Talent Acquisition

Primary Duties:

• Diagnose signs and symptoms of animals with an unknown illness or injury and treat as well as recommend treatments to owners accordingly.
• Converse with owners about animal care and husbandry and answer any questions, comments or complaints they may have about their animals and how to best care for them, as well as recommend treatments, nutrition, or handling to any particular problem animal.
• Perform vaccinations and deworming for herds or flocks of any size.
• Administer wound care and management (e.g. suturing).
• Screen for contagious or zoonotic bovine diseases, which include taking blood and fecal samples and submitting samples to a lab.
• Inspect hot carcasses (freshly killed and gutted livestock) or milk for diseases or abnormalities
• Use ultrasound and x-ray for checking pregnancy, abnormal growths that may be cancerous, or skeletal damage.
• Perform rectal palpations on livestock for pregnancy-checking, pelvic size for determining retainment of replacement heifers and abnormal reproductive tract problems in cows and bulls.
• Prescribe medications and vitamin injections, etc.
• Maintain Herd Health Protocols with various producers in helping with managing regular vaccinations and vitamin injections in various classes of cattle.
• Perform surgical procedures
• Assist with difficult births which may include performing C-sections.
• Conduct male breeding soundness exams and semen testing before males are put out for breeding. Inspect semen quality under a microscope to determine fertility and fecundity of breeding male. Assessment on body condition and health of the male reproductive organs
• Carry out euthanasia for animals that are non-ambulatory and are unable to be treated.
• Perform necropsies on animals euthanized or that died of unknown causes as a means to find out what may have caused the animal to perish.

Skills and Requirements

• Excellent knowledge in animal husbandry, physiology and ethology as a means to safely handle animals and perform operative procedures as safely and efficiently as possible.

Education and Qualifications

Must complete at least two years of undergraduate studies followed by a four-year Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) program. Post secondary schools throughout Alberta offer university transfer programs that allow students to apply up to two years of study toward university bachelor’s degree programs.

The Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) at the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Calgary, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine (UCVM) each accepts 20 Alberta students every year as part of an interprovincial quota system agreement.

Under Alberta’s Veterinary Profession Act and Veterinary Profession General Rules, only registered veterinary members of the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association (ABVMA) may practice as Veterinarians.

Registration requires successful completion of:

• Complete 4-year DVM program
• Pass the North American Veterinary Licensing Examination (NAVLE)
• Require a Certificate of Qualification from the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA).

Graduates from non-accredited universities must complete a Basic Clinical Skills Exam, Clinical Competency Exam and the NAVLE.