How does one "shadow" a vet?

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How does one do so? I mean how to they let the vet know they want to shadow them?

I think I know what you want to do! What profession is this for?

I would suggest some of the following

1. Meet with the person.
2.Shake hands, make eye contact, be cordial, professional and polite.
3.While you are there, give him a letter expressing what you want to do and your ambition for the profession.
4. Also provide a resume' with applicable experience and the names of at least two references ( one personal, one professional).
5.Make sure you discuss the educational institution you are involved with and how this will improve your situation.
6. Address your strengths and what you can do to be positive and useful.
7. Ask for an interview and get a business card from the person.
8. Phone back to schedule an interview.
9. Interview
10. Thank you card
11. Follow up phone call.

Shadowing is following a professional at work to get an idea of what their profession is really like to work in, the shadow is expected to be observant, unobtrusive, quiet and wearing professional or business attire, (slacks, nice shirt and lab coat if you have one). set up a little script like "hello my name is Whatever, I'm interested in shadowing your Doctor because I think I would like to become a veterinarian" the receptionist will probably either tell your her Doctor doesn't allow that, will not know if the Doctor allows it and ask or will take your name and phone number to set up appointment for a brief interview and orientation before you start shadowing, be polite and respectful and use formal titles like Mister, Misses, Miss and especially Doctor; take notes!

It's probably a lot easier than your afraid it'll be right now, your school consellor can give you leads of offices that have allowed it in the past or even set it up for you or you can get out the phonebook and start cold-calling, good luck.

I don't have a school councler. I'm homeschooled or am going to have to get my GED. I'm 23 and haven't even finished high school. :shame: I got really sick and took a long time to get well.

I don't have a school councler. I'm homeschooled or am going to have to get my GED. I'm 23 and haven't even finished high school. :shame: I got really sick and took a long time to get well. I'm going to see a phycologist next month because I need help getting over the trama of being abused as a child. Maybe they can help but I doubt it.

When I was 17, this idiot psychologist I saw did not take my father’s violence seriously. I think he tended to pigeon-hole me as a sarcastic adolescent, and looking back at it, I think he flat just did not like me, perhaps because I’m Aspie and I tend to be a complicator. Plus, he put forward his theories and his explanations, and I guess I was supposed to ooh and ahh over his theories? (In addition, if I had gone to live with my grandparents like years later, I wished I would have, he might have “gotten in trouble” in some vague way, or felt that he would have. It might be that. Plus, he might not have gotten paid by my Dad for six sessions that were delinquent and not yet paid. And it might be as crude as that).


So, the downside with any mental health professional is that you might get someone who first and foremost is devoted to some pet theory, and only secondarily about helping you as the complex and multi-facet person you are. And many mental health professionals tend to elevate “normal” to a very high degree. It is okay to be normal, but it’s not mandatory.

That said, you might get someone who’s willing to listen and go back and forth in communication, and not so personally overinvested in being “right” with their very first explanation. They might be able to help you a medium amount in understanding what happened and in understanding what are some positive courses of action to take from here.

I do recommend that you trust your gut instincts throughout the process. It’s okay to take a pause in therapy, whatever they might tell you. And it’s okay to discontinue therapy.

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Help those excluded. Help those mistreated. That's what I really recommend. Tell some of your story on the Internet in medium stages. I have found a pen name (like Samuel Clemens calling himself Mark Twain) to be freeing and to give me just a little bit of a step back, where I can a little bit better see my story. It doesn’t always work, but some of the time it does. And using different pen names allows me to try more than once and to generally get better at telling my story over time (I only use one pen name on WrongPlanet. If I used more, it would be to give myself a fresh start, and not to do anything tricky.)

Consider groups for survivors of abuse. I’ve heard some are good. I do not have personal experience.

Consider political activism. That I do have a fair amount of experience with. Speaking out in favor of homeless people, speaking out against war which we certainly do have a right as citizens to do, etc, etc, etc. Unfortunately, these groups seem to have as much hierarchy and social climbing as I guess any other group of human beings. But I have gotten a lot more skilled at negotiating within and making my own positive contributions in my own way over the years (my first activism was to protest military aid to the regime in El Salvador in 1989, my first sustained activism was to protest the buildup and bombing of the first Gulf War back in 1990-91). One very effective method in groups is to kind of hang back, and if a member is criticized or attacked by more than one member, which is a kind of bullying behavior (it’s piling on), to say, ‘wait a minute, I kind of see where he’s coming from,’ or ‘he does kind of have a point’ and ‘hey, we don’t all have to agree.’ For whatever paradoxical reason, it is much, much easier to defend someone else than to defend yourself. The group dynamics seem to work in your favor.

All the best to you. And please share with us as feels right to you and at a pace that feels right to you.

These are all good ideas, but I'd say you only have to do some of them. In general, just be polite and ask in a way that it's okay for the person to say no. Just ask in a matter-of-fact way.

And as far as working on your GED at age 23. Hey, you're just where you are on your life trajectory. You have your combination of formal learning and life experience.

For a number of years, on different occasions, I felt that I was in arrears. That I had to do something special, something over and above. That I had to excel. Please try not to feel that way.

For example, if you do city practice and someone brings in their dog who is sick, the person doesn't want you to entertain them with complicated stories or complicated anything or show off how smart you are. The person just wants you to have a real conversation with them and make your best judgment call as to the next step to take.

I previously thought of medical school, more recently medical research and medical journalism, and focusing in on this last one. It seems to me that a fair amount of medicine is trial-and-error in a credible way (an older book is BECOMING A DOCTOR by Melvin Konner, a more recent book is EVERY PATIENT TELLS A STORY by Lisa Sanders). The important thing is to stay with a case, be willing to make the third, fourth, fifth attempt, and listen to your patient (or patient's owner!) that third, fourth, fifth attempt. Now, that may not be the way Doc "Bones" McCoy would practice medicine the 23rd century, but as far as right now, that seems to be pretty much the way medicine is in fact practiced. It's the feel and texture of the developing hand (poker analogy). It's the ping-ponging back and forth (the feedback). That is, stay with the patient(client) and his or her situation through its twists and turns, and its inherent messiness and unpredictableness, or in some cases refer the patient in an ethical manner.

Now, as far as spending time with someone you don't yet know, half a day sounds about right, shadowing a vet either morning or afternoon sounds about right for the first time.

And a thank you card is probably enough. Now, looking for a job, for that you'd probably want both card and follow up phone call. But shadowing someone for career information, a straightforward thank you card is probably enough.

PunkyKat: Do you have pets that have a regular vet? You could start by asking them. Asking to shadow someone in their day can be perceived as flattery and may be well received. (Hey, I like what you do, can I spend all day watching you?) If they say no, ask if they can refer you to an alternate practice that they think might be able to accomodate you for a day. Maybe the alternate is better equipped, has larger exam rooms, is a mobile large-animal practice, whatever they think will give you a realistic day without being in the way. Option 2 is to ask at a veterinary school. It isn't the same as a private practice, but they have clinics and sometimes a more exotic set of animals. At one teaching hospital near me, I once saw a pet rabbit in an oxygen tent. Never knew how one would give oxygen to a small animal before.

And building on this, a friend or neighbor with a pet, perhaps they could also ask their vet on your behalf.

Either or . . . and other good approaches as well!

We just moved and we really haven't had a reason to bring pets to the vet yet. I want to bring my lizard to the reptile vet to have her nails trimmed and basicaly as an aliby. I want to go into zoo animals if I am ever able to become a real vet and not have to deal with owner drama and I basicly find domestic or most "pet" type animals boring.

That sounds like a great plan. I used to work as a vet tech (vet nurse in Oz) before I got sick and our vet clinic used to take in school students for work experience. If you take in your resume which should include a statement about why you want to work in a vet clinic and what you are interested in doing as a career and ask the receptionist if you can shadow the vet for a day or if they need someone to volunteer to do some odd jobs around the clinic, I'm sure they will consider it.
However, don't get upset if they say no. Vet clinics are chaotic and busy places at times and sometimes it is just not suitable to have a student around. We only accepted students at certain times in the year when we knew that the clinic would be less insanely busy.

I took an online Veterinary Assisting course, it's something you may want to consider trying. I wanted to volunteer at a local vet's office, and every one I went to turned me down (I was going through an agency at the time which helps people with disabilities get jobs). But the SPCA opened 7 months ago and I've been volunteering there ever since, I actually have a job interview tomorrow.

Best of luck at your job interview tomorrow! Please let us know how it goes.

Our local community college has a pre-vetrinary/vet-tech program. If a college or uninversity in your area has a program like this, I wouldn't be surprised if they have some type of program where you can shadow the vetrinary trade, take classes or learn some aspects of animal medicine. The college in our area often has open houses, and community education classes that anyone can take.

Because you usualy need a high school deploma or a GED for those. If I find out I can't be a vet, I'm not even going to bother finishing high school or getting a GED.

I'm in veterinary school, so if you have specific questions feel free to send a PM (I'm pretty busy, but I will try to answer your questions in a timely manner).

As for shadowing a vet--some vets don't like to take on volunteers or "shadows" due to liability issues, but you should be able to find someone if you ask around and are willing to sign a release form relieving the clinic of legal responsibility if you get eaten by a Rottweiler. If there is a vet that you already know and feel comfortable with (maybe you take your own pets there), that's the best way and how I did my first volunteering sessions.

One way to do it might be to write a letter explaining your interests and bring a copy with you when visiting clinics in person--most likely, the vet will be busy and won't have time to speak with you--but you can leave your letter and contact info with the receptionist. When you are there, be observant--make sure the place is clean, doesn't smell like urine, and the staff treats the animals with kindness. If you wouldn't feel comfortable entrusting your own pet with them, these are not people you want to shadow. If you like the place, you can follow up with a phone call in a week if you haven't heard from them.

If there is a pre-vet club around, you could also contact them to see if anyone has recommendations about good vets to follow.