What Counts as Animal Experience for Vet School

Categorizing your experience

In order to get into veterinary school, you have to havesome experience working with animals. Experience demonstrates to an admissions committee than you have explored the field(s), are comfortable with certain species, and possess a certain level of animal handling skills. The committee wants to know that you are aware of what you are getting into and that you enjoy it. So what is the difference between animal and veterinary experience, and how can you make sure you have both?

Animal Experience

Animal experience is probably the easiest to obtain. It is defined asthe time you spend with animals that is not under the direct supervision of a veterinarian. The time you spend with animals outside of a clinical setting is important because it teaches you a lot about what is normal. The animals that come into the veterinary clinic are often sick, stressed, and scared – causing them to display certain behaviors that oftentimes surprise even their owners. Plus, this kind of experience really illustrates the fact that you love animals and that you are spending your free time (often unpaid) to be with them. Animal experience can be just about anything that has to do with animals – from pet ownership to working part-time at a kennel.

For my animal experience, I worked part-time in PetSmart's doggie daycare for approximately two years. I performed basic animal care-taking tasks such as feeding & watering the dogs and cats and cleaning & sanitizing their kennels. I also supervised the doggie playgroups, which taught me a lot about interpreting canine behavior. This was a great first job for me, and it helped me get my feet wet so that I could apply to other animal-related positions later on. Honestly, I can't recall exactly how many hours I recorded for this job, but the bulk of my animal experience hours came from there.

Later, I also worked as an adoption counselor at my local animal shelter. My duties included matching animals with compatible families, walking dogs, cleaning kennels, filling out paperwork, and answering phones. It is rare to find a paid entry-level position that does not involve some cleaning, unfortunately. This was a great place for me to work on my people skills, as it involved striking up a conversation with strangers about their wants and needs in terms of pet ownership. Being a veterinarian requires you to have great people skills, as animals can't explain why they don't feel well.

Veterinary Experience

Later, I gained a position as a veterinary assistant at the same shelter, which allowed me to start working on my veterinary experience.Veterinary experience isthe time you spend with animals under the direct supervision of a veterinarian.I worked very closely with the shelter vet, assisting with the diagnosis and treatment of common illnesses, performing basic physical exams and obtaining a TPR (temperature/pulse/respiratory rate), preparing animals for surgery, and helping those same animals recover post-operatively. This was afantastic learning experience for me, and it is what piqued my interest in shelter medicine.

The following summer, I got a job at Banfield Pet Hospital, where I worked up until I started vet school. Banfield allowed me to develop valuable technical skills, such as drawing blood, placing IV catheters, performing cytology (ears swabs, fecal analysis, urinalysis, fungal culture, etc.), administering medications, and many others. Overall, working for a corporation was very different than working at a non-profit shelter, but I truly loved the experience.

My other random experiences:

• Participation in Tufts University's Adventures in Veterinary Medicine program
• Fostering kittens for my local animal shelter (I estimated the hours that I spent feeding them, administering medications, and playing with them, not just the amount of time they spent living at my house)
• Walking dogs at the San Antonio Humane Society (the closest shelter to my undergraduate institution)
• Observing surgeries and necropsies at the San Antonio Humane Society
• Volunteering at my local horse rescue

All in all, I probably had close to 1,000 hours of animal experience and 1,000 hours of veterinary experience. I know people who got into vet school with less, and some people who had much more. Truthfully, I'd say that more is better and thatvariety is key. You want to explore as many options as you can. If I had budgeted my time better (or started getting experience earlier), I would have liked to spend some time at my local dairy, volunteer at a wildlife rescue, and shadow an equine vet.

Then again, I did participate in a 3-month internship at a horse rescue, but unfortunately it wasafter I submitted my vet school application. The experience was more for me than it was for an admissions committee anyways; I wanted to have some large animal experience before I started school and I needed a break from my routine in the clinic.

Keeping track of your experience hours

Another tip that goes along with starting early is tokeep track of your hours. Designate a notebook or an excel spreadsheet for recording all of your animal and veterinary experience hours. The earlier you start and the more you do, the harder it is going to be to recall those experiences and estimate the hours from memory. Additionally, you do not need a vet to sign off on your hours. Just be honest when you record them, because it will be really obvious during your interview if you have only spent 10 hours working with exotics instead of 500.

Here are some ideas for getting animal experience:

• start a dog-walking service
• get a job at a kennel or pet store
• foster kittens or puppies for your local shelter
• score an internship at your local zoo or aquarium
• watch your neighbor's dog when he/she goes out of town

…and here are some ideas for getting veterinary experience:

• shadow the veterinarian at your local animal shelter
• shadow the veterinarian at your local pet clinic
• get a job as a veterinary assistant
• shadow the veterinarian at a biomedical research facility

Get creative and see what you can find in your immediate area. Be polite in asking to shadow or work for a clinic, and always be punctual and well-dressed. The veterinary community is a small one, and who knows – you may be asking these doctors for letters of recommendation pretty soon!

What unique experiences have you had to fulfill your animal and veterinary hours? How many hours are you shooting for before you apply? Let me know if you have questions about anything I've talked about, including my own personal experiences.

What Counts as Animal Experience for Vet School

Source: https://journey-to-dvm.com/animal-experience-vs-veterinary-experience/

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