Reptile Vet

[Dirty]

I'm starting my first year in college and I've decided I want to be a veterinarian (who treats reptiles as well as other pets). I understand the dedication and time it will take to fullfill this dream. My question is who knows what the prerequisite classes are before vet school? And also I've noticed that there aren't many reptile vets. Why is this? Is there some kind of additional training required to treat herps?

[Bartman]

I know you need, from highschool, two sciences and a math. Dont quote me on that, but I know thats what it takes at Guelph.

Where are you from?

[Rikki]

If your intrested in purchasing herp veternarian books before you get envolved, I have one worth over $180 i can sell at a great price, I ordered it a while back and its field with great info about the filled and much more.

[Dirty]

I'm from Utah I don't think there are any vet schools here but i could be wrong

[Dirty]

How much for the book? Maybe I can come up w/ some extra loot...

[Slannesh]

In Canada at any rate herps are only very briefly covered in 'normal' vet school. At least this was the case when I was trying to get in many years ago :) At the time there were only 3 vet colleges in Canada as well, so I would imagine it'll be a lot easier in the US to find a school that's not super far away.

As for prerequisites... 10 years ago in Canada you had to take 2 years of general studies in university and then could transfer to vet school assuming you had the marks, the prereq courses were mostly biology related but i'm pretty sure there were Math and English requirements as well. Best thing to do would be to contact your local University and look into it from there.

[spidergecko]

And reptile vets still handle other pets; not just reptiles. There isn't enough business in just reptiles for the normal practising vet. It also means dogs and cats and other small animals. Keep that in mind. It would be unfortunate for your clients to hear you say these words:

Originally posted by Dirty
I also hate cats and hope yours dies

[Dirty]

lol yea yea i know, cats arent exactly my favorite, but for the kind of money vets make i think i could tolerate them

[emkovar]

Just to let you know Dustin, vets don't actually make that much money, at least not right out of school. You really only make the big bucks when you are a very experienced specialist or own your own practice.

[spidergecko]

Originally posted by Dirty
lol yea yea i know, cats arent exactly my favorite, but for the kind of money vets make i think i could tolerate them

Hmm, are you sure you want to be a vet? I have to be honest, if my vet didn't like cats I wouldn't bring any of my pets to him. Cats are vicious when they are afraid and vets get torn up every day by them. It would take love rather than tolerance to deal with a frightened cat. But then, that is just my opinion.

People don't usually become vets for the money. They don't make as much money as you think and those that do have usually been in practice for a long while (and own their own clinics). For the amount of time, study, effort and money vet students put in, the resulting income is small. The average income for a vet in Ontario, Canada is ~$65K CDN (~$53K USD). You can become a 6 figure general practitioner for the same amount of study. If you want to devote your life to herpetology, consider putting your time and energy into zoology and making friends with the professors at your university. Move into graduate work, become a professor, and dedicate your life to "tail-regeneration of anoles".

The pay is better, no cats, no grieving pet owners (pet loss). Also consider that the bulk of your clients will be corn snakes and leopard geckos. You can see the same reptiles as a pet store employee.

[HeatherRose]

Hmm, are you sure you want to be a vet? I have to be honest, if my vet didn't like cats I wouldn't bring any of my pets to him. Cats are vicious when they are afraid and vets get torn up every day by them. It would take love rather than tolerance to deal with a frightened cat. But then, that is just my opinion.

Agreed...Whenever we have to switch vets (due to moving) we watch the new vet very carefully, to see how they are with our pets. Once we had tried out a vet with our kitten, and the kitten nipped his finger and the vet swatted him on the nose! We walked out of there right away...

I'd rather a vet who loves the animals they're working with, and doesn't just tolerate them...vets should be compassionate towards their patients and the owners they come in with.

[chas*e]

If you want to make spending years at school worth it.. Don't just do reptiles...dogs/cats is where the money is....You can contact any vet office from your area , they should let you know for sure.

[ydnic]

I don`t know - if you wanted to be a vet you could probably set up your own pratice specializing in only reptiles in a bigger center and make a fair amount of money for something you love doing. I`d love to make 40-50k a year working with reptiles and owning my own business. You could even have other vets in your own practice to work with cats and dogs and other small animals.

HeatherRose :
I probably would have excused myself when my kitten got swatted too - on the other I think in some cases when you get hurt by something it might be an automatic reaction to swat it - I know i`ve been guilty of that from time to time - Do you never spank or yell at your pets?

and when my tomcat gives my rotweiler a spanking and I have to pry him off my dog and he bites or attacks me, he gets a spanking too (actually even if he just attacks the dog he gets a smack or yelled at)

[daiyoukai]

Originally posted by HeatherRose
Agreed...Whenever we have to switch vets (due to moving) we watch the new vet very carefully, to see how they are with our pets. Once we had tried out a vet with our kitten, and the kitten nipped his finger and the vet swatted him on the nose! We walked out of there right away...

I'd rather a vet who loves the animals they're working with, and doesn't just tolerate them...vets should be compassionate towards their patients and the owners they come in with.



Id rather a vet who is logical more then emotional. What does a mother cat do when she has had enough? swatt on the nose. It gets a point across with the animal and unless he flicked the snott out of it (hard) then it's the best thing to do.

Would I hit my snake if it bit me? no
A snake wont understand the bite-> hit
because thats not in it's nature.

Edit: but who ever the vet is they must enjoy their work.

[spidergecko]

Originally posted by ydnic
Do you never spank or yell at your pets?


OMG, absolutely not. Well, yell, maybe but I've come to the realisation that since cats don't listen anyway, I'm only yelling to hear my own voice.

Originally posted by daiyoukai
Id rather a vet who is logical more then emotional. What does a mother cat do when she has had enough? swatt on the nose. It gets a point across with the animal and unless he flicked the snott out of it (hard) then it's the best thing to do.

Well, logically you would want to make the experience as stress-free as possible. If the cat hates the vet experience, having the vet hit my cat isn't very logical at all. Maybe an owner can hit his pet to make a point but the vet is in no position to do that.

Besides, would you let the doctor swat your child for being aggressive because she's scared?

[ydnic]

Ahahah - yeah good point

however I find it hard to believe you`ve never swatted a cat or dog in your life time - maybe its true though..

(by swatting I don`t mean closed-fisting the animal either- I mean a little slap on the bum, like what you`d do if your animal was on the coffee table eating your supper or a puppy who just chewed your new shoes type of thing)

...i don`t beat my animals....I swear.... :)

[peterm15]

my g-friend wanted to be a vet... she has very high marks but decided against it because of all the stress of her high school classes.. it is alot of work ive seen what its like... its not easy stuff.... only do it for the love of animals not for the money.... you have to remember that most vets dont actually make alot of money... theres long hours sometimes 18 hour shifts and you really have to astablish your pratcice to make anything... if your in it for the money you might wanna look into a few other things... there is alot more things out there that make alot more money... and hey if you do love animals alot and later decide to get more envolved open a quality pet store... fair prices and stuff... thats what one lady did... shes made her money and she decided to open a pet store...

if you do decide to become a vet i wish you all the luck... if it is your dream.. i hope it comes true

[HeatherRose]

HeatherRose :
I probably would have excused myself when my kitten got swatted too - on the other I think in some cases when you get hurt by something it might be an automatic reaction to swat it - I know i`ve been guilty of that from time to time - Do you never spank or yell at your pets?

No, but I don't condemn people who give their cats/dogs swats on the bum now and then for being 'bad'...I personally don't because scaring the crap out of an animal by yelling at them or hitting them is useless, they don't understand what they did...although I know some people who's dogs act 'guilty'. Dogs are different than cats, or horses though. Those are the only non-herp animals I've worked with. Not hitting or yelling may be just a force of habit, as in my experience, freaking out a horse puts you in the hospital...

If my cat gets up on a tank or cage where she's not supposed to be, I spray her with the mister...she just doesn't even bother anymore.

A swat on the bum or yelling at a pet for tearing the couch to pieces is MUCH different than bopping a kitten on the nose for nipping at you, however...if anyone, a vet should know that kittens are VERY nippy/scratchy little buggers.

[Slannesh]

If you're getting into vet medicine for the money you'd better specialize in large animals.. cows and horses. comparitively they make a lot more than "pet" vets but also work CRAZY hours come calfing season.

Keep in mind that setting up a vet clinic from scratch is nowadays probably a half million dollar investment for equipment alone, nevermind the building to keep it all in... staff, insurance and the rest.

I always laugh when people bitch that vets make so much money per hour and what not when they have absolutlely no clue how much debt a vet has to take on to even get started.

If you want to make a bunch of money be a doctor or a lawyer... roughly the same amount of work and the payoff will be exponentially greater.