Vet - a specialist in veterinary medicine who deals with the treatment and prevention of diseases of agricultural, domestic or exotic animals and birds. His work functions also include surgery, medical and cosmetic procedures, vaccination, childbirth, consultations for owners of sick pets, monitoring zoo hygiene and animal welfare at enterprises, as well as veterinary and sanitary control over the quality of animal products produced.
To become a veterinarian, you need to get a higher education in the relevant field: veterinary medicine or veterinary and sanitary examination. After graduating from college or technical school, you can only count on the position of a paramedic.
All faculties of veterinary medicine offer universal training of personnel without a specific specialization. The disciplines studied include biology, anatomy, physiology, pharmaceuticals and animal husbandry. An important aspect of training is that training is usually focused on work with livestock, additional courses and electives may be required for work with domestic animals. Students of this direction undergo compulsory practice during their studies, and upon completion of higher education they receive the right to engage in medical practice. This right will give you:
Broader specialization:
Although higher education in this profile does not imply an internship, the graduate will still have to complete postgraduate practice as a veterinary assistant. Only with this condition will he be admitted to certification and become a full-fledged doctor himself. To improve professional qualifications, a postgraduate diploma, internships, participation in medical seminars and lectures will also be useful.
Specialists in veterinary medicine or veterinary and sanitary examination will be required at all enterprises and in all organizations where animals are involved in the work:
Those who have chosen the profession of a veterinarian should be realistic about their future earnings. A novice veterinarian receives no more than 25-30 thousand rubles, an experienced specialist - about 40-50 thousand rubles, and a top-class professional - 70-80 thousand rubles.
Working with animals, like working with people, requires a special vocation. We talked to veterinarians - pet rescuers, zoo residents, farm dwellers - about the peculiarities of their difficult profession.
For those who want to become a veterinarian, it is important to know:
1. A veterinarian is a difficult profession both morally and physically (especially if you have to treat large animals).
2. Animals do not get sick according to the schedule, so the work will not always have a stable schedule and clearly marked days off.
3. There may be problems in personal life - not always the second halves share increased fanaticism at work.
4. The human factor - the complexity of the interaction of pet owners with a veterinarian - can never be ruled out, so it is important to be balanced and competent in communicating with people.
5. The profession is not very suitable for squeamish people: sometimes you need to do “dirty” work and gloves are not always at hand.
Yana: “I loved animals since childhood, especially horses; my parents were against my hobby. I am a city child, I did not grow up in the countryside; there was only a dog at home - a Caucasian shepherd dog. I think that the love for animals, the lack of proper communication with them and the desire to help them led me to the profession. There was another curious question: how to treat cats/dogs - clearly, but how are horses treated?
In Moscow, the qualification "general veterinarian" can be obtained at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University), at the Skryabin Moscow Veterinary Academy (MBA) or at the Moscow State University of Applied Biotechnology (MGUPB).
For admission, you will need excellent knowledge of biology and chemistry (taken in the USE format); in the future, you need to be ready to memorize large amounts of information, not be afraid of complex laboratory work, and remain calm in any situation.
Yana: “By the 4th year, we had one female team left in the group - the strong half either transferred to another specialization or left the walls of our institution.
First lesson in a new subject. The teacher carefully looked at our group and the following dialogue takes place:
— Who is your leading mare?
(In response to him, a general slurred “uh.?!”).
- Alpha mare who, I say ??
(Here we finally ceased to understand what was happening).
- Who is the head of the group, I ask?
(Loud laughter)."
Irina: “Now I understand that during my studies I lacked a mentor. A person who would direct the mind in the right direction. Therefore, upon graduation with a diploma in my hands, I felt like a complete layman in veterinary medicine.
Yana: “At the first job there were a lot of surprises. Veterinary faculty students are taught not so much to treat animals as "what kind of disease it is and what will be used for stew and what for sausage." I'm exaggerating, of course, but sometimes something like this happens. It is important to always be ready to independently seek additional information, gain practical knowledge.”
Anastasia, administrator of the veterinary clinic: “Before entering, I worked for a whole year as a laboratory assistant at the academy; it helped me a lot, it was like I was one step ahead of all the freshmen. But when it came to practice, we did not know the simplest everyday things. Once we went to the farm, it was necessary to examine the newborn calves. None of us had any idea how it works, where you can go, where you can not. I imprudently turned around and fell with the calf into the drain.”
Polina, student: “I study veterinary pharmacology; I never knew how to put a thermometer on cats. It was in the first year; I was on duty at the regional center and the doctor said to take the cat's temperature after the operation. Well, I put it under my paw and wait ... Half of the center was crying with laughter.
The profession is in great demand on the periphery. There are such nooks and crannies in Russia where you will not find a good veterinarian in the afternoon with fire. In large cities, things are a little different - competition is high; it is difficult for a graduate of the veterinary academy to immediately find a well-paid job. It is necessary to prove yourself well; work experience is important, so many students from the third year begin to earn extra money in veterinary clinics.
Another industry that veterinarians often find themselves in is veterinary and sanitary expertise. All food products entering the market are controlled by expert veterinarians. Veterinarians also work at the border in order to protect the country from viruses (for example, bird flu or mad cow disease), which appear from time to time around the world. Imported and exported animals are carefully checked - this helps to avoid the occurrence of epidemics.
It is sometimes said that the salary of a veterinarian is inversely proportional to the size of conscience. Of course, this is not always the case; but some veterinarians honestly work for little money, while others, knowing, for example, that the pet will not survive, still charge huge amounts for admission or prescribe expensive medicines from the hospital pharmacy. However, a reputable veterinarian will always be in high demand.
Marina, an employee of the pet cemetery (Moscow, Kurkino district) says:
“Unfortunately, many pet owners think that they can bury it in a nearby park - the main thing is that there are no unnecessary witnesses. In fact, this is strictly prohibited, since it creates a danger to the ecological and sanitary situation. Also, no one excludes that playing children will stumble upon the animal; Can you imagine how they will feel? In the event of the death of a pet, cremation is required.
If the owners plan to take the ashes of the pet with them, it will cost from 3,000 to 5,000 rubles; general cremation - within 1000-2000 rubles, depending on weight. If the owners do not want to deal with everything on their own, it is possible to entrust all the worries to the veterinary service.
Quite often, veterinarians understand animals better than people, which is a great way to figure out if this is the job for you. “If this is really yours,” says Ekaterina Chirkova, an ultrasound diagnostician, “no difficulties and failures will scare you. But if you suddenly realize that this is not yours, you must be able to admit it, not suffer in this profession, leave. We work with animals that should not suffer from human unwillingness to work and from unprofessionalism. They perfectly feel the person and often endure the most unpleasant manipulations from one, and do not let the other close.
Average salary of a veterinarian in Moscow: 50000 rubles.
A veterinarian is a doctor. And even if he treats animals, not people, this is a difficult job that requires excellent education and practical experience. Therefore, university graduates are required to work as a veterinary assistant for at least two years, and only after that they can start general practice. Working with animals is less responsible from a material point of view, in comparison with the treatment of people.
Chances are you won't go to jail for negligence. But from a moral point of view, the responsibility is equal. The profession of a veterinarian is suitable for those who are ready to take responsibility for other people's lives. If this does not scare you, let's talk about its features, pros and cons, training, career prospects and average salaries.
Veterinary medicine is the science of prevention, diagnosis, treatment of diseases and injuries in animals. And not only at home, as many applicants mistakenly think. Dogs and horses, cats and cows, hamsters and tigers living in the zoo equally need treatment. During the training, you can independently focus on the study of certain groups and types of animals, but the educational standards are the same and you will also have to know, in particular, the anatomy and diseases of cattle.
The responsibilities of a veterinarian may vary depending on the position they hold, as well as the organization in which he works.
So the assistant surgeon cannot perform operations on his own - his task is to help and learn in the course of work. A livestock specialist with a veterinary education can specialize in breeding breeding animals, in increasing their efficiency. But the basic responsibilities of all specialists are:
An important duty of veterinary surgeons is to conduct operations and rehabilitation. Oncologists - selection of a course of chemotherapy or radiation. In veterinary medicine, there are a number of narrow specializations, similar to the "ordinary" medical practice. The specialist can be a surgeon, internist, ophthalmologist, oncologist, psychiatrist, and so on. The veterinarian can partly be the same dog handler, adjusting the behavior of the dog and studying its psychology. The range of duties is extremely wide and always depends on the position and place of work of the specialist.
It is much easier for a specialist with a higher education to count on a successful career. To do this, it is better to immediately enter a university, or apply to a prestigious college, and then get an accelerated higher education in absentia. The more reputable the institution, the better.
However, to a greater extent, career growth depends on the personal success of a specialist and his qualifications. A veterinarian needs a good education, like any doctor. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the TOP-5 Russian universities that train specialists in this profession:
Among the subjects that must be passed as part of the exam are biology, chemistry and the Russian language. Sometimes chemistry is replaced by mathematics. You must contact the admissions office in advance and clarify the list of subjects. Remember that the university can independently conduct exams and take into account the various achievements of applicants. We recommend that you do not rely solely on information from the official websites of educational institutions - mistakes can be made everywhere. Do not be too lazy to contact the members of the selection committee.
First of all, it is a love for animals. It's hard to do well what you hate with all your heart. Therefore, listen to yourself: do you really love them? Are you ready not only to spend all your working time with them, but also to devote your life to them? Try to get rid of rose-colored glasses in advance. According to statistics, at least 30% of graduates of veterinary faculties do not work in their specialty. It will be sad to spend at least 4 years on learning a profession you don’t need.
If you are confident in your decision, pay attention to other personal qualities that a specialist should possess:
What does willpower do on the list? Judge for yourself: in the course of training, you will probably have to dissect the same frogs. For many, this is a trifle, but for some, a real tragedy. In the course of work, you will have to face hopeless animals, see a lot of tragic deaths. Only a strong-willed person with iron nerves can overcome this and continue to work calmly. The rest try to “run away” from problematic clients and focus on private practice related to prescribing medications and vaccinations.
On the one hand, this is an important, necessary and truly kind profession. Your life is filled with new meaning, you can save animals from inevitable death and bring sincere joy to their owners. At the same time, the salaries of specialists in this industry are far from the maximum, especially when working in state institutions. Not everyone manages to build a successful career. In addition, the profession is less respectable than the same doctor, although no less important. We recommend weighing all the pros and cons in advance.
Key advantages professions veterinarian:
Key flaws professions veterinarian:
The pros and cons are best considered with an objective assessment of your own prospects. If you cannot count on entering a university and are forced to be content with secondary education, if you are not ready to climb the career ladder for at least 5-7 years, there are more disadvantages. If you sincerely love animals, are ready for constant self-education, for regular professional development, if you are not afraid of responsibility for the lives of someone's favorite pets, this profession will surely suit you.
After graduation, the specialist must work as an assistant veterinarian for at least two years.
Without this, it is impossible to start a full-fledged practice. Next, you will need to pass certification, obtain certifying documents and start working in a new status. Where can veterinarians work?
Until recently, many veterinarians were in private practice - they provided services with home visits, a kind of "ambulance for animals" was created. Now they are trying to control the industry, it is possible that in the near future private specialists will be outlawed. At the same time, nothing will prevent an experienced veterinarian from starting his own business - opening a private clinic or laboratory, a pet store or a nursery.
Career prospects directly depend on the qualifications of a specialist and on the place of his work. The easiest way to achieve success in work is after graduating from reputable universities. The path of a specialist with a secondary education will be more difficult - he will spend extra time on distance learning and will have a diploma that is less in demand among employers.
The average salary of specialists in this field is 28 thousand rubles. In Moscow it is 33 thousand rubles, in remote regions - 25 thousand rubles. The most profitable is to open your own business. Veterinarians working in private clinics and laboratories, on average, earn 3-4 thousand rubles more than their counterparts in similar positions in state institutions.
As for the increase in wages with career growth, it is present, but not as pronounced as in many other specialties.
That is, if the difference between the salaries of an ordinary administrator and a top manager is obvious, then in the salaries of an experienced veterinary surgeon and an assistant, it is expressed in 5-7 thousand rubles. However, building a successful career and achieving high wages is real. The key conditions for this are to constantly develop, do your job well and constantly look for vacancies with higher salaries.
A story about the profession of a veterinarian should begin with a description of the shortcomings of this profession. This is the only way to remove rose-colored glasses from the majority of applicants who dream of "positive work with animals." This is an extremely difficult, responsible, but respected and truly important specialty. But it's important to be prepared for it. At the same time, you should not count on high salaries in the first 2-3 years of work. As you grow in your career, you will be able to increase income, but it will reach its maximum performance only when you open your own clinic.
Maria Kositsyna
Editor of the Info-Profi portal, head of the Student Projects Support Center of Tyumen State University.
We all have our own wishes for future work. Those who have been drawn to sports since childhood, some are better at school essays, others understand mathematics best of all, and someone loves animals and wants to help them. With age, the understanding of work changes, people are looking for something that helps them earn more, become more successful than others, and realize their other desires, mostly material ones. This is how generations of economists and lawyers are born. But someone from childhood retained in himself the desire to help someone and love for the world around him.
Of course, now it’s not as rosy as it seemed in childhood, but it still warms someone’s soul. But in order to educate yourself, you need higher education. And the better, the better for the specialist himself, and for his future patients. It is the veterinary academy that is engaged in the cultivation of such specialists. Read more about this school below.
This educational institution is one of the oldest in Moscow. It has been operating since 1919, being one of the main universities that form specialists vital for the state in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry, as well as research into diseases and problems of the animal world. All these aspects are directly related to the health of the population and the quality of its nutrition.
This institution of higher education has a well-formed structure of departments. The Veterinary Academy has four faculties of different directions at its disposal. Among them: the first - the faculty of veterinary medicine; the second - zootechnologies and agribusiness; the third - veterinary-biological faculty; and the last, fourth - merchandising and examination of raw materials of animal origin. Graduates of the first department become professionals in the field of treatment of various animals and birds, including domestic, agricultural, decorative and exotic ones.
Graduates of the second department of the Veterinary Academy will learn how to regulate agricultural production, control livestock, develop feeding regimes and improve performance on a livestock farm.
Graduates of the third department will subsequently study new diseases and viruses in the animal world, their threat to humans and the manufacture of antiviral drugs. The Veterinary Academy from the fourth department graduates professionals who are able to conduct an examination of food products for the level of quality and safety.
The Scriabin Academy is a veterinary academy that graduates students with higher profile education. It is possible to enroll in a bachelor's degree, and then continue studying in a master's program. The academy has a college for ninth grade graduates (cynological). Specialists with secondary specialized education come out of it. Bachelor's degree does not provide for a duration of 4 years. Correspondence lasts five and six years, not provided in all areas.
The Skryabin Academy, a veterinary academy, graduates professionals in the following specialties: Biology, Biotechnology, Food of animal origin, Veterinary and sanitary examination, Zootechnics, Commodity science, Cynology. All these specialties are provided for both undergraduate and graduate programs, except for Cynology. It is taught only in the cynological college. Veterinary medicine is taught as a specialty, the duration of full-time study is five years. In other specialties - four years in the bachelor's degree and two years in the master's degree.
According to the part-time form of education, the following specialties are provided: bachelor's degree - "Veterinary and sanitary examination" (four years), specialist - "Veterinary" (five years), master's degree - "Biology", "Biotechnology", "Food products of animal origin", " Veterinary and sanitary expertise", "Zootechny" (two years). On distance learning, you can get the specialty Zootechnics, Commodity Science (five years) and Veterinary Medicine (six years). Training in Cynology at the full-time department is 3 years 6 months, at the part-time and part-time three years. All specialties are accredited by the state until May 31, 2019.
As a state accredited educational institution, the Moscow Veterinary Academy provides scholarships and other types of financial support to its students. Scholarships are divided into several types: the Russian Federation and special state governments of the Russian Federation; scholarships awarded by the state for graduate students; academic scholarships awarded for good and excellent study in a semester; social scholarships assigned by the state for children from low-income families and orphans; nominal scholarships; scholarships for special merits and achievements before the Academy or on its behalf at various events.
The Moscow Academy of Veterinary Medicine has six dormitories for nonresident students. Their total capacity is 2750 seats. The rooms are fully furnished with soft and hard furniture, the situation is one hundred percent consistent with the regulations. In order to settle in a hostel, it is necessary to notify the dean's office in writing of such a need in the prescribed manner. This must be done as early as possible, before the start of the school year.
The Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine has a distinctive quality from all other educational institutions. The fact is that almost the entire composition of students after graduation and passing all subjects, practices and exams is employed on behalf of the academy in various cooperating enterprises and organizations. This approach greatly simplifies the life of graduates. Since, due to the lack of experience, young specialists are not always happy to be hired, precious time is wasted, during which it would be possible to collect the necessary practical knowledge and fully develop in the field of their specialization. And with this approach, the experience necessary for further career advancement is acquired in those firms where graduate students were arranged by the academy itself.
If you are applying on the basis of 11 classes for a bachelor's degree, you must pass the USE in three disciplines: biology, mathematics and Russian. Specialization and similar related to the study of food, "Food of animal origin" instead of the exam in biology require a result in chemistry. Applicants on the basis of secondary vocational education are tested either with the help of the Unified State Exam or with internal tests of their choice. Applicants to the master's program pass exams in specialized subjects and internal tests. The Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology also accepts students for the second higher education either with the results of the Unified State Examination or by internal testing. The following categories of citizens have the right to enter without tests:
Quotas for public education are allocated for no more than half of the enrolled students. The rest will pay for their own education. But even in commercial training, housing in a hostel will be given to non-resident students for free. Depending on the specialty, full-time students will pay from 75 to 130 thousand per year. On correspondence from 40 to 60 thousand a year. Enrollment of the disabled and orphans on a budgetary basis is envisaged.
This profession is not very popular among modern students. And by the way, it's not fair. In recent years, the government has been actively developing and developing the agricultural sector of the economy, attracting young people to the countryside, who are able to revive stagnant enterprises. Huge sums of budget funds are poured into new jobs, the provision of housing for free use to those urban specialists who agree to devote their work to the countryside. But work for graduates with a diploma, which Moscow also gave), is located both in large cities and in metropolitan areas.
The fact is that someone should conduct various kinds of examinations, audits of organizations involved in the supply and preparation of food products. All these functions are performed by graduates of the veterinary academy. Yes, and look how many beloved pets live in the houses, which also need to be treated by someone. We take care of our animals so much, grow to them with our soul and do not want to let go of ourselves ahead of time, that we do not leave a huge layer of specialists without work. All epidemiological problems associated with the transferred animal viruses and bacteria are also work for specialists in this field.
A serious educational institution should prepare serious students and serious personnel. It is possible that the graduate will not want to stay in one place on the ladder of their knowledge of the topic. Many people see the meaning of life in discovering and exploring new things, and then passing on their knowledge to the next generation of students. For others, the status of a professor of science, a doctor is just a necessary tick for a calm breath of the soul. Despite the reasons, the possibility of further development should be.
The Veterinary Academy receives reviews about its students, perhaps from all over the country. These people, perhaps, did not immediately come to a thirst for discovery and helping others. It is likely that they, like everyone else, started with pre-university training, and then somehow spun. But the fact remains that a strong Academy nurtures a strong generation of professional specialists in its not the easiest branch of the economy, science and production.
