Animal related jobs/study?

meow cat

First off I have already gone through college, it was completely unrelated to animals and I'm only 25 so I haven't been doing it long.

I have been nursing a stray cat that came to me, she was quite poorly but after many trips to the vet she's looking much better and she now has a new home where she's well cared for. I really did enjoy helping her get better and it was worth the money but for the past while I've been thinking about going back to college and now that set me off thinking about doing something animal related. I love all animal but I'm wary of horses (don't know why).

I know UCD has a course but what else is there? (doesn't have to be in this country) and what kind of jobs would they lead to?

PetrovthePrat

First off,fair play for taking the cat in,and I hope it stays in good health. Google is your friend here,and the friend of all those who seek knowledge on just about anything! Have you considered volunteering with an SPCA or any of the Rescues? It'll give you some hands on with the real graft that goes with animal care. I think Dublin Zoo take volunteers too,but don't know much about it.

anniehoo

How much time do you want to spend retraining would be the main question?

If you go down the degree route you'd have:

Vet Medicine http://www.ucd.ie/vetmed/ 5 years
Vet Nursing http://www.ucd.ie/agandvet/veterinary%20nursing.htm (degree) or http://www.stjohnscollege.ie/index.php?pageID=135 (not a degree though)

Veterinary Assistant http://www.killestercollege.ie/index.asp?locID=33&docID=-1

RSCPA Inspector ( v hard to get into though)

Animal nutritonist http://www.ucd.ie/agri/html/homepage/animalscience.htm

Petsitter or Run a Boarding Kennels

Volunteer or foster http://dspca.ie/prevent_cruelty_to_animals.php?number=44&sectionnumber=14

Dog obedience trainer http://www.nightcourses.com/dog-training.html

You could do animal grooming http://www.kilroyscollege.ie/course.php?courseid=79&ad=213&gclid=CPC00qW3ip0CFdQq3godukXy2g

dee o gee

Well if you go down the postgraduate route in vet med in UCD its 19,000 euro a year, they only accept 10 people a year and its meant to be quite hard to get into.
Theres also vet nursing courses in Athlone, Dundalk and Letterkenny IT and in UCD. Theres various animal care and veterinary assistant courses throughout Ireland, but some are only plc courses and sometimes they aren't much use to you.
You can also study veterinary in scotland, edinburgh I think it is, as far as I know you don't have to pay fees, but if you go to England you have to pay high fees.
Do you mind me asking what course you've done? If its a science course it'd help you get into UCD postgrad vet med.

And if your just interested in doing a bit of volunteering then most pounds and rescues welcome volunteers, just get in touch with them and ask!

Ado86

Personally, I would recommend UCD as the place to go to if you want to persue veterinary nursing, there is a hospital in UCD where you will get much better experience, alot of the vet nursing courses around the country arent great, from what Ive seen from their graduates, people who come from UCD are much better trained and qualified. Vet nurses salaries are quite limited also, not much scope for moving up the pay scale, vets will always be able to find young people to do it cheaper....
Yes there are a number of vet colleges in the UK - Edinburgh, Glasgow, liverpool, london, cambridge, and Bristol. They are interview based though, they require alot of animal experience before even applying, like weeks upon weeks, and they are very biased against taking Irish people, I know people who have been at the interviews and have heard that they are particularly tough on the Irish. There is a veterinary medicine course in Budapest...seems to be quite a good course.
I would advise completeing some animal related work, in a vets or shelter, because veterinary is very different from what is painted by the TV....and in Ireland, large animal features quite a lot in veterinary medicine.
Hope that this is of some help...

dee o gee

Ado86 wrote: »

There is a veterinary medicine course in Budapest...seems to be quite a good course.

Have you any info on this course, or even links about it? Iv heard about it from a few people but can't seem to find any info about it?

YOURFACE!

I was looking at this during the week, not great info but some at least

http://www.studyhungary.hu/index.php?mid=20&show=men

I read on the UCD website that their Vet Med Degree is the only one recognised in Ireland but I know a good few people have gone over to Budapest to study it. Yikes! it costs alot too!

I'm in the same boat as you. Im looking to totally change careers and I am seriously considering doing the Vet Nursing degree in UCD. My best friend did it there and she says its amazing!

Hope that helps!

tyther

If you dont mind heading to Tralee the i.t is running a great course in wildlife biology. I am in the second year of the course now and i couldnt recomend it enough. http://www.ittralee.ie/en/InformationAbout/Courses/ScienceandComputing/ChemicalLifeSciences/TL400-BScHONSinScienceWildlifeBiology/

Ado86

dee o gee wrote: »

Have you any info on this course, or even links about it? Iv heard about it from a few people but can't seem to find any info about it?

Heres a link...
http://www.sziu.hu/node/26

Their course is recognised, it is a recognised degree throughout the EU. I was reading so in the Irish veterinary journal today....

dee o gee

YOURFACE! wrote: »

I was looking at this during the week, not great info but some at least

http://www.studyhungary.hu/index.php?mid=20&show=men

Hope that helps!

Ado86 wrote: »

Heres a link...
http://www.sziu.hu/node/26

Their course is recognised, it is a recognised degree throughout the EU. I was reading so in the Irish veterinary journal today....

Thanks guys!

Lizard Queen

ado86 " what Ive seen from their graduates, people who come from UCD are much better trained and qualified" That is a very broad statement to make i am a vn from athlone and ive found there is a lot of preiduce against non ucd students. If ucd is the best course then why have they completly changed the format of the course to resemble more the athlone degree course. Yes there is not much work experience but now ucd students are in college full time. Athlone students also recieve a BSc. I am sick of having to prove myself to UCD students.

Ado86

Personally, and I am 100% entitled to my own opinion. I have worked with VNs from both Athlone and UCD, of the same experience level and I have found that graduates from UCD are more knowledgable and better able to cope with the challenges of life in practice. This doesnt reflect personally on you, but from my experiences this is what I have noticed.

meow cat

Thanks for all the replies, there are some interesting courses that I didn't know about. I'm going to talk to the vets about it, animal rescue is nearly an hours drive away but I'm going to give them a ring.

Also what I did has nothing to do with animals in any way, so the post grad route would suit me.