Charlie Dobson

"I think the personality types match me well.\"Coach\" is especially true: as a vet you not only have to lead your team of nurses or other vets, but also you must guide your clients and owners. I meet wide range of people from all backgrounds and financial circumstances. This can be challenging for my work because veterinary care is privately paid for by an owner - there is no NHS for pets! This means you need to be a good communicator and work out the best Plan A, B or C for your client, whilst still treating their animal(s) and avoiding pain and suffering: this requires good problem solving skills. Having compassion is extremely important too, as you are often present with owners at the most difficult moments of their lives and they will confide in you and look to you for support.\"Influencer\" is also accurate in that I have to spend a lot of time explaining complex scientific terminology clearly to owners or farmers so that they can understand what is happening to their animals. Being thorough, polite and reliable are extremely important: you don't want to miss something and your clients are counting on you to be trustworthy and honest with them at all times.\"Quality Controller\" is also true, particular the emphasis on having a sense of justice and being honest and ethical. Sadly, sometimes (but luckily rarely!) in this job I may come across examples of poor animal welfare or neglect and it is important that I am confident to stand up against these and always fight for the welfare of the animals under my care. Being proactive is certainly important as a vet: you are in charge of your own patients, no one will remind you to follow things up!"

"I work as a small and farm animal vet. Small animal work involves caring for individual pet animals including dog, cats, rabbits, reptiles, budgies - the list goes on! An initial conversation with an owner about their pets symptoms will often lead on to further diagnostic procedures such as blood work analysis, sample analysis (for example looking at swabs from inside ears or urine under a microscope), x-rays, ultrasounds or even surgery. Often lots of information is needed to reach a firm diagnosis in order to start the correct treatment. Ultimately, my main aim is to improve the welfare of animals under my care; sometimes this sadly requires humanely ending their life to prevent suffering. Farm animal work is more about caring for whole herds of animals, often up to 600 at once! Mathematical analysis of performance data, such a milk recordings from dairy cows or incidence of certain diseases, is important to help flag up possible problems within the herd. I can then work with the farmer to bring about changes to feeding, housing or treatments to ensure the whole group are healthy and productive. Ultimately farm animals are the farmers' livelihoods and so my job is to make sure they are producing meat or milk economically for them, whilst also making sure they are happy and healthy. Occasionally I have to see individual animals; the most satisfying is helping with a difficult calving and bringing a healthy calf in to the world!The thing I most enjoy about my job is being able to work with people and my team. You must love animals to do this job, but ultimately I spend most of my time talking to owners and farmers so communication skills and desire to help people is really important. There is nothing nice than getting a kind letter from a client who's animal you have helped or who you sat with whilst their pet passed away. I have a strong team that I work with including other vets, nurses and administration staff who organise my day. Teamwork is very important and this is definitely not a job someone who likes to work independently 100% of the time (though sometimes I do work alone too, so there is a balance).Starting salaries for vets vary depending on where you are in the country, but something around £30,000 is a good ballpark. Veterinary is not, however, a well paid profession when compared to other medical professions like doctors or dentists; there is little salary progression during your career, even with 10+ years experience or extra qualifications. The motivation for this job is definitely for the love of it rather than financial gain. "

"I always wanted to be a vet from a very young age, despite never having had a pet other than a hamster! I started doing work experience when I was 11 years old and fell in love with the profession and wanted to be able to help people. I had a couple of part-time jobs before I became a vet, like working in a bar and in a call centre for my university, but being a vet was my first full time job once I'd graduated. I've only just started out in my career though, so who knows where it will take me! There are a lot of opportunities for vets outside of clinical work including, but not limited to, in government, research, welfare, education and charity. I met a few inspirational vets during my work experience placements at school, particularly other women, who stick in my mind to this day. Their passion, ambition, compassion and good sense of humour motivated me to try and be like them! "

"I love sport and try to spend my spare time outdoors or being active. I love to surf on the weekends and do Crossfit everyday after work. I also play saxophone in a big band and rehearse once a week and play occasional gigs in bars and at festivals. In my career, it is really important to maintain a good work-life balance to help process what can be sad or emotional days."

"My working days as a vet are very varied! As a mixed vet, this means I look after pets like dogs, cats and rabbits but also farm animals like cows and sheep. My morning might be spent in surgery operating, normally routine procedures like neuterings or dentals (yes we are dog and cat dentists too!), but sometimes emergency operations too, like if an animal is involved in a road traffic accident. Alternatively, I could spent my morning out on farms talking to farmers and helping manage their herds; vets are a crucial part of the agriculture industry by maintaining high productivity and welfare standards for whole herds of animals. There is also important government disease surveillance work to do on farms such as TB testing. Afternoons are often spent consulting pet owners one-on-one about individual problems with their pets. I spend time every day in the in-house laboratory too, analysing blood results or other samples I take in order to reach a diagnosis. Sometimes I get time to spend in the office answering emails from specialist vets that I have asked for advice from, analysing farm herd data or writing health plans!"

"I studied Biology, Chemistry and Maths for my A Levels and studied Spanish for an AS Level. I left school and went to the University of Edinburgh to study Veterinary Medicine at The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies. I was lucky enough to take a year out of my veterinary degree to 'intercalate' and also get a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture and Animal Production Science from Newcastle University. After 6 years of university, I finally started working as a farm and small animal vet!"