Balistreri,+Pippi

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 Rough Draft for Research Project

Do you love to be around animals? Do you want to be able to help animals that are sick? Then you should become a vet. Most people think of vets as doctors for the family pet, which is more or less true in some cases, but vets do so much more than that and there are so many things that they will be doing in the future. With so many different jobs in the veterinary field to choose from, why not try them all in veterinary school? Vets have to go to least two years of undergraduate training in college.  Then the hard part begins. They have to apply to a veterinary school. There are only twenty-eight veterinary schools in the United States, and veterinary medicine is a very popular thing to major in. This makes getting into vet school very competitive. After going through four years of veterinary school, most people work at a clinic as a technician just to get a feel for it. Then when they decide they are ready to either work at a clinic as a real vet or start a clinic themselves, they have to pass oral and written licensing examinations. Once they go through these steps they are ready to open for business (Kasum, Dr. Kelly).

To specialize, veterinarian students must go to four more years of vet school (Kasum, Dr Kelly). They could become a small animal vet or a large animal vet. They could work on farms to make sure animals used for food are healthy. They could even take care of fish. About one third of all vets are small animal vets. They are the ones who take care of pets when they get sick or new puppies when they need immunizations or surgery.

Vets can treat and control animal injuries and diseases. They set broken bones, establish diet and exercise routines, and prescribe medicine for animals. They even inspect animals and meat products to be used as food (veterinary medicine possibilities and practice).

Some vets are self employed, and almost all vets work over forty hours a week. Of course working forty hours a week plus being called in for emergencies during the night can be very stressful. There are difficult situations in which pet owners can't afford something that their pet needs to live. There are also situations when the owner doesn't want to let go of a pet that is suffering and needs to be put to sleep.

There are benefits to being a vet too though. Being a vet honors the human and animal bond. Teaching is also something that vets do. They have to teach owners how to take care of their pets (Kasum, Dr. Kelly).

The future looks pretty bright for anyone looking for a job in the veterinary field. The job opportunities are expected to increase thirty-five percent over the 2006-2016 decade, much faster than average for all occupations. Vets specializing in toxicology, pathology, animal behavior, and lab animal medicine will have increasing job opportunities, but the jobs for large animal vets will grow much more slowly than jobs for companion animal vets (Job Outlook). Vets are doctors for the family pet, but they also do so much more than that and will continue to take care of animals of all sorts. So, if you love animals and want to help take care of them, this could be a great job for you.

Bibliography page

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos076.htm#outlook

http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/veterinarian.htm

http://careers.stateuniversity.com/pages/77/veteriarian.html

Kasum, Dr. Kelly, personal interview, 10 March 2009