4 AMAZING Things About Working in Veterinary Medicine

Veterinary medicine is so much fun! Honestly, some of the most fun and memorable things have happened while I was working in a clinic. I’m going to share some of the things that make it so much fun. But first, I have to be up front about something.

In this post, am sharing why I love Veterinary Medicine. These are the things that make it worth all the hard work for me. HOWEVER, it is not always sunshine and rainbows. There are hard days that end with tears and breakdowns happen at least once a week, if you’re lucky. It is hard to be in the veterinary field. I will write again about it, but you need to know why it is SO WORTH IT.

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There are 4 things that make Veterinary Medicine amazing to me!

1. Cute Animals

All are welcome

Obviously, I had to put this one first. There are so many adorable animals that come in to see the vet. There is a wide range that you will see. These animals can be sweet, energetic, relaxed, friendly, nervous, affectionate, hesitant, or even bored. For some, you are their instant best friend. For others, you have to work a little harder for the love. But it is always worth it when you get it. Some days, a litter of puppies will be brought in for weight and vaccinations and you’ll get to feel their soft and fluffy fur. Or a social and energetic dog will run up to you and lick you as a friendly greeting. Other days, a geriatric patient will come in for a laser therapy treatment and will lay their head on your lap as you do the treatment. Other times, a little ferret or cat will curl up in your hands and fall asleep as you try to conduct the exam. There are such sweet moments that will warm your heart and remind you why you wanted to become involved in veterinary medicine in the first place.

2. Owners/Clients

Meet new people

As a veterinary professional, there are countless opportunities to meet new people and form relationships with the owners. There are many who are kind and understanding and truly try to do what is best for their animals. You’ll get those “crazy cat ladies” who love their cats so much that they dress them up or only give them high-end toys and beds. There are those who are trying to learn and do their best and ask all the right questions. It can be so much fun getting to know the people who come in and out of the clinic and learning from them about their adventures and hearing their stories about where life has taken them and their beloved pets.

3. Coworkers

In a great clinic, the team will work great together.

Now, I'm not saying that there won’t be issues from time to time, but great teams work it out and ultimately support each other. They help each other with tasks, difficult patients, sample collection, and literally anything else. It is important to work together and support coworkers, especially in veterinary medicine. This is a very demanding field and workers tend to get overwhelmed and spread themselves thin trying to handle multiple cases at a time. Having some helping hands to restrain or run a laboratory sample can not only make cases run more smoothly, but can relieve a lot of the stress experienced by veterinary professionals.

They know how to make the job fun.

At the clinic where I worked for a few years, the veterinary technicians and veterinarians were always joking and they loved pranks. One tech hated spiders and one vet hated snakes and had an issue with glitter. They know who they are :). There were prank wars continually that lightened the mood. Once, the techs purchased edible glitter and put it in ALL of the vet’s drinks. And I do mean all of them. Another time, around Halloween, a scary doll was hung in the staff entrance doorway so that when the door opened, the doll swung at the individual who opened it. I must admit that I let out a good yell when I first opened that door. Bottom line, great teams support each other and learn how to ease the tension and difficulty that can come with the long hours and difficult cases.

4. No one can ever know everything

It's always changing

The field of veterinary medicine is always developing. Researchers are finding new treatment methods or new prescriptions that can alter the way we practice medicine. Studies are always discovering something new. No one knows “everything” when they graduate vet school. You don’t even know everything after 10 or 20 years in the field as a practicing veterinarian.

You learn something new every day

You must always keep up and be learning something new. Whether it’s a new restraint, a new surgical procedure method, a new treatment plan, or a new diet that is best for animals that struggle with bladder stones; you must continue to learn and to grow. No two days are ever the same, you learn something new every day, and no one can ever know everything.

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That is a short, but very accurate list of everything that makes veterinary medicine so amazing to me. These are the things that get me through the hard days, the sad cases, and the unpleasant conversations. And, yes, these things that make veterinary medicine such an awesome field can also be the things that make it so taxing (emotionally, mentally, and physically). But the good, that silver lining, is what can lift you up when you feel like you’ve been beaten down and repeatedly been kicked. They can put a smile on your face and, trust me, some days that makes all the difference.