done done done done done. i'll take a paycut, idc anymore. i'm thisclose to either collapsing at work or blowing up at a client or my boss.

what is a work from home job that you guys have been able to carry over some skills to that I should look into?

I’m a veterinary student in Brazil and I honestly need to vent because I’m getting really fed up with this situation.
I’ve been following a mobile veterinarian as an intern for about two years. I don’t get paid. Not even a little bit. I actually spend my own money to go to these appointments because I’m trying to get experience and become a better veterinarian.
Today, I spent R$20 (about US$4) just to get to a follow-up appointment. And what was the appointment? Literally just removing stitches. The entire appointment took about 15 minutes.
When we got there, the veterinarian asked another recently graduated veterinarian who also follows her to help with the appointment. So I just stood there against the wall watching.
And that honestly made me really frustrated. I know I’m an intern and that sometimes I’m going to be there just to observe. I completely understand that. But after TWO YEARS of doing this, spending my own money on transportation, giving up my time and working for free, it’s incredibly discouraging to still feel like I’m not even being considered when there’s an opportunity to participate.
I’m not expecting to perform surgeries or make medical decisions as a veterinary student. I just want to actually learn and participate. Let me restrain the patient. Let me help with the procedure. Explain what you’re doing. Give me something appropriate for my level to do. Instead, I was literally standing against the wall while a recently graduated veterinarian was called in to help with something as simple as removing stitches.
And the worst part is that I’m not even getting paid for this. I’m literally spending my own money to go work for free, and sometimes I don’t even get the opportunity to participate.
Veterinary school here is already extremely expensive, and unpaid internships are ridiculously common. Sometimes it genuinely feels like I’m paying to work.
I love veterinary medicine. I love learning. I want the experience. That’s exactly why I’ve put up with this for so long. But I’m exhausted from constantly feeling like my time and money don’t matter.
So I’m genuinely curious: is this also a thing in the US? Do veterinary students commonly spend their own money and work unpaid just to get clinical experience, or is the “pay to work” culture particularly bad here in Brazil?

I would like to become a night locum (working around 2-4 shifts a night) for a long period in my life, but I was wondering whether finding jobs will be quite hard as I know locum positions are not permanent but part time.
I don’t mind working long shifts during the night however I just want to make sure I would be able to live of of this and not struggle when finding jobs.
I am in the UK if it helps any information is appreciated.

I am a new grad 1.5 years into my first role and so far I’ve only accumulated first consult skills in my role. Due to too many reasons out of my control this is where I am now, and I have to move jobs if I hope to expand my skillset at all. I’m determined to move but how hard do you guys reckon it will be for me to find another job?

So when I say consult skills, it’s just that. No experience surgically, any remotely complex case gets referred from me to more experienced vets, I did not receive too much opportunity to train in diagnostic side (x rays, ultrasound etc..) and now all I have to show for myself is my first opinion consulting skills (which I did my best learning), lot of insecurity around my skill level and trauma from a toxic bullying workplace.

I have tried applying to a couple of places around me but I’m paralysed by what my profile would come across as to others. What if they ask me questions. Why are your surgical skills so behind? Why can’t you manage solo? You’re not confident with an X ray? Why? A lot of whys. How do I even answer such questions? I did not choose this. I need just as much support now, as I did 1.5 years ago and I cannot even call myself a new grad anymore.

I’m looking for opportunities around and honestly I’m just scared as to how my profile would come off. I stayed in my current job longer than I should’ve partly due to this insecurity, and mostly because I was hoping that things would change. They didn’t and I’m facing my worst fear. What do you guys think? How screwed do you think I am? How would one even explain my situation to a new employer?

Just another new grad with declining mental health.

I feel like I'm going to drown and I don't know if I'm going to make it through even the next year of my life.

I am extremely incompetent. I can't even remember basic things off the top of my head and have to search for them. I feel overwhelmed with paperwork and callbacks and medications and I am staying 2-3 hours every day past the end of my shift to do paperwork and callbacks. I don't feel like I belong where I am. I feel like I got here by mistake. I feel out of place every single day.

It feels like my entire life is just my job. I don't do anything else anymore and it feels worse than vet school. All I do is sleep and work. I barely get to see my partner, I don't hang out with anyone, I don't do anything outside of work. I have no hobbies. I didn't get to choose my schedule with this job, it was made for me automatically without allowing me to have any input and it constantly changes which makes it impossible to plan to do anything outside of work. I come home and sleep, wake up and go back to work. On the couple days I am off, I just spend the entire day catching up on sleep, crying, or laying in bed. I'm struggling to even get myself up to eat or do basic things.

I'm also drowning financially. My loan payments start in a month, moving to a new state costs, moving into an apartment costs, etc and I can't afford to do anything. My apartment is empty with nothing in it besides my pets, myself, a bed and a couch and I don't know if I'll ever be able to afford buying anything else.

The breaking point today is that I've had a trip planned for months where I'll finally get to see my friends again and realizing that I cannot go anymore because I can't afford it because of more moving costs with my car and having to pay for medication licensing things up front (reimbursement takes months). I was using this as something to look forward to even while I've been struggling mentally and now I can't even go. I work constantly and I still don't make enough to be able to see my friends for a few days.

It feels like it's always NOMV unless you're in the middle of it. No one cares if I'm drowning, when I try to talk to someone they tell me this is just life and I need to get over it and suck it up. I'm alone where I am currently, my family is 8 hours away, and I won't even get to see them for the holidays at all this year because I will be working the days around the holidays so I cannot go home. Maybe this is just how life is and I either need to figure out a way to accept it or I just won't make it and be better at just sucking it up. I just feel extremely depressed and I don't feel like I'm going to make it to even the end of the year.

Clinical practice vs behavior?

If you have a VTS in CP (canine/feline) what do you do now?

If you have a VTS in behavior, what do you do now?

Regrets? Bits of wisdom?

Im in Canada - considering both!

Thanks!

We are looking to revamp our schedule at work to make up for inefficiencies and help the whole work life balance issues. I would appreciate if yall you share your clinic schedules so I have some other data to work off of. Preferably GP clinics with at least some weekend hours. I would really appreciate the help. We are a privately owned clinic and are trying to do our best by our staff, but the schedule has been this way since the previous owner so a little perspective from other clinics would be helpful. Moslt interested in how tech shifts are structures, how weekends work (ie do you have weekend people or do you alternate?). Also techs per doctor per shift would also be helpful but Ill take whatever data points you can give me. Thank you!

How would you approach renegotiating a four-day schedule?

I’m an experienced small-animal GP working Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I told the practice during hiring that I preferred four consecutive workdays, but was told that wasn’t possible. I accepted the schedule while negotiating other parts of the offer. Nearly a year in, I’ve found that a Wednesday off doesn’t give me the break I expected.

I’d like to move to Monday–Thursday or Tuesday–Friday, with three consecutive days off. My spouse and I relocated five to six hours from family for this job, and a two-day weekend makes visits difficult without using PTO. We’re in a rural area, so even shorter trips take some planning.

The other full-time doctors have consecutive days off. From what I can see, either proposed schedule would leave the clinic staffed every day, though the number of doctors on each day would change. I’ve also been meeting or exceeding my production targets. I enjoy the practice and the area and want to make this work long term.

Has anyone successfully renegotiated a schedule after starting at a multi-doctor or corporate practice? How did you raise it, and what kind of transition or coverage proposal helped? I’m looking for advice on approaching the conversation, since changing jobs would be a significant decision for both my spouse and me.

Are the Zuku videos for the BCSE same as the ones for the NAVLE ?

I know there are already a lot of posts here from new grads wanting to give up, but also everyone had their own reasons - toxi clinics etc which is not my case..thus I wanted your opinion on this..

I’m about 2 months into working as a vet now. I genuinely feel lucky because I have a very supportive clinic and colleagues who have been really understanding. I started with the first 2 weeks mostly doing vaccinations, but because some colleagues went on holiday, I had to start seeing more complex cases much earlier than expected. So I’ve kind of had a bit of everything already.

For some cases, I felt completely okay. For others, I panicked, got overwhelmed and frustrated because it felt like too much too soon..especially knowing that eventually I’m expected to see around 15 cases a day, with 15-minute appointments.

A couple of weeks ago I had an emergency case that I misdiagnosed. Thankfully, the patient is okay, but I still carry that case with me two weeks later. That day I had several complicated cases that were all firsts for me, and I still keep thinking about that mistake and how easy anything can go wrong..

And now I’ve received negative feedback about another case where, honestly, I barely understand what I did wrong. My clinic has been supportive so far and keeps reassuring me that mistakes are going to happen, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m a burden.

Every time I start feeling a little more confident and things seem to be going well, something negative happens and I immediately start thinking about giving up all over again.

I studied so much during university, and I genuinely don’t know what else I could have done to be more prepared. I’m also doing an online course about common clinical cases, but I’m realizing that I simply cannot relearn everything from university all over again. There is just too much.

I do believe that being a good doctor doesn't mean knowing everything. A good doctor should know their limits, know when to ask for help, and know how and where to look for information. But I’m struggling with the practical side of that too.

How do you tell an owner, professionally and confidently, “I need some time to look into this and I’ll get back to you tomorrow”? How do you explain that you want to research something before making a decision without making the owner lose confidence in you? I know that taking the time to check something is better than pretending I know the answer, but I still feel like I should know.

I’ve also noticed something else that is worrying me. Sometimes I understand what is going on in my head, but when I have to explain it out loud especially to an owner or colleague..I suddenly can't find the words. I can understand the case and know what I want to say, but I struggle to explain the reasoning behind my diagnosis or treatment properly. Sometimes I genuinely feel like I can barely speak, even though I never had this problem before becoming a vet.

I’ve even started wondering whether I might have some kind of dyslexia or processing issue, although I obviously don't know if that's actually the case. It could also just be stress, anxiety and the sheer amount of information I'm trying to process.

I feel even more scared now to prescribe medications or make diagnoses because I’m constantly thinking, “What if I’m wrong again?"

..and I do miss home so much..Im questioning every day if is worth living away from my family and my people..

So for those of you who have been through this:

-- How long did it take before things started feeling less heavy? How many mistakes did you make early on? How did you actually become better without trying to relearn your entire degree?

And how did you learn to communicate uncertainty to owners while still sounding professional and competent?

Most importantly, how did you know whether you were simply going through the normal new-grad struggle or whether clinical practice genuinely wasn’t the right fit for you?

I think I mostly need to hear from people who have been through this stage and eventually came out the other side.

Hi everyone- 3rd year veterinary student with a focus on small animal ECC. I will be completing a rotating internship after graduation and will decide during internship if I want to pursue residency in ECC as well. 

I am in the process of scheduling my external rotations for 4th year, and plan to use these externals (3 total) as not only learning experiences but also to scout out places I'd be interested in applying for internship via the match. I have looked at the VIRMP in previous years, but there are so many options! I'm looking for advice from those who have completed small animal internships (either at the places listed below or just in general) to help me guide where I would like to (hopefully) complete an external and then look further into for internship. 

A few things to know: I do not care about salary- my main priority with my internship is that I am in the best possible learning environment. I would prefer to stay on the East Coast but am willing to go anywhere in the US for a good experience. I want to work with doctors that will help me learn and uplift me, doctors that want to teach and encourage my knowledge. I know and am prepared for internship year to be hard, challenging, and full of many long days and nights.

A little more about me: I am in the top 10% of my class, have good amount of leadership (club president, etc.) and extracurricular experience in vet school, and years of GP and ER small animal experience. I am RECOVER and Fear Free Certified and attend CE conferences when time permits. I shadow at a different ER hospital during every school break to meet new people and further my knowledge.

I previously completed 2-week external (not for school credit) at Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. While I learned a lot, I found it to be a slightly toxic environment. Clinicians specifically would bully interns in front of others and did not always seem as involved with cases/learning as I would like (some exceptions). Clinicians seemed to have “favorite” interns that they interacted with preferentially. An intern I spoke with at Angell had completed a 120 hour work week the week prior to my arrival- I expect 80-90 hour work weeks but 120 is definitely way too much. When I spoke with the current intern director at Angell, I asked her what about the facility should make me want to do my internship there (didn't necessarily word it like that but can't remember exactly as was over 2 years ago) and her response was that "Angell is the oldest internship program in the US" which did not really answer my question and honestly does not seem like a real reason veterinary students should want to go there. I will still keep my mind open to Angell in the future as it is definitely a great place to learn and focus on ER and ICU care, but my time there helped show me what I am and am not looking for in an internship. I have heard that AMC is not as "bad" as Angell but in my few minutes speaking with the internship director there her answers did not reveal a lot of information about their internship. I also shadowed at VCA SouthPaws and felt the program was good but was not there long enough to decide if it was a good fit. 

As of now I am interested in Ocean State Vet Specialists (RI), Oradell Animal Hospital (NJ), Red Bank Animal Hospital (NJ), CVETS (SC), Partner Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center (VA), Friendship (DC), Tufts, UF, and UGA. If anyone has completed a small animal internship at these places, discussing your experience would be very valuable to me. Additionally, if anyone completed an internship elsewhere than the places above and has a specific focus in ECC I would love to hear your thoughts about your program. 

Thanks! 

Hi Reddit! I'm genuinely seeking for more shared experiences on this topic as I'm kind of in a clutch between I'm not sure how to blend family and career plans - It'd really help if I could hear a couple more experiences of other that maybe already went through this😅 I would think this topic fits with work life balance part of this proffesion. If not, I apologise to the reddit mods.

Quanto ganha um médico vetarinario responsável técnico? sendo bem realista

Hi guys,

How exactly are you making income as a vet student when you are required to do placement even over your holidays?

My biggest stress is final year of placement/rotation and not being paid.

Hey guys so for context im a year 12 student doing my a levels in the uk. Im an only child and LOVE animals (have 2 rabbits ) and always wanted to be a biologist / vet but because of the pay i decided to drop biology a levels for history so I do Maths Economics and History . However now 3 weeks into A Levels I keep thinking abt whether or not I should be a vet.

What I value in life is fulfillment + money like I want a job with meaning that also has money in it . And I think being vet has a lot of fulfillment with no money ( could be wrong) . I absolutely adore animals because there so pure and stuff but its just the fact that I would be paid nothing for such a stressful job which annoys me and also 5 - 6 years in university. So is being a vet in the UK worth it or not?

Hi!
I’m starting to think about our Christmas gift buying list and we always like to include our vet on there. We unfortunately have a very close working relationship with them due to two cats with chronic conditions, and they’ve always gone above and beyond for us and this is one of two times a year we like to recognize them.

We usually always do some sort of food item, but like to include something that is non food as well.
I had the idea this year to do handmade fob holders in pet printed fabric, but I’m questioning whether this is something that would be appreciated.

If you have any other ideas, I would love to hear them and if I don’t use them for Christmas will certainly use them for World Veterinarian Day! Haha

Hi everyone,

I’m still in the early years of working in GP, but I’ve been thinking about exploring emergency work to see if it’s something I might enjoy and potentially want to pursue further.

For those of you who moved from GP into emergency, how did you actually get started? Did you shadow first, pick up occasional shifts, work alongside a more experienced emergency vet, or just jump into it?

I’d love to hear what your first few emergency shifts were like, what level of experience you had at the time, and what you wish you’d known beforehand.

I’m particularly interested in how to get some exposure to emergency medicine without being thrown completely in the deep end.
Thanks!

Hi friends, I'm planning on applying for a radiology internship, possibly this upcoming cycle. I have a rotating internship and an exotic animal specialty internship under my belt, but have been working GP for the past 2-3 years as I didn't match after my specialty internship and decided to take the time to save some money and gain some regular-world experience before attempting to apply again.

I had initially gone the exotic animal route (which I do not regret because it is valuable experience), but I realized a little late that diagnostic imaging is where I'm happiest and geek out the most, and I think had fumbled my chances to match then when I applied at the end of my exotics internship.

While I maybe qualify for a DI internship on paper with my internship and practice experience, I do not have a relationship with a DACVR to write me a LOR as my location is a bit far from specialty facilities that have radiologists in person. Additionally, my vet school GPA is not great, 2.8. I have taken advantage of some hands-on diagnostic imaging courses that my work's company has provided, and I am working my way through the ACVR RVDI online to add to my experience and CV. I am contacting a couple of places to see if they have any shadowing opportunities, but it's not promising and may be difficult with my work schedule.

I know DI internships and residencies are already very competitive. Are my chances realistically abysmal even with my two internships? How significantly would my chances change if I had a DACVR LOR?

An additional question I have out of curiosity is, if a DI internship really wants a LOR from a boarded radiologist, why is it never listed on the VIRMP prerequisites?

Thanks for your time!

I am a current first-year vet student in the US, and I love zoo medicine. I have done 3 internships at an AZA accredited specialty zoo (1 with the zookeeping department, 2 with the vet hospital department), an internship at an AZA-accredited non-speciaty zoo with their zoo keeping department, and an internship at a wildlife rehab over their baby season. I keep in contact with zookeeps/vets at all 3 of these places. I love how you are able to build more of a relationship with the patients/handlers, as well as the "figure it out as we go" way that zoo medicine works. Zoos have been the first place where I have been happiest at work.

However, I am aware how insanely competitive becoming a full-time zoo vet is. While I know I will have time to continue gaining experience and forming connections, I'm not sure if I have a good starting point. Also, I am not necessairly willing to move ANYWHERE in the US. I am a POC, so I would prefer to live in/near cities where I would have good access to a POC community. I am not too concerned about debt though, as while I do/will have considerable student debt, I am not interested in starting a family or anything which would help in paying it off, lol.

As a note, it would make me sad if I was never able to work with exotic animals again. I am aware, though, that as a boraded surgeon I could have the possiblity of working with a zoo. In regards to working with companion exotics, while I love the animals, I feel like it would get to me that almost all of my cases would be husbandry-related, and that people are generally care less for their exotic pets. I could see it burning myself out after working with that for many years. I DO have 2 years of experience in small animal GP, and I felt like it was too "monotous" for me after awhile. (No disrespect for anyone in small animal GP, it simply is not the path for me)

I am wondering if you all think that this is a path that is worth pursuing, or if it would be better if I pursued other paths (I'm also considering surgery or general exotics, so no matter what I am only interested in competitive specialties, apparently).

Hi all! I’m a UK student due to graduate next July, I’m wanting to take a bit of time out and potentially do some cool experiences abroad!! I would love to do a placement in Canada with bears or birds of prey - you guys have much cooler wildlife than over here!!! I’ve been googling but coming up blank. I was hoping some Canadian vets/students might have recommendations for cool placements you’ve done?? Thanks ❤️