Salary of veterinarians who own a Clinic?

[JOHN!]

Hello everyone, I was hoping someone could help me with a couple of questions I had. I am currently a successful sales rep who graduated with a B.A about 8 months ago. I was interested in pursing Veterinary Medicine like my Dad, but I had some questions.

1. If your comfortable telling me, perhaps a practicing Veterinarian who owns their own Clinic can give me a ball park estimate or range of their annual salary.

2. How long do you think it takes the average D.V.M graduate to start their own Clinic if he or she desires to?

3. This may be difficult to answer but here it goes. If I was accepted into a D.V.M program, I might be able to pay off my Veterinary School loans and living expenses (fingers crossed) by the time I graduate. If my Dad who is a very well establish Vet were to assist me; do you think the Bank would give me a loan to open or buy a Clinic right out of school?

4. Does anyone know what the starting salary range is for a D.V.M in California, who works for a Clinic with less than 3 years experience?

Thank you and I greatly appreciate your advice.

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[ornithoptor]

Hello everyone, I graduated from college about 8 months ago with a B.A. I am currently a successful sales rep and was potentially interested in entering the field of Pharmacy. I have two questions that I was hoping you could help me with.

1. If you feel comfortable, can a Pharm. D who owns an Independent Pharmacy please give me a ballpark estimate or range of their annual salary.

2. Do you think a Bank would give a fresh Pharm. D graduate with NO debt, a loan to open or buy an Independent Pharmacy?

Thank you for your input!

Hi, you have posted some thing similar in pharmacy forum as well.

Please share with the members on this board what is you are interested, maybe we can help you evaluate pros and cons.

The information you are looking for are very specific, do you want to open pharmacy or vet clinic?

Any clarifications of your intentions will be appreciated, thank you.


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile

 

[JOHN!]

Hi, you have posted some thing similar in pharmacy forum as well.

Please share with the members on this board what is you are interested, maybe we can help you evaluate pros and cons.

The information you are looking for are very specific, do you want to open pharmacy or vet clinic?

Any clarifications of your intentions will be appreciated, thank you.


Sent from my iPad using SDN mobile

Hello, thank you for responding! I earned a B.A some months ago and currently am working in the private sector. I have genuine interest in both fields; if went into Veterinary Medicine I would like to aim towards owning my own clinic; likewise in Pharmacy, I would like to own an Independent Pharmacy. I'm still deciding which path I should take as both fields are fascinating. In a couple days I'll be back in college taking some of the science prerequisite courses I did not pursue while I attend university as an undergrad. If you guys can help me with my questions I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

It sounds like you are more interested in owning a clinic than practicing the actual medicine. Have you considered a job as a practice manager?

I can't speak to owning a clinic, but the average vet makes about $65-70k with <3 years experience (high COL places will be more). I'm sure a few rare people do, but jumping into owning a clinic as a brand new graduate (with no serious managerial experience) is a massive undertaking.

I'm not sure how you would plan to pay off your vet school loans by the time you graduate unless your parents were paying them for you or you have a TON of savings. Any other way would be impossible. We're talking minimum $150,000 here for four years.

Do you have time in your current job to take time off to shadow a vet? If you haven't experienced the actual field, that's a problem (and will send your app right to the trash).

 

[DVMoftheFuture]

Hello everyone, I was hoping someone could help me with a couple of questions I had. I am currently a successful sales rep who graduated with a B.A about 8 months ago. I was interested in pursing Veterinary Medicine like my Dad, but I had some questions.

1. If your comfortable telling me, perhaps a practicing Veterinarian who owns their own Clinic can give me a ball park estimate or range of their annual salary.

2. How long do you think it takes the average D.V.M graduate to start their own Clinic if he or she desires to?

3. This may be difficult to answer but here it goes. If I was accepted into a D.V.M program, I might be able to pay off my Veterinary School loans and living expenses (fingers crossed) by the time I graduate. If my Dad who is a very well establish Vet were to assist me; do you think the Bank would give me a loan to open or buy a Clinic right out of school?

4. Does anyone know what the starting salary range is for a D.V.M in California, who works for a Clinic with less than 3 years experience?

Thank you and I greatly appreciate your advice.

It's not really realistic (or, in my opinion, a good idea) to try and buy or start a clinic right out of vet school. You need to take a few years and learn how to be a veterinarian in actual practice. Vet school does not completely prepare you for the realities of practicing medicine. It's one thing to learn about diseases in a lecture or work on diagnoses under the supervision of a clinician; it is very different to have to do it on your own.

You said your dad is a vet. Does he own a practice or know someone who does? I'd see about talking to a practice owner in person. I don't think there are many practice owners on SDN. It's becoming less and less common because vets are graduating with such high debt that many don't want to take on the added risk and expense of ownership.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

Hello everyone, I was hoping someone could help me with a couple of questions I had. I am currently a successful sales rep who graduated with a B.A about 8 months ago. I was interested in pursing Veterinary Medicine like my Dad, but I had some questions.

1. If your comfortable telling me, perhaps a practicing Veterinarian who owns their own Clinic can give me a ball park estimate or range of their annual salary.

2. How long do you think it takes the average D.V.M graduate to start their own Clinic if he or she desires to?

3. This may be difficult to answer but here it goes. If I was accepted into a D.V.M program, I might be able to pay off my Veterinary School loans and living expenses (fingers crossed) by the time I graduate. If my Dad who is a very well establish Vet were to assist me; do you think the Bank would give me a loan to open or buy a Clinic right out of school?

4. Does anyone know what the starting salary range is for a D.V.M in California, who works for a Clinic with less than 3 years experience?

Thank you and I greatly appreciate your advice.

A clinic owner can earn anywhere from nothing ($0) to over $300K+ per year. Obviously a lot depends on the stage of ownership, the size of the clinic, the type of clinic, the general market, etc. I do know owners who've gone without a salary for several years when starting a clinic -- staff and vendors get paid first, of course, and the clinic wasn't making enough at that stage to pay the owner too. I also read about some owners earning $300K or more a year from both ownership, management, and practicing veterinary medicine.

There are vets who will start their own clinic (or buy an existing clinic) within their first 3 or 4 years out of school, but I think it's a mistake......There's an awful lot to learn about veterinary medicine even after graduation, and it's going to be very difficult to do that well if one is also the owner and manager of a clinic. I think most vets are out about 8 or 10 years before becoming an owner, but of course some do it sooner and some never at all.

I don't know how you would pay off your vet school loans and living expenses before you graduate unless you refinanced with another loan, because you won't be able to earn anything significant while in vet school. Working part time for any more than about 10 hours a week won't really be possible, and I can't imagine you could do anything in the summers that would earn you $100,000 per year. Would a bank give you a loan right out of school? Yes, probably. They'll loan money to just about anyone. Whether or not you should take it is a different question.

New grads (1-3 years after graduation) in California are probably earning about $70K - $75K in a small animal private practice.

 

[DVMDream]

New grads (1-3 years after graduation) in California are probably earning about $70K - $75K in a small animal private practice.

This is low, most salaries for new grads I've seen in California are at least $90k, probably more. Still not a lot considering the large COL in California.

 

[CalliopeDVM]

This is low, most salaries for new grads I've seen in California are at least $90k, probably more. Still not a lot considering the large COL in California.

That's an AVMA number, and I'm sure its an average of very different parts of the state.....Bay Area vs Fresno, for instance.

 

[wtse8184]

That's an AVMA number, and I'm sure its an average of very different parts of the state.....Bay Area vs Fresno, for instance.

I started 6 months ago as a new grad in the Bay Area. The base is 90k, or 20% production, whichever the higher. I have no problem getting 100k+ with 4 days work per week, just from consult, about 10-12 cases per day. I got offers from other clinics with 120k+ but the workload is much higher (expected to see at least 16 cases per day).

But of course, the cost of living here is very high...

 

[dyachei]

A clinic owner can earn anywhere from nothing ($0) to over $300K+ per year. Obviously a lot depends on the stage of ownership, the size of the clinic, the type of clinic, the general market, etc. I do know owners who've gone without a salary for several years when starting a clinic -- staff and vendors get paid first, of course, and the clinic wasn't making enough at that stage to pay the owner too. I also read about some owners earning $300K or more a year from both ownership, management, and practicing veterinary medicine.

There are vets who will start their own clinic (or buy an existing clinic) within their first 3 or 4 years out of school, but I think it's a mistake......There's an awful lot to learn about veterinary medicine even after graduation, and it's going to be very difficult to do that well if one is also the owner and manager of a clinic. I think most vets are out about 8 or 10 years before becoming an owner, but of course some do it sooner and some never at all.

I don't know how you would pay off your vet school loans and living expenses before you graduate unless you refinanced with another loan, because you won't be able to earn anything significant while in vet school. Working part time for any more than about 10 hours a week won't really be possible, and I can't imagine you could do anything in the summers that would earn you $100,000 per year. Would a bank give you a loan right out of school? Yes, probably. They'll loan money to just about anyone. Whether or not you should take it is a different question.

New grads (1-3 years after graduation) in California are probably earning about $70K - $75K in a small animal private practice.

I opened my clinic after 3 years out and it's actually been great - I made sure to refer when needed and bring in other vets and do the CE to up my skills where needed. So that's kind of a generalization that may or may not be true. It was definitely preferable to the 3 years of corporate medicine I did and I must be doing something right - we grow 30-40% each year.

I work 40 hrs a week and own my practice. I give myself a salary of 70k a year - that means the other vets I employ make more than I do, but we are making money after being open for almost 5 years, can support 2 full time vets and a slew of support staff.

I wouldn't do it right out of school. You need to figure out what style of vet med you practice first - there are various styles and most are valid.

 

[Calizboosted76]

I have a family member who is a well established veterinarian. They owned a day practice for a while and it made okay money. The real money came from opening their own ED. I do not want to put their business out there but they have been practicing for 10 years and is currently looking at a 3.4 million dollar house in the keys.

 

[Calizboosted76]

I have a family member who is a well established animal physician. They owned a day practice for a while and it made okay money. The real money came from opening their own ED. I do not want to put their business out there but they have been practicing for 10 years and is currently looking at a 3.4 million dollar house in the keys.

They are also only in their 40s

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

I have a family member who is a well established animal physician. They owned a day practice for a while and it made okay money. The real money came from opening their own ED. I do not want to put their business out there but they have been practicing for 10 years and is currently looking at a 3.4 million dollar house in the keys.

"Animal physician"?

 

[JOHN!]

I have a family member who is a well established veterinarian. They owned a day practice for a while and it made okay money. The real money came from opening their own ED. I do not want to put their business out there but they have been practicing for 10 years and is currently looking at a 3.4 million dollar house in the keys.

Thank you very much!

 

[dvmhopeful1111]

I have a family member who is a well established veterinarian. They owned a day practice for a while and it made okay money. The real money came from opening their own ED. I do not want to put their business out there but they have been practicing for 10 years and is currently looking at a 3.4 million dollar house in the keys.

what does ED stand for

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

what does ED stand for

Emergency department. Never heard that term used in vet med though. More of a human med acronym.

 

[Minnerbelle]

what does ED stand for

Emergency department. Never heard that term used in vet med though. More of a human med acronym.

Erectile dysfunction. Duh

 

[dvmhopeful1111]

Emergency department. Never heard that term used in vet med though. More of a human med acronym.

AHHH thanks lol yea i was stumped i never heard it used in vet med either

Erectile dysfunction. Duh

lmfaooo true

 

[Calizboosted76]

AHHH thanks lol yea i was stumped i never heard it used in vet med either



lmfaooo true

Yea I am in the human medicine field. But I have a family member that has an animal emergency clinic. its ******* ******* animal emergency. I guess animal emergency would have been a better term to use.

Edit: Its just like an ED though, lol. She has an MRI and a hyperbaric chamber along with a surgical wing and all other diagnostic tools.