Answer. All veterinary surgeons receive the same basic training so that they are competent to deal with all domesticate species. These are chiefly they meat producing animals (cattle sheep and pigs) and the companion animals (horse dogs and cats) cats and dogs are together with other smaller pet animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters, are referred to professionally as ‘small animals’ whilst the other species are known as ‘large animals’. Poultry, exotic animals and fish are also dealt with in veterinary training but less extensively.
After qualification, some vets feel that they would prefer to treat all these species of animals in order to utilize all that they have learned, and consequently they take employment in a “mixed practice” i. e. one treating both large and small animal. Others prefer to deal solely with either small or large and therefore may establish, or find employment in, a practice which concentrates on that particular group. Alternatively, they ma work with other veterinarian in a mixed practice but take responsibility for jut the small or large animals patients.
Increasingly there are tendency for fore vets to concentrate on just one species; this is particularly so in the large animal field and there are, for example a numbers of specialist equine practices. In general, small animals practices will treat both cats and dogs, although in North America there is a trend towards purely feline specialists .At the present time in Great Britain the governing body of the veterinary profession, the Royal College of veterinary surgeons, is still formulating its idea about specialization and current no British is able to describe himself is a specialist in any particular field, even through this may be so.
However, a telephone call on your local veterinary practice will usually establish whether one or more of the veterinarians has a special interest in small animals, and in particular in cats. In North America interested veterinary surgeons are often members of the America Association of feline practitioners, and in Britain veterinary surgeons, as will as the member of the public, may belong to the Feline Advisory Bureau. However, it is not easy to establish that a vet is member either society, nor in fact does it indicate any thing more then an interest in cats.
Veterinary practices in urban areas invariably solely or predominantly concerned with treating small animals. The term hospital; implies the provision of certain faculties over and above those of a routine practice.
Finally, the recommendation of other cat owners is valuable in choosing a veterinary surgeon to treat your pet, for example, friends neighbors or fellow members of a club devoted to cat owning or breeding. Certainly, once you have found a veterinary surgeon that you find helpful and sympathetic and in whom you have confidence, you should take his advice.
