A different kind of doctor (5C Cheung Tsz Yat)

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The hardest part of being a veterinarian might not be the death of a beloved animal.

A veterinarian treats domestic pets. The most common kind of veterinarian treats only canines and felines. Some veterinarians are specialists, who treat a particular category of diseases, such as a veterinary ophthalmologist treating primarily eye diseases, and a veterinarian oncologist mainly delves into the area of cancer.

Young Post meets Kennis Cheung, who works as a veterinarian at her local clinic, treating exotic pets and occasionally assisting with her colleague ophthalmologist.

Requirements

You need, first of all, a passion for animals. You will meet various animals every day and it is crucial that you can express your passion and enthusiasm to them, as they cannot understand every word you say, and will often mistake you as a hostile attacker.

You also must not fear blood. Veterinarians almost operate on animals on a daily basis, and it is a given that they will encounter blood, be it as gory as surgeries or as minimal as blood tests.

The ability to express something complex into simple words is strongly desired. Owners are very concerned about their sick pets, and they want to know everything related to their pet’s sickness. You cannot just tell them their cat has ‘feline infectious peritonitis’ and expect the owner to magically understand the treatment and prescription— or the lack of it, in this case. You have to explain how this coronavirus infects the intestinal tract, and how it is entirely fatal to cats. Diseases cannot be summed up by just their name, you have to give an easy explanation for the owner to grasp and be able to assist in their pet’s recovery.

Qualifications

It is essential that you have a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine from an approved institution. The Veterinary Surgeons Board of Hong Kong has a list of degrees approved to operate in Hong Kong, and mind you, Taiwan is not on the list.

If you wish to specialize, ie. obtaining a license to practice on exotic animals, or be a surgeon that operates on one specific body part, you will need to study further to obtain a certified specialist degree.

Universities in the UK and Australia are the most sought after for veterinary degrees, and City University of Hong Kong also offers a prestigious veterinary degree, holding only 30 students per year. Cheung studied in CityU for her bachelor’s degree, and went to the UK for her exotic animal degree. She said teaching styles are vastly different, but both are very professional and equipped her with more than enough clinical skills.

You will also need to serve placements at clinics. Universities often have partnered hospitals or clinics, and students with greater results are written recommendation letters to go there. You can also look for clinical placements yourself. You will need to write a CV, and an email to the clinic to ask for a placement. It is crucial to be polite and professional in the letter, and you will need to display your qualities through the short letter.

Different clinics have different placement styles. Cheung went to a local clinic before she entered university, and the vet allowed her to assist in surgeries, such as sealing the punctured blood vessels off with a burner, and operating the blood test machines. Cheung also went to a chained clinic during her third year of bachelor’s degree, and she learnt clinical skills such as taking vitals, making diagnosis, and calming down distressed animals. 

Compensation

Veterinarians are paid monthly, like every other white-collar worker does. They also get a ranged additional salary based on their work that month if they work with a contract. 

If they own their clinic, they get a based salary and also the profits from being the stakeholder of the clinic. They also get commission for selling canned food and prescription diets at their clinic. If they refer their patients to other hospitals for more in-depth treatments, they also get commissions too.

Sometimes, vets may be called in by other clinics to assist with diagnostics or surgeries, such as a vet with an anesthetic specialist degree may be called in to assist with anesthesia on older animals prone to higher risks during the process. These vets earn a commission from the clinic depending on the quote of the surgery.

Work prospects

Once you obtain a license to provide veterinary practice in Hong Kong, you can join a clinic and be one of the contracted vets. On average, you will have 5 to 6 appointments per day, and maybe one surgery in 2 to 3 days. Cheung said her first appointment was very nerve-wrecking, but now that she looked back to it, it went fairly smoothly and she was proud of her performance that day. 

Now, with her own clinic opening for years, Cheung gains a word-of-mouth reputation and has a steady stream of patients. Normally she has surgeries almost daily, and sometimes she may visit patients’ house for a diagnosis if they are unable to travel.

Where to apply

Send your CV to clinics before you finish your last year, and make sure you already have sufficient clinical experience. You may start with a more experienced vet guiding you, but soon enough you will start diagnosing and treating patients on your own. You may also apply to clinics that you previously served placements in.

A day at work

After arriving at the clinic, the vet first takes a look at the logs and prepares for the appointments. If there is a surgery, the vet will call the pet owner and ask them about the patient’s health, and whether it has stopped eating since yesterday night. 

The vet will then start the appointments, and a typical appointment starts by reviewing past records, and inquiring the owner on the behavior of their pet. Then, the vet will start doing basic checks on the patient, such as weighing, and temperature-taking.

Then, the vet will start to arrive at a diagnosis, or a blood test might be needed. Based on the diagnosis, the vet will prescribe medicine or injections to the patient and schedule for a re-check in typically two weeks’ time.