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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.
While a veterinarian does hold a doctoral degree in veterinary medicine (in the United States and Canada, at least), not all veterinarians enter clinical practice. Those that do still have a wide range of options: companion animal or "pet" medicine (dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, etc), "exotic" animal medicine (various rodents, sugar gliders, possums, hedgehogs, reptiles), reptile medicine, ratite medicine, livestock medicine, equine medicine (sports or race track or show or rodeo, etc.), or laboratory animal medicine, to name a few. Those who do not may enter a research field, studying 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 and cropping the ears of dogs. In some countries, these procedures are illegal. |
