Might not be very well paid unless you're in a management position though. (Although R&D departments in pharma companies must have similar type roles and presumably pay much better).

https://jobs.army.mod.uk/roles/royal-army-veterinary-corps/veterinary-technician/

I saw this the other day - it's confusing because it says you can apply at 18 and it is a level 3 vet nurse apprenticeship, but also says to apply you need to be a qualified vet nurse. But something to think about.

You have missed the initial open days at Hartpury but there are more going into early next year (quick search of the website found them easily). I would suggest you and your daughter go along and she asks the questions she needs to ask. Definitely she should ask the questions as this is her future.

I’d also look at the Royal Agricultural college. They offer a Bloodstock and Equine performance management degree and Equine science and business. Both have placement years if students are interested. Contacts there should be pretty good.

For someone who wants to work with animals and loves being around animals, I wouldn’t actually consider being a vet. As a vet you mostly work with the owners and see the animals when they are sedated. The actual caring side is done by the vet nurses and techs.

Not in the UK ? We don't have vet techs. And vets see animals of all kinds every day that are running around.

You don't need perfect stats to become a vet. Yes they need to be good and you need the right A levels or BTEC, but more need is an interest in science and animals and some work experience

All our many animals (dog 🐾 horses 🐎 tortoise 🐢 birds 🦜 guinea pigs 🐹) were seen by vets at one point or another and (unless they needed a complicated procedure) were never sedated. I don't think it's true that vets don't handle animals on a day-to-day basis. The only thing is that I think is a horrific part of the job is putting animals down 😭

Yes sorry I mean vet assistants- I know a few of those who love their jobs. And yes of course vets see animals, i wrote that without too much thought.. I just know a few people who considered being a vet and then realised what they really wanted was to be in an animal care role all day and wouldn’t want to be doing the tough stuff like operating, euthanasia, culling herds of cattle or visiting abbatoirs.

Small animal vets will only ever do one of those things. And most see it as a privilege go stop suffering.

@XelaM It’s not hard to put animals down at the end of a good life. Harder when they are younger. Most vets do get used to it though. It is part of the job. Training covers all areas of vet work, they don’t just look at cats!

At 14 she has plenty of time, and the pony club work is already building exactly the experience these routes want.

On the physio question specifically: a common and often safer path is to qualify as a human physiotherapist first (BSc plus HCPC registration), then take a one-year animal conversion course afterwards. She keeps a portable, well-paid career and the option to work with people, and equine practices value the clinical grounding. Going straight into an equine-only programme is a bigger gamble if she changes her mind at 18.

Other routes worth a look: veterinary nursing (RCVS-registered, via a degree or a practice-based apprenticeship, much more hands-on with animals than being a vet), animal behaviour and training work accredited through the ABTC, and zookeeping, which usually starts with volunteering plus a zoology or animal science degree. At her age the best prep is simply variety: stables, kennels, a lambing week on a farm. Most admissions tutors and employers care more about that log of hours than anything else.