#ILoveBeingAVet, don't you?
Rosie MacDiarmid - Preclinical Lecturer in exotics (amongst many other things!)
Your favourite moment of your career so far
Gosh, there have been so many. I think that’s the lovely thing about this job, every day is different and brings both challenges and rewards! Can I have more than one??
If I had to pick a specific case, it would be the 12 week old Labrador puppy who presented collapsed and off his food, having vomited up a load of worms earlier in the day – two days before Christmas, of course….
A quick feel of his abdomen made me very worried and an ultrasound revealed an intestinal intussusception (classic bullseye – get in!). We went to surgery after some rapid stabilisation and it was not pretty, about 40 cm of gut telescoped in on itself with bits of dying and bruised tissue…. eeeeek. An end to end anastomosis later (his guts were absolutely rammed full of tapeworms and roundworms – I literally haven’t seen anything like it before or since and may even still have a jar full of them for posterity!) and I was thinking ‘well it will be an absolute miracle if this works’. He was up and wagging his tail about an hour after surgery, and asking for food shortly after – never underestimate the resilience of a labradork. All this was well and good but my favourite moment? Being greeted enthusiastically by same ‘puppy’ a year later for his annual vaccination, doing brilliantly. Happy days :)
The biggest perk of the profession
The opportunities it brings. Being a vet is not just about clinical practice and your vet degree opens lots of doors! If you’d asked me twelve years ago what I thought I’d be doing it would be mixed/equine practice in Scotland….what I’m actually doing is teaching an amazing bunch of ‘vets to be’ about exotics (amongst other things!)
A time in your career where you feel you really made a difference
Again, I think we underestimate the number of times we make a difference. It doesn’t have to be fancy surgery, or lifesaving stuff (although those things are super important too) but every time you make an animal feel better, or indeed help its owner to feel better you are making a difference. I hope I’m making a difference now, because I want you all to go out and love what you do, confident in your knowledge and ability. Being at university is fab, being a fully-fledged vet is even better – it’s what you’ve always wanted so enjoy every minute J
Gosh, there have been so many. I think that’s the lovely thing about this job, every day is different and brings both challenges and rewards! Can I have more than one??
If I had to pick a specific case, it would be the 12 week old Labrador puppy who presented collapsed and off his food, having vomited up a load of worms earlier in the day – two days before Christmas, of course….
A quick feel of his abdomen made me very worried and an ultrasound revealed an intestinal intussusception (classic bullseye – get in!). We went to surgery after some rapid stabilisation and it was not pretty, about 40 cm of gut telescoped in on itself with bits of dying and bruised tissue…. eeeeek. An end to end anastomosis later (his guts were absolutely rammed full of tapeworms and roundworms – I literally haven’t seen anything like it before or since and may even still have a jar full of them for posterity!) and I was thinking ‘well it will be an absolute miracle if this works’. He was up and wagging his tail about an hour after surgery, and asking for food shortly after – never underestimate the resilience of a labradork. All this was well and good but my favourite moment? Being greeted enthusiastically by same ‘puppy’ a year later for his annual vaccination, doing brilliantly. Happy days :)
The biggest perk of the profession
The opportunities it brings. Being a vet is not just about clinical practice and your vet degree opens lots of doors! If you’d asked me twelve years ago what I thought I’d be doing it would be mixed/equine practice in Scotland….what I’m actually doing is teaching an amazing bunch of ‘vets to be’ about exotics (amongst other things!)
A time in your career where you feel you really made a difference
Again, I think we underestimate the number of times we make a difference. It doesn’t have to be fancy surgery, or lifesaving stuff (although those things are super important too) but every time you make an animal feel better, or indeed help its owner to feel better you are making a difference. I hope I’m making a difference now, because I want you all to go out and love what you do, confident in your knowledge and ability. Being at university is fab, being a fully-fledged vet is even better – it’s what you’ve always wanted so enjoy every minute J
PJ Noble - Senior lecturer in Small Animal Medicine
- Your favourite moment of your career so far
- The biggest perk of the profession
- A time in your career where you feel you really made a difference
Harry Carslake - Senior lecturer in Equine Medicine
- Your favourite moment of your career so far
- The biggest perk of the profession
- A time in your career where you feel you really made a difference
Rosie Alcorn - Recent graduate from Liverpool.
My favourite moment.
As a student I would never have thought that working with a charity would be some of my favourite work! In particular my two favourite horses Bella and Holland. The best moment I’ve had so far is receiving the video of the pair of them being turned out in the field for the first time in ages. Bella had had an enucleation due to chronic uveitis and Holland a pedal bone scrape. Holland had been severally lame intermittently for many months and finally getting to the bottom of it and watching him have a buck and a leap out in the field for the first time was fantastic.
Biggest Perk of the Profession.
I think it’s easy to be caught up in the many negatives of what being a vet involves but actually in my opinion there isn’t just one perk, there are loads and I would be hard pushed to choose just one! I get to spend my time outside working with horses, ponies and donkeys. I really enjoy the variety of work we are able to do and everyday is a learning curve. I’ve been very lucky that the job I have is very supportive with a great team and actually the sense of belonging in a practice is great! I think the biggest perk is the interesting animals and people that you meet - every one has a story and as someone that loves to chat I can’t think of anything at this point in time I’d rather be doing!
What I wish I knew as a student that I know now!
Not knowing the answer to what’s going on is not the end of the world - it is how you deal with it that matters. As students we are always looking for the perfect answer - you very quickly learn it doesn’t work that way. At university, cases move through at speed - results are instant and as a new graduate my biggest fear was not knowing the answer as soon as I went to see a case ! You soon learn that often this is exactly what happens and it takes time to get to the bottom of it . The trick is working with owners and explaining what steps you’re going to take to get the bottom of a case and showing you care! My first two weeks as a vet were terrifying but learning how to work with owners when I needed a bit of time to look up a case or speak to a more senior vet is one of the most useful things I’ve learnt! The expression “you miss more by not looking than not knowing “also rings true!
It’s been said a thousand times but making sure your first job is in a practice that supports and looks after you is so important! But more than anything going into the job wanting to enjoy it!! It’s a fantastic profession and I can’t wait to see where it takes me!
As a student I would never have thought that working with a charity would be some of my favourite work! In particular my two favourite horses Bella and Holland. The best moment I’ve had so far is receiving the video of the pair of them being turned out in the field for the first time in ages. Bella had had an enucleation due to chronic uveitis and Holland a pedal bone scrape. Holland had been severally lame intermittently for many months and finally getting to the bottom of it and watching him have a buck and a leap out in the field for the first time was fantastic.
Biggest Perk of the Profession.
I think it’s easy to be caught up in the many negatives of what being a vet involves but actually in my opinion there isn’t just one perk, there are loads and I would be hard pushed to choose just one! I get to spend my time outside working with horses, ponies and donkeys. I really enjoy the variety of work we are able to do and everyday is a learning curve. I’ve been very lucky that the job I have is very supportive with a great team and actually the sense of belonging in a practice is great! I think the biggest perk is the interesting animals and people that you meet - every one has a story and as someone that loves to chat I can’t think of anything at this point in time I’d rather be doing!
What I wish I knew as a student that I know now!
Not knowing the answer to what’s going on is not the end of the world - it is how you deal with it that matters. As students we are always looking for the perfect answer - you very quickly learn it doesn’t work that way. At university, cases move through at speed - results are instant and as a new graduate my biggest fear was not knowing the answer as soon as I went to see a case ! You soon learn that often this is exactly what happens and it takes time to get to the bottom of it . The trick is working with owners and explaining what steps you’re going to take to get the bottom of a case and showing you care! My first two weeks as a vet were terrifying but learning how to work with owners when I needed a bit of time to look up a case or speak to a more senior vet is one of the most useful things I’ve learnt! The expression “you miss more by not looking than not knowing “also rings true!
It’s been said a thousand times but making sure your first job is in a practice that supports and looks after you is so important! But more than anything going into the job wanting to enjoy it!! It’s a fantastic profession and I can’t wait to see where it takes me!
Alison Reid - Lecturer in Veterinary Education
- Favourite moment of my veterinary career
- Tricky! I’ve had a career of two halves so far, and I can think of quite a few favourite moments in each! If I was to pick one from my years in practice, it would probably be my last calving. This was at a small farm where they bred high quality Limosins, and where the cows were enormous so caesars were the norm. I ended up taking my then boyfriend (not a vet!) with me because we’d been out in the car when the call came through, so this was the first time he’d ever seen a calving and he was very excited! The cow was tethered by her nose ring to the top bar of a feeding trough, meaning she could move freely from side to side so we had a job keeping her still. She was a bit of a pet, too, so very naughty indeed! It turned out there were twins, and a Caesar seemed inevitable, but after a bit of furtling I managed to get them sorted out and let my boyfriend help with the pulling. The look on his face when 70kg of bull calf came slurping out and floored him was priceless; I’ve never seen him happier before or since! The bull was quickly followed by a heifer, both of ludicrous size, and all was well. A couple of years later, when my boyfriend finally popped the question, he told me he’d decided I was the girl for him when he saw me with both arms and half my face inside a cow’s vagina. That’s love!! From my time as an academic, it’s a tough choice between my first ever lecture (so scary but the students were so lovely to me!) and this summer, when my first cohort of students graduated. I think the latter just squeaks ahead. I felt so proud and happy to see the students whose first lecture was my first lecture finally getting their reward, and to see the confident professionals they have become. I cried all day!
- Biggest perk of the profession
- I think I now realise that the biggest perk of the profession is the almost infinite options for a career path. I would never have thought I’d end up as a lecturer, back when I was a student, but what I’ve learned is that, with a veterinary science degree, self-knowledge and a bit of courage, you can go wherever you want to go. And if you change your mind about a career path? No problem!
- A time in my career when I feel I really made a difference
- Hmmmmm. I suppose every vet can bring to mind lots of cases where the right words at the right time, or a whole lot of patience, helped an owner to make the best choice for their animal’s welfare, and I think this is particularly satisfying when this happens with an owner who has not had good relationships with vets in the past, but if I’m honest one of the reasons I wanted to move into education was to be able to make a bigger difference by helping the vets of the future learn and develop as professionals. I realised this when I was working in my last job in practice and I saw the improvement in patient care that resulted from my taking on a role as clinical coach and training student nurses. I guess I hope that my work in the vet school will go some small way to help vets of the future to be resilient, reflective, empathetic and effective practitioners – that’s the aim, anyway! But as to when I feel I have made a palpable difference, well I suppose this comes back to individuals. When I have helped a struggling student to find the way forwards and seen them go on to succeed, and when I see students take control of their learning and help one another to learn, that’s when I can really see the difference I have made.
Ben Curnow - Resident in Equine Practice at the PLEH
- My favourite moment of my veterinary career was being a duty vet at Chatsworth Horse Trials. It was an experience where not only do you get to look after really nice horses, but you also get to drive round the course like a pro, and everyone has to get out of your way. Nothing makes you feel more important than a big sign that say VET on your windscreen. I would really like to try and cover an event like Horse of the Year Show one day.
- The biggest perk of my job is the variety. I am someone who likes a routine, but part of the reason I haven’t chosen to specialise is because I really like being a general practitioner. As a first opinion vet, you are presented with many different problems, but most of them you can make a massive impact on, and actually make better. I also really like teaching, so working at a university hospital is perfect for me.
- Not to sound cringey, but I feel like I make a difference every day, whatever I do. Michelle Obama said that “success is not about how much money you make, but how much of a difference you make in people’s lives”. If you are rasping a set of teeth and tell an owner their pony is healthy, it makes owners happy; you have made a difference. If you put a horse to sleep, you are there for an owner during their hour of need; you have made a difference. I don’t need to pick one particular grand moment, because it is actually the little routine appointments that accumulate to make my job worthwhile.
Rob Pettitt - Senior Lecturer in Small Animal Orthopaedics
- Favourite moment of your veterinary career so far
- Undoubtedly the highlight of my career was operating on a chimpanzee to correct an angular limb deformity…. In the middle of the jungle in Cameroon. After many months of planning I flew out with all the equipment I needed and was taken to the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance centre in Cameroon. Here I met Janet (my patient) and I operated the following day in front of every Vet in Cameroon in an open-air classroom surrounded by trees.
- Biggest perk of the job
- Getting to see undergraduate students fulfil their ambition of being a vet. Whilst I love operating on cases and seeing the massive improvement that can make, the smile of the students (and their parents) on graduation day takes some beating.
- A time in your career when you feel you really made a difference
- Every time I operate on a lame dog and the lameness resolves, I know in part it is due to me and my team. To see and hear a happy owner still brings a smile to my face -and will do for you when you are vets. I also think putting my story on the Mind Matters ‘&Me’ campaign has made a real difference to many people in the profession judging by the response I received. It has helped many others to confront their issues and has helped in breaking down the stigma.
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