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Veterinarians

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Diagnose, treat, or research diseases and injuries of animals. Includes veterinarians who conduct research and development, inspect livestock, or care for pets and companion animals.

Related: Allergists & Immunologists Dermatologists Emergency Medicine Physicians General Internal Medicine Physicians Physicians, Pathologists

Industries: Professional, Science, & Technical

Summary
Details

Conduct postmortem studies and analyses to determine the causes of animals' deaths.
Inspect and test horses, sheep, poultry, or other animals to detect the presence of communicable diseases.
Examine animals to detect and determine the nature of diseases or injuries.
Perform administrative or business management tasks, such as scheduling appointments, accepting payments from clients, budgeting, or maintaining business records.
Operate diagnostic equipment, such as radiographic or ultrasound equipment, and interpret the resulting images.
Provide care to a wide range of animals or specialize in a particular species, such as horses or exotic birds.
Attend lectures, conferences, or continuing education courses.
Inoculate animals against various diseases, such as rabies or distemper.
Treat sick or injured animals by prescribing medication, setting bones, dressing wounds, or performing surgery.
Direct the overall operations of animal hospitals, clinics, or mobile services to farms.
Treat sick or injured animals by prescribing medication, setting bones, dressing wounds, or performing surgery.
Establish or conduct quarantine or testing procedures that prevent the spread of diseases to other animals or to humans and that comply with applicable government regulations.
Treat sick or injured animals by prescribing medication, setting bones, dressing wounds, or performing surgery.
Counsel clients about the deaths of their pets or about euthanasia decisions for their pets.
Advise animal owners regarding sanitary measures, feeding, general care, medical conditions, or treatment options.
Determine the effects of drug therapies, antibiotics, or new surgical techniques by testing them on animals.
Educate the public about diseases that can be spread from animals to humans.
Perform administrative or business management tasks, such as scheduling appointments, accepting payments from clients, budgeting, or maintaining business records.
Collect body tissue, feces, blood, urine, or other body fluids for examination and analysis.
Train or supervise workers who handle or care for animals.
Train or supervise workers who handle or care for animals.
Euthanize animals.
Plan or execute animal nutrition or reproduction programs.
Research diseases to which animals could be susceptible.
Operate diagnostic equipment, such as radiographic or ultrasound equipment, and interpret the resulting images.
Perform administrative or business management tasks, such as scheduling appointments, accepting payments from clients, budgeting, or maintaining business records.

Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

Education

Doctoral or professional degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

No on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

155060/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

74.55/hr

Currently Employed

3,610

Yearly Projected Openings

270

Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They do well at jobs that need:

Integrity
Attention to Detail
Analytical Thinking
Stress Tolerance
Dependability
Cooperation

Air rifles or air handguns
Angiography contrast medium delivery sets
Animal catching devices
Animal husbandry equipment
Animal shearing or clipping equipment
Animal weighing scales
Arterial line catheters
Autopsy chisels or osteotomes
Bar code reader equipment
Benchtop centrifuges
Binocular light compound microscopes
Blood collection syringes
Blood gas analyzers
Cardiac output CO monitoring units
Cardiovascular system veterinary products
Cast cutters or saws
Chemistry analyzers
Chest tubes
Coagulation analyzers
Cosmetic dentistry curing lights
Crown or bridge removers
Cryosurgery units
Dental burs
Dental carvers
Dental cord packers
Dental elevators
Dental files or rasps
Dental finishing or polishing discs
Dental forceps
Dental handpieces
Dental impression trays
Dental material pluggers or tips
Dental mirrors or mirror handles
Dental mouth prop or bite block or gag
Dental probes or explorers
Dental reamers
Dental root tip picks
Dental scalers
Dental spreaders
Dental x ray units
Desktop computers
Digital cameras
Electrosurgical or electrocautery equipment
Endoscopic hemostatic balloons or needles or tubes or accessories
Endoscopic instrument sets
Endotracheal tubes
Enema kits
Enteral feeding administration sets
Full body immersion hydrotherapy baths or tanks
Gas anesthesia apparatus or machines
Glucose monitors or meters
Goggles
Goniometers or arthrometers
Handheld refractometers or polarimeters
Hematology analyzers
Hemocytometers
Intermittent positive pressure breathing IPPB machines
Intravenous infusion pumps for general use
Intravenous or arterial fluid warmers
Intravenous syringe infusion pumps
Intravenous tubing with catheter administration kits
Intubation laryngoscopes
Laboratory animal restraints or harnesses
Laboratory balances
Laparoscopes or laparoscopic telescopes
Livestock identification equipment
Manual or electronic hematology differential cell counters
Medical acoustic stethoscopes
Medical cinefluoroscopy units
Medical computed tomography CT or CAT scanners or tubes
Medical gamma cameras for general use
Medical linear accelerator intensity modulated radiation therapy IMRT three dimensional units
Medical magnetic resonance imaging MRI scanners
Medical radiation films or badges
Medical radioisotope scanners
Medical radiological shielding aprons or masks or drapes
Medical radiological shielding gloves
Medical staplers for external use
Medical syringes with needle
Medical ultrasound or doppler or echocardiograph transducer accessories
Medical ultrasound or doppler or pulse echocardiograph or echocardiograph units for general diagnostic use
Medical x ray darkroom accessories
Medical x ray intensifying screens
Medical x ray units for general diagnostic use
Microbiology analyzers
Microcentrifuges
Microscope slides
Mobile medical services automated external defibrillators AED or hard paddles
Mobile or transportable medical linear accelerators
Multiparameter vital sign units
Muzzles
Notebook computers
Ophthalmic irrigation or aspiration supplies
Ophthalmic surgical knives or blades
Ophthalmic tonometers
Ophthalmoscopes or otoscopes or scope sets
Orthopedic splint systems
Oxygen therapy delivery system products
Periodontal chisels
Periodontal curettes
Personal computers
Protective gloves
Pulse oximeter units
Respiratory monitoring kits
Restraints
Resuscitation masks
Scanners
Specimen collection container
Steam autoclaves or sterilizers
Surgical bone cutting forceps
Surgical bone hand saws or wire saws or saw handles
Surgical calipers or rulers or protractors
Surgical chisels or gouges
Surgical clamps or clips or forceps
Surgical curettes or loops or curette sets
Surgical gloves
Surgical isolation or surgical masks
Surgical lasers
Surgical microscopes or loupes or magnifiers
Surgical mouth gags
Surgical needle holders
Surgical pneumatic or battery or electric saws or drills or pin drivers
Surgical punches or punch holders
Surgical rasps or files
Surgical retractors
Surgical rongeurs
Surgical scalpels or knives or blades or trephines
Surgical scissors
Surgical suction machine or vacuum extractor or ultrasonic surgical aspirator
Suture needles
Tablet computers
Therapeutic heating or cooling units or systems
Tourniquets
Treadmill exercisers for rehabilitation or therapy
Ultrasonic cleaning equipment
Urinary catheterization kits
Vacuum blood collection tubes or containers
Veterinary blood pressure testers
Veterinary castration instruments
Veterinary clinical thermometers
Veterinary electrocardiograph ECG
Veterinary injection or suction unit
Veterinary nail trimmers or cutters
Veterinary speculums
Volumetric pipettes