Veterinarian
Dogs
Veterinarian
A veterinary surgeon removes stitches from a cat's face following minor
surgery on an abcess.
In
American and
Canadian English, a veterinarian (from Latin veterinae,
"draught animals") is an
animal doctor, a
practitioner of
veterinary medicine. The equivalent term in
British English is veterinary surgeon, and both terms are often
shortened to vet. The word veterinarian was first used in
English by the doctor Sir
Thomas Browne (1605–1682).
Perhaps the most popular depiction of this kind of doctor at work is in the
autobiographical books by
James
Herriot and the television adaptation,
All Creatures Great and Small.Overview
While a veterinarian does hold a
doctoral degree in veterinary medicine (in the
United States and
Canada, at
least), not all veterinarians enter clinical practice. Those that do still have
a wide range of options:
companion animal or "pet"
medicine (dogs,
cats,
rabbits,
ferrets, etc),
"exotic" animal medicine (various
rodents,
sugar
gliders,
possums,
hedgehogs,
reptiles), reptile medicine,
ratite
medicine,
livestock medicine,
equine medicine (sports
or race
track or show or
rodeo, etc.), or
laboratory
animal medicine, to name a few. Those who do not may enter a research field,
studying an area of medical, veterinary medical, or
pharmacological research. Research veterinarians were the first to isolate
oncoviruses,
Salmonella
species,
Brucella species, and various other
pathogenic
agents. They also helped conquer
malaria and
yellow
fever, solved the mystery of
botulism,
produced an
anticoagulant used to treat some people with
heart
disease, and defined and developed
surgical
techniques for humans,
such as
hip-joint replacement and
limb and
organ
transplants.
Like all physicians, veterinarians must make ethical judgments, such as
whether or not to perform
debarking
procedures. There is also ongoing discussion over the ethics of performing
procedures such as declawing cats and cropping the ears of dogs. In some
countries, these procedures are illegal.
Regulatory medicine
Some veterinarians work in a field called
regulatory medicine — ensuring the
nation's
food
safety by working with the
USDA FSIS, or protecting
us from imported exotic animal diseases by working for the USDA
APHIS. The emerging field of
conservation medicine involves veterinarians even more directly with human
health care, providing a multidisciplinary approach to medical research that
also involves
environmental scientists.
Education
More than 3800 veterinarians in the USA currently work at veterinary schools,
teaching
student vets what they need to know to graduate — so teaching is another
career path.
A good veterinarian enjoys working with animals and their owners.
Admission into
veterinary medical school is competitive. According to the US Department of
Labor, 1 in 3 applicants was accepted into a veterinary program in 2002.
Prerequisites for admission include the undergraduate studies listed under
veterinary medicine and extensive veterinary experience (typically about 500
or more hours) in private practice or other veterinary environment. The average
veterinary medical student has an undergraduate GPA of 3.5 and a
GRE score of
approximately 1800.
There is some reciprocal international recognition of veterinary degrees. For
example veterinarians with degrees from the UK or New Zealand are immediately
allowed to practice in Australia whereas vets with degrees from other countries
are usually required to pass a set of qualifying exams before being allowed to
practice. Australia currently has 5 Universities offering veterinary degrees -
University of Sydney, Murdoch University, Melbourne University,
University of Queensland, and Charles Sturt University. A sixth University
is preparing for its first intake of vet students at the end of 2005 -
James Cook University
Government
Public health medicine is another option for veterinarians. Veterinarians in
government
and private laboratories provide diagnostic and testing services. Some
veterinarians serve as state
epidemiologists,
directors of
environmental health, and directors of
state or
city public health
departments. Veterinarians are also employed by the US
Agriculture Research Service,
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Environmental Protection Agency,
National Library of Medicine, and
National Institutes of Health. The
military
also employs veterinarians in a number of capacities — caring for pets on
military bases, caring for military working animals, and controlling various
arthropod-borne
diseases or other such things.
Professional organizations
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