Take a look at the veterinarian job description given here if you want to make this a career option. Opt for becoming one only if you love animals.
Veterinarians are health care professionals or doctors who take care of pet, livestock, sporting, zoo and laboratory animals. They have many responsibilities other than just treating the animals and prescribing medicines for their illnesses.
The first tough task towards becoming a vet, is the education and internship, where they have to go through rigorous academic training on the life and behavior of each and every species of animals. They have to become an expert in their field, and then secure a job in a veterinary hospital or set up a private clinic.
Job Description
Most of the veterinarians around the world treat small animals like dogs, cats, birds, reptiles and other pet animals, but they perform their work in private practice.
Some even work with farm animals like pigs, goats, horses, cows and even non-domestic animals, but as they are difficult to treat in an indoor clinic, they prefer a visiting practice.
They have to be so good at their work that they can immediately recognize the sudden or gradual behavioral changes in the animals, and diagnose what could be the problem.
Diagnosis
As vets are educated and interned with a professional degree, they should be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of a particular disease that is prevalent in the sick animal.
Once they've diagnosed the disease which the animal is suffering from, they have to make a note of its severity and prescribe the medication. They should be able to carry out all the required tests for the right diagnosis, and then give a full written report about what the animal suffers from, to the owner.
Medication
This duty also needs a license, wherein they are authorized to prescribe certain medication to the animals according to the illness and be responsible for any of their effects, positive or negative.
They should have the knowledge of the correct dosages that can be given to their patients, along with their time span, side effects and costs. If there are any dental problems with the animal, they should be able to prescribe for that as well.
Surgery
Curing the disease with medication should be the first priority, but when there are no hopes with medicines, they need to go for surgery. The vet has to know the limits and rules of surgery and operate according to them. The required paperwork needs to be taken care of.
Surgery is a very big step which the animal owners generally avoid, but it is the responsisbility of the vet to explain and convince them.
Good Teachers
Another major aspect of their duties and responsibilities, is that they should be very good educators to both their clients as well as interns who are training under them. Clients often get scared or behave carelessly when they realize the illnesses in their animals, and think of getting rid of them instead of taking care.
The vet's job here is to convince them to be good caregivers and hold on to their hopes. They should be able to get their point across their clients as well as trainees, that animals too are living beings and need the same amount of care and love like humans.
If they are professional veterinarians, they should have a business sense, and be able to train their employees and other staff to run the clinic or organization.
We hope that after going through this write-up, you've made up your mind to make your choices. As we said in the beginning, if you genuinely love animals, all the education and hard work is worth it!