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Becoming a veterinarian requires 8 years of school, the latter 4 years of which is a grueling curriculum and a clinical year that enables very little sleep. Getting accepted to a veterinary school is 5-7 times more competitive than getting accepted to human medical school. We have to master the individual physiology and medicine of 7 species as opposed to just one, and when we get out of school we will earn 1/3 the income of a human medical doctor.
Why to we go through all this? For the vast majority of veterinarians, we are inspired by a far higher calling than monetary reward. I mean no offense to human medical doctors, as I know many that were inspired in a similar fashion that truly have an innate calling for helping people.
In the case of the veterinarian, our personal experiences and innate passion for animals drive us to a special purpose. In my new book, The Man In The White Coat: A Veterinarian’s Tail Of Love, I open my heart to my readers and tell the “tails” of what drove me to begin the journey that I am still privileged to be travelling.
In this book, I write about a yearning to one day be a veterinarian that started with a series of profound experiences that began at age 3. I take you through times that I lost my way and reasons why I came close to giving up at times.
Ultimately, my path was not straight or remotely conventional, but was filled with twists, turns, and detours along the road not taken. I was blessed with inspirational people in my life that helped me stay the course, and learned important life lessons from some that to the contrary tried to discourage my goals and hinder my progress.
In the end, love won out and my unique path to earning my doctor of veterinary medicine has made me savor the privilege I now live to work in a career that brings me so much joy. It has driven me not only to be a veterinarian, but to own two practices and between my blogs and podcast, have one of the most frequented animal health media platforms in the world; with a readership and listener base that numbers in the hundreds of thousands each year.
Writing my story was an absolutely inspiring experience as I reflected on all of the triumphs and failures, elation and grief I experienced that brought me to where I am today. It made me realize how truly lucky and honored I feel to have the sum total of all of those experiences result in not just achieving, but even surpassing my childhood dreams.
If you choose to purchase a copy and join me on my journey you will also be contributing to animal welfare, as I am donating 5% of my royalties to animal rescue.
Thanks for taking the time to read my blogs, even take moments to comment, or listen to my podcast. My wonderful readers and listeners are one of the biggest inspirations for writing this book and I cherish each and every one of you.
Dr. Roger Welton is a practicing veterinarian, highly regarded media personality through a number of topics and platforms, and author of The Man In The White Coat: A Veterinarian’s Tail Of Love. In addition to being passionate about integrative veterinary medicine for which he is a globally recognized expert, Dr. Welton was also an accomplished college lacrosse player and remains to this day very involved in the sport. He is president of Maybeck Animal Hospital , general partner of Grant Animal Clinic, and runs the successful veterinary/animal health blogs Web-DVM and Dr. Roger’s Holistic Veterinary Care. Dr. Welton fulfills his passion for lacrosse through his lacrosse and sport blog, The Creator’s Game.
I believe we all have our calling and pursuing ones calling leads to fulfilment.. I’m glad you discovered your calling at an early stage and I wish to read your story..thanks for giving us a sneek peek of your new book
To be honest, sometimes I do wonder why medical doctor earn more than veterinary doctor. A veterinary doctor can treat both humans and animals but a medical doctor can only treat humans. But now I get the reason(Love) most people still go for the career.
I couldn’t agree more with your sentiment that vets have a higher calling than just monetary reward. It requires a genuine and pure love for animals.
The fact that you are dedicating 5% of your royalties to animal rescue is very noble and wise. You have my full support 🙂
You are lucky to have got your calling at such a tender age. Many people go through their whole lives without ever knowing what their calling is.
Your sentiment that being a vet is a higher calling than just being after monetary gain is very true. It requires a true and pure love for animals.
Thanks so much for sharing you truly inspiring life story. I will definitely support your animal rescue cause by purchasing a copy of the book. Keep it up and congrats
It’s great that you have chosen to share your journey to becoming a vet and realizing your dreams with the world. The fact that some royalties are dedicated to animals is a big plus from me
This is the inspiring story of someone who set a goal and did all he could to achieve it. I think many people can learn a lot from this and from the book.
I think your new book is a great one for both vets and non vets. It is inspirational and also motivational.
Like any great venture, your path to becoming who you are today was marred with challenges and obstacles. This is very relatable to a lot of people. Your story resonates with very many people.
Nothing is more satisfying than being in a career that brings you joy and satisfaction. I do strive for the same in my life. Thanks for sharing this
I can see why it’s a challenge to become a veterinarian and it requires of dicipline,passion, and love for the animals for being abble to do what’s necesary. Veterinarians has also a big responsability when it comes to treath the animals, many pet owners are not very patient.
You are just amazing! What you are doing is just plain noble and wonderful. I would definitely like to follow your footsteps. Thank you for sharing this!
I’ll be sure to pick up your book. It sure looks inspiring! And great of you to dedicate some of the royalties to the animals!
You are lucky to be so passionate about your career. This is true fulfilment.
Not many people are able to pursue and even surpass their childhood dreams. You are very ambitious to have achieved this and a great role model too.
This is what happens when someone is focused fully on achieving their dreams. Your ambition and determination got you where you are.
How noble of you to dedicate some of the royalties to animal rescue. Thanks for looking out for our animals.
As a fellow animal lover I can totally relate to your passion for animals. Congratulations on publishing such a good book too 🙂
I am an aspiring veterinarian and I find your story very encouraging. I sure hope one day I will be as successful as you are.
Studying medicine sure takes a long time. A whole 8 years. It’s great that it eventually bore fruits for you.
It is nice that you did not pursue a career in vet medicine for the money but rather because of the passion you have for animals. We need more vets like you in the world.
Is the book at now? It would have been nice if you have a site or at least an E-BOOK I can download to read. Anyway, thank you for your story and your dream.
I am happy to see you giving back by dedicating a portion of what you get from the book to animal rescue. Such acts gives me a lot of faith in humanity.