How to become a vet tech

Remember, the national average salary for veterinary technicians was $34,420 per year in 2018. Depending on your experience, location, and education, you can potentially earn more – for example, the highest paid vet techs in 2018 earned as much as $50,010 per year.

A career as a veterinary technologist requires a minimum of a four-year bachelor’s degree in veterinary technology or a related field. Subjects that may be studied in a four-year veterinary technology program include anatomy of animals, animal handling, animal pharmacology and surgical nursing.

In order to become a registered veterinary technician in CA without attending an AVMA-accredited program, students must complete “20 semester units, or 30 quarter units or 300 hours of specific education and 4,416 hours of directed clinical practice experience” with specific time-frames (California Veterinary Medical

Most vet schools require a year of calculus and a semester of statistics. But they also require general chemistry and some require biochemistry. So far working as a tech I haven’t had to do any higher math–just lots of conversions and dosage calcluations.

Vet techs have the authority to take x-rays, assist in surgery, and process tissue samples. Vet assistants typically ensure the conditions are ready for vet techs as they are required to clean animal cages, sanitize examination rooms and feed animals.

A vet tech’s salary tends to be higher than a vet assistant’s salary. In May 2017, vet techs made a median salary of $34,710, while vet assistants earned a lower median salary of $27,570; the top half of these veterinary professionals made more than these figures, while the bottom half earned less.

In most states, the wages of licensed vet techs are held down by the large number of unlicensed techs who are able to do most of the same jobs. Wages are also held down by the fact that the money paid to a veterinary clinic is much lower than that paid in human medicine for similar amounts of work.

Being a vet tech is stressful for a lot of obvious reasons, including long hours, a fast pace, difficult schedules, and having to do painful things to animals when you went into the field because you love them. But some of the reasons it’s hard to cope with the stress may be less obvious.

Downsides. The clinic can be a stressful work environment. Technicians must be able to deal with upset owners, aggressive or uncooperative animals, euthanasia, and seeing severe injuries caused by trauma or neglect. Stress is one of the biggest factors cited by techs that decide to leave the profession.

On the opposite side of the coin, vet techs often quit because they feel as though their skills are being underutilized. This often occurs when the head veterinarian either isn’t comfortable delegating or is simply used to handling the majority of the clinical tasks for the practice.

In animal shelters, euthanasia technicians who’ve taken advanced training may perform euthanasia for shelter animals only. Currently around 10 states allow vet techs to perform euthanasia with (Direct) or without (Indirect) the veterinarian present.

Pets likely to be anxious and/or painful may benefit from a “sedation kit,” which consists of prescription medication to use in advance of the visit. We typically recommend a combination of gabapentin, clonidine and trazodone for dogs, and gabapentin +/- trazodone for cats.

Vet Tech Versus Veterinarian: What’s the Difference? Vet techs get to perform a variety of tasks, so you won’t just watch from the sidelines while the veterinarian does all of the interesting jobs. Veterinarians must complete years of schooling to earn the degree, while a vet tech degree takes much less time.

Work Hours

Many veterinary technicians work at least 40 hours per week, with busier practices often staffing two shifts each day. Some technicians may work overtime hours to provide constant care for critically ill or recovering surgical patients.

Veterinary medicine is an extremely popular career choice in the animal industry, even though it requires a challenging, demanding education. It can be difficult to get accepted to vet school, but it can be well worth the effort in the long term.

A: No. Only veterinarians, registered veterinary technicians and unregistered animal health technicians providing animal care may adopt an alternative work week that provides for 12–hour shifts without the payment of overtime.

An average shift runs 8 to 10 hours, though. Veterinary medicine isn’t known to be work-life balance friendly, and it can be extremely difficult if you’ve got a family to care for. Moreover, it doesn’t pay well, especially for the physical and emotional requirements.

Work Schedules

Most veterinarians work full time, often working more than 40 hours per week. Some work nights or weekends, and they may have to respond to emergencies outside of scheduled work hours.

The Day Begins

A physical exam includes obtaining the animal’s medical history from the owner, taking a pet’s vitals, listening to the heart and lungs, and feeling along the body for anything abnormal, like a mass or lump. Animals that will be having surgery that day are typically admitted early in the morning.

Typical Day for Veterinarians

Treat sick or injured animals by prescribing medication, setting bones, dressing wounds, or performing surgery. Collect body tissue, feces, blood, urine, or other body fluids for examination and analysis. Inoculate animals against various diseases such as rabies or distemper.