At an Animal Hospital Alpharetta, the veterinarian is both your pet’s primary doctor as well as it’s dentist, internist, obstetrician, radiologist, surgeon, anesthesiologist, and pharmacist. Veterinarians provide routine health checks, vaccinations, and wellness checks for pets. They see pets who are feeling lame or ill. They diagnose problems and perform routine surgeries such as spaying and neutering, removing cancerous tumors, and repairing and setting broken bones. Other veterinarians go on to concentrate in a particular field. For example, there are veterinary ophthalmologists who primarily diagnose and treat diseases of the eye and perform more complicated eye surgeries.
Veterinarians may have animals for patients, but they actually primarily end up working with people, that is, the animals’ owners. Much of their day is spent listening to an owner describe a problem they have noticed, such as their dog isn’t eating as much, or the owner has noticed their dog seems to be limping. Owners have lots of questions about what vaccinations they should get for their pet, and what the vaccination schedule is.
They ask about their pet’s diet, trainers the veterinarian might recommend, and other questions about their pet’s well being. So, much of the veterinarian’s job is actually educating the pet owners. If you have any concerns about how to pay for pet care, ask the veterinarian and see what he or she says. For example, the vet may participate in a local spay and neuter program that will allow you to get a discount on that service.
Large-animal veterinarians, like equine vets, may spend much of their day out on the road going to farm calls. If a horse is too wild or too sick to be loaded into a trailer, the owner will ask the veterinarian to come to the stable and treat the horse there. Vets will also go to the animal if there are quite a few large animals that need vaccinations. For example, farmers will call to have their entire dairy herd vaccinated, or pig farmers and sheep farmers will ask the veterinarian to come out to spend the better part of a day doing just vaccinations and tagging the animals’ ears. Equine veterinarians will also assist horse owners with breeding their horses and in delivering new foals. Equine vets may participate in 4H horse clinics to educate young owners in how to care for their pets. Click here for more information.
