What Does a Veterinarian Do?
When did you first decide that veterinary medicine was the career for you? What did you think you would do as a veterinarian? I was only 4 years old when I made that decision. In my mind, a veterinarian helped all types of animals. I would make sick animals well and improve the lives of all animals in my care. I had very grandiose goals. In my early teens, I took my dog to the local veterinarian for her annual vaccinations. He owned a dog named Katie. My dog’s name was Pindi. However, the veterinarian regularly called my dog Katie – substituting my name for my dog’s name. What I learned from that veterinarian was to keep people’s and pet’s names sorted out. In my later teens, I had the great fortune to work for two brothers, Drs O’Connor, in Stouffville, Ontario, who owned a mixed-animal practice. They showed me the veterinary medicine that I wished to practice. They primarily cared for cattle and pigs, but also offered small animal services to the farming community. They had a wonderf
