Life as a Veterinary Surgeon - Part 1 - Busting the Myths

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Ever since I was a child, I have always wanted to be a vet. My parents tried to convince me to consider other professions in the interest of balance, but I was stubbornly single-minded about it. I read the books of James Herriot (1), a country vet practising in Yorkshire, England from the 1940s onwards, and was hooked. The thought of meandering around the beautiful English countryside attending to sick cows, horses, and sheep appealed. I loved animals anyway, and the thought of doing surgery was fascinating, so it seemed the ideal profession to go into. I hated the thought of being stuck in an office job at a desk all day. Some people tried to dissuade me by telling me how hard it was to get into vet college, and that maybe I should consider veterinary nursing or zoology instead, and not set myself up for disappointment. But nursing is such a different skill set that it didn't appeal to me. I greatly admire veterinary nurses and think they are often undervalued in terms of pay and respect. They do the job of nursing, cleaning, theatre assistant, anaesthetist, receptionist, telephonist, bookkeeper, stock orderer, practice management and so many other things, often all at the same time! In fact, I don't think I could do their job.

When I was a child, I used to collect roadkill (rabbits, deer, etc) and carry out post mortems and dissections to see how they had died and what they looked like inside! I was fortunate that my parents were relaxed about this and would happily lend me a sharp kitchen knife, as long as I washed it well afterwards! We lived in the countryside, and so were quite practical about life and death matters where animals were concerned. I knew where my meat came from, sometimes I would go to the local butcher (where they had a small abattoir round the back and killed and dressed about six cattle per day for the shop) and watch to see how a steer was turned into steaks!

For my eighth birthday, my parents got me a broody hen called Blanche sitting on eight eggs. Probably one of the best gifts I have ever received. I was so fascinated to learn about candling the eggs and to see the chicks hatching after 3 weeks. This was the start of a love for keeping bantams that lasted for many years. This is Bushel with her own brood a while later.

We had quite a few animals around the place when I was young, cats, chickens geese and later a pony, and my sister had a rabbit. I recall we even had pet mice, goldfish, and stick insects which were fascinating! There were cattle in our field as we rented out the field to a local farmer.

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"Oh Deer!"

One day, a small muntjac deer was hit on the road outside my house. A passer-by called at the house to ask for help, since the deer was still alive. My mum answered the door and helpfully volunteered my services as I was a vet student at the time, so I went outside to see what if anything could be done. As I approached the stricken deer, he gasped, stretched out his legs, and passed away in front of us. Putting on my best professional face, I listened to his heart and confirmed that he had indeed gone. "But we can't leave him here", I said "or he will just smell and attract scavengers, could you give me a hand to take him to my house, and I will take care of him". So they gave me a hand, I thanked them and they went on their way. Back at the house, I started my autopsy... The deer had a ruptured liver and spleen and had bled out internally. Other than that, he had been a healthy young buck in good condition. I set about dressing the carcass (I will spare you the gory details) and hung it up in the garage, with a warning sign for my parents on the door saying "Oh deer!" to alert them to the presence of an unexpected body among the tools! I hung it up for a few days, then marinated it in oil, wine, and spices for another couple of days. We had beautiful venison for quite a while after that!

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"What about the money?"

Let's get one thing out of the way first, I most definitely didn't go into Veterinary Medicine for the money! (3) Veterinary Surgeons in the UK are one of the lowest-paid professions (2), with human medicine, dentistry, finance, and law a much better bet if getting wealthy is your aim.

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It's a hard, dirty, stressful, and dangerous job, and the amount of verbal and online abuse some vets suffer is truly shocking (4,5). The advent of social media and the internet has intensified this, and the suicide rate in the profession is at an alarming level. When I qualified in the 1990s, the Veterinary Profession was also leading the way in suicide, alcoholism, and divorce in what was in those days a predominantly male profession.

Today in the UK there is a female majority in the profession, a 2019 Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) survey (6) reported that 58% of registered veterinary surgeons in the UK were female. I think that attitudes towards female vets have changed for the better as a result. The industry has been largely taken over by large Corporations, (and I think it is severely dysfunctional now as a result), but that is a topic for another day...

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I have been very lucky in that I have not had much significant online or in-person abuse from clients, as a veterinary professional, apart from the occasional time. So this article does not focus on that. In general, my clients appreciate the care I give to their animals and give positive feedback to the clinics and hospitals I work in.

Busting The Myths

Myth 1 - "It's harder to be a vet than a doctor isn't it?"

"You have to learn about so many different kinds of animals!" Well, that part is at least true, we have to learn about cats, dogs, cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, birds, small mammals, and reptiles to some extent. and they all have different anatomy and different physiology to a point. It may be true that the entrance exam requirements are higher in some cases to go into Veterinary Medicine than Medicine, but I think this just reflects a higher level of competition for college places. I would imagine it is a similar level of difficulty. I have great respect and admiration for my colleagues in the medical profession. Maybe it is harder to be a human doctor though. They only have one species to study so perhaps have to go into more detail. Medics please feel free to comment on this point!

Myth 2 - "It's seven years, isn't it?"

In the UK, the veterinary undergraduate degree course is 5 years. You can of course do more years if you want to do internships, residencies, postgraduate certificates, diplomas, etc. Actually, my friend who studied architecture told me she had to study for seven years before she could practice as an architect!

Myth 3 - "The animal can't tell you where it hurts"

Not in words, no. But observation of gait, palpation, and observation of the animal's response and demeanour can often localise pain accurately. They also can't tell lies, like their human counterparts. The development of new pain scoring scales like the Glasgow Composite Pain Scale has revolutionised pain management in pet hospitals.

Myth 4 - "Vets are only in it for the money"

See also Myth #6. The vast majority of vets are vets because they want to help animals. They have to charge for their services because clinics and hospitals are massively expensive to run. Like in every profession, there are a few rogues that give everyone else a bad name, they do exist, sadly. Contrary to popular belief, vets don't charge you for their services because they are greedy, or don't love animals. As well as the hospital overheads, the vet also needs a salary so they can pay their student loans, insurance, registration fees, continuing education, mortgage, food, childcare, and other household bills. As well as being caring, hardworking professionals, vets are business people, and provide services for a fee, like business professionals everywhere in the world. Owning a pet is a privilege and not a right, and it comes with associated costs. Pet insurance and savings can be a way to defray unexpected costs. In the UK, most human healthcare is free at the point of care to the general public, thanks to the National Health Service (NHS). People are used to getting free healthcare, hospital stays, and surgeries, and sometimes it is a shock that they have to pay for their animals' veterinary care! Veterinary healthcare is private healthcare for pets, and is not in any way subsidised by the government!

Myth 5 - "Vets play with puppies and kittens all day"

I wish! We also spend time with our hands/fingers/arms in very dark, smelly places, getting kicked, bitten, knocked over, peed, puked, and pooped on, covered in blood and pus, and generally overworked, understaffed, and abused! But we love our job!

Myth 6 - "Vets Get Really Well Paid!"

LMAO at this! In my first job, I was paid £15k a year and for this was expected to work at least 45 hours per week, plus be on call for 62 hours, most of which time I would actually get called out to cow calvings and caesareans, lambings, etc for several hours during the night and still have to work the next day as well. This worked out at about £2.70/hour for working and being on call combined! I think I would have been paid more for working at McDonald's! I was given a car and accommodation as part of the job though. I was expected to live on-site in a converted leaky garage to be available for the clients almost all of the time, and I needed to scrub the corrosion off the battery terminals of the old Nova van I used for my farm calls so that it would start. Many times I had to ask the farmer to help me jump-start it from their car or help me to push start it, once it broke down outside the flat and I pushed it back into the yard myself in the middle of the night.

Nowadays, on average, a new UK Vet graduate can expect to be paid from £28k-£32k per year. Hardly an eye-wateringly large salary! (2)

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Conclusion

Sometimes I look back and wonder if I went into the right profession. It has certainly not been easy, it has been stressful, really hard work, has caused me some permanent injuries and scars that I still carry to this day, and has broken my heart so many times. Putting a client's much-loved family pet to sleep at the end of its life, and facing their raw grief is no easier now than it was 25 years ago.

The stresses of working in an industry that is chronically understaffed and over-busy take their toll over time, and vets leave the profession in their droves, broken and disillusioned. I have taken a few breaks from it myself sometimes.

But what else would I have done if not veterinary? I think this was my calling and destiny in life, and in that sense, maybe it was the right road to travel. After all, I met my husband in the town where I got my first job. In my career, I have worked in mixed, large, and small animal practice, as well as state veterinary practice and more recently, regulatory enforcement and emergency and critical care. Now I travel to work and provide locum cover both at home and abroad, and my work-life balance is approaching a good place. I guess I'll stick with it for a while yet.

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References

1. James Herriot
2. How much do vets earn on average in the UK?
3. Why does my veterinarian charge so much?
4. Acute suicide crisis among vets
5. Vets and suicide
6. 2019 RCVS Vet Survey Findings