Anshi AgarwalVeterinary jobs involve taking care of the needs of animals, including small animals, zoo as well as laboratory animals. Small animal veterinarians do most of their work in a private clinic setting. Here, they look after pets like dogs, cats, birds, etc. Many vets take care of exotic pets such as ferrets, snakes, as well as lizards. They diagnose their illnesses along with performing many in-office medical procedures.
Duties & Responsibilities
On an everyday basis, veterinary jobs involve the following tasks:
- Guiding clients on care of their pets
- Conducting immunizations
- Carrying physical examinations
- Giving emergency care
- Doing surgery and dental procedures
- Directing medication
- Euthanizing animals
Skills
In addition to being able to diagnose and treat the animals, veterinarians also need to communicate adequately with the animals’ owners. This usually requires reading diagnoses as well as treatments in a common, easy to understand language. It is also essential for veterinarians to be updated with the latest advancements in animal medicine. They do this by reading professional journals as well as by attending conferences. This is important to ensure their patients are receiving the best care available.
Other skills required for a veterinary job are:
- Compassion: Vets must show compassion towards their patients and owners.
- Critical thinking: This skill is important to help in choosing appropriate treatment methods.
- Interpersonal skills: Interpersonal skills allow vets to work with animal owners and provide them with the best care possible.
- Problem-solving skills: Problem-solving skills help in identifying the concern and issues that the animal is suffering from and solving it as quickly as possible.
- Scientific aptitude: The study and treatment of animals is a science and requires thorough and professional research methods as well as skills.
- Analytical skills: Since animals cannot explain what bothers them in a way people can, vets need to be able to interpret all of the information available to them and decide on a course of action based on that interpretation.