Alternative Careers for Veterinary Graduates
While many veterinary graduates decide to go into general practice, it is not the only career option. If you love all things in the veterinary field but are unsure whether a career in a practice is suited to you, we’ve put together a list of alternative careers. Many of these alternatives involve some form of veterinary research, whether it’s in academia, public health or helping pharmaceuticals. There are also alternative practice options, such as physiotherapy and chiropractic.
Veterinary research and academia
If you enjoy university, then academia and research might be the path for you. You will need to pursue relevant MSc and PhD qualifications before becoming an academic, but this can have very rewarding results if you are passionate about research, writing and teaching. You can choose to focus more on the research side of things, or become a leading educator and inspire young veterinary minds!
Public health
This is a role that comes with a great deal of responsibility but is also very rewarding. It involves protecting both animal and human populations from outbreaks of disease and injury. A public health veterinarian will be responsible for researching different diseases, analysing data and helping to put forward preventative measures and solutions to animal-related public health crises. For example, public health veterinarians would be heavily involved an avian flu outbreak investigation.
Physiotherapy or chiropractic
If you are interested in the idea of working directly with animals and their owners but are unsure if general practice is the right route for you, you could consider an alternative career in physiotherapy or as a chiropractor. Animal injuries are common, and many owners will look to long-term treatment to help reduce the amount of pain that their pet is in. This role may involve working alongside veterinary surgeons to create a care plan to suit specific injuries.
Pharmacology
This is another role that involves veterinary research in order to find the most effective drug therapies for treating animals. The specific job role will vary depending on whether you work for a university or in a corporation, but it will primarily involve developing drugs for treating animals and testing the effects of these medicines. As well as research, development and testing, there are also jobs in pharmaceutical marketing.