A career as a veterinarian involves continuous learning as well as personal and professional growth. Along with growing your knowledge base and building up your confidence, it will also humble you more times than you can count.  

After graduating from veterinary school in 1998, I started clinical practice in an intern setting. I worked 120 hours per week in exchange for a small salary and a place to live. I was very fortunate to have stellar mentorship, an incredible opportunity to see many sick pets (emergency setting), and the bravery to ask for help. My internship year set the groundwork for my career. Now, 26 years later, I have learned many more lessons from clinical veterinary practice, all of them important to shaping the veterinarian I have become. I’ll share those lessons in this article.  

1. Learn to love the journey: your clients and patients are your best teachers

The first and foremost lesson is to embrace your clients’ feedback, because they are the voice of their pets. Animals can’t talk and communicate the way humans can. Their owners are with them every single day, so their input is vital.  

Case example 

My most valuable lesson came from a young man with a one-year-old female Akita. I was working a Saturday shift when he came into the ER. He was very nervous, almost crying, and panicking about his dog. The dog was acting normal and had normal physical exam findings. I explained this to him and he disagreed with me vehemently and told me something very serious was going on as his dog was not “acting normal” at all.  

In the back of my head, I thought he was overreacting and being dramatic, but he begged me to perform diagnostic tests, so I did. As soon as the radiographs were displayed, I saw the problem. The dog’s intestines were severely dilated with gas — she had an intestinal torsion. We immediately took her to surgery, where we found that she had a splenic torsion as well as an intestinal torsion, and she also had a tennis ball in her stomach. 

The dog survived, and in fact did very well, thanks to her loyal owner knowing something was very wrong. Most intestinal torsion cases die before they even make it to ER. This lesson taught me to trust the client, even if they seem a little crazy or hypervigilant. Looking back, I am glad this young man was so dramatic. 

Patients teach me lessons as well. Reading journals, going to continuing education, and consulting with other veterinarians has certainly provided a wealth of information, but feedback from my patients is absolutely priceless. Animals give us this feedback if we are willing to listen. Being impeccable with your physical exam skills, and paying attention to how animals communicate back to us is invaluable. For example, a bouncy Chocolate Lab 

that is panting and twirling around the exam room, but becomes very somber when his abdomen is palpated, tells me something is not normal. Or a cat who is typically fractious but suddenly becomes docile and amenable to handling tells me there’s serious disease going on. Paying attention to simple animal cues can direct you along your medical sleuthing path. 

2. Be confident and be your authentic self: you are a practicing veterinarian, not a magician, banker or therapist. 

Work on yourself outside of vet med. Learn to bring your best self to work every day. This means you need to fill up your bucket and believe in yourself before you can show up and take care of others. If you go to work with an empty bucket, you will quickly become overwhelmed and let imposter syndrome take over. Learning to love yourself, doing self-work, and knowing what you are really good at it and what you need to develop, are all very important. Establishing self-awareness and responsibility for all your actions is key to building the foundation of confidence so necessary in this career. 

Once you have built a foundation of awareness and confidence, you can set boundaries to relay to clients. You are a veterinarian, and “practice” veterinary medicine. This is not accounting – we are not looking for any final number. We treat patients: 50% of what 

we do is on us, the other 50% is how the pet responds and how compliant the owner is. We have no control over the latter. Will the dog react adversely to the medication? Will he allow it to be administered when it is supposed to be? Many variables are out of our control. We cannot magically make pets better.  

Case example 

I recently performed surgery on a dog’s ear, but the site was not healing well. The owners reported that their dog was going outside with the e-collar on and was scooping up snow into the collar, which meant the incision was getting very wet. The owners had not been drying the site after these events.  

I explained how dampness is not an incision’s friend, and stressed the importance of keeping incisions clean and dry for proper healing. The owner was very frustrated with the progress of the surgical site, but I have no control over how fast an incision can heal, or the environment in which the dog lives. These are facts we must deal with, but it is not our fault or wrongdoing. It’s just how it is. 

We must work with the situation to get healing to happen. This is practicing. It is the art of telling owners how to get the best outcome for their pets while knowing we cannot possibly predict all the scenarios that could happen. We have to roll with the punches, and not apologize for them. Instead, acknowledge the situation and offer guidance and expertise. 

This is why scheduling a follow-up exam (and having the owner pay for it, since it is your valuable time and expertise they are paying for) is vitally important for every medical and surgical case, so you can assess whether the patient has resolved their issue or not. Always do this! It’s how you learn and address client and patient concerns. 

3. Medicine follows rules, know them; patients don’t always follow rules, know that too.

Just when you think you have figured it out, another curve ball comes your way. This is why I love this profession so much. I am always learning. Just when I think: Wow, I am really getting the swing of things, a case comes along that is not so easy or really doesn’t go by the books. This can be discouraging, especially for young veterinarians, but know you are not alone. I have been practicing for a long time and am still learning every single day. Never shut off the learning switch; there is always an opportunity to learn more in this profession. 

4. There’s lots of ways to skin a cat, so to speak: respect other clinicians and their medicine.

One thing that disappoints me most is when I see a veterinarian throw another veterinarian under the bus. We are all in this profession together, and passing judgements without comprehensive information is not recommended. If believe a veterinarian has not performed in the best interests of a patient, then calling and communicating with that veterinarian is always the best next step. This can be difficult and uncomfortable, but I would prefer to have another veterinarian educate me rather than talking about me to others.  

Case example 

I once saw a rabbit for a second opinion, and learned that the veterinarian before me prescribed Clavamox, which is contraindicated in rabbits. I stopped this medication, explained to the owner that I do not use Clavamox in rabbits because I have better options, then called the veterinarian and explained why this medication is not indicated for rabbits.  

I never told the client that Clavamox was contraindicated, and that their veterinarian was wrong to prescribe it. I simply explained that I do not use it in rabbits and made a different choice.  

You can change treatment plans without tearing others apart. Please choose your words carefully. We are here to build one another up, not tear one another down. 

I can hear some of you saying: “But what if it’s malpractice and they killed the patient?” 

Reaching out to the veterinarian directly is still the best course of action. If that veterinarian will not speak to you, then seeking guidance from your state’s veterinary medical board would be best. 

5. You do not have to be amazing at everything: be really good at what you enjoy and ask for help when you need it 

You have many lifelines in vet med. You can phone a friend, text a teacher, consult with a specialist. There are multiple avenues through which to get answers. Figuring out who to consult with, and doing it, is key. This is a journey of constant learning. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know what this is, but I can find out for you or refer you to someone who does.”   

Admitting your limitations is bold, brave and courageous, and also represents a level of self-awareness and honesty about acknowledging the boundaries of your abilities, knowledge, or skills. It reflects humility and a realistic understanding of what you can and cannot do. This acknowledgment can be a sign of maturity and a willingness to learn and grow by recognizing areas for improvement.  

When you have asked for help or referred a case to someone else, read the referral paperwork thoroughly and learn what they did, why they did it, and how they figured it out. This is free education for you. 

Also, when you refer, be sure to dot your i’s and cross your t’s by sending a thorough history of the patient, comprehensive physical exam findings, your rule-outs and thoughts. As well, do the basic diagnostics (CBC/Chem/T4/UA/Rads/fecal or other basic tests) to show you have a minimum data set and have not missed the obvious.  

Case example 

Early on in my career, I once referred a seven-year-old female spayed Boxer to a local neurologist for bouts of seizures. She appeared jittery and would spin in circles. I had seen the dog three times, with normal bloodwork and neurologic findings (I didn’t do a UA, fecal, or radiographs). Turns out she had scabies! She was itchy, which is why she was spinning in circles.  

I was very embarrassed, but I put on my big girl pants, called the neurologist, and said “Hi Dr. Neurofantastic Specialist, how did I miss this? Can you help me recognize the difference between a dopey Boxer spinning in circles, and one that’s itching?” And she did. She was wonderful, and told me that when you do a physical exam to scratch the dog. If he goes nuts and starts to scratch himself, you know it’s itchiness and not neurological. Duh! I thought to myself, but what a great basic tip for me as a new vet. 

This career has been very rewarding to me in so many ways. It has grown my knowledge base, built up my confidence, and humbled me too many times to count. In my sophomore year of undergraduate school, my organic chemistry professor announced at the first class: “My job is to teach you. You don’t know anything.” As a 19-year-old embarking on my second year of college, I thought: “This professor is nuts!” Little did I know it would make crystal clear sense to me more than 20 years later. Embracing the realization that one doesn’t know everything is a crucial step towards continuous learning and personal and professional growth.