# Holistic Vet?



## RedneckCowgirl (Oct 28, 2011)

I've been giving some thought into becoming a holistic vet for dogs, possibly cats but mostly dogs. I've bounced back and forth between vet and teacher since I was about 5 years old, but after realizing that vets do surgery, I realized that wasn't the job for me! lol I can dissect animals any time, but a live animal is something totally different! So teacher it is then, or so I thought. The more I research dog nutrition the more _that_ is the subject I want to teach. So how would I go about doing this?


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## Kassandra (Jun 6, 2012)

I am currently trying to reach my goal of becoming a holistic vet, too. 

You still have to go through normal vet school, same as anyone else. Except you specialize in different things than a regular vet. There are courses for Nutrition that many vets don't take (clearly) and if I am not mistaken, there is a holistic course as well. After you graduate from vet school, you can specialize in holistic medicine. It is kind of the same as a teacher getting their "masters". It takes a very, very long time but is totally worth it in my opinion.. There are NOT enough holistic vets out there.

Sorry if I'm a little confusing in this post! I've been researching the topic for years and I definitely want this to be my career so I know quite a bit about the process, I'm just not very good at explaining things XD I try my best though!!


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## Kassandra (Jun 6, 2012)

Well actually, they are all required to take one nutrition course, and for many of them, that's all they take, even though there are numerous other courses on animal nutrition available to them.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

Yeah, you would have to go all the way through “regular” vet school, and be able to do surgery, and learn how to treat horses/cows/etc, not just dogs and cats. You would have to graduate from vet school and pass boards to get your D.V.M. I honestly don’t think that there is any special certification required to call oneself a holistic vet, but most have taken extensive courses related to holistic topics/treatments, and know a lot more about proper nutrition as opposed to a conventional vet.


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## Kassandra (Jun 6, 2012)

shellbell said:


> Yeah, you would have to go all the way through “regular” vet school, and be able to do surgery, and learn how to treat horses/cows/etc, not just dogs and cats. .


While you do have to go through regular vet school and need to do surgery, you don't need to know how treat farm animals. There is a "large animal vet" and a "companion animal vet." There also aren't any special requirements, but you SHOULD do the holistic courses and and specialties in natural medicine, etc.


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## shellbell (Sep 24, 2011)

Kassandra said:


> While you do have to go through regular vet school and need to do surgery, you don't need to know how treat farm animals. There is a "large animal vet" and a "companion animal vet." There also aren't any special requirements, but you SHOULD do the holistic courses and and specialties in natural medicine, etc.


Really, that is interesting, when I was thinking about going to vet school (10 years ago when I was in high school), it was a requirement to learn how to work with both large and small animal patients. Maybe things have changed though.


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## Kassandra (Jun 6, 2012)

I live in Canada, so maybe the course requirements are different?? It has always been like that here as far as I know.


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## StdPooDad (Mar 16, 2012)

I'd also look at canine chiropractic and acupuncture. My vet is a regular vet, plus she does chiro and accu...


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## EckoMac (Jun 1, 2012)

DO IT!
There are not enough holistic vets out there. It took me almost 3 years to find one near me. They are crazy expensive, but well worth it and I love my old cats ease of movement after acupuncture, and the support I get for the transition to raw.


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

I think it depends on the vet school. At Tufts you'd have to learn large and small animals for the first 2-3 years, though you eventually choose one if you wish later on. 

If you have the grades for it definitely try for it, we need more holistic vets out there. There are also dog and cat nutritionists but I'd guess the pay is quite low and inconsistent.


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## Kayota (Jul 21, 2012)

I'm thinking about this too as I enter the vet tech program and start taking my first tech courses in a couple of weeks. I really want to do something like this, or be a canine nutritionist on the side of being a tech.

Maxy, what do you know about being a nutritionist? I didn't know that was a real job!


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

The only reason I know it's a real job is because the woman who runs the dog food project site is one. I think she mainly helps out people who have dogs with health issues and want to reevaluate their dog's diet. But I think it's more of an entrepreneur type thing, I don't think you can do to school to become one, you just take courses aimed at science and nutrition and then go into business for yourself. Here is Sabine's website: Better Dog Care, Better Dog Nutrition - Creating Healthy Lifestyles for Canines: About Sabine


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## Kayota (Jul 21, 2012)

Oh hm, okay. Thanks!


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## danecolor (Nov 22, 2010)

there are holistic veterinarians and veterinary nutritionists. both are specialties in the veterinary field that require additional schooling and training after completing the standard four years of vet school. 

if you do not like the idea of surgery, vet school is probably not the right fit for you. during your four years of vet school, you will get an overview of every aspect of vet care such as nutrition, surgical technique, toxicology, immunology, reproductive medicine, etc. you will also be learning not just about dogs and other companion animals but also food animals, large farm-type animals, horses, exotics, lab animals, and more depending on which classes you choose and where you go to school.

if you do decide to pursue a career in veterinary medicine, you have to start with standard undergraduate classes at a college or university. there are required courses that you must complete before being eligible to apply for vet school, and although you can complete these prerequisites without actually getting a bachelor's degree most people take the few extra credits required to get an undergraduate degree. common majors that help you pick up most of the vet school prerequisites are zoology, biology, biochemistry, microbiology, or some sort of animal science major.

as an undergraduate you will need to take classes in chemistry, genetics, physics, biology, communication, animal nutrition, etc. the specific requirements will vary based on which vet schools you apply to. on top of completing these classes, you will also have to emerge with very good GPA. most schools require at least a 3.0 and the average accepted applicant has a GPA much higher than that. you will also be required to take the GRE, and the higher your scores the better. you must score at or above the 50th percentile to be competitive. 

beyond academics alone, vet schools generally have a certain number of animal experience hours and veterinary experience hours that they require to be completed before an application will even be considered. the vet school in my state requires a _minimum_ of 400 hours of veterinary experience (under the supervision of a veterinarian or a PhD researcher) in three or more different fields/areas and 100 hours of animal experience (something beyond pet ownership such as breeding or competing with dogs or horses, or working at a zoo, aquarium, pet shop, shelter/rescue etc.). some examples of areas of veterinary experience include shelter medicine, zoo medicine, behavioral medicine, exotics, equine, emergency, feline, wildlife, aquatic, herpetological, large animal, lab animal, food animal, companion animal, etc. the greater the number and variety of experiences you have, the better chance your application stands.

on top of that, you will need to get three or more letters of recommendation (depends on the school) from veterinarians or PhD researchers you have worked with, and you will need to write a personal statement about who you are, how you became interested in veterinary medicine, and what your career goals are.

now once you are accepted into the vet school of your choice, you will be involved in a rigorous four-year program with your fourth year consisting of clinical rotations. however, even after all of that schooling you will not be a veterinarian. you will have to pass the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination as well as a state licensing exam for the state in which you choose to practice.

all of that is just to become a standard veterinarian. then you will have to go through whatever specialist training is requires to become a holistic veterinarian or veterinary nutritionist. 

it is a very long and arduous road to become a veterinarian but if you know this is what you want then do not let anything stop you.


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## danecolor (Nov 22, 2010)

Maxy24 said:


> But I think it's more of an entrepreneur type thing, I don't think you can do to school to become one, you just take courses aimed at science and nutrition and then go into business for yourself.


there is actually an American College of Veterinary Nutrition (American College of Veterinary Nutrition) and to be a true veterinary nutritionist you must become board certified. 

from the ACVN webiste:


> The residency training program in veterinary nutrition is extensive. After achieving a degree in veterinary medicine and completing at least 1 year of internship or clinical experience, residency training includes at least 2 years of study, with a focus on both basic and clinical nutrition as well as research and teaching. Trainees study under the mentorship of at least one boarded veterinary nutritionist and often with contact with many others over the course of the program. Some programs also require graduate level coursework and rotation with other specialists (such as Internal Medicine, Critical Care, and Clinical Pathology). Trainees must prepare and write up three case reports to qualify to take the board exam. The two day written examination is offered annually and covers a wide range of nutritional and medical knowledge.


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