What does a vet do?
This week we chat with vet, Dr Alex Crow, about what inspired his career working with animals, how he handles the emotional challenges of the job and his most unforgettable day in practice
Participants
- Emily Slade - podcast producer and host, Prospects
- Alex Crow - veterinary surgeon
Transcript
Alex Crow: You know, it sounds cliche, but not giving up, certainly with veterinary medicine, it is very competitive and I think it's less competitive now. Thankfully, there are more vet schools open than when I applied. I think there were only seven vet schools when I applied.
Emily Slade: Hello and welcome back to Future You. The podcast brought to you by graduate careers experts, Prospects. I'm your host, Emily Slade, and in this episode, we discuss what it's like being a vet.
Alex Crow: So, my name's Alex Crow. I'm a small animal veterinarian and have been working in Nottingham in the UK for the last sort of five or six years and I now work for an online vet telemedicine company.
Emily Slade: Perfect. So did you go to university?
Alex Crow: I did indeed, yes. So I went to the Royal Veterinary College. They're based in London. I went there for five years and graduated in 2019.
Emily Slade: Okey dokey. So was that. Can you just sort of go to the veterinary college, you don't have to have anything ahead of that?
Alex Crow: No, unfortunately, you need to have quite a lot ahead of it, so I wish it was that easy. No, it was a case of, obviously, going through school, you know, GCSEs A-levels, getting certain grades at A-levels. And I can go into detail sort of you know what, what grades that schools look for and then it's a case of applying for that schools, really, which involves sort of submitting interviews often going and having practical tests and assessments as well, and then it's hopefully you get accepted and then you're at that school.
Emily Slade: So do you have to choose specific options at sort of A-level and GCSE.
Alex Crow: Generally, yes. Yeah. So the vet schools that there's a little bit of leeway, but for the most part, they like the sciences and maths. So I think maths, chemistry, biology are kind of the core topics subjects that they like to look for. I think they don't mind physics as well. So you can kind of substitute, you know biology for physics. But I think as long as you've got what the three of those. Than they like. They like that for getting that school.
Emily Slade: If you were to go and do a degree somewhere else at a university and then decide to almost convert to vet school, is that an option? As long as you've again sort of studied something within the remit of maths science, that sort of thing.
Alex Crow: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I don't even think it has to be necessarily that closely related to that to be honest, I mean, I think the science based, you know, degrees obviously give you probably a better of an advantage. But yeah, there are conversion courses and it depends on the university. Obviously, I didn't go down this route, but I know that the Royal Veterinary College and I think Nottingham, I think Edinburgh they have four year version of veterinary medicine, which is basically an accelerated course. But to get on to those, you have to have a prior degree. So you know, zoology is a common one, biochemistry, those kind of the courses will then allow you to go on to that four-year accelerated course to become a vet.
Emily Slade: Oh, wonderful. So what made you want to become a vet?
Alex Crow: Gosh that’s a big question, obviously, the love of animals, you know, that's the common, probably most predictable, boring answer. But you know that that's absolutely true. I grew up with animals all my life. I had cats growing up for the most part. But always, you know, was very fond of dogs as well. And just pets in general and certainly preferred them to humans for the most part. You know, had a bit an affinity. But then, as I suppose, I went through school and, you know, did more complex subjects and what not and enjoyed learning at school. I liked the challenge of being a vet, so that's probably the main reason I like being a vet, is that it is a challenge. And comparing it to human medicine, obviously human medicine is very difficult as well, but the difference is that animals can't tell you what's wrong. You know they can't tell you where it hurts. They can't tell you how they're feeling. So there's a little bit more of an added challenge there. That you know, you need to try and work out what's going wrong without having that verbal kind of connection with the patient, I suppose so. You know, it's a very kind of broken down process of, you know, what some potential conditions could it be and what tests do we want to do? Yeah. It's just the nice challenge of that I think is what mainly drew me to it.
Emily Slade: That's fascinating. I never considered that before. Of course they can't tell you what's wrong with them.
Alex Crow: No, unfortunately not. Unless you're Doctor Dolittle That would help.
Emily Slade: Amazing. So it was sort of something you always had in the back of your mind as something you wanted to pursue.
Alex Crow: Yeah, I think so. I certainly something medical related, it was I never excelled that much at school, to be honest. I was, you know, an underachiever probably up until GCSE and then I got decent GCSEs and it kind of hit home that OK, if I if I really knuckle down and, you know, put some work into it, I can probably get some good A-levels and I can become a vet or a doctor. I was kind of flicking back and forth between those two and then decided on on a vet. You know, once I was doing my A-levels. So yeah, it was always a dream I suppose. But I never really took it seriously until end of GCSEs, A-levels.
Emily Slade: Yeah. How did you get your current job?
Alex Crow: Yeah, good question. So yeah, it's it's a funny 1. So basically there is either mutual friend that's a vet who went to the same university, he's a couple of years above me and he was the vet for another chap who is basically the the founder or one of the founders of the current sort of startup online vet company that I work for. So he reached out to that vet. He was called Rory, and then Rory was too busy to take that job. So he basically referred me to them and started that conversation. And, you know, I really liked the idea of doing something a little bit different within the veterinary world.
Emily Slade: Yeah. So can you just explain how your job works? As you say, it's not the standard you, you're not necessarily always in a practise with people visiting you with their appointments. How does your job work?
Alex Crow: Yeah, absolutely. So it's all online based. So it's a telemedicine service, and it's essentially an app that owners can download and contact vets by text, by video call, and they pay a monthly subscription to that. And it is essentially the goal is just to make veterinary care veterinary advice really accessible. Trying to lower those boundaries specifically sort of cost boundaries that stop a lot of people going to going to the vet so. My day-to-day with that is obviously answering questions on the app, so any queries that clients have, you know I'm on the app, I'm doing video calls, I'm talking to them over text, helping them that way, but then a bit different to a normal that I suppose I'm having quite a lot of involvement with. The business side of the startup, which is, you know, the marketing and the the partnership side of things. Making sure on the right side of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons who are the governing body for vets in the UK, so it's very varied. It's very different being, you know, used standard normal in practise, vets certainly and I think that variety is what keeps it really interesting for me. I do do the odd day as well in clinic as as what we call a locum vet, you know, pick up a few shifts to do the practical in person stuff just because I think it's important to keep your foot dipped in with that as well.
Emily Slade: Yeah, 100%. I was also gonna ask, do you miss the the physical, tangible? You know someone brings their kitten in and you get to cuddle it. I guess you can't do that if you're going through an app.
Alex Crow: Not so much, no. I mean, unfortunately, being a vet isn't all just cuddling kittens, but it's a fair it's a fair. It's a fair chunk of it, you know, I'll give you that. But yeah, I do miss it at times. Absolutely. But I think during a few days a month is more than enough. To sort of satisfy that itch, from my point of view, because it's very stressful in clinic, you know you have long days working. Back-to-back, often fully booked with consultations so you know it is. It is quite stressful. So I think doing three or four days a month is more than enough to you know, do a bit of surgery, do a bit of practical stuff, talk to clients face to face, you know and I kind of satisfy that. Side of things and then I think you know after doing a day of that, I'm probably ready to just work from home again and you know, not that it's any more relaxed at home certainly, but it's, you know, not quite as. I suppose.
Emily Slade: Yeah, of course. How do you manage stressful or emergency situations?
Alex Crow: So as an in person vet or as an online vet?
Emily Slade: Yes, well, both really. How how do you navigate your own? You know, I don't, I don't think I could do it. I don't think somebody could bring me there sickly puppy. But then I had to cut them open. I you know, I don't. How do you how do you manage that?
Alex Crow: Yeah, I suppose. You know, part of it is obviously you have to be interested in it and you have to kind of know that you're the right sort of person for doing that. Not everyone's cut out for it. Absolutely. Just like I'm not cut out for, you know, sitting in an office doing banking. But some people are cut out for that. But I think it's trying to separate yourself as much as possible. I think it's obviously important. Have you know an emotional side and be empathetic with owners and their situation, etcetera. But at the end of the day, you want what's best for the animal, and I think stepping back and thinking of it, you know, as the biology as the you know, the physiology, what's going on within that animal's body, why it's feeling these symptoms, you know, what could be wrong? I think trying to get that perspective rather than getting bogged down in kind of the emotions of it is, is really important for sure because it allows you to just think straight and kind of take a bit of a systematic approach to get to the bottom of what's going wrong?
Emily Slade: Yeah. In terms of things that go wrong, how do you stay up to date with advances in veterinary medicine? Does it often?
Alex Crow: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely. There's always, you know, new studies, new literature coming out. So as vets, we have to meet what are called CPD requirements. So that's continued professional development. So we have to do, I think about 26 hours of that a year, which doesn't sound like a massive. Amount and that can be made-up of in person. Kind of practical days, so you might go pay for a course. Might be a surgery course. It might be a dentistry course. Whatever you're interested in or areas where you feel like you're lacking, there's always loads of options for improving skills that way. But there's lots of online webinars as well, you know, and seminars and things like that. So there's loads of ways that you can get that extra information. Keep yourself up to date, and obviously just the curiosity of the job. Anyway. Hopefully we'll, you know, lead you to wanting to seek that information out. And like I say, that is a strict kind of rule that the RCBS, again the governing body of vets for the UK, have in place, they say that vets have to meet these 26 hours every year to make sure that they're up to date. That's the whole idea of it.
Emily Slade: Yeah. What are the biggest challenges that you face in your job?
Alex Crow: Definitely the emotion side of it, you know, touching on that again, you know, you'll have a lot of situations where owners maybe they can't afford treatment or you know just something horrendous has happened to their animal. And you know, sometimes it isn't something that you can treat and I think. Dealing with that yourself can be really difficult, but also then conveying that to the owner. You know, in an empathetic way, without obviously shattering the whole world, you know, it's done. Obviously, the extremely upsetting for them, but trying to do that in the right way is can be very difficult sometimes, you know, you have to obviously have to Get the facts across about whatever the situation might be, but then show that emotional side and striking that balance. Can be quite difficult at times. Definitely. So yeah. And I think just the general stress and like that emotional load of the job, you know, it's a a cumulative thing. You know, if you're facing a lot of difficult situations over the course of a day or a week, it really does bog you down and it can get on top of you so it's really important to just be aware of, you know, your internal state, I suppose and make sure you keep that balance.
Emily Slade: You mentioned at the beginning that you're. Am I right? You're small animals specifically. So does that mean that you are primarily focused on is, is there a sort of spectrum of size that you go up to? And then another vet will take over if for example, a horse comes in?
Alex Crow: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Just horses just don't come in. We just say no to horses. Basically, because I don't know much about horses. We. So the way that vets are taught at units, they're they're taught everything. So you taught your small animals, so that includes cats, dogs, rabbits, Guinea pigs, gerbils, ferrets. You know you're exotics. If you like parrots, birds would fit under that as well. And reptiles or they, exotics is slightly separate to small animals, I suppose. But then you've got your equine, which is its own separate discipline, and then you've got farm vets, which is of sea of cows, your sheep, you know, you goats, your alpacas, whatever it might be. And you can have mixed vets. So it when you taught all of that at uni, but generally. Gravitate towards one or potentially a mix of two, and if it's a mix, it's usually, you know, small animal and farm or potentially equine. And it depends on the individual practise as well. So a lot of rural vet practises you know saying you know the Peak District or Yorkshire often there aren't that many vets around. So they have to cover the small animals they have to cover. The equine have to cover the farm, they might do it all. And you know, if you're a vet working there, then you're exposed to all of these things. But I'd probably say the vast majority of vets are small animal vets, so they just deal with you. You know, you cats, your rabbits. Sort of domestic creatures, things that would fit inside your house.
Emily Slade: So on the flip side of the challenges, what's the best day you've ever had as a bet?
Alex Crow: Gosh, the best. I think just when you feel appreciated as a bad is is the big thing. You know it's not we don't do it for that reason, but it's always nice when an owner brings in, you know, a box of chocolates. A card. You know, just to say thank you and that extra effort has been recognised and appreciated, but then also working as part of a team you know is a massive one, whether it is the physical vet stuff, you know, working with nurses, you know, as most vets do, you know, part of a big team and working together to, you know, help animals ultimately. But also you know with my online stuff as well, working as part of a team with you know, the founders of the app and sort of learning from them and different disciplines and batting ideas back and forth. So I think that people. Activate is really important being about.
Emily Slade: Definitely. So as a vet. What's the best piece of advice that you've ever received?
Alex Crow: Oh, that's a really good question. We have a thing, best piece of advice I've ever received. I think it's accepting that you don't always have the answers there and then. So I think especially as a new graduate that you know you've been to uni, you've learnt all of this information, you've just got so much in your brain, you've done your exams, it's all quite fresh and then you start work as a vet, you have these complicated kind of cases and problems come in and you really think that, God, I should know exactly what the issue is here. I should know. You know what these symptoms mean. What this animal needs in terms of treatment, you know how to fix this animal. And I think actually that's not the case. And that's often the wrong approach. I think accepting and this is certainly step things that older vets have told me when I was a new grad. You know you don't always have to have the answers there and then you know, you can gather the information. It's absolutely. Things up or take a minute to go and ask a colleague. Perhaps you know because you do get those weird and wonderful cases that are really, you know, complicated and you, you're not expected to know all the answers there. And then so I think just giving yourself a bit of a break, really as a vet and you know. Being too burdened by having to know exactly what the issue is is probably the best advice I've received.
Emily Slade: Yeah. As a pet owner yourself, do you? Are you also the vet for your own dog?
Alex Crow: No, absolutely. I mean it, it's a, it's a funny one because you often can't really think rationally when it's your own pet. You know, there's often times I've got a two-year-old labrador called Maggie. And you know, if she, thankfully, she's pretty bulletproof, but there's been a couple of times when she's.
Emily Slade: Yeah.
Alex Crow: I'll definitely kind of second guess yourself. You kind of think you know, this was anyone else's path. I'd know exactly what to do, but it's mine. I want to get a second opinion. So I'd often ask, you know, my colleagues like, very basic simple questions that I do know the answer to, but, It's just when it's your own pet, obviously you just get a bit paranoid and the emotions get involved. Be absolutely I'm I'm her that I spayed her so I had her under anaesthetic and I spayed her myself, which was yeah, quite. It was interesting. It was quite temps, you know, quite nerve wracking. But obviously all went fine thankfully, but you know a lot of vets won't want to do that. They just will not trust their own judgement on their own animals. So they'll completely outsource it.
Emily Slade: Is it a common thing that a vet will more likely than not have a pet themselves?
Alex Crow: I think so, yeah. I mean, we're all, we're all animal lovers at the end of the day. So working in a vet practise, you get loads of strays come in and you know, there's always the opportunity to adopt animals. Probably too much opportunity to be honest. So vets are probably the ones that have got zoos at home and, you know, cats, dogs and everything else in between. So yeah, absolutely. It's probably quite strange that you see a vet who doesn't have one.
Emily Slade: Yeah, yeah, I almost wouldn't trust one. So what advice do you have for anyone looking to enter the industry?
Alex Crow: It sounds cliche, but not giving up. Certainly with veterinary medicine, it is very competitive and I think it's it's less competitive now. Thankfully, there are more vet schools open than when I applied. I think there were only 7 vet schools when I applied. And I think the acceptance rate was about 9%. So you know a tiny proportion of that. You know, people that applied students that applied will actually get into that school. And I had to reapply so I didn't get in the first year. I had to take a gap year, you know, unplanned as search. It was one of the best things that happened to me in the end. Really glad it happened, but I had to take a year out. I went travelling a bit. But also, you know, really studied, really knuckle down, really prepared for interviews the second time around. And and got in the second time I applied. So I think you know not not giving up that hope you know if you don't get in the first year, that's quite normal actually you know up to sort of 4050% of that students often don't get in the first year so. Try again and obviously just be as prepared as possible.
Emily Slade: Yeah, brilliant. Well, thank you so much. You're sort of available on Instagram?
Alex Crow: Absolutely. So I'm personally on Instagram as @alex_the vet, so I do quite a lot of content, you know, social media, educational, informative videos on there. But then also you can find @thenetvet on Instagram as well. And again do a lot of content on there and you know, especially for aspiring vets, it's quite interesting to see you know that you don't have to necessarily go down the traditional route of working in clinic. You know you can be an online vet, you can go into business and sort of start up side of things. So you know it doesn't, you know, confine you to being the traditional vet.
Emily Slade: Yeah, fantastic. Well, thank you so much for your time
Alex Crow: No worries. Thanks so much, Emily. Nice to meet you.
Emily Slade: Thanks again to Alex for their time. Head to prospects.ac.uk For more information on becoming a vet. All the links are in the show notes below. If you enjoyed the episode, feel free to leave us a review on Apple or Spotify. Thank you. As always for listening and good luck on your journey to future you.
Notes on transcript
This transcript was produced using a combination of automated software and human transcribers and may contain errors. The audio version is definitive and should be checked before quoting.
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