OkcPets Magazine July 2023

July / August 2023 • OKC Pets 17 FINDING A CLEAR PATH When I was younger I always imagined that my life would involve animals but the path wasn’t quite clear as to what that would mean. I grew up imagining that I would be a marine biologist because of my love of dolphins, but living in Oklahoma and being somewhat motion sick on a boat likely made that idea a poor choice! Trying to decide on what I wanted to do with my life in high school and early college, I knew my biggest strengths were definitely in biological sciences, and my lifelong interest in conservation and animal welfare made the path much clearer. Veterinary medicine was a natural decision and it’s been an interesting past decade of meeting some fascinating pa- tients and clients. There are of course many bad days and upsetting cases that make you wonder if it’s all worth it, but there are some amazing things that can come out of this profession and it’s absolutely wonderful to be able to make a difference in pets’ and people’s lives! EXPLORING DIVERSE OPPORTUNITIES Veterinary medicine has been a very rewarding career for me. For the last 17 years, this profession has provided me opportu- nities that I never dreamed of when I first fell in love with it at the age of 15. At that time, I dreamed of owning my own general small-animal practice in my hometown. However, my path has been far more diverse than initially anticipated. Following graduation from veterinary school, I was blessed to complete a prestigious one- year internship in small-animal medicine and surgery. This allowed me to work with and learn from some of the greatest experts in our profession. Following this, I was accepted into a three-year veterinary ophthalmology residency. This specialty training allowed me to laser-focus my learning on diseases and surgery of the eye and those systemic diseases that manifest in the eye. Prior to recently return- ing to private veterinary ophthalmology practice, I spent seven years leading our state’s two largest vet- erinary specialty hospitals, one being in academia. This gave me the opportunity to learn from some of our industry’s greatest leaders and business mentors. Now, I own and lead my own veterinary ophthal- mology referral practice in the OKC metro, once again using my training to specif- ically help animals and the people they love. Additionally, this allows me to collaborate with the fantastic family veterinarians in our community. This collaboration, in my opinion, provides the best available care for our beloved pets. In summary, our profession provides numerous and diverse opportunities to ex- plore different niches within it. I encour- age those considering veterinary medicine to dream big and work hard to achieve your goals. BOUNCING FOR JOY I didn’t originally want to be a veterinar- ian. As a little girl, I wanted to be like Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, studying animal behavior. But then I started vol- unteering at my local veterinary clinic, and after seeing my first surgery I knew I wanted to be a veterinarian. When I saw that a veterinarian could heal sick and injured animals and help them to be happy and healthy again, I found my vocation in life. Animals love with all their hearts, and I wanted to help them lead longer, loving lives. There are lots of ways that veterinar- ians can help animals, many specialties where they can apply their own special talents toward animal health. I work with unusual and exotic animals, ev- erything from aardvarks to zebras, with plenty of cats, dogs, and chickens thrown in. But my true passion is veterinary chi- ropractic, helping animals with painful backs and joints to feel better again. Af- ter I found that you can do chiropractic on cats and dogs, that a poor animal who comes into my clinic barely walking can leave bouncing for joy … well, there’s no better feeling in the world! Sarah Begemann, DVM Okoboji Veterinary Hospital Jeff Studer, DVM Veterinary Eye Center of Oklahoma Kimberly Weiss, DVM Healing Hands Veterinary Wellness Center