Dr. Marc Kramer built a veterinary career around birds, starting with a Cornell class on animal behavior that sent him into field ecology work on a remote seabird island in Alaska and in the rainforests of Panama. He later implanted radio transmitters in sea otters during open abdominal surgery aboard a rocking boat off the coast of Alaska, and eventually turned his passion for birds into an international ecotourism company, Birding by Bus, with his wife Eliana. He moved into relief practice in 2008 after burning out on emergency call, and has stayed there since. This profile first ran on Relief Rover, the relief-vet community platform that joined Hound in 2023.
In His Own Words
What inspired you to become a veterinarian?
"From rattling off the names of every dinosaur at the age of two, I've always been mesmerized by the animal world. During my college days at Cornell, I embraced the opportunity to steer my career toward working with animals, though I was unsure of exactly which direction I would take. Thanks to a number of inspiring college courses, I became fascinated with birds. One class in particular was extremely influential for me, Bio 221, Intro to Animal Behavior, taught by several enthusiastic professors doing field defining research in behavioral ecology. Soon thereafter, I found myself immersed in avian field work on a remote seabird island in Alaska, then in the neotropical rainforests of Panama, and later doing shorebird work at a wetland in Northern California. Those formative days set into motion an unrelenting enthusiasm for birds. Rather than push my career toward becoming a bird biologist, I put a unique twist on my interests and pursued a veterinary path where I could concentrate on birds and wildlife conservation issues. I did in fact become a veterinarian focused on the medical care of birds, wildlife, and unusual pets, though my career today spans other veterinary disciplines as well."
Dr. Marc Kramer
What states are you licensed in, or working to obtain licensure within?
"FL, NY, AK, UT, and OK, active, plus IN and WA, inactive."
Dr. Marc Kramer
What roles have you had within the veterinary profession, and outside of it?
"I work within two niche fields, avian and exotic medicine and high volume spay and neuter surgery, and have been doing it on a relief basis since 2008. Outside of veterinary medicine, my passion for birds has brought me back to my roots and taken me on other parallel paths. In 2018, I began taking side jobs as a birdwatching guide, a dream job that has always been on my bucket list. Fortunately my relief schedule has allowed me to pursue other interests like this and add some diversity and balance to my life. Along with my wife Eliana, we started an ecotourism company called Birding by Bus and now lead birding tours internationally."
Dr. Marc Kramer
What made you switch to relief practice?
"After a decade working in avian and exotic private practice, I began to experience some burnout. I was working full time, taking overnight and emergency call five days a week, and working two out of three weekends. Difficult euthanasias, along with the all too common problems we see in the keeping of exotic pets (poor husbandry and diet, the mistakes often made in keeping unusual pets in captivity, behavioral problems that result from wild animals confined to cages) really got to me. It all took its toll, and I needed an escape and a chance to pursue other life interests. I left my first job as an associate vet and took a whole year off from practice to road trip around the US, from Florida to Alaska and back, in a 1978 Volkswagen Bus. What a way to experience life. After that break, I came back down to earth and was hesitant to leap right back into another full time job as an associate. I slowly began working relief jobs, and I knew pretty quickly this was how I wanted to proceed with my career."
Dr. Marc Kramer
What are your favorite things about being a relief vet?
"The flexibility of the schedule, and just being able to call the shots on when and where I work. I especially love the flexibility to take on a diversity of different jobs, and when an interesting opportunity comes up that involves booking a block of time, I can just do it. In the past decade, I spent three months in Ecuador managing a nature reserve in the Andean cloud forest, a month working on a boat implanting radio transmitters in sea otters in Alaska, and several blocks of work doing spay and neuter outreach to remote communities in the US and abroad. In 2018, I took my second year long sabbatical from practice and did yet another cross country road trip to Alaska, along with getting married and completing a birding big year. These life experiences are made possible by the schedule that comes with working as an independent contractor."
Dr. Marc Kramer
What are your least favorite things about being a relief vet?
"There aren't many negatives, but I do miss having long-term follow up on my cases and seeing them through over a longer period of time. There is also the uncertainty of having work available and a steady income. Fortunately, I have been doing relief for 12 years, and the only time this was an issue was the first three months after COVID-19 started, when work opportunities really tanked. I have been fortunate in that I have always been able to find relief work, and sometimes, when a relief job comes to an end, the end of one opportunity has always been the start of another for me."
Dr. Marc Kramer
How do you feel that relief practice supports the veterinary profession as a whole?
"It is a much needed niche that supports many different disciplines within our profession. Full time practice owners and associates need time off here and there, whatever the case may be. We help fill in the gaps and provide essential support for those times when the regular DVM staff need to be away."
Dr. Marc Kramer
What supplies or equipment do you bring with you on the job?
"I keep it very basic. My smartphone has a lot of essential apps and books on it that I use regularly, including Plumb's, digital books on surgery and bandaging techniques, and some basic notes on drug doses. I do not know what I would do without my smartphone camera for snapping case photos when I need a consult, and just having internet access to look things up. I usually have my stethoscope and headlamp too, and do snacks count as supplies?"
Dr. Marc Kramer
What is your most memorable relief job?
"A few years back, I took a job implanting radio transmitters in sea otters off the coast of Southeast Alaska. We administered general anesthesia and did full open abdominal surgery on a rocking boat. We cleaned instruments with frigid cold sea water. What an experience."
Dr. Marc Kramer
What advice would you give new relief vets, or someone thinking about becoming one?
"First things first, establish a good foundation of veterinary medicine with a full time job at one practice. It is important to understand consistency and long-term follow up with cases and clients, and it really helps you set a baseline you can draw from once you are in the relief world."
Dr. Marc Kramer
How has the global pandemic affected your relief practice?
"During the first two to three months of COVID, requests for relief work really bottomed out for me. That was the first time in more than 12 years of doing relief that I did not have much work available. In retrospect, it was not really a bad thing that I was not working much those months, given the strong push to stay home and avoid contact with others. I actively sought out new facilities to work with, some of them a little farther from home, and now my workload is pretty much back to normal."
Dr. Marc Kramer
What are your hobbies and passions outside of work?
"Nature is my natural high. Whenever I have free time, you will find me with binoculars and camera in hand, hiking a trail, kayaking a waterway, or adventuring somewhere to explore the natural world."
Dr. Marc Kramer