Thornwood Veterinary Clinic and Kennel Blogs

About Out Veterinary Blog

Most vets knew what we wanted to be when we were young. For me, it’s part of my identity, one of my earliest memories. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t know that I would be a veterinarian. I pictured a house on a hill where I saw patients and lived with my family, a field for the horses I would have, a long dirt driveway and a quiet life. I named my practice and presented it for career day in 8thgrade. I figured out the real life costs of running it for a project as a senior in high school. In college, I made contacts in Montana for hay, equipment and land. I spent summers working on thoroughbred farms and discussed future jobs as a track vet. I had my life planned and a path to take. Then, after two years of college, I got into vet school.

Within months of starting, I realized I had no idea what being a vet actually looked like, and all of my very well thought out, carefully planned ideas came tumbling down. I could have never imagined the wild ride I was in for and what it actually meant to be a veterinarian. After my didactic years, I entered clinics focused on seeing small animals, not horses. I cancelled externships, burned bridges and turned my plans upside down. Now, more than ten years later, I run a small animal practice in the town where I grew up. It’s not down a dirt road in Big Sky, Montana and I don’t see horses in Ocala, Florida, but it fills every bucket in my soul that my childhood dream set up.

I’ve always known that I wanted to be a vet. Most of us are born knowing. What I didn’t know was what that would look like. In this blog, I’ll share stories from my own career, as well as those from colleagues across the country. You’ll hear about wild patients, even wilder clients, dark nights, dangerous house calls, new beginnings, and incredible feats of strength. The glamorous, the dirty, the tragic, the brilliant. You’ll hear from not just veterinarians, but from support staff, too. Hopefully, it brings us all together and paints a picture of just what it means to be a veterinarian.