Is there a job where you can rescue stray dogs/cats and nurse them back to health?

Do a search on rescue animal shelters in your area.

Veterinarian. Zoos, farms, pet owners, shelters, circuses – they all need vets!

The recent book and move Water for Elephants is about a vet.

What an honorable field to consider. It’s time to start doing some research on your end. From what is shown on the Animal Cops shows, the rescue part isn’t pretty, and it is often dangerous and really sad. As for nursing them back to health, look into what it takes to work at an animal shelter, where you would be able to work with them on a daily basis until they are adopted, or…well, the other potential outcome.

At your age, you could do some volunteer work at an animal shelter and possibly at a wildlife rehabilitation center. You might also look into getting a job at a veterinarian’s office. It would be a great opportunity to see the reality, as well as learn about potential careers. My niece just graduated with a degree in biology and is now working at a safari zoo, where she is being taught to care for wild animals.

Where I live, you can get voluntary work at the animal shelter taking dogs for walks and playing with the cats/kittens. Check that out.

You might not get paid (at least at first) but it will be a great way to get some experience and see if you like working with animals. Also, check out your local vet and see if they need help even with cleaning out the cages and the like. Not nice work but great on your resume and if you hate doing that work, at least you will know a career in that field might not be for you. If you do a good job though, you may end up with a. a paid job and b. some really good experience and c. you will be helping animals.

I’m not sure if vets do this – but I recall seeing a documentary where professional therapists work with animals with behavioral issues, helping to rehabilitate or socialize them. I think the program I watched also had something to do with training some of these animals to work with human patients in animal-assisted therapies – pretty life-transforming stuff for both human patients and animal helpers concerned! It might be worth looking into or asking your librarian for help in locating such info. I’m afraid I watched the program quite a while back and can’t recall much else about it.

To add to what everyone said—later on when you’re older, or with your parents’ involvement you can join a breed rescue network, like a “Boxer Rescue” or “Pug Rescue”—they’re organizations that focus on rescuing specific breeds and are intensely knowledgable about that particular breed. They’re always looking for foster families for those dogs—people who will take in the dog, retrain and resocialize them, then when the dog is adopted, meet the new family and hand the dog over. It’s not a job for everyone because you take care of the dog, then give it away to it’s ‘forever home,’ but it’s a way to really rescue an animal and nurse them back to health as you want to do.

Study very hard to get the best grades in college and become a veterinarian. I went for it but didn’t get good enough grades in college to be a veterinarian but there were other options available to me with my Zoology major. I now work in a hospital laboratory testing human specimens (blood, urine, stool, microbial cultures, etc.). Good luck to you!