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Patient care

Veterinarian

Diagnoses, treats and prevents disease and injury in animals, from family pets to farm livestock and zoo animals.

Vets work in practices, animal hospitals, farms and labs, and some work on food safety or public health. It suits people who stay calm under pressure, talk kindly to worried owners and do not mind early starts or messy work.

Also called Vet, Veterinary surgeon, Small animal vet or Large animal vet.

At a glance

Way in
Professional degree and licence, often in veterinary medicine and veterinary science
Pay in the US
$130,100 a year, the medianFor veterinarians, 2025
Pay in the UK
£32,000 starting to £65,000 with experienceFor a vet, the nearest National Careers Service profile
US outlook
Much faster than average, 2025-2035
Suits you if
You love animals, stay calm in a crisis and can talk well with their owners.

Pay is a guide: it moves with the country, the employer, the sector and the years in the job. Figures from O*NET OnLine (US) and the National Careers Service (UK); see the sources below.

The work

What does a veterinarian do?

  • Examine animals and use blood tests, X-rays and scans to work out what is wrong.
  • Carry out operations, from routine neutering to emergency surgery.
  • Vaccinate animals and give regular health checks to stop problems before they start.
  • Visit farms to treat livestock and advise on keeping disease from spreading through a herd.
  • Talk owners through the options and, when nothing more can be done, end an animal's suffering humanely.

Where they work

  • Veterinary practices
  • Animal hospitals
  • Farms and rural practices
  • Zoos and wildlife centres
  • Government animal health labs

Skills

The skills a veterinarian needs

  • Comparative anatomyhow bodies differ across species
  • Clinical reasoningdiagnosing patients who cannot say what hurts
  • Surgical skillsafe anaesthesia and careful operating technique
  • Communicationclear, kind conversations with owners and farmers
  • Resiliencecoping with long days, emergencies and hard decisions
  • Pharmacologysafe doses across very different animals

Route in

How to become a veterinarian

  1. Take biology and chemistry at school and build up hands-on experience with animals, for example on a farm or at a practice.
  2. Complete a veterinary degree at an accredited vet school, with clinical placements on many kinds of animal.
  3. In the UK, register with the RCVS (Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons); in the US, pass the licensing exam and get a licence from your state.
  4. Build experience in general practice, then train further if you want to specialise, for example in surgery or exotic animals.

Degrees people take

  • Veterinary medicine
  • Veterinary science

In the US, vet school usually follows a bachelor's degree; in the UK, most students start a vet degree straight from school.

Practise for it

The quizzes and tools that fit

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Sources

Where the facts come from

Written for biofideX from these public sources. The pay figures are theirs, copied as published, last read 2026-10-25.

Requirements differ by country and change over time; check with the body that registers the profession where you will work. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we'll correct it.

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