Veterinary Science involves the science and art of diagnosing, treating, and caring of sick animals. It covers all types of diseases and treatments in small animals, birds, and big mammals. This applied science generally covers the health and care of all living creatures in the animal Kingdom, from crawling, walking, swimming, and to flying creatures.
Veterinary science practitioners or commonly called veterinary doctors, performs surgery as well as almost all types of treatment in human medicine to the animals. Veterinary doctors also cover breeding; genetic engineering, as well as caring for livestock or mass produced animals for human consumption. However, perhaps veterinary doctors are most famous in treating and caring of all types of animal pets. They also have the power to prescribed medicine and council pet owners as to the proper care and handling of their pets.
The requirement in entering a veterinary science degree is basically a good understanding of the knowledge underpinning animal health. This requirement varies from country to country, but basically in general all countries require a basic four year degree preferably related to biology, physics, and chemistry. Students have the option to enter either a coursework or a research program depending on the offerings of the school.
In the United Kingdom for instance, the approximate subsidized annual cost of studying veterinary science is about £3,000 that covers tuition and related cost, while international applicants to UK schools are in to pay the full fee of about £15,000 per annum. The cost of studying veterinary science in the United States is estimated to be at the range of US$9,500 to US$30,000 per academic year. On average, student may pay an annual tuition of US$15,500.
The top veterinary science schools in the United States are Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine. In Asia, among the top veterinary schools are the Punjab Agricultural University College of Veterinary Science in India and the University of the Philippines, Los Baños, College of Veterinary Medicine.
The graduates of veterinary science may enter private practice by offering clinical services or by joining big veterinary hospitals. They can also join the government service by becoming meat as well as poultry inspectors, and disease prevention and control workers. Big companies involved in the development of drugs for both human and of course animal medicine does need top caliber veterinary doctors also. Feed and feed product developments as well as bio-labs involve in animal breeding are also another great destination for veterinary science graduates.
