Top tips for becoming a Supervet!
Be passionate about the care and welfare of all animals that share our planet
First of all, the most important thing is that you want to care for all kinds of animals and really want to improve their health and well-being – this is why we become vets and vet nurses after all!
Learning your stuff
Like any career journey you choose to go on, studying to become a vet can take a lot of work and determination. There will be exams to take and essays to write in order to achieve your qualifications, but the reward of spending a lifetime helping animals makes it all worthwhile.
Gaining experience
When you are around 14 years old, you will be able to do some work experience which is key for learning the more hands-on role and to teach you key skills. You might find it useful to ask your local vets, animal shelter, stables, farms, kennels or anywhere that works with animals. Unfortunately, referral practices similar to Fitzpatrick Referrals are unsuitable for work experience. As our work is very specialist, you would gain no hands-on experience and only be able to watch from the back of a busy room.
Spaces for work experience tend to go really quickly, so ask your family or teachers for help and make sure you apply in good time. Remember to ask lots of questions whilst on your work experience, the team around you are there and want to help you learn! Last but not least… enjoy it! It is a fantastic opportunity to learn from others and get up close with all sorts of different animals (and their families!)
Never give up
You are about to go on a long journey towards becoming a vet, but we promise it is worth it! Sometimes things will get tough, but persevere and all of your hard work will pay off!
FAQs from Professor Noel Fitzpatrick
Note: Please take a look at this video where I speak to some vet students about what it means to be a vet.
When I was older I went to the University College Dublin where I graduated with a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine. I also completed scholarships at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Ghent. Following this, I went on to achieve junior qualifications of RCVS Certificates in Small Animal Orthopaedics and Radiology.
I wanted to gain further skills too to help me in my work, so I also attained boarded specialist status by examination in both the USA and the UK, with inferior accreditation of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation and DSAS (Orth) – the junior qualification of Diploma in Small Animal Surgery (Orthopaedics).
You can follow our four top tips to achieving your dream, listed above. There are also plenty of websites and books out there that will help guide you, such as the British Veterinary Association website.
Note: You might find this video interesting – it’s a short video from the University of Surrey. They asked me to speak on film to help inspire the vets of the future who might be considering the new University Vet School.
Going through a special journey together with that patient and then seeing them go home is truly very special.
I strongly wish that there should only be One Medicine. This is the idea that vets and doctors should work together in order to progress medicine together. I founded the charity The Humanimal Trust which aims to do this. It will build closer working relationships between vets and doctors so everyone benefits!
If you want to find out more, you can visit The Humanimal Trust website by clicking here.