In recent years Hungary has become a popular tourist destination, famous for its rich cultural history as well as its architecture and nightlife. And with the growth of the University of Veterinary Medicine (formerly a faculty of Szent István University), Budapest is a city that more and more western vet students are calling home.
I met Dániel at his modern clinic at the end of a busy working day. Dániel is a local, who had completed his studies in Budapest. Following gradation, he travelled to the USA to gain experience in various specialty settings, granting him some unique insights into the contrasts between European and American veterinary hospitals. On his return to Hungary, Daniel worked for two years before founding his own clinic, Hungarovet, which he soon plans to expand. We sat down to chat about emerging diseases, pet insurance, and the challenges of serving clients with very diverse expectations.
What is the training like to become a vet in Hungary?
It’s five and a half years [of study]. There’s a five year program then six months of practical studies. You have to go to a large animal clinic, to a small animal clinic, to food hygiene. The university places you in certain areas [for externships].
The Hungarian University of Veterinary Medicine is quite huge, and almost two thirds of the students are foreigners .
And the English program is quite large. Its a huge business for the university because they get money from the foreign students, and then they can build bigger and better facilities. Because of the amount of students that they have, they decided to give the [opportunity] to clinics like us to receive students for part of the practical year. So we became accepted as one of these practices five or six years ago, and we accept a lot of students. [We take] mainly Hungarians, and a few foreign students, because the foreign students mainly go back home for their practicals. They rarely stay in the summer.
When you graduate as a vet in Hungary, are you qualified to work with any species of animal?
Yes, you have the [option]. Actually, after you’ve graduated and spent a certain amount of time in a speciality, you have the possibility to become Fachtierarzt, which is like a smaller, Hungarian specialist. So its not accepted anywhere else in the world, but you can become a small animal, or a horse, or a swine specialist. You can go back to school to do that, and those programs last two or three semesters and you can get another degree. So its not like a board-certified specialist, but its something more than nothing [laughs].
Which species do you treat at your clinic currently?
Cats, dogs and exotics- that’s mainly small mammals like guinea pigs, hamsters, degus, chinchillas, rabbits. People also keep reptiles and birds, but we don’t see them at this clinic. Its a trend now, more and more people are having these small furry things.
And you’ve now been a clinic-owner for a decade. Did you always plan to own your own veterinary clinic?
Yes, I discussed this opportunity with my friend since I was in vet school. So that was always my purpose.
Now, we are looking at building a new clinic. At first we either planned to reduce in size, and focus on a speciality, or to do something bigger. So I will kind of do these two things together, because we are fusing with another clinic and then I can focus on just my speciality, which is ears. So I will see ears only at the new clinic, and also I’ll deal with the management part. I will have the opportunity to focus on my favourite subject but be a part of a bigger thing at the same time.
Is it difficult for foreign vets to become registered to practice in Hungary?
I think its not that hard. You must be an EU citizen, you must be a member of the Hungarian Veterinary chamber. Not a lot of veterinarians would like to come to Hungary to work, because prices are quite cheap here, therefore we cannot pay high salaries. So everybody is moving away from Hungary. Anybody who would like to come here would come from the East, I’m not sure any western veterinarians would come here. But who knows? Maybe in ten years? [laughs]
See the end of the article for further information on veterinary registration in Hungary.
What are some common emergencies that you see here?
In general in Hungary I think hit-by-car, cats falling out of windows from apartments, dog bites. And general thing like GDVs, swallowing things, those things are not country specific. I don’t think we have any special, urgent situations.
I’m a little surprised that you stock Heartworm medication here, as that disease generally associated with slightly more tropical countries. How long has heartworm been an issue of concern in Hungary?
It appeared five or six years ago. It became a very important thing, and we’re seeing more and more cases.
Actually I see more heartworm cases than parvovirus cases. I’ve had at least 20 cases of heartworm. People know all about parvovirus, but they still know very little about heartworm. So if you put it on a scale, heartworm is getting more important.
The interesting thing is that people know about parvo, so everybody comes in yearly for the vaccination. But they know little about heartworm. They don’t know that you have to be tested, they don’t know you have to use the tablets or the spot-on every month. And its more expensive to do the test and keep up to date than the vaccination. So its an upcoming problem.
Yes, even in the UK we’re seeing more cases of tropical-associated disease in the last few years.
Yeah. Italy is quite near, Greece is quite near, and they have diseases that we didn’t have [in Hungary}. Like Leishmania, and again, I’ve had two cases now. Both of them area cases of people who just came back from holiday in Greece, so you have to think about that too. A lot of Hungarians go on holiday to the Mediterranean, and there are disease there that are not common in Hungary yet. Now they say that those mosquitoes are travelling up, so I think that in ten years we will see cases that are from Hungary, and not just brought from other locations.
That’s an issue we don’t tend to see so much in the UK, as people are much less likely to take pets with them when they go on holidays.
Yes, people tend to always be travelling south with their pets, where all those diseases are. People don’t want to travel to Germany for holidays, you know.
Are there any cultural challenges that you face while working in Hungary?
Speaking about my clinic here, I’d answer no, there are no issues.
But if I was to give you an answer as a Hungarian veterinarian, I would say that the way that people in Hungary think about pets is constantly changing.
Right now, I’d say its like a two-engine car. The younger generation and the caring older ones, think about their pets as their relatives, as their children or whatever, and they are willing to do everything for them- financially, emotionally and everything. And I am the lucky one, because this clinic is positioned to serve mainly those clients. So when somebody comes in, its not hard for me to persuade them to buy this test, to do this, to do that, even if its expensive.
But to tell the truth- yes, there are areas in Hungary, even districts in Budapest, where its hard to even explain that the rabies shot is essential. We wouldn’t be able to speak about how to manage heartworm or stuff like that, so even if they go to the vet once yearly to get their vaccine shot, then they are happy.
Its quite interesting, even in Budapest there are quite a few vets who have to face that challenge- that a part of their clientele are below that line, and part of them is above that line. You have to speak with both of them, sometimes within the same hour. And you have to persuade one person to do a cardiac surgery, then the next person you have to persuade to get the rabies shot because it is compulsory, or you know, to worm your dog at least once every five years. And they are from the same district, you know, so that’s a challenge.
But its constantly changing. I think in ten or fifteen years, the majority will be more pet owners who are willing to do everything for their pets. But sometimes now it can be interesting, you have interesting conversations, I’m optimistic.
Is pet insurance something that is common here?
We have one or two insurance companies that carry that product. But right now we only have pet insurance as part of a general house insurance. So if you own a flat or house, you can pay a little extra so your pet is covered as well. But this insurance is quite limited.
The problem is, the veterinary prices are quite low. They are way lower than they should be. So if you take your pet to a clinic to where prices are just normal, which is way higher than the average, you pay your bill, you take your invoice and give it to the insurance company, and they say “Oh, its very high”.
And then probably they will pay it, but probably a couple weeks later you’ll get a letter that cancels your insurance, even for your flat. They don’t want to deal with you any more. And that’s after just one problem. So its not easy! But at the same time, the little bit that you have to pay on your house insurance is quite low, so you get what you’re paying for. And insurance companies, we spoke with them. They think, and they are right, that the market is so small yet, that they are not willing to do it.
The other problem is that people, how do I put it. [People] like to cheat sometimes. And I hope that the majority of veterinarians are not helping them. But there could be a few cases where people could cheat with their insurance. So I’ll give you an example- with spay and neutering, they take the dog and ask the vet, could you please write ‘pyometra’ on the paperwork instead of spay? And 95% of veterinarians would say “No”. But there is five percent who would say “why not?” So that’s a problem.
So giving documentation for the client can also be an issue. It is not compulsory in Hungary for the veterinarian to give the client documentation or to record a medical history.
. We are now trying to convince the Hungary Veterinary Chamber to change this, to make this compulsory for all vets. And the insurance companies have problems seeing if claims are valid or not, because even if [ets] do give documentation its not very detailed, because its not compulsory..
Its a hot topic. So, we are trying to convince first, vets, to give documentations, to keep medical histories. We tried to raise our prices at the same time, we will need to speak with the insurance companies so we can tell them we’re trying to do things right and be as transparent as we can, so you can start to build up you products, for the sake of everybody. But right now, its just a small segment. And actually, its a loss leader I think, for the insurance companies.
Are there any laws that effect the way you work as a vet in Hungary? For example, are there any illegal pets, or drugs that you have trouble sourcing?
Yeah, we follow the Hungary Veterinary Bill, and the Hungarian Veterinary Chamber has rules we have to follow. So yeah we have quite a few.
[In terms of sourcing medications], if you are a veterinarian, you can source any drug you like, pretty much. So what medical doctors can use, you can use as well. But there is a rule that if there’s a drug for animals, and there’s a drug for humans, you should always start with the animals one first- pretty much like the United States or the UK. If there is no registered drug for the species that you need to treat, than you can still use the human drug, but you will have to sign the paperwork to say that it is used off label.But human medicine is quite often cheaper with the same ingredients [compared to veterinary medications]. And then some veterinarians tend to prescribe the human drug but not the animal drug, when its pretty much the same. But legally, its not acceptable.
Its funny, because if you are a medical doctor in Hungary, you cannot necessarily prescribe all the medications that might be available to humans, because there area quite a lot of rules. For example if you are a cardiac surgeon, you may not be able to also prescribe eye medicine to a person. But me, as a veterinarian, I can walk into a pharmacy and buy anything I want. The problem is that I have to pay full price. If you are a medical doctor writing a prescription, the state will pay for most of it, and the client will pay only a little. But you have to write it only in your area of speciality. As a veterinarian, I can write anything, but then they have to pay the full price. So it will be more expensive.
What kind of role do vet nurses fulfil the clinic? Do they need to undergo training to work as a vet nurse or vet tech?
It’s changing a little bit. A few years ago they created a rule for veterinary technicians that they have to be registered, but to tell the truth, there is a register, and it contains only 30 or so names for the whole country. So its something they want, but there [has been] no official training for veterinary nurses. The university just started to have official training for them. But there are small public companies who started to train technicians.
But again if I wanted to hire someone as a technician, I would rather hire somebody who I accept as a human being, and they behave appropriately- I’d rather see that in somebody than see them with some paper that said they are a registered technician. I would rather train them by my standards than to accept the training of a company who I don’t really trust. Because even if they train them how to put an IV catheter in, maybe that’s totally different to the way that I would do it. So I don’t really see the need that the technicians that I hire should have a paper. I’d rather hire somebody who I trust, and I train him.
To tell you the truth I would be happy if there were any good technician training opportunities in Hungary, but right now I don’t see any. So right now, its like a hot topic, because [technicians] make us as veterinarians better.
So it would be very good if we had very good technicians who we could use from the moment we hired them. But right now, its not the case.
Yes, I think in a lot of countries, the Veterinary Technicians profession is still not as protected as it should be, like in the UK and USA where they are trained to a very high level.
Yes, they walk in the door, and if you like them, you just hire them, and they just work. And again, in the United States where I worked, I saw that if there’s a clinic where there is one vet, there might be five technicians or nurses. And one of the vet techs will be trained and registered, and the others are just clinic trained staff. And the registered one is very good because he or she can train the others. So when you hire somebody, you can let your registered nurse train the others. So its an easy thing.
What do you think is the greatest challenge facing the Hungarian veterinary industry at the moment?
Prices. Prices are unacceptable, very very low. Like totally low [laughs].
And its hard because at the same time, the clients go online, and they see the same [procedures and treatments] as the American clients and the UK clients receive. And they expect us to do the same thing. They watch the animal planet, they see all the stuff on the internet, and they think that we should provide the same care for their pets. But at that price, we can’t. Its very hard.
Do you think your plans to combine your clinic into a bigger hospital model will help with that issue?
It will help in a way that it’ll be a clean sheet. So when we move in we’ll be able to start at a higher price, and we can tell clients “Look around. Look what you get for your money”.
So right now, we should at least double the prices of everywhere in Hungary. Everybody should double their prices, to start, but that’s not possible. We did try in the past but its very hard.
In the UK and Australia, we are facing a shortage of experienced vets. Do you have that same problem in Hungary at the moment?
It’s a good question. If I wanted to give a short answer, I would say yes.
But its a very complex issue. To tell the truth, I don’t think we need more vets. We need more good vets, we need more good technicians, and that would solve our problem. Not just letting more under-trained veterinarians just flood the market.
What advice would you give to a young vet who has just gradated in Hungary about how to enjoy their career, and how to make the most of it?
That’s a good question. Well, as a clinic owner, I’m looking for graduates who are willing to learn even in their free time and are very dedicated to this profession. People who are willing, just like I was, for the first three or four years to accept that this is not just about having fun- this is about learning a lot, and giving up a lot of things. Its about giving up free time and giving up money. So that after five or six years, they can get more interesting cases and get more money.
Right now, what I see is that somebody will finish school, and they think that they should earn a lot of money, have a lot of free time, and its just not the case.
So I think that the most important thing is to be willing to put in a little extra work. Having only the degree itself is not enough.
I find that being a vet is a lifestyle, as much as a job.
Yeah. And so that’s what I’m searching for in a new graduate. And if they want to get hired in a good place, then that place would want to have vets that are willing to work extra hours if needed. And its not about taking advantage of people, but seeing that they are willing to put in extra. And they, the clinic itself will put extra into them in the long run. So its a win-win situation after a few years.
But its a generation thing. Younger generations don’t want to stick to the same workplace as generation X and the baby-boomers did, they like to flow from here to there. And this is the nightmare for a clinic owner. So its not easy.
So you’re saying that if young vets are willing to put more into their careers, they’ll, then they’ll get more out of it?
Sure absolutely.
Thank you so much for that advice and for your time in this interview. Its been really interesting hearing about your experiences.
Further Information
Studying Veterinary Medicine in Hungary
If you’re thinking of pursuing your veterinary studies in Hungary, you’ll find plenty of information on the website for the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest.
There are also many accounts online of students who have graduated from the university, including students from the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Praticing as a Vet in Hungary.
I got in touch with the Hungarian Veterinary Chamber in 2019, to find out whether it was possible for foreign vets to work in the country.
For a foreign-trained vet to practice in Hungary, they must:
- be a full practicing member of the Hungarian Veterinary Chamber
- gain an official recognition of their diploma by the Hungarian Education Office
- be a citizen of one of the countries of the European Economic Community (EU+Norway,Switzerland).
- hold professional liability insurance also valid in Hungary,
- show a certificate of good professional standing from all countries where the applicant has previously worked as veterinarian.
- Fluency in Hungarian is not a requirement, although this is the only language spoken in the majority of clinics.
If you’re interested in learning more about becoming registered as a vet in Hungary, get in touch with the Hungarian Veterinary Chamber. Most of their website is in Hungarian, but you can contact them via email with any enquirues: maok@t-online.hu
Want to read more interviews with Vets who work in fascinating parts of the world, like Sweden, Dubai, Sri Lanka and the Galapagos? Head back to the Global Vet Interviews page now!
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