Occupation
Veterinarian
Veterinarians diagnose and treat illness and injury in animals, perform surgery, and advise owners and producers on health, welfare, and disease prevention. Practice types differ sharply: companion-animal clinics, farm and equine work, public health and inspection, and laboratory or research roles all look different day to day. Much of the job is communicating difficult clinical and financial decisions to people.
Also known as: Vet · Veterinary surgeon · Doctor of veterinary medicine · Animal doctor
Occupation content
Part of Agriculture, animals and environment
What the work involves
- Examine animals, take histories, and order or perform diagnostic imaging and laboratory tests.
- Diagnose conditions and prescribe treatment, including controlled and prescription-only medicines.
- Perform routine and emergency surgery, anaesthesia, and dental procedures.
- Discuss diagnosis, prognosis, cost, and euthanasia decisions with owners or producers.
- Advise on herd or flock health, vaccination, biosecurity, and welfare programmes.
- Maintain clinical records, prescriptions, and reporting for notifiable diseases.
How people commonly enter
- A professional veterinary medicine degree from an accredited veterinary school, entered after prior university study or directly depending on the country.
- Registration or licensure with the veterinary regulator, which normally requires an accredited degree and a licensing examination.
- Internships, residencies, and board certification for specialist practice after qualifying.
- Graduate-entry veterinary programmes for people who already hold a science degree.
Typical training: Postgraduate or professional degree
Licensing: Regulated in most jurisdictions — confirm the current requirement with the regulator in your province, state, or country.
Typical work context
Public facing · High responsibility · Fast paced · Team based · Shift work · Client sites
Related interests
Investigative (analytical) · Social (helping) · Realistic (hands-on)
Related aptitude preparation
These are preparation links only. They do not measure eligibility for this occupation and no score here qualifies or disqualifies anyone.
Skills to practise
Practice suites
Related learning
Family-level learning links for Agriculture, animals and environment.
Official sources
Labour-market facts such as pay and employment projections are not reproduced here. Open an official source below for figures, with its own geography and reference period.
- US BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Veterinarians · United States
Link checked
- Canada Job Bank — Career planning and occupation search (Veterinarian) · Canada
Link checked
- UK National Careers Service — Explore careers (Veterinary surgeon) · United Kingdom
Link checked
Labour-market context (not part of exploration match)
This is broad family-level context for Agriculture, animals and environment in Canada, not a figure for Veterinarian. It does not affect matching scores and is not an eligibility determination.
This is a broad Agriculture, animals and environment family. Explore the official profile for the chosen occupation; entry education and training can differ within the family.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Agriculture, animals and environment: education pathways
Some roles in Agriculture, animals and environment may be regulated. Confirm whether the specific role requires registration, certification, or a jurisdiction-specific licence.
Canada Job Bank Career Planning · Canada · Current official profile; consult source for its release period
Agriculture, animals and environment: licensing
Find jobs
These are live, user-controlled searches on each source's own site for “ Veterinarian”. Novus Learn does not fetch, store, or rank these results, and job availability never changes your exploration match score.
- Search Canada Job Bank · Canada
- Search USAJOBS · United States federal
- Search EURES · European Union / EEA
- Search Indeed · International (choose location on Indeed)