What are the options if you want to work with animals but not within the vet industry? Maggie and Vanessa discuss a myriad of different careers including animal physiotherapists, zoo-keeping, sheep shearing and even AI – artificial insemination! What does an equine dental technician do? What the difference between an animal behaviourist and an animal trainer? How do you get into conservation work? All these questions are answered including information on what qualifications and work experience are needed. A love of animals is not enough so the importance of resilience, pragmatism and sheer hard work is added to the mix to help you decide what role might be right for you.

And here's the links we refer to for animal trainers and behaviourists:

• The Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors - APBC
• The Animal Behaviour and Training Council - ABTC
• Certificated Clinical Animal Behaviourists - CCAB (Apologies we may have got this acronym slightly wrong in the podcast!)

It’s many people’s dream to work with animals but it’s a very competitive sector, not often well paid and certainly isn’t all playing with fluffy kittens! Vanessa and Maggie discuss the trials and tribulations of working with animals and getting into vet school. Do you really have to be a straight A student or are there other routes to fulfil your ambition? Is it true that the most difficult thing about working with animals is the people? Would our hosts go for the same career if they had their time over again? They also discuss other roles in vet practice such as the vital part vet nurses play along with animal care assistants, receptionists and practice managers.

If you want to find out more about becoming a vet or vet nurse, please visit one of the following links for more information: RCVS, BVA, BVNA and the Veterinary Schools Council.

It’s great to have varying perspectives so we’re pleased to have our first podcast guest, Nicky Trevorrow. Nicky is a qualified animal behaviourist at Cats Protection and a registered veterinary nurse. In this episode we chat about how she became a behaviourist and what her role involves. She tells us why cats are her passion and what are the main challenges of working with this intriguing species. She shares lots of tips to set your cat up to be the purrrfect companion.