What does a veterinary surgeon do?

Vets give medical care to domestic or wild animals. Some vets work with a variety of different animals, others specialise in particular kinds, for example horses, birds, exotic or farm animals. A vet doesn’t just treat sick animals, but also gives preventative medicine and advice. A vet’s work often includes:

• diagnosing and treating sick and injured animals
• giving vaccinations
• micro-chipping animals
• testing animals, like cattle, for disease
• talking samples and looking at them under the microscope
• clipping nails and scaling teeth
• performing operations
• prescribing medicine
• inspecting farms and kennels
• being on call (during evenings, nights and weekends vets need to be ready to deal with emergencies)

How do you get into it

It’s good to have experience of working with animals, like:

• work experience at a veterinary practice
• working on a farm or stables
• working at a kennels or cattery
• working for an animal welfare organisation

Qualifications and training

To become a vet you need to have very good grades (often two As and a B at A’ level and 3 As and two Bs at Higher level). For most veterinary courses you need to have studied biology and chemistry and another science subject like physics. There are only 6 vet schools in Britain and it usually takes 5 or 6 years to be qualified as a veterinary surgeon. In Britain you can study at:

• University of Bristol
• Cambridge University
• University of Edinburgh
• Glasgow University
• University of Liverpool
• Royal Veterinary College London

Useful tips

• You need to manage your time well, as you may have to do many things at once. Being organised certainly helps!
• You need to be patient with animals' owners and explain to them what is happening and what to expect
• It's important to understand how the animal might feel so that you do what's best for them, to reduce suffering and give them a good quality of life

Links

• Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons: www.rcvs.org.uk
• Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons: www.spvs.org.uk
• British Veterinary Association: www.bva.co.uk
• European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education www.eaeve.org

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