Working With Animals

[BecciBoo]

Originally Posted by Xiorell

Ah ha... someone DOING animal course things right now...
...What exactley is it you wanna use them toward?

I nearly got a trainee vet nurse role recently... they didn't take me purely coz I was 24 and they wanted no older than 18 (So they can pay really poor wage), it woulda been in conjunction with some course at... Morton Morrol, some place like that anyway

Its because if you are under a certain age then the goverment fund the trainning. I found it very very hard to get into vet nursing especially being 26...i'd pretty much been looking for a training position since I finished my ND at the age of 19! All you need to be a vet nurse is GCSEs in Maths, English and Science...doesn't matter what higher qualifications you have!

[basky]

everyone is making animal jobs look terrible. im affraid if you work with animals it can be repetative, crap pay, long hours,hard work, no time off but if you love animals it wont matter. ive been working 7 days a week for over 2 years (had 2 weeks off), but it doesnt bother me because im outside enjoying myself with animals. what more could you want.

[hermanlover]

Originally Posted by basky

everyone is making animal jobs look terrible. im affraid if you work with animals it can be repetative, crap pay, long hours,hard work, no time off but if you love animals it wont matter. ive been working 7 days a week for over 2 years (had 2 weeks off), but it doesnt bother me because im outside enjoying myself with animals. what more could you want.

i understand what you are saying, but unfortunatly people need money to live, and sometimes you have to put that before your love for animals, as you cant love animals when your dead.... what do you work as? (if you dont mind me asking)

[PendleHog]

What A levels did you get? Most educational courses wont really care about anything else, but then, do you WANT to go back to college or university?

Are you interested in the science side or purely the "hands on" work? I did my degree in Bioveterinary Science but never wanted to go into practice, I work in pharmaceuticals atm but have my eye on quarantine facility work. A few friends from the same course went into diagnostics working in vet labs, the work is reasonably varied and the pay is acceptable (far better than vet nursing and the like). You couldnt get into pharmaceuticals without a degree I dont think, but diagnostics is do-able if you have science based A levels or are willing to get them (even via open university).

There is also animal testing if you fancy the idea, you can go into the labs as a technician with just GCSEs and train on the job. Google Animal Laboratory Technician for an idea of the work it involves. I nearly went straight into one of these training programmes from school.

Opening a reptile shop seems a popular choice nowadays, but I do wonder how sustainable some of the businesses will be, there is a LOT of competition nowadays and reputations are hard won and easily lost in this game.

I suspect you already have some idea of what you want to do, you're just looking for some reassurance before you go for it. Hope things work out for you!

[Robbie]

Working in a shop pretty much sucks if your a through and through city boy. Not only is the pay TERRIBLE but the hours are normally unsocial.

[basky]

Originally Posted by californiankinglover

i understand what you are saying, but unfortunatly people need money to live, and sometimes you have to put that before your love for animals, as you cant love animals when your dead.... what do you work as? (if you dont mind me asking)

well since college (4-5 years) ive worked at:

• the british wildlife rescue centre- got £2.00 an hour but got to rear young animals, help older one, train birds of prey, work with reptiles, rear lambs, train foxes ect....excellent but crap pay so after a year i left.
• then worked at a rare breed pig farm, had the first mangalitzas in the uk, got to be on tv, in the paper and on the news (was a huge experience) and got £6 an hour.
• i also look after peoples horses, sheep, cats, dogs, pigs ect on the side.
• now im assistant kennel and cattery manager (leading to manager), it's varied from gardening, walking, cleaning, bathing dogs, paper work, customer services, painting, power washing ect and im on £8 and after a while ill be on £10 an hour so it isnt all that bad.

you just have to take the rough with the smooth and work bloody hard. depends how much you want something IMO.

[BecciBoo]

Originally Posted by PendleHog

(far better than vet nursing and the like).

I'm guessing that I'm one of the very few well paid trainee vet nurses then?

[miffikins]

Sparsholt college in hampshire is really good for animal courses and they also do some distance learnin for people who arn't near. I did exotics management with them before xmas.
There's also a lot of animal based courses BSc's at nottingham trent I think. Most higher education institutes will look at mature students seperate from people coming straight out of 6th form and so even if your a level grades arn't super high if you show willing they may take you on. Thats assuming you wanted to go the academic route. But even with qualifications, hands on experience is still really important.

I know a lot of animal based work isn't well paid, but if its what you love and pays the bills its got to be better than a job you hate, or at least thats how I see it

Havn't read all the thread so sorry if I'm not with the flow of the conversation
Forgot to say I'm in my final year BSc Zoology and have not sure what qualification in Exotics Management and am in the process of applying for Animal Behaviour MSc's.

[basky]

i know two vets that own there own practises and they pay there VN's 17k which is great pay IMO.
i went sparsholt college, it's ace and has some great animals there, but saying that ive never needed my ND for a job, although the experience helped and gave me more confidence.

[miffikins]

Yeah, experience is important. Thats why I did the Sparsholt course so it would look like I had a bit of practical experience on my CV