How do I get past the fear of operating on an animal?

Being terrified to cut into a living animal is not a sign you are unfit for surgery. It is a sign you grasp exactly what you are doing: taking a life into your hands with no guarantees. That terror comes from respect for the stakes, and respect is a good foundation. The surgeons you would trust most all felt it once too. The fear shrinks as competence grows, not by force of will but by repetition and preparation. Right now the whole thing feels enormous because it is still unfamiliar. Broken into its parts, learned and practiced piece by piece with guidance, surgery becomes a set of steps your hands come to know. The terror is loudest before you have the reps. It quiets as your training fills the space where the fear used to sit. Build toward it in steps rather than one dreaded leap. Learn each part thoroughly, practice where you safely can, take on procedures with support nearby before you carry them alone. Prepare so well that when you begin, your hands have somewhere to go. The aim is not to feel no fear operating. It is to know, beneath it, that you are ready for what is in front of you.