Veterinary medicine is a broad term that has developed practices aimed at maintaining and restoring the health, healing and research of animals and is mainly concerned with these issues. This includes classical treatments, the development of medicines and operations on and for animals.
Veterinary medicine is a large scientific field that deals with the health of animals. The study is a very demanding and instructive career path.
The basics of veterinary medicine studies are natural science, biology and physiology. In the natural science subjects, detailed physical, chemical and botanical (with regard to food and poison sources) knowledge is dealt with. The anatomical-physiological subjects deal with anatomy, tissue science and the basics of animal breeding. Building on this, the causes, development and treatment of diseases in animals are then dealt with. Thus, one is taught skills in diagnosis, examination, treatment, and the use of imaging techniques.
Internships are also an essential part of the programme.
Most veterinary medicine courses are divided into bachelor's and master's degrees according to the Bologna principles. While many fundamentals are taught in the bachelor's programme, more specialisations are offered in the master's programme. Basically, students can choose between three options: 1. they can specialize in small animals, 2. they can specialize in large and farm animals and 3. they can focus on research. This also results in the possibility for many graduates to follow up their studies with a PhD.
Most veterinary graduates will begin their careers in small, large and farm animal practices. In addition, employment opportunities are also available in public veterinary services, such as food monitoring, animal welfare, animal disease control, health surveillance and hygiene consulting, or food production.
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