Your interest in veterinary medicine may not extend to social issues; you may wish simply to devote your working life to small animals, or join a zoo staff as resident veterinarian. But activist or not, you will be entering a highly rewarding field. Veterinary specialties include many work areas. With your DVM Degree, you can:
- Run a small animal hospital
- Work in a large animal practice
- Enter public service
- Do research
- Join the military
- Work with zoos
If a specialty poll were taken of aspiring veterinarians, 75% would want to run or work in a small animal hospital. Your decision-to establish your own hospital, join a practice, or form a partnership-will depend primarily on your financial situation. (Chapter 7 offers some figures in this area for you to work with.)
Small animal medicine usually involves dogs, cats, and other "companion" animals. The animal center for these pets is as important to the immediate neighborhood as the library or the firehouse, and the astute veterinarian-manager-owner gives VIP care. Pets are often registered in such a hospital under their own names (as "George" and "Bert"). Thoughtful touches such as Formica examining table tops instead of metal ones (to do away with chill on a pet's feet) are part of the well-run local hospital or clinic.
Private practices today have a new zest as they adopt many of the sophisticated methods of human medicine. Intensive care units are now an established part of many veterinary hospitals. In them, teams rather than single practitioners may work to cure sick animals. One team member of great importance is the veterinary technician. Part nurse, part lab technician, he or she monitors the animal's progress while offering comfort and skilled care. (See Chapter-8)
Small animal hospitals can vary from the modest office with or without an ICU to the giant, university-connected animal care center. Here, the veterinarian works in three basic areas. He or she treats, operates, and advises. This variety may make life a circus for the veterinarian-or at least a cat-and-dog show.
Variety is evident, too, in the increasing number of specializations veterinarians may enter. In the last two decades over twenty specialty fields, neurology and cardiology among them have been added to the animal medicine roster. Such sophisticated treatment as open heart surgery, the implanting of electronic pacemakers and chemotherapy are all now a part of animal medical care (much of this is done in animal-specialty hospitals). There are also dental veterinarians and doctors trained to treat the skin diseases of cats and dogs. You will read about all this shortly.
A TYPICAL DAY FOR THE VET
For several hours a day, the veterinarian may administer shots, treat accident victims, or give physical examinations. During other hours (or at any hour if a real emergency arises), he or she will be in surgery, performing a wide range of operations on sick and injured animals. Because the animals and their diseases vary, the veterinarian's days are bound to be different, too.
Consultations are important; the precepts of preventive medicine are a major part of client appointments. Veterinarians tell puppy and kitten owners the best routes to health-a good diet, proper grooming, and correct exercise.
Dr. Robin Truelove, a Bethany, Connecticut veterinarian, starts her work day by visiting her post-op patients or the pets she has under observation. A puppy may need patching-up after mixing with a muskrat; a diabetic cat might be next. Before the morning is over, this busy vet may have added a cockatoo and a poodle to her roll call of patients.
LARGE ANIMAL MEDICINE
Dr. Truelove, a rural resident, is also a large animal practitioner. (Country veterinarians often combine large and small animal practices.) After fulfilling her morning tasks, she may head for a local farm to treat a cow with a stubborn case of mastitis and then check out a horse's infected hoof.
Large animal medicine is also concerned with herd and flock care. Veterinarians may oversee livestock, calving (helping cows give birth), vaccinating herds, and charting herd progress. The veterinarian who opts for large animal practice often takes on a whole stable of responsibilities. As he or she travels from farm to farm, this animal doctor must analyze the condition of the farm, its cleanliness and modernity, the personality of its owners (often formidable), and the potential of its herds. Large animal practitioners-and these include U.S. Department of Agriculture veterinarians who serve as inspectors-need energy and expertise almost as massive as the herds they oversee.
Pigs, sheep, and poultry often qualify as "patients" for large animal practitioners simply because they are farm animals and because their diseases and infirmities can mean financial loss to the farmer and potential danger to neighboring herds. To the caring practitioner, they are as important as the more personable companion animals. For one thing, they have personalities of their own; for another, their medical challenges are important in terms of the veterinarian's professionalism, and of the owner's livelihood.
Large animal practice includes equine care. In fact, the horse plays an important role to many a large animal practitioner. Equine medicine is growing in importance as these valuable animals, including thoroughbred racehorses, receive treatment unavailable just a few years ago. Horse racing, breeding, and performance require expert knowledge, and the skilled equine veterinarian can offer advice in both medical and behavioral areas. Whether bred for profit, pleasure, or both, the horse has become a focal point of the good life, and its tender loving care is a career for many animal doctors.
A variety of specialties can be found within equine medicine. Besides the thoroughbred and the pleasure pony, there is the role of health inspector for a mounted police unit or for horses going at auction. There is the racetrack veterinarian, too.
Equine veterinarians are often surgeons, and some have entered a relatively new sub-specialty, equine sports medicine. The health and performance of the racehorse is the specialty of Dr. William Moyer, Chief Equine Veterinarian at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Moyer often deals with injuries resulting from the tremendous bursts of speed demanded of racehorses. He works to overcome trauma with techniques such as rehabilitative exercises and whirlpool baths. (Injuries can often be avoided by maintaining good muscle tone and applying therapeutic bandaging.)
Often, racehorses are owned by syndicates; instead of one owner worrying about his half-million-dollar investment, a whole consortium gets ulcers when the horse develops problems. Equine specialists like Dr. Moyer feel this tension, too. In many cases, his worry is not so much the horse as its "family."
SPECIALIZATION
"U.S. News and World Report" recently highlighted a new trend in veterinary medicine by subtitling an article "If M.D.'s specialize, why animal docs shouldn’t?" And while it is true that DVMs are considering specializing in the high-tech 1990s, the American Veterinary Medical Association says that the majority of graduates in this field still become small or large animal practitioners. This may be because the more specialized you become, the further away you are from dealing with animals. Animal toxicology, for instance, may put you into a lab situation where you never see a four-legged pet or deal with its concerned owner.
But specialization does not have to mean total isolation. Rather, it allows the veterinarian to skip the worming, nail-clipping, and flea problems common to veterinary practice and confront the more serious-often life-threatening-situations that all pets go through at one time or another.
Pet owners who once reluctantly put their animals "down" when it appeared they were suffering and unlikely to get well, now can often look to several more years of pet ownership. On the other hand, this life-extension can pulverize a pet owner's pocketbook with hundreds, even thousands of dollars of expenses. Fido may have a pacemaker costing $500 to $1500; cataract surgery for one eye may be $600 to $1200. Specialization and high technology can be a mixed blessing.
The Metropolitan Veterinary Associates, a group of animal specialists* located near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, make any extra sum of money for animal care definitely worthwhile. Their low-key, but high-quality approach to both the diseases of their patients and the concerns of the owners is a far cry from any financial concerns. They care mightily about their patients and their extensive specialization in a specific area justifies their added training and costs. Those who work at Metropolitan are still basically DVMs-they just reflect a greater interest in a particular aspect of an animal's problems. Not all animals seen by DVMs and veterinary specialists are ill or injured. Often, diagnoses are needed to decide whether a female purebred can attend an American Kennel Club (AKC) dog show or if she should stay home because puppies are imminent! Ultrasonic scans can determine this-a procedure that was once used only on humans.
All veterinary specialists must be board certified for their field.
Dr. James Dougherty, a specialist in internal medicine and oncology at the Metropolitan Hospital, feels that internists are simply veterinarians with greater diagnostic skills in a particular field. With more sophisticated training and high-tech equipment, they can do a more in-depth analysis of an animal's problems. That way, they can often back up a "primary" or regular veterinarian who suggests surgery. The second opinion by the internist gives the pet owner peace of mind in confirming his or her own vet's opinion.
Internal medicine is so broad, says Dr. Dougherty that often what appears to be the problem may be totally unrelated to it. For example, a dog he recently examined had a nasal discharge. The animal's tear ducts were the cause of his discomfort. Actually, the pet had an eye problem rather than a nasal problem. Dr. Dougherty recommended the pet to the Hospital's ophthalmologist, or eye specialist. It is this pleasure in making sophisticated diagnoses and the rewards of a pet returning to good health that Dr. Dougherty enjoys the most.
Another service that has arisen with the high-tech vet is the emergency clinic. Certainly veterinarians with 9:00-5:00 practices are delighted to leave emergency work to someone else (unless it is an animal under their care). And pet owners with middle-of-the-night worries (seizures, etc.) feel more at ease knowing there is such a service available. And believe it or not, veterinarians like it because they can be open all night and closed when they know day service is available. There is now an emergency residency in many veterinary schools designed for the just-graduated DVM who likes the excitement of the work and enjoys setting work hours on his or her own terms.
On a light note, we examine the fastidious cat that never quite lets you know what's going on in its conniving brain. A couple in Nova Scotia has gone to extremes for that furry friend, the cat. On St. Margaret's Bay in Indian Harbor, a husband-and-wife team runs the Pussy Pause Motel. Their brochure emphasizes the conveniences that the "motel" offers: "luxury suites, enclosed patios, timed electronic ventilation, veterinarian on call." You can bet that the vet assigned to this "beat" will do everything for its feline occupants, including a full CAT scan if required.
PUBLIC SERVICE
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Public Health Service (both prime employers of veterinarians) are dedicated to achieving and maintaining high standards of cleanliness and care for domestic and imported animals. The Department of Agriculture employs veterinarians to inspect livestock for diseases and to ensure humane conditions for farm animals in transit. The primary goal of the Public Health Service is protection: of animals against diseases and conversely, protection of humans who depend upon herd animals for food.
Veterinarians in the Department of Agriculture inspect meat and poultry, oversee quarantine procedures for imported animals and birds, and keep a vigilant eye on conditions in zoos, circuses, and pet shops. It's reassuring to know that there is a vast force of animal care professionals who see that animals-whether they are meat-producing, exotic or companion pets-are protected.
VETERINARY RESEARCH IN GOVERNMENT
Research offers many opportunities to the veterinarian-scientist. The Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Public Health Service have large divisions devoted to animal research. These activities range from developing vaccines for the control of animal ailments to the improvement of medicines to control parasites.
VETERINARY RESEARCH IN INDUSTRY AND MEDICINE
While the federal government conducts certain kinds of research on behalf of animals and their producers, private industry may have different research goals. Although many companies are also looking for protective vaccines and exciting new drugs, others may even involve the veterinarian in assuring pets of good nutrition while pleasing their palates. Veterinarian-researchers in one dog Food Company may study the reaction of test puppies to a new food. With many companies marketing dog food, such canine test kitchens become serious weapons in the competitive battle for share-of-market.
An extremely valuable form of animal research is comparative medicine, where veterinarians and medical doctors join forces. With "firsts" in open heart surgery, spinal anesthesia, and similar new techniques to its credit, veterinary research is understandably appreciated. Veterinarians and other animal health professionals are also deeply involved in the animal testing of new medical devices and procedures that precedes their approval by the Food and Drug Administration for human use.
A recent medical report that reflects today's advanced thinking in animal genetics (to name just one sub-specialty receiving attention) involves the work of a Pennsylvania veterinarian, Dr. Jonas Evans. Dr. Evans removes six- to eight-day-old embryos from the wombs of highly bred; high-quality cows and implants them in the wombs of cows of lesser genetic quality. The result of this amazing and somewhat alarming-sounding procedure is that a dairy herd can be "upgraded" in a few years instead of the 20 or more required with natural breeding. Meat is more tender, milk more abundant. The lower-quality surrogate birth-cow produces a high-bloodline calf-and the genetically superior cow is immediately freed to create another fetus of genetic superiority for implanting. In addition to domestic advantages, there are international implications; nutritionally deprived countries with poorer-quality cows could produce better, more nutritious "products" with such an implant program in operation.
MILITARY VETERINARIANS
Veterinarians who serve in the armed forces may be involved in research, food inspection, animal sanitation, and disease prevention. They may work in American military installations, or serve at U.S. bases overseas. Much of this work parallels the duties of a civilian veterinarian.
For instance, medical examinations of military watchdogs are similar to the work of the private small animal hospital. But one outstanding difference is that military animal practitioners may have to take helicopters to remote sites to reach their clients.
Joining the military means donning two uniforms: the military dress, and the doctor's whites. Military veterinarians feel a double sense of pride in serving their country and their profession.
ZOO VETERINARIAN
Chapter 10 is devoted to animal care careers centered on the modern zoo. But because many veterinarians opt for zoo careers full-time or serve as zoo consultants, their duties deserve a mention here.
Opportunities in zoos are limited for veterinarians because there are relatively few zoos. This is why many zoo veterinarians are consultants who devote a certain percentage of their practice time to zoo work in exchange for an agreed-upon yearly fee. The few full-time zoo veterinarians are very lucky to be in a specialty that combines the care of exotic animals with the role of animal preservationist and natural conservator.
Most zoo practice qualifies as "large animal" because of the diversity rather than the size of the animals in the veterinarians' care. But size is surely a factor. Witness the recent need of the Philadelphia Zoo's tiger, Monty, for a tooth extraction. Doctors and technicians at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Hospital handled the entire procedure, from anesthetizing the 300-pounder to the removal of the abscessed tooth and the supervision of his post-op recovery. Specialists from anesthesiologist to veterinary surgeon were needed to do the job. One doctor commented, "Looking down a tiger's throat when you extract a tooth is awesome. It's even a bit scary when you know the tiger is entirely 'out'!"
A typical day for a resident zoo veterinarian (or typical in-zoo activity for the part-time veterinary consultant) may include steps to control a disease unique to an important animal, an operation on a lion, and working with other zoo staffers in planning healthy, attractive new environments for the animals or advising on dietary needs and changes. These tasks are in addition to the regularly scheduled "rounds." Rounds include those times when the veterinarian roams the zoo, observing all the birds, mammals, and other creatures for signs of trouble.
As you can see, although the majority of veterinary students might logically select small animal practice, there are many fascinating options open to the graduating veterinarian.
