I Want To Be A Veterinarian

Growing up I was always surrounded by animals, and I have had a passion to love and care for them for as long as I can remember. Naturally, this made me want to become a veterinarian even though I was barely ten years old. Unfortunately, I realized that things aren’t always as simple as they appear, and just because you love something doesn’t mean you’re meant to do it as a career. As much as I loved animals, I found out that I could not fulfill all of the necessary emotional requirements when I experienced firsthand how difficult being a veterinarian can be.

As mentioned, I grew up with a lot of animals that consisted mostly of dogs and cats. Although occasionally I talked my parents into getting small caged animals like hamsters, ferrets, guinea pigs and many others. I’ve always preferred dogs the most, and one in particular being my favorite, Lola. Lola was a beautiful black and tan mutt given to us by my uncle because she refused to stop jumping his fences. Animal control threatened to take her if they caught her out loose one more time, so my uncle decided he could no longer keep her. One

way or another she ended up in our backyard because we had taller fences. I was only eight years old when she first came to us, and I was absolutely crazy about her. With her mischievous behavior in Oklahoma put aside, Lola was an amazing dog.
One day about seven years later, we noticed her snout was so swollen that it looked like she was attacked by a swarm of bees. When the swelling wouldn’t go down, we took her to go see our family veterinarian. I always looked forward to going to the vet’s office even though there was always a very odd and distinct smell of disinfectant and wet dog. I enjoyed my time at the vet’s office because it was like seeing a glimpse of the kind of work I would potentially be doing some day. However, when our vet came back into the room with Lola’s test results her face was long and she was avoiding eye contact. She started with “I’m sorry to have to tell you...” and this was when I knew that it was not going to be a pleasant conversation. The lump on Lola’s face was not from a swarm of bees, it was a tumor. Later tests revealed that not only did she have cancer, but the cancer spread to almost all of Lola’s vital organs and she was probably in a lot of pain. It was a very hard decision for my family, but with advice from the veterinarian, it seemed like the most humane option was to euthanize Lola and end her suffering. I kept hearing phrases thrown around like ”She’s not in pain anymore,” “She’s in a better place,” and “It was for her own good.” Somehow, I didn’t find comfort in any of those. I was devastated.
Part of being a veterinarian is being able to deal with these types of situations and not get too emotionally attached, and this can be extremely tough when you are dealing with adorable animals.

When I compare my reaction to Lola’s illness to our vet’s reaction, it was obvious that we were not cut from the same cloth. She stood tall and confident with her recommendation, and I was overwhelmed with every emotion I could think of: sadness, misery, guilt, the list goes on. I was falling apart over Lola’s death. I knew I would never be able to do this every day for a living, no matter how much I loved animals. Despite my experience, I still had a passion for medicine and the drive to help those around me, so I started focusing more toward the human side of medicine. This was the next best thing to helping animals in my eyes, and I was still able to be in the medical

field.
The hard truth of it is that veterinarians are required to make tough calls that I know I am not equipped to make, even if it is in the best interest of the animals. It’s a shame to think that my dog had to die for me to realize that I am not cut out to be a veterinarian, but at least I learned that lesson early enough to do something about it. Now as a Biomedical Sciences major, it’s hard to imagine myself wanting to do anything else besides becoming a physician.