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| Work & Travel |
| Veterinary Medicine |
This involves the extensive application of medicine, diagnosis, and therapy to all kinds of animals from pets to domestic and wildlife to name a few.
Veterinary medicine has become prominent only in recent years. The major areas of veterinary specialties include anesthesia, dermatology, emergency, internal medicine, cardiology, oncology, neurology, radiology and surgery. In order to become a specialist, a veterinarian will need to complete additional training after graduation from a veterinary school in the form of an internship and residency and then pass a rigorous examination.
In many countries, equine veterinary medicine (dealing with horses) is a specialized field. This involves mainly locomotor and orthopaedic problems, digestive tract disorders (including equine colic, which is a major cause of death among domesticated horses), besides theit respiratory tract infections and disease.
Zoologic medicine, encompassing the healthcare of zoo and wild animals is a special brach of veterinary specialty that has grown in importance and sophistication in recent years in tune with the evergrowing demands of wildlife conservation.
Are you are a pre-university student, contemplating a career in veterinary medicine or veterinary nursing, an undergraduate/ graduate student, working as a veterinary volunteer somewhere abroad would expose you to vaccinations, operations, laboratory work, post-mortems, inspection of meats, besides routine treatment of domestic farm animals and pets.
Cows, sheep, goats and domestic pets are brought to vets commonly for vaccination, artificial insemination and birthing problems. There is also sadly a good deal of surgery for animals involved in road accidents. Volunteers may even find themselves in a sea of chickens, and inoculate them against epidemics.
For example in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia veterinary volunteers generally work at the AMAR Pet Hospital, which treats all kinds of pets cats, turtles, birds, small mammals and race-horses. You will be able to work alongside the local veterinary staff and have the opportunity to assist them with basic treatments, observe surgery and gain experience of diseases not often seen in the West
In India, farm animals would provide the bulk of work for vets. During your placement you will move around a number of clinics, giving you a breadth of experience. You may be working alongside vets in small rural practices, or surgeries based in large towns.
Assisting local vets will give you a real insight into the way the vets work in developing countries. Why you might even encounter diseases that have been eradicated in the West. You will be able to understand better the problems that vets and farmers face in rural areas and developing countries. |
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