what do you need to be a vet

marystar

or if im not good enough to be a vet .. is there such a thing as um .. nurses in vets clinics ?

its been years since i did anything educational , but when i was at school, i was always in higher classes & i think i got enough points in my leaving to go to college ...

so is there any particular subject you need for vets ? i assume biology in the leaving .. which i didnt take ..

but i am willing to do whatever it takes , if i decided i would like to study this ..

also does anyone know how much a proper vet earns ? not that id be doing this just for the money .. but if your going to study something for maybe years .. i would hope the wages is better than my current office job !

id be a mature student of course ..

so if anyone has any info let me know please thanks

SuperSean11

there is a type of vet nurse that just helps the vet

try checking quilifax to see what you need to be a vet

marystar

is there a website for that ? thanks

CantGetNoSleep

qualifax.ie

Ado86

Hi,
Im a veterinary medicine student in UCD so here are some of the things you might be looking for...
Its a five year honours degree programme and there are only 2 routes into the course, first one is to get approximately 560 points in the leaving cert, it changes from year to year but thats the average, you also need to have 2 higher science subjects with grade of C3 or higher. Or else go in as a graduate with a degree in some sort of science background. But there are only 5 places for this and there are exams called GAMSTATS which have to be taken to get one of these places.
UCD is the only college in Ireland doing veterinary medicine.
A vet roughly earns anything upwards from 30,000 p.a. but its not as cushy a job as some people might think, its long hours and hard work and you have to train with both small and large animals (cattle, sheep, horses etc) even if you know you want to specialise in either, in both the medicine degree and the nursing diploma. The pay scale for nurses is starting at about 21,000 p.a. with little scope for improvement, as far as I am aware.

Veterinary nursing, there is such a thing. The veterinary nurse generally assists the veterinary surgeon and performs general health checks and tasks. Currently to my knowledge there are two colleges offering veterinary nursing diplomas, UCD is one of them and also Athlone institue of technology is the other one. To get into these courses, I think you apply to the college itself rather than through CAO. Each of the websites will have more info on them, the UCD site is www.ucd.ie, and I dont know the athlone site.

Hopefully all of that was some help, post again if you want to know anything else.

marystar

thanks for the last post .. i didnt have those grades in my leaving, so unless i repeated or something i dont think i would get into the actully vet course .. the nurse one though maybe .. i ll look into it , & who knows if i really lovedit then maybe would consider going the extra mile to be a actully vet ...
i like the idea of helping animals, but was wondering about the money , becoz if your studying for five years you might need a little motavation!
my office job at the min pays more than a vet nurse , so i suppose they nurses could be part time ? in a ideal world i could keep my office job , for the money & do that on the side .. i think ill volunteer to help out in a animal shelther first to make sure i like it !
just another quick question for the person thats a student vet .. Are you ever/have you ever heard of anyone, asked to treat the animals at the zoo?

*i m imagining going into the cage to give the big lion his injections*

i suppose someone does it !

thanks

Ado86

Its a well known fact within the veterinary world that vet nurses dont do it for the money because in fairness there is no money in it ! Not alot of veterinary nurses are over the age of 35 as most of them have gotten fed up of it by then, alot turn to grooming etc. I dont know about doing it on the side, while in college you go on placement for 10 week or 6 week blocks at a time so you wouldnt be able to do the course on a part time basis, and it does take 3 yrs to complete.
It would be a very good idea to volunteer at a shelter, they are crying out for volunteers and it would be great experience. All the animals arent as frienly and cuddly as they seem when they're well, you have to remember that sick and distressed animals can be more than a handful.
Yes there are wildlife vets who treat the animals in the zoo, most of these would have specialised training, as these animals wouldnt be part of the generic veterinary training. Most of the dangerous animals would have to be sedated to be examined, most of them are darted as far as I am aware. Alot safer for the animal and the vet !!!