Now, they're just as likely to be in private practice, and there are more of them. A related development is an expansion in the number of specialties. Besides surgery and ophthalmology, there's radiology, oncology, pathology, dentistry, dermatology and others. Like their human medicine counterparts, veterinarians wanting to specialize spend several years in post-graduate residency programs and undergo a certification process. According to Sandy Willis, a veterinary internist and president of Seattle-King Country Veterinary Medical Association, one reason the number of specialists and specialties has grown is extensive research that has pushed back the frontiers of knowledge.
Consumer demand is another reason.
Since people often seek so-called alternative care, it shouldn't come as any surprise that this kind of care exists in veterinarian medicine as well. Seattle veterinarian Donna Kelleher uses chiropractic adjustments and acupuncture to treat her animal patients, many of which have chronic diseases such as kidney or renal failure. In human medicine, many physicians take a dim view of alternative care. Three years ago, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the leading veterinary organization in the United States, adopted a policy making alternative medicine an integral part of veterinary care. Kelleher, like most veterinary specialists, depends heavily on referrals from general practitioners, who regard specialists like her as adjuncts rather than competitors.