Can I become a veterinarian if I am emotional towards animals?

I worked on a farm when I was growing up, and I was also very attached to the animals. The realities of farm life (and of veterinary medicine) are that some animals live and some animals die. The more life and death you see, the easier it will get to put aside your emotions in order to do the best job you can. You should ABSOLUTELY care about the animals if you want to be a vet, and it won't stop you from doing your job well. It should actually help you to do a better job. Pet owners want a vet who really cares about their pet.

I think when people are emotional towards their profession, they make the best choice. If you are unattached and unemotional, what do you care? So, I think if you really love animal, go for it. Now it will take a long time with schooling, but it's worth it. Just think how hard you will try to save each and every animal - You will be a good veterinarian!

This is just me: I went to nursing school for a year, and I was way too emotional towards patients. I went to bed at night thinking about them, and I could not separate it from my home life. I guess some of us are too emotional.

A veterinarian isn't easy to qualify to do one. You need a PHd degree in Animals stuff and it is like being a doctor.

not really.. its the type of animals you work with that worry me i mean if its dogs and cats you are going to be emotional but when you think about it we eat totally different meats to them if you are really worried go speak to a physcarist and see what they say im sure you will be fine happy meat eating (Y)

Well not if you are argry emotional. But if you are like loving emotional, that would prbably help you in that field.

Hi, getting into vet school is very competitive and only the top students are considered. It is NOT a PhD course; it is a 5 year full time undergraduate course, the same as medicine. They want students who excel in mathematics, chemistry, physics etc Biology is not as important as the other three because biology at lower level is often elliptic (i.e. bits left out) so a lot of places prefer to teach you from scratch. If you are analytical and clever then you will do well, regardless of your emotional mercurialness

My vet seems to be very found of animals -all of them. He seems to be the type of person who'd be very sadden by abuse and pain in those animal's life. It's why I love him so much. As a vet, you can report abuse. But you can also be asked to put down an animal without thinking it's nescessary. You can help them heal, but you can also witness some dying. I love animals too. Can't stand the idea of people hitting / abusing those innocent creatures. I'd be glad to know there is a vet somewhere like you ;) Only you know if you can deal with it --change what you can in this world, and accept what you can't. Good luck

Passion is one thing, but being very emotional towards your work is another thing. I empathize really easily with people and their situations, animals too, and even though I think I'd be a good therapist or something, I feel I'd personally would not be able to seperate myself from my work in a certain way that those kinds of professions require you to do (like being a nurse, a doctor, a vetrinatirian, etc...). So, it really depends on you if you think you'll be able to learn where to draw the emotional line or if you can naturally progress to that point. I think,janecat, GentleHands and Kate G make good points too.