Next week I start vet school — the next chapter of my eight-year road toward becoming a vet. I’m setting up this site partly as a CV, and partly as a way to actually document that journey properly rather than let it blur together in hindsight.
I’ve always been drawn to animals and the way they interact with their environments, but after studying BSc Zoology (3 years) and a formative experience with a four-toed family member (see here), it has solidified my interest to take things further. Veterinary medicine feels like the opportunity to combine my interest in animal biology with practical, hands-on work that can make a real difference to individual animals and their welfare. I’m particularly interested in becoming a zoo vet because I want to contribute not only to animal health, but welfare and conservation also. I’d love to contribute to conservation goals through the care of zoo populations, supporting breeding programmes, research and the wider role zoos can play in protecting threatened species. There’s a lot I still have to learn before I know exactly where this path will take me, but that’s the direction I’m hoping to work towards.
Right now, I’m definitely more excited than nervous about starting. I’m looking forward to finally getting stuck into veterinary medicine and meeting the people I’ll be spending the next few years with. At the same time, there’s definitely a bit of nervousness about just how much there is going to be to learn, which I don’t take lightly — and whether I’ll be able to keep up! Either way, I’m excited to see where the next few years take me.
I’ll be using this blog to log placements, reflections, reading, and anything zoo/wildlife-related as I go — partly for myself, partly so anyone reviewing my experience later can see the whole path, not just the end result.