Veterinary Assistant?

Question

I would like to hear from any veterinary assistants or people who have any information about the jobs.

What are your honest opinions on salaries? job satisfaction? hours? duties? etc.

Why is the pay so low for something which requires quite alot of knowledge?

Are there better jobs out there which envolve working with animals? Are you better off just being a secretary in a veterinary office?

Any comments on the veterinary field welcome thanks

Answer 1

Salary really depends on your schooling and your experience in my area it can range from 25-60k yr. Hours vary depending on the animal hospital, shelter, or emergency care hospital you work at. Duties range from cleaning up vomit, f***s, urine, handling/restraining animals for exams, filling medications,etc. There are several jobs out there that involve working with animals; shelters, animal control officers, groomers, trainers, kennel helpers, zoos, etc.

Answer 2

Pay is not so great unless you are in an emergency clinic setting (which usally means working nights and weekends) or in a rural setting (where still it is low compaired to other professions)

I loved it when I did it; but I went looking for another job after a couple of years due to money. If money isn't an issue I would say go for it!!!

Hours in a regular vet clinic are usually 8 - 5 or there abouts.

Cleaning kennels is a big part of the job!!!! Getting urine or p**p samples by taking the animals out for walks, packing and serilization for surgical packs, ordering supplies, unpacking supplies, assisting with different suguries, dentals, examinations, taking x-rays, looking a blood samples for abnormalities, dispensing meds, billing and other office work, CLEANING, bandaging, etc.

Pay is low because AHT are just now starting to be recognized; up until a couple years ago anyone off the street was allowed to walk into a vet clinic and get trained to be a tech, some of the people that had worked in the clinic for a while without formal training were grandfathered in; but now it is actually illigal for vets to hire a person off the street to do tech jobs. The association is just getting established; pay should go up within the next 5 - 10 years.

I would say that if you are truly interested in it, go to your local vet clinic and ask if you can put in some volunteer time; let them know that you are intersted in doing it as a profession. (Most schools you need to have several volunteer hours) Also look into specializing in a field once you have completed the initial 2 years of schooling; pay will be better and you will have a leg up on other people going for the same job.

I hope this gives you some information that you are looking for. It really does depend on the vet that you work for too, some vets take full advantage of haveing people who are formally trained to do the x-rays, blood work, and assisting (also most places tech can do routine neuters etc), but others leave the dirty work to the techs and do everything else themselves.

Answer 3

I think Vet Assistants only assist the Vet Techs, but the Vet Techs assist the Vet.

I hear alot of Vet Techs who complain about their salary, so maybe Assistants do too.

Answer 4

It involves a lot of cleaning up faeces. Poor pay.