Welcome to Our All About Careers Homeschool Social Studies Course

Course Sample for Our All About Careers Homeschool Social Studies Course

My Life as a Veterinarian

Hi! My name is Dr. Brad Christensen, and I am a veterinarian. I grew up in rural Wyoming where large animals were an important part of our lives. The people living around us were ranchers, and since my father is also a veterinarian, I spent a lot of time working alongside our neighbors as they cared for cattle, horses, and sheep. You can say I’ve been around animals my whole life. For example, in the Dakotas, llamas are commonly used to herd sheep. They take really good care of the sheep and will courageously chase away coyotes! You can imagine how helpful llamas are to sheep farmers. These valued animals work alongside the farmers and are given regular medical care. I was able to care for many of them and alpacas, too, while I was at school.

Figure 1. This child is feeding a baby llama some carrots. This llama will grow up and be a working llama some day.

Have you ever seen bison? These mammals have a thick, wooly coat which means they’re better suited for cold-weather climates. Bison1 are big and can weigh between 1,500 and 2,200 pounds. In addition to that heft, they are wild and dangerous and strong. They’ll charge right through a fence or ram a truck! Well, Canadian ranchers, who keep big herds of bison just as we do cattle, had bought a herd from Wyoming (my home state).2 My father was hired to test the animals prior to sending them across the Canadian/American border, in large part, because we owned a big rodeo arena which the ranchers planned to keep the herd of bison in. They had to stay about three or four days to allow us to get all the work done, and the entire time, a full-time welder was there repairing the fences the bison kept destroying! My father and I drew blood from these animals for testing and vaccinated3 all of them as fast as we could. Even though bison are called domestic4 animals, they are still pretty wild!

Figure 2. Here is my father, working on a bison. Can you see how the horns are tied with rope? The bison must be still while the small amount of blood for the test is drawn. This doesn’t hurt him but rather keeps him from getting scared and hurting himself or my dad. Only a little bit of blood is drawn for tests. It won’t hurt him at all.

Right now, I work in the city as a small-animal veterinarian. My average day consists of examining pets and giving vaccines to little puppies and kittens. I deliver baby animals, and when they’re born, we rub them with towels, suction liquid out of their throats, and help them start to nurse milk from their mothers. I also perform spay and neuter surgery,5 fix broken bones, deal with illness, and manage the animal hospital where sick pets are on IVs6 and need liquid medications and sometimes X-rays.

Figure 3. This is an X-ray of a turtle. A turtle’s top shell is called a “carapace,” and its lower shell is called a “plastron.” The X-ray allows us to see what is going on inside the turtle without hurting him. Turtles are reptiles and lay eggs.