To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. Please discuss this issue on the talk page, or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available. This article has been tagged since April 2006. The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. Please improve the article or discuss the issue on the talk page. Look up veterinarian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. A veterinary surgeon removes stitches from a cat's face following minor surgery on an abscess. In American and Canadian English, a veterinarian (from Latin veterinae, "draught animals") is an animal doctor, a practitioner of veterinary medicine. The equivalent term in British English is veterinary surgeon, and both terms are often shortened to vet. The word "veterinarian" was first used in English by the doctor Sir Thomas Browne (1605–1682). Perhaps the most popular depiction of this kind of doctor at work is in the autobiographical books by James Herriot and the television adaptation, All Creatures Great and Small. Contents 1 Overview 2 Regulatory medicine 3 Education 4 Government 5 See also 6 External links 6.1 Professional organizations 6.2 Other external links Overview This article or section needs copy editing for proper spelling, grammar, usage, tone, style, and voice. You can help by editing it now. A guide is available, as is general editing help. Although veterinarians do hold a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine (in the United States and Canada, at least), not all veterinarians enter clinical practice. Those that do practice medicine in fields, such as companion animal or "pet" medicine, reptile medicine, ratite medicine, livestock medicine, equine medicine (sports or race track or show or rodeo medicine, etc.), or laboratory animal medicine. Other veterinarians may enter a research field to study an area of medical, veterinary medical, or pharmacological research. Research veterinarians were the first to isolate oncoviruses, Salmonella species, Brucella species, and various other pathogenic agents. They also helped conquer malaria and yellow fever, solved the mystery of botulism, produced an anticoagulant used to treat some people with heart disease, and defined and developed surgical techniques for humans, such as hip-joint replacement and limb and organ transplants. Like all physicians, veterinarians must make ethical judgments, such as whether or not to perform debarking procedures. There is also ongoing discussion over the ethics of performing procedures such as declawing cats or docking tails or cropping ears in dogs. In some countries, these procedures are illegal. Regulatory medicine Some veterinarians work in a field called regulatory medicine — ensuring the nation's food safety by working with the USDA FSIS, or work by protecting us from imported exotic animal diseases by working for the USDA APHIS. The emerging field of conservation medicine involves veterinarians even more directly with human health care, providing a multidisciplinary approach to medical research that also involves environmental scientists. Education This article or section needs copy editing for proper spelling, grammar, usage, tone, style, and voice. You can help by editing it now. A guide is available, as is general editing help. More than 3,800 veterinarians in the USA currently work at veterinary schools where they teach student vets what they need to know to graduate — teaching is another career path for a veterinarian. A good veterinarian enjoys working with animals and their owners. Admission into veterinary medical school is so competitive that in the United States it is far easier to gain acceptance into either a medical school or a top Law School than to meet the GPA requirements for most veterinary schools. citation needed] This situation occurs mostly because there are far fewer schools, allowing the schools to be much more selective. According to the US Department of Labor, only 1 in 3 applicants was accepted into a veterinary program in 2002. Prerequisites for admission include the undergraduate studies listed under veterinary medicine and extensive veterinary experience (typically about 500 or more hours) in private practice or other veterinary environment. The average veterinary medical student has an undergraduate GPA of 3.5 and a GRE score of approximately 1800. US graduates are awarded either a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) or the less common Veterinary Medical Doctor (VMD) degree, depending upon the traditions of the veterinary school. There is some reciprocal international recognition of veterinary degrees. For example, veterinarians with degrees from the UK or New Zealand are immediately allowed to practice in Australia whereas vets with degrees from other countries are usually required to pass a set of qualifying exams before being allowed to practice. Veterinarians graduating from AVMA accredited universities, (e.g. University of Glasgow, Royal Veterinary College, Utrecht etc) may work in the USA after passing the NAVLE, a veterinary licensing exam taken by all American veterinarians. Non-AVMA accredited university graduates must also sit a week long Clinical Proficiency Examination in order to work in the USA. Veterinarians who have graduated from an AVMA accredited University are eligible to practice in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Canada, and the United States. Australia currently has five Universities offering veterinary degrees - University of Sydney, Murdoch University, University of Melbourne, University of Queensland, and Charles Sturt University. James Cook University is a sixth University that prepared for its first intake of vet students at the end of 2005. Government Public health medicine is another option for veterinarians. Veterinarians in government and private laboratories provide diagnostic and testing services. Some veterinarians serve as state epidemiologists, directors of environmental health, and directors of state or city public health departments. Veterinarians are also employed by the US Agriculture Research Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental Protection Agency, National Library of Medicine, and National Institutes of Health. The military also employs veterinarians in a number of capacities — caring for pets on military bases, caring for military working animals, and controlling various arthropod-borne diseases or other such things. See also Avian veterinarian Equine veterinarian Exotic animal veterinarian Veterinary surgeon List of veterinarians Schools of veterinary medicine Veterinary informatics Veterinary medicine Veterinary specialties Veterinary technician Veterinarian's Oath Veterinary school External links Professional organizations American Association of Bovine Practitioners American Veterinary Medical Association Australian Veterinary Association British Veterinary Association Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Other external links Quick & Dirty Vet School Application Guide - Website with information and links about the application process for vet school. 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