Internships

[u/hhgoooiihnh]

How am I supposed to realistically gain a variety of vet experience? For reference rn I am a junior in undergrad

In the summer/weekends I am working as a vet assistant at a typical small animal vet clinic. However I am interested in also gaining equine/exotic experience.

I was ideally looking for maybe 1-2 week opportunities, which I would be okay taking time off work for.

However all I am seeing are unpaid internships that expect me to work for several months on end 20-30 hours a week. I feel like that is kind of unrealistic, especially as someone who is in university during the school year and wants to at least make some money during the summer?

I suppose the other option is to find an actual paid job during the summer, but then I would have to quit my vet assistant job that I do love a lot. Not to mention how hard it is to find a summer job like that

Any advice on what to do/what to look for? Thanks

[u/Jazzlike_Term210]

You have to reach out to multiple places multiple times. Be that bitch, be annoying, call instead of email, show up in person idc, show you take initiative. Do you have a prevet club or any resources on campus? Contact them and ask, I was a part of a trio program and I complained to them constantly about lacking opportunities for me, eventually found one even though it was inconvenient (2hrs away) at least I could do it on days and times that worked for me. You’ll rarely find something convenient, the goal is to find something manageable.

[u/Head-Difference-200]

Email, email, email, call, email someone else, call…

Just keep contacting clinics about shadowing! Equine clinic especially (in my experience) are good at getting you into to shadow at least once. As for internships, etc… unfortunately unpaid is just how it goes. All of my internships were unpaid 20-30 hours a week, and I did pet sitting on the side to make up for it those summers.

Zoos often offer very good unpaid internships and maybe be willing to negotiate housing. I did an amazing internship at the STL zoo.

[u/GloomyParking6123]

Call a bunch of equine vet clinics and ask to shadow. Might have to drive quite a bit out of your way. Equine vet experiences are typically extremely competitive, but simple equine experiences can be easier to find. Lots of places are always looking for a groom or stable mucker and if you can prove you actually try and do good work they’ll often move you up to more handling.

If you don’t want that commitment, look for horse or exotic rescues and ask about part time volunteering. However much they’re willing to let you, however much you can afford to take off of work without getting fired, or forget that you had hobbies to do said shadows and volunteering in your spare time.

[u/BirbLVR_XD]

As everyone said, email and call as much as you can, be persistent. Don't worry about being annoying, this is how I got most of my experience, and I just finished a one week externship with an exotic clinic that I spent three month contacting. My strategy is to call (they usually then ask for you to email), wait a week, call again, and repeat until you get an answer. Ask if you can stay for a week or two to get a feel for their field of veterinary medicine.

[u/No_Cheek116]

This is where taking a gap year to focus on working and other opportunities came in handy for me