Can I volunteer at a vet clinic part-time while I'm a student?

Many vet clinics hire high school or college-aged students to help clean kennels and care for the animals in the clinic. Many vet clinics also offer boarding services, and hire school-aged kennel staff. Some clinics may hire college aged students as technician assistants, to help with restraint or exam room cleaning. For the purposes of your project, you could use any of these positions. If you're actively looking for such positions, I recommend creating a cover letter and resume, and reaching out to the vet clinics in your area to express your interest. Good luck! Hope this helps :-)

Hi Jes! The answer to this depends on if you want to be a vet, a vet tech, kennel assistance, or something else in the hospital. If you want to be a vet, you can work in the vet hospital while going to college, but I'd work as a kennel assistance. That's because getting into veterinary school requires many hours (think thousands) of animal experience and work in a clinic. If you'd like to be a vet tech, I'd check to see what requirements are needed in order to get into vet tech school in regards to animal experience. Otherwise, you can just start working reception, and go from there. Hope this helps :-)

It depends on the office and what duties the volunteer would have. If there is a specific hospital you are interested in you could contact them directly. Shadowing might be an option if volunteers aren’t needed.

You should talk to your vet about volunteering in the clinic. Vet offices often need help, and you're at a perfect age to start learning about how to take care of animals. You should also work very hard in school, get all A's, and apply to a good college with a good science program. There are only about 30 vet schools in the US, so competition is very fierce. Be sure to study hard and get as much experience working with animals as you can.

Someone who wants to be a veterinarian can learn a lot by volunteering with or working for a veterinarian, an animal shelter, or zoo, but the only way to become a veterinarian is by attending college and veterinary school.

If you have any specific questions, you can ask them in our Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach forum. If you want to have a one-on-one discussion you could consider using the Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach consulation service where you can ask numerous questions in the same session. Becoming a vet usually requires a bachelor's degree (though some schools do not require it and only have specific course requirements taken prior to applying to vet school, most students applying nowadays do have bachelor's degrees) and then veterinary school is 4 years of study. After this, some vets go directly into practicing while others who may want to specialize may complete and internship and residency which add a few more years to their studies.

Hello! Sounds like you're interested in pursuing this career choice :-) I am happy to answer some questions for you, but we're limited in the length of our answer in the "free" forum here, so if you'd like a more thorough answer please request a consultation and I'm happy to go into more detail! There are many different types of veterinarians and different careers that can be pursued. I work in a busy small animal practice, and a typical day involves either surgery or seeing appointments. Either way, it's a busy job - lots of juggling scheduled appointments, "add-on" (urgent care style) appointments, drop off hospitalized animals, and phone calls, and LOTS of paperwork as everything needs to be thoroughly documented in the animal's medical record. What makes this job most interesting is the variety, as we see all conditions and never know what the day has in store! You might spend a morning suturing a laceration, managing an emergency, counseling an owner on training a new puppy, or talking through behavioral concerns. I initially decided to become a veterinarian when I was a small child due to my love of animals, then solidified the decision as an adult when I realized how much I enjoy the problem-solving aspect of medicine. The best moment of being a vet is when I am caring for a sick animal and I get to see the first tangible signs that it's feeling better. For example, when a sick animal who hasn't eaten in days suddenly shows enthusiasm about food. That's a good feeling! The worst moments are navigating the difficult decisions about juggling care and money concerns - vets all wish we could provide the best possible care for all of our patients, but unfortunately good care costs money, and this is a limitation that many owners have. If we could treat everyone for free we would! But it's just not possible to do so and remain in business. Good communication is absolutely essential to being a good vet. Ultimately the decisions about care need to be made by the owners, and they need to understand what you're recommending and why, as well as understand anything necessary regarding follow-up care. A common challenging situation is when we are booked with appointments, and then an emergency comes in that absolutely requires our immediate time and attention. Patients need to be triaged and emergencies need to take priority, but we also want to respect people who have appointment times and don't want to keep them waiting - so again this job requires a lot of juggling! The most important thing to focus on in high school is taking lots of advanced classes and doing what you can to excel. Particularly focus on math and science, but all aspects of education are important at the high school level. Get as much experience with animals as you can, as vet schools will want to know that you are aware of what you're getting into wiht vet school! Shadow a vet if you can, work in a boarding kennel, etc. Good luck! Again, if you want additional information you are absolutely welcome to request a consultation!