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What career should i choose?
I love animals more than any normal person should and i want a career working with them, i want it to pay good money so i can afford a place with enough room for my own animals. I have done nothing but research my whole life, and know a lot about exotic, and domestic animals and pets. I want a job which leaves me time to spend with my own animals. I was thinking about being an exotic animal vet. But where i want to live is more farm land, so should i become a live stock vet? Im open to ideas on good career choices.
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I'm not sure why that answer was given a 3, I thought it was really good advice. Volunteer work is a great way to find out if you really love something; a friend of mine is studying nursing, she was unsure about it for a year and then went into placement in an emergency unit. It made her realise how much she loved being a nurse.
I know money is important, and of course you should have that in the back of your mind when you're deciding what kind of career options you're looking to pursue. BUT, it shouldn't be everything. You may not get a great salary as a live stock vet, but if you adore it and you can at least rent a little place on your own until you save enough to buy a house with land, then why does it matter?
I'm not an expert on animal related careers, but what about working in a zoo? The keepers always look so happy with the animals, and imagine all of the exotic animals you could work with then! Or at least visit regularly.
Unless you're going to have your own farm with your own animals, I think it'll be pretty difficult to spend a lot of time with your own animals. To be earning enough money to afford so many exotic animals AND the land to keep them on, you'll need to work full time. This means you'll only have evenings and weekends at most to spend with your own animals.
It can also be really difficult to get specialised careers in animal care. Two friends of mine have spent the past two years studying different courses on horses. So far they've been unable to get any work on stables, so they're working casually in retail and trying to do more courses to better their chances.
I would definitely suggest looking into University courses. Uni is so much fun, but being there you also learn about so many different careers and courses available to you. And you have so many knowledgable people that can give you far more informative and inspiring advice than anyone on here could give you. Even if you start off in a course you decide you don't like, you can transfer to something you enjoy better. Or try electives in different specialties to explore what you like and what you don't.
In life, you have to make compromises. Everyone wants to have a career that they love and that pays great money, their own place, their ideal location, and enough time to enjoy the sweeter things in life. But you don't get any of that easily, it takes a lot of time and effort.
So I would suggest to start looking at potential part time jobs working with animals or volunteer work. Look into courses. Institutions will always have someone you can call or email to learn more about different degrees. The more you learn about the training that's available in your area, the more career options that will be opened up to you.
I found this great site just by googling "animal careers".
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Most of those jobs involve a lot of training, particularly at a University level, which is why looking at courses is so important.
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I would strongly suggest trying to volunteer or work at a veterinary clinic before making a decision. I worked at one for a few years back in high school, and it was an eye-opener.
One of the vets once asked me "Why do you want to be a vet?", followed shortly by "If it's because you love animals, don't do it."
Why is this?
You don't get to play with fluffy puppies and kitties all day. The puppies and kitties think you're evil incarnate. They hate you. You're the one probing them, sticking them with needles and doing other unpleasant things. They're going to scratch, bite, growl, hiss and run away from you.
You're going to end up with any number of bodily fluids on you. When the above vet was asking the question, it was immediately after a dog had expressed its anal glands... in her face and hair. It's a dirty, tiring, emotionally draining and often unrewarding job. And it doesn't pay that phenomenally. You go to university, then post-grad, then you make about 60 grand a year. Not bad, but not the very best. Sometimes you have to put down animals who don't really need it. You have to be able to deal with surgery, with crying owners, with people who don't take care of their pets. There's a lot involved.
An exotic animal vet may make more, but there's a limit as to where you can work and how many openings there are. There aren't a whole lot of tigers kicking around the cities of Europe or North America. You'd probably end up working at a zoo, so you'd be around an urban center.
If you want time at home, you can open your own veterinary practice, but that takes a lot of start-up capital. Otherwise, you're going to have to deal with whatever hours the clinic you work for sets.
If you're planning on being a livestock vet, be prepared for some late night calls (birthing happens whether it's business hours or not), some gross jobs, some risk and a lot of hard, dirty work.
I'm not trying to discourage you by any means. It's just easy to get caught up in this image of veterinary work as a glamorous, animal loving job. If you just want to enjoy animals, you're likely best off just owning them and having a big fur family. If you are truly fascinated by the inner workings of their bodies, go for it!
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