For Jessica Thiele, the new veterinarian at Jefferson City"s Animal Shelter, making the move from a veterinary hospital is a big move, but a welcome one.
"It's a lot different," she said. "I was looking for something a little different - more time with my family and to make a little bit of a bigger impact in the community, and rescue work is something I've always enjoyed."
Thiele graduated from veterinary school in 2012 and worked the past three years as an associate veterinarian at Woodland Animal Hospital on Jefferson City's east side. Before starting vet school, she and her mother worked with Second Chance, a Columbia organization that seeks "first-class homes for second-class pets."
In private practice, she said, every animal has an owner with expectations and goals for their pets. At the animal shelter, most of the animals don't have owners.
"So it's not as much about the individual," she said. "You have to think about the entire population and disease management, but still thinking about the individuals because they're going to go out and hopefully find their new homes."
Much of her daily work is giving exams and performing surgeries on the dogs and cats at the shelter.
She tests kittens for feline leukemia and feline immunodeficiency virus, and dogs for heart worms. Most of the surgeries are spays and neuters.
So far, the hardest part of the job, she said, is making the sometimes tough calls when deciding whether the animals will make good adoptable pets. That includes their overall health, but a big part of that decision is the temperament of the animal.
Animals that aren't adoptable have to be euthanized.
"I think that's been the hardest part so far, is if we have those borderline cases, maybe we should give them a few more days to see if they warm up. Can we treat this and see how they do? I guess that's been a hard transition for me," she said.
In private practice, if the owners are willing, she could treat virtually anything and continue treatments as long as needed.
Fortunately, she said, most of the pets that enter the shelter are adoptable. "And it's a great feeling knowing that you get to help an animal along and find its new home," Thiele said.
She lives with her husband, Matthew, and son, Alexander.