Well over here you're unlikely to switch from one to another as you enrol for both human medicine and veterinary medicine age 18 after school. You can take a year out first of course, and it's not impossible to be a late starter but they're not the easiest of courses to be accepted on if you're a bit older. And I think having dropped out of one or the other would make it pretty impossible to get onto the other. However, I did have a friend who wanted to be a doctor for as long as I knew her (since age 11) but when she did work experience age 17 decided she wanted to be a vet instead. She got accepted at a prestigious university to study to be a vet but after her first year changed her mind again and switched to the human medicine course at the same university.
I do think being a vet is harder than being a doctor because there is more than one species involved. Vets have to learn the anatomy of several species and understand what medicines are appropriate for which species, differences in dosage etc.
I'd expect vets to like animals, but the attraction of being a vet probably lies in the science and detective work needed to diagnose a sick animal as much as in being fond of animals. A certain amount of emotional detachment is probably needed too given that many patients will die.
I remember taking a sick hamster to a vet several years ago to be put to sleep. It was a weekend so I had to go to a different branch that was open on a saturday and not the vet who had seen the hamster previously. The vet was a huge, tough looking man but one of the gentlest I've encountered. He took my hamster into his hands and looked close to tears as he admitted that pts was the best option. I could tell he would loved to have been able to save him and valued even the smallest life. That meant a lot to me at the time.
I do think being a vet is harder than being a doctor because there is more than one species involved. Vets have to learn the anatomy of several species and understand what medicines are appropriate for which species, differences in dosage etc.
I'd expect vets to like animals, but the attraction of being a vet probably lies in the science and detective work needed to diagnose a sick animal as much as in being fond of animals. A certain amount of emotional detachment is probably needed too given that many patients will die.
I remember taking a sick hamster to a vet several years ago to be put to sleep. It was a weekend so I had to go to a different branch that was open on a saturday and not the vet who had seen the hamster previously. The vet was a huge, tough looking man but one of the gentlest I've encountered. He took my hamster into his hands and looked close to tears as he admitted that pts was the best option. I could tell he would loved to have been able to save him and valued even the smallest life. That meant a lot to me at the time.