If you are looking for a doggone great career and have a true passion for animals, then perhaps you should consider the growing career benefits upon completion from one of many veterinarian colleges across the country.  If your love of animals truly makes you realize that dogs are man's best friend, then enrolling in an accredited veterinarian college may just give you a new "leash" on life.

As a student in a veterinarian college, you will learn the components of diagnosing animal health problems; how to vaccinate them against diseases, treat and dress wounds, set fractures, and even perform surgery.

What You'll Learn at Veterinarian Colleges
According to the American Medical Veterinary Association, more than 70 percent of students who have graduated from veterinarian colleges and who predominantly work in private practice maintain a focus on the care of small animals, such as dogs and cats. These veterinarians may also treat birds, reptiles, rabbits, and ferrets.

Some graduates of veterinarian colleges may work exclusively with large animals, such as horses and cattle. These practitioners usually drive to farms and ranches to provide the veterinarian services for herds or individual animals.  These veterinarians test for and provide vaccination against diseases and advise farm or ranch owners on animal production, feeding, and any housing issues. The skills these veterinarians acquired through attending veterinary college allow them to treat these farm or ranch animals for wounds, perform certain surgeries, and even conduct cesarean sections on birthing animals.

While enrolled as a student in one of the veterinarian colleges across the country, you can expect to learn how to use medical equipment, surgical instruments, and diagnostic equipment. Some graduates of veterinarian colleges move into a career of research, using a full range of sophisticated laboratory equipment.

Working as a Licensed Veterinarian
Graduates of veterinarian colleges who decided to open their own private or clinical practice must be prepared to work long hours at times in a noisy indoor environment.  Sometimes the pet owner can be quite emotional or demanding, and dealing with these types of situations may not always be learned within the classrooms of a veterinarian college.  You must also have compassion for people who are extremely passionate about their four-legged companions.

Veterinarians who opt for working in nonclinical environments upon graduation from veterinary college experience working conditions most similar to those of other professionals, such as clean, well-lit offices or laboratories, and they spend more of their time engaging with people as opposed to animals.

In order to become a veterinarian, you must earn a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and obtain a state license.  The competition for admission to most veterinary schools is great, but if you have the drive and the ambition, it does not have to be a dog-eat-dog competition.

The prerequisites for admission to most veterinary colleges can vary.  Many veterinary colleges do not require a bachelor's degree for entrance, but all require a specific number of credit hours, anywhere from 45 to 90 semester hours, at the undergraduate level. However, most students admitted to veterinary colleges have already completed an undergraduate program of some kind.

By 2006, veterinarians held 62,000 jobs, some in private practice and some in group practice. Some veterinarians hold faculty positions at the veterinarian colleges.  With about 2,700 graduates from veterinarian colleges each year, the job opportunities are excellent, and annual earnings for licensed veterinarians range from $43,530 to more than $133,150.