Using an echocardiogram machine, staff at the Hope Center for Advanced Veterinary Medicine take ultrasound pictures of the heart of Bubba, a sick Great Dane.

Sierra was feeling terrible. But, unlike a person, she couldn’t describe what hurt. Fortunately, a veterinarian figured out what was ailing the golden retriever.

“She just wanted to eat rocks one day,” veterinarian Karena Joung said with a chuckle.

Although Sierra wasn’t Joung’s patient, the 35-year-old vet has had to extract her share of odd things from dogs’ bellies at the Hope Center for Advanced Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Va.

The center, an emergency hospital for pets, is open 24 hours, seven days a week. Joung works the night shift. Her job starts at 5 p.m. and lasts until 6 a.m.

Joung says she “actually loves” working overnight, because that’s when the more severe cases show up, and she enjoys the challenge.

The number of pet patients she sees in a night varies. On a really busy shift there might be more than 30 — and there is almost always an animal that was hit by a car, and one that ate something bad, such as chocolate.

Figuring out what’s wrong with sick animals can be very difficult. The animal’s problem is not always obvious. The owner might not know what happened, either.

Since Joung is a stranger to them, some dogs and cats don’t want her getting close to them.

“I love the animals, but I realize that they can be afraid of me, and they don’t know why they are here,” she says. Sometimes she offers a treat or sits near the animal until it becomes comfortable with her.

Before going to veterinary school, Joung planned on being a surgeon (for people). She took pre-med courses in college, and after graduation worked toward a master’s degree. After four years as a researcher, she decided to become a vet.

“I just loved working with animals,” she says. “And I realized (that) I could learn surgery and medicine to treat animals as a veterinarian.”

She spent four years at vet school, specializing in small animals (dogs and cats). A year-long internship in emergency medicine followed, and then she joined the Hope Center.

Joung studied a lot, but she says she loves to learn: “I don’t think you can ever say you are prepared for everything. You never know what is going to come through that door. That’s why it’s always good to continue your education.”

The Hope Center offers classes to keep its employees up-to-date on new procedures. There also are classes to help vets learn how to handle the emotional stress from an animal’s death. Joung says that’s one of the most difficult parts of her job, especially because she tries to treat each pet as if it were one of her own (she has two dogs and two cats).

The sadness she feels over an animal that doesn’t make it is balanced by how great it feels when she is able to help someone’s sick or injured pet.

“You see the bond between human and animal” when a pet is handed back to its owner, she says. “It’s so nice to make people and animals happy.”62,000

The number of working veterinarians

in the United States in 2004.

$71,990

The median salary for veterinarians

in 2006 (half made more

than that; half made less).

70 %

Veterinarians in private practices

who mostly treat small animals.

28

The number of U.S. colleges

that offer veterinary medicine.

1 in 3

The number of applicants

accepted into

veterinary school.

Source: U.S. Department

of Labor, 2006.