Four weeks into the Cutting Edge programme and our 12 recruits have just embarked on their mentored shifts in Vets Now’s pet emergency clinics and 24/7 hospitals.

Our latest quickfire Q&A is with Ana Calderon, who is from Santander in Spain and is currently gaining essential frontline experience in our busy Farnham clinic.

Ana decided on a career in ECC because of the opportunity it offers to practice both medicine and surgery. If you would like to follow in Ana’s footsteps, you can sign up for Cutting Edge here.

Name: Ana Calderon

Hometown: Santander, Spain

Where did you go to university? Leon, Spain

Why did you decide to become a vet? The same reason that many people do – I love animals. I’ve been surrounded by animals from a young age as not only did we have pets at home, but everyone in my grandparent’s village owned cows and sheep. I’ve wanted to be a vet since I was four years old and I guess I’ve just never found anything else that’s interested me more.

How did you end up at Vets Now? Before I graduated from university, I was awarded a grant to visit London and see a practice there. I fell in love with the country and decided to stay in the UK after I’d graduated. I then started working for a charity before moving to a large veterinary business. I ended up doing locum work, but I wanted to focus on a particular field of veterinary medicine and found that ECC combined medicine with surgery – something that I really enjoy. After speaking with two of my friends who already worked for Vets Now, I decided to apply for Cutting Edge.

What’s the most enjoyable thing about being a vet? Discharging pets who we’ve brought back from the brink. There is no feeling like handing an owner a pet who had been hospitalised or required surgery and seeing the joy on their faces.

 

Why do you want to work in emergency and critical care? I’ve always found ECC to be quite challenging, and I wanted to improve my confidence in this area. But what finally pushed me into applying for Cutting Edge was my desire to specialise in a particular field. With ECC I have the opportunity to practice medicine as well as performing surgeries – something that really appeals to me as I enjoy both.

What would be your advice to someone who is thinking of becoming a vet? You have to think about it carefully. The degree is very hard to achieve, and the job is even more difficult. It can be frustrating at times, but if you’re willing to put in hard work, then it can be a very rewarding career.

What are your hobbies? I love to travel the world and see new, exciting places. I also enjoy scuba diving.

Tell me an interesting fact no one else knows about you? I absolutely hate getting up early, a fact that makes working at Vets Now all the more appealing!