I went to veterinary school in the late 1970s, having, like many of my farm and ranch classmates at Washington State University CVM, been motivated to start on this life path by James Herriot’s bestselling books. I went to WSU wanting to be a dairy practitioner, a plan that lasted less than an hour. It was Dean Leo Bustad’s opening remarks to our class on the human-animal bond that inspired me to switch to companion animal practice. The understanding and reverence for the bond I gained from Dean Bustad led me to more than just changing my educational focus. For over three decades, I’ve traveled to veterinary schools to teach marketing, management, and motivation; instruct on Fear Free protocols; and give commencement addresses. I’ve visited all U.S. veterinary schools except one, with multiple visits for many. I’ve written 24 books, including several in the Chicken Soup series, started doing network TV on ABC TV’s Good Morning America, wrote a nationally syndicated pet/vet column, and lectured on six continents. Where am I going with this? Well, none of these opportunities would have come to me without my DVM degree. I noticed during my visits to veterinary schools similar catalysts as my own for entering the profession, though they are very much reflective of their own moments in time. I found later classes entering veterinary medicine because of the cable TV show Emergency Vets instead of All Creatures Great and Small. Still later, I found students were inspired by Temple Grandin’s book, Animals in Translation. The inciting factor might have changed, but the inspiration is the same. There is something that’s changed far more dramatically as to how one comes to find themselves in veterinary medicine. In the years since I was an impressionable six-year-old boy entranced with the veterinarian who treated our ranch’s dairy cows, veterinarians have gone from highly recommending a career in veterinary medicine, to tepidly endorsing the choice, to mostly discouraging these dreams. What’s changed? And how can we fix it? Emphasize the benefits Let’s be clear: Like many or most of you, I didn’t enter veterinary medicine to make a fortune (although I knew that was possible). I entered this profession to make a difference, to be able to manifest my lifelong love of animals and desire to help them. Unlike my older sister Cheryl, who chose human medicine and became “financially wealthy and emotionally drained,” I’ve been blessed over these past 40 years to be “financially successful and emotionally wealthy.” I can honestly say I’ve never discouraged anyone from becoming a veterinarian. I’ve been realistic with these dreamers, telling them the chances of being accepted are slim (you’ve all heard the old adage that it’s harder to get into veterinary school than medical school), the debt issue, years of lost earning capacity, long hours, having to make life-and-death decisions while dealing with dying animals and grieving people. But I’ve also emphasized the amazing benefits of joining us in the greatest profession on earth, including: 1) You can fulfill your childhood dream to help animals live happier, healthier, and fuller lives. 2) The vast majority of the public will love, trust, and respect you for what you do. While Yelp and Google reviews can make it seem we’re constantly under attack, surveys show we’re among the most positively viewed of all professions. Not just in the medical fields, mind you, but all careers. 3) I can tell you from experience, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and friends love to introduce you as a veterinarian. If I’m on an airplane and want to socialize, which isn’t often, I’ll tell my seatmate I’m a veterinarian. If I don’t want to chat, I’ll tell the person I’m either an award-winning insurance salesman or in the business of servicing porta potties. This always ensures I can watch my movie of choice without interruption. 4) Veterinary medicine is definitely one of the most interesting of all careers. We can be an internist, surgeon, pharmacist, behaviorist, radiologist, pediatrician, gerontologist, or more, and not just with one species. 5) We often get to see animals from birth-to-earth, unlike my sister in human medicine, who is part of a patient’s life for mere moments, but rarely more than that. 6) We connect with patients and their families in multiple ways. With the dramatic decrease in the relationship a person has with the family doctor, MDs see patients episodically, forging connections about as deep as a birdbath. Veterinarians, on the other hand, are both high-tech and high-touch, state-of-the-art and state-of-the-heart. What an honor it is to share a patient’s life with their guardians and be there for them at the best and worst of times. 7) A veterinary degree can open paths to other opportunities and businesses, ranging from public office and public service to fortunes worth hundreds of millions of dollars. For me, I’ve done well by doing good, having had the incredible opportunity to communicate both to the profession and on behalf of veterinary medicine, the human-animal bond, and Fear Free globally. Taking an optimistic stance There have been numerous discussions in the past few years about the emotional well-being of veterinarians. I’ve been part of this topic with my columns and other writing endeavors, as well as speaking about my own battles with mental illness (depression). But reflecting on the universe of veterinarians (both young and old), we have likely damaged the dreams, minds, and careers of pre-veterinary students, veterinary students, and newly minted veterinarians by boomeranging comments along the lines of: 1) I wouldn’t choose veterinary medicine as a career. 2) I don’t encourage my children to go into veterinary medicine. 3) If I had to do it all over again, I don’t know if I’d choose this profession. 4) You should choose human medicine. There’s nothing wrong with being realistic about a career choice or being open with each other about our struggles (I love Not One More Vet), but it should be balanced out with the great things, “inspiration for the perspiration,” if you will. Many of us went to veterinary school over the moon, with a left at Cloud Nine, just past Seventh Heaven, with a gentle uphill curve into a DVM degree. Rather than the tsunami of encouragement and support many of us have received, the past one or two generations have persevered despite overwhelming negativity from those of us who’d had successful, even magical, careers. Imagine what it’s like to work tirelessly to get accepted to a college of veterinary medicine despite being told you shouldn’t do it, then have people tell you while you’re in school that you’ll never pay off your debt, then hear from recent graduates they wished they hadn’t chosen this profession. Rather than winds of optimism puffed into their sails like we had, many of them are swamped in a hurricane of pessimism. In the ’70s when I applied to WSU CVM, there were anywhere from 10 to 16 applicants for every opening. Did you know that currently there are fewer than 1.5 applicants for every available position in U.S. veterinary schools? Some report many more applicants than openings, but students can now apply to almost all veterinary schools at once, thus inflating individual college numbers. Put a different way, there are about 3,200 freshman positions in U.S. schools with fewer than 4,500 applicants. Here we are at a time where every veterinarian is being pursued by private practices, corporate chains, government, industry, the military, or research, and we can’t dramatically ramp up even if we wanted to. For those of us blessed beyond measure by this field, we owe it to the next generation to educate, encourage, and inspire them to join us in the greatest profession on earth. We can do this through: Education. Visit schools, be part of career days, invite the children of interested clients to shadow you, be available for local media, etc. Once these students or young adults are hooked on the profession just like we were, involve them in procedures and provide them with encouragement and support. Mentorship. When I was in veterinary school, I read everything Tulsa-based practice management guru Ross Clark, DVM, wrote in Veterinary Economics. When I finally got up the nerve to contact him, he graciously became my mentor, supporter, and defender at times (remember the bandanna kerfuffle?). Be a Dr. Clark to someone else. Economic realities. We must solve a two-fold problem. One, we must charge fees commensurate with the extreme value we provide. This will give us the profits we need to pay veterinarians enough to not only survive but thrive, provide living wages for veterinary nurses and team members, and help support sustainable career paths. On the other hand, we must solve the issue of much of the pet-owning population not visiting the veterinarian because of budget issues (or access or time). Tell our story. We must communicate over and over that veterinarians are the true pet (animal) health experts. It’s not Dr. Google, the pet store employee, lay blogger, or celebrity pet hawking yet another brand of CBD oil. To do this, we must capture and dominate the narrative in all communication forms, including local radio, TV and print, national media, social media, and carrier pigeon. As part of this effort, we’re launching a national podcast, YouTube channel, and website called TopVetsTalkPets later this year. This venture will feature nine veterinarians—six female, three male—with different specialties and ethnicities, and skewing younger, with me being the only old white guy. Forget lighting a candle versus cursing the darkness of veterinary medicine. Light a blowtorch and lead a pack of people who love animals across the finish line, and let them use their diploma to become part of the future of this professional we love so much. Marty Becker, DVM, writes every other month for Veterinary Practice News. Dr. Becker is a Sandpoint, Idaho, practitioner and founder of the Fear Free initiative. For more information about Fear Free or to register for certification, go to fearfreepets.com. Columnists’ opinions do not necessarily reflect those of Veterinary Practice News.
