Who'd be a vet?!?

"Oh you're a vet!? It must be great cuddling up to animals all day."
If I had a penny for every time I heard that old chestnut.

It's no surprise that with such inaccurate, sensationalised ideals of the profession that most people can recall at one point in their lives wanting nothing more than to be a vet themselves. Perhaps you were that sweet little girl, draped in a mini lab coat and fake stethoscope chasing pets round the living room? Or maybe the mud covered lad intent on giving every garden worm CPR? So if everyone considers it as a potential career why are there only 20,000 vets practising in the UK?  

​Well, like many things. Nothing is ever as easy as it seems and as we grow older and wiser it becomes clear that pursuing a career as a Veterinary Surgeon can be emotionally, mentally and physically demanding.

Television programmes idealise the reality of what being a vet is truly like and as such I thought it would be worth while giving readers a quick peek into the average day of a vets life at Leonard Brothers Veterinary Centre.

The day begins at 8:30am when vets and nursing staff perform in patient checks on patients who were hospitalised over night. This means that treatment plans can be formulated and diagnostic direction can be decided. Owners are then updated personally by each vet in charge of their pets care. By this point the phones are already ringing and normally receptionists are in constant communication with the veterinary team regarding client advice and new appointment bookings.

Consultations by appointments begin anywhere between 8.30 and 9.00am and so it's a fast paced morning. Consultations are variable in nature encompassing a wide variety of presenting issues/ concerns and admit appointments. It's the vets job to assimilate information from the owners history, pair this with clinical findings and base therapy on the back of evidence reaped rom the consultation. No consultation is the same, with each owner and pet having a different dynamic. We do our best to ensure no stone is left unturned as even the smallest piece of information can help crack a case.

As with most practices in the UK morning consultations conclude at 11-11:30 by which the vets tend to get cracking with their pre planned patient investigations and surgery for the day. This includes any additional emergencies that appear or patients who are admitted following consultation. This period requires a synergistic team who proceed with blood sampling, imagine studies, repeated examinations under the primary vets instructions. Owners are continually updated to keep their minds at rest and then following the conclusion of the days work up.

Time flies when your having fun and so by the time the vet finishes it's often 4pm and clients are filling the waiting room ready for evening consultations to begin.

Throughout the course of the day vets have to balance tasks, patient issues and continually triage/prioritise in order to proceed through the day efficiently, in a safe manner.

6:30 comes and as much as the rest of the staff go home, all the in patient responsibility and any potential emergency is transferred through to the vet on call. It's a critical job and requires clear thinking and a sound approach to medicine even in the dead of night. Not one for the faint hearted!

Then it all stats again tomorrow!

In all seriousness being a vet is genuinely one of the best jobs ever (obviously biased). It's a hard job and demands a lot of those who commit themselves to the profession. Hopefull ythis provides an insight for aspiring veterinary surgeons or devoted pet owners.

Dr Glynn Woods BVMS MRCVS