Am I starting too young?

[Lillerz]

Hi! I've been lurking the pre-vet forums for quite awhile but have yet to see any answers to my (many) questions and decided I might as well just ask.

Anyway, I'm 16 and am going into my junior year of high school. I've been thinking about careers and I keep getting drawn into vet med - and have been for the past few years! Because of my interest in this field, and the fact that you need lots of experience to be admitted into vet school, I thought it may be smart to start getting some now by shadowing a vet.

However, is this reasonably possible? Most threads I've read pertaining to shadowing are by people who are in undergrad or already in vet school. The youngest I've stumbled upon was seniors in high school.

Am I too young to ask to shadow a vet? How do most vets feel about high schoolers with limited veterinarian experience shadowing them? Would it be a better idea to try and volunteer at an animal shelter or something for the time being? Or should I just wait all together?

Any other advice you can give me would also be greatly appreciated!

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[SocialStigma]

It doesn't hurt to try, but understand that a lot of vet clinics will not want the liability of supervising a 16 year old. I didn't start shadowing at vet clinics until I was 18, however I started volunteering at animal shelters at age 13-14.

 

[TheGirlWithTheFernTattoo]

It is certainly a little more tricky to find somewhere, but it never hurts to ask. . You might as well find out if the profession is right for you before you spend a ton of money to go to school for it!

I got my first shadowing gig at 17, so it is certainly possible. You would probably have better luck finding a gig in a small animal hospital rather than Equine/LA since there is higher risk working around the larger animals.

 

[DaDappette]

There is no harm is asking. Do you have any pets and a vet that you take them to? If so, I would start there. Personally, I started shadowing at my vet clinic around 15/16 years of age, which then turned into volunteer work around the clinic (basically a kennel assistant w/o the pay) and finally a job. So It's no impossible. The doctors at my clinic did not mind having me around, in fact they loved answering my questions, showing me interesting stuff, to quizzing me as to why I thought they did certain things.

Animal shelters are not a bad idea either, and if your schedule allows it, why not both?

 

[Lillerz]

Thank you for such quick replies!! They're very helpful.

The liability issues were another thing I thought might hold me back when it came to shadowing. I completely understand not wanting to risk legal issues just to have someone in their way lol, but is it possible to do something like, say, sign a waiver so the clinic wouldn't have to worry about it?

I do have pets that my family takes to the vet but it's a reasonable distance away, about an hour and a half, so I fear that may not be my best bet if shadowing there were a regular occurance

But there is an animal hospital that's near me that I've been to a few times so I'll try to take all of ya'lls advice and give it a shot. The worst that could happen is they tell me no, which isn't any worse than where I am now!

 

[DaDappette]

Thank you for such quick replies!! They're very helpful.

The liability issues were another thing I thought might hold me back when it came to shadowing. I completely understand not wanting to risk legal issues just to have someone in their way lol, but is it possible to do something like, say, sign a waiver so the clinic wouldn't have to worry about it?

I do have pets that my family takes to the vet but it's a reasonable distance away, about an hour and a half, so I fear that may not be my best bet if shadowing there were a regular occurance

But there is an animal hospital that's near me that I've been to a few times so I'll try to take all of ya'lls advice and give it a shot. The worst that could happen is they tell me no, which isn't any worse than where I am now!

My clinic was very laid back with me, and not once mentioned liability to me, but that is not to say a clinic you go to will be the same way. I don't know whether waivers of those sorts exist for practices or not? Maybe someone else can better chime in here. However, with shadowing, you are there mainly to observe, stay out of the way, and ask questions when appropriate.

Sorry your vet is so far away from you, but I would ask the closer clinic and explain that you would like to shadow- even if it is just for a single day. If that day goes well, you could approach about coming in again, and then more often, or something along those lines. They should understand what it is like to try and get experience.

 

[cdo96]

I second everyone who's been posting in here. I got my first shadowing gig when I was 15 and the rules, essentially, were to stay out of the way and don't touch anything because I was a liability because I couldn't go on their insurance. But through me following the rules, and asking the right questions at the right time** , it got to the point where the owner doctor would walk me through everything he was doing (without me asking!)

I'd like to believe that we both had a lot of fun with it- he would quiz me on things, have me look things up, give me papers and pamphlets to read, make me write papers about what I'd learned, talk me through the diagnostic process, help me look at microscope slides, he even talked me through a surgery with everything that he was doing/ why! I've heard people talk about how they had terrible experience shadowing, but this doctor was such a kind hearted man who cared for me that in 3 years when I was ready to actually work at a clinic, I went directly to his clinic, willing to work for free (he refused and paid me well, but still). He wrote a LOR for me a couple different times and wrote the vet LOR for admissions. Not every vet will have time to deal with shadows- it is a lot of work. But if you do find one who will let you, I hope you'll have as wonderful of a time as I did. Best of luck!

** I stress this because there was another shadow who didn't last very long. She would ask him questions that he had just answered, and she always seemed to ask them at the wrong time. There was an emergency HBC come in and he was focused on that but she kept asking him questions as he's trying to examine the dog. I believed she was asked to leave after that. Don't be that person.

 

[kiwikitten]

Hi there! I'm 17 years old now, but I used to have the same questions as you! Do you have any local animal shelters? I was looking for a way to get veterinary experience early on and ended up applying to volunteer at my local humane society. I started out in cat adoption, but eventually worked my way down to volunteering in surgery. It's very nice because not only do I get to watch the surgeries, I can give some hands on help! Really look around for local opportunities, and don't be afraid to reach out. Best of luck!!

 

[Emily Faith]

** I stress this because there was another shadow who didn't last very long. She would ask him questions that he had just answered, and she always seemed to ask them at the wrong time. There was an emergency HBC come in and he was focused on that but she kept asking him questions as he's trying to examine the dog. I believed she was asked to leave after that. Don't be that person.

I double stress this. Knowing when it is appropriate to ask questions is key to being a great shadow and opening up further opportunities for yourself. I started mostly observing at my clinic several years ago and am now a full-time tech on my breaks and got an amazing mentor out of it. It takes time, but it is a great investment for your future career!

We currently have a volunteer here now who will pester us to no end with questions when we are swamped with surgeries and clients and will verbally refuse to leave us alone until we answer him. He also decided he would sit at the front desk and not move so that we had to lean over him to help any of the clients who walk in the door. Just the other day, he allowed a sedated dog's mouth to clamp down on one of the tech's hand during intubation, made no move to assist, and then blamed it on one of the doctors. I've also caught him peeking at invoices, detailed reports of the clinic's earnings at the end of the day, and taking employee numbers from behind the desk so that he could call the doctor twice at eleven at night with a ridiculously absurd question about his new dog. Obviously this guy is an extreme example of what not to do (and I may have felt the slight urge to rant about him), but I'm sure you'll do absolutely great!

 

[TheGirlWithTheFernTattoo]

Just feel the need to add this in:

Don't be scared to ask questions. I'm an incredibly chatty person and though I am careful, I can be prone to asking too many questions or questions at a bad time. To mediate this, when I meet any new doctor I very directly let them know this and tell them that in the event that this happens, if they simply tell me to shush I will immediately respect that and not be hurt or insulted at all. I've found that acknowledging this has worked well and leads to a very open line of communication.

Of course still try and be careful to avoid this, but sometimes things just happen.

 

[Coquette22]

I like shadows and volunteers of any age, as long as they're:
a) quiet when I need them to be - like emergencies, appointments, etc
b) engaged when it's appropriate - like while I'm writing up notes or during routine surgeries; if I'm talking to my tech about weekend plans or something, it's probably okay to ask questions then, and please ask me questions, you're here to learn, I hate shadows and students that are seemingly robots
c) can retain things - so if you ask me a question and I answer it, and the next week you ask me the exact same question, I'm gonna be less than impressed
d) don't ask for free advice about their own pets
e) don't get offended by my sarcasm, cursing or gallows humour; I can also be a bit terse when I'm stressed and have apologized to shadows in the past for when I get like that

But that's just me. I know some vets who don't want students or shadows around at all. One of my classmates hated shadows cause he felt like he had to babysit them. I feel like it's a chance to teach and inspire the way someone inspired me and I'd hope that at least some of my students went on to tell people, "Oh yeah, Dr Coquette is awesome, I learned so much from her!"

As an aside: If a vet doesn't seem particularly enthused at your presence, it may be because it wasn't hir choice to have a shadow. Sometimes management just decides for us. I had a student shadowing me a few weeks ago and I found out about it at rounds that morning. "N do you want to shadow Dr Coquette in surgery?" Um what? Luckily the shadow was very understanding when I told her that this surgery was probably going to bleed like crazy and hoped she wasn't offended by expletives and if she felt lightheaded please leave before she fainted in the OR.

 

[Trilt]

I like shadows and volunteers of any age, as long as they're:
a) quiet when I need them to be - like emergencies, appointments, etc
b) engaged when it's appropriate - like while I'm writing up notes or during routine surgeries; if I'm talking to my tech about weekend plans or something, it's probably okay to ask questions then, and please ask me questions, you're here to learn, I hate shadows and students that are seemingly robots
c) can retain things - so if you ask me a question and I answer it, and the next week you ask me the exact same question, I'm gonna be less than impressed
d) don't ask for free advice about their own pets
e) don't get offended by my sarcasm, cursing or gallows humour; I can also be a bit terse when I'm stressed and have apologized to shadows in the past for when I get like that

This is basically my opinion on shadowing in a nutshell. I love shadows and teaching and honestly it's nice to have people asking questions and somewhat keeping me on my toes. Plus I'm a chatterbox and I'm sure my techs would love a reprieve, lol.

But try to read the room a lil. If I'm elbows deep in a bleeding surgery, go hang out in your corner and excuse my... enthusiastic... language. Or, like... I work with two vets who get super duper snippy when they're busy/stressed. It's not you, it's them, but if that sort of thing is happening maybe tag along with the more chill of the docs to avoid irritation.