A comprehensive vet assistant program provides a straight path to working in animal healthcare. If your heart is set on helping animals, becoming a veterinary assistant is a great choice.
Before making any job move, however, it pays to learn as much as you can. This guide is designed to answer questions you may have about being a vet assistant and what the position entails.
Job titles in a vet practice can get a little confusing. While most people understand that veterinarians are at the top of the professional food chain, they tend to use the titles “vet assistant” and “vet tech” interchangeably. The two are completely different jobs, however.
Veterinary technicians function more like nurses and must go to college and complete at least a two-year associate’s degree and be licensed or certified. Their duties correspond loosely to those of nurses in a human healthcare setting. Vet techs are allowed to do more clinical work than vet assistants.
Veterinary assistants are best thought of as the support staff that makes the jobs of veterinarians and vet techs go more smoothly. On any given day they can be doing clerical work, welcoming patients, helping with an exam and preparing rooms. They step in where needed.
Generally speaking, a high school diploma or its equivalent is the only educational requirement for being a vet assistant. That being said, though, it’s to your advantage to look for opportunities to gain experience working with animals and to earn a vet assistant certificate.
Just because vet assistants don’t have a two-year associate’s degree doesn’t mean they are relegated to cleaning kennels and filing patient paperwork–although there can be a good bit of that.
Vet assistants can:
Vet assistants hop from duty to duty. Expect to be on your feet a lot and ready to step in wherever needed!
Depending on the practice, vet assistants may be the first to arrive in the morning in order to check on patients in post-operative or kennel care and make sure everything is in order for the day before the rest of the staff and the first patients arrive.
A passion for animals and providing great care are high on the list, but as mentioned, it can be a pretty demanding job, not just physically but emotionally. Not every patient makes it. Saying “goodbye” to pets you’ve cared for throughout their lives is tough.
Communication skills are a must for vet assistants. Being a people person is also a plus for a couple of reasons.
The best vet assistants are flexible and able to bounce from one task to the next with a high level of competency. Vet assistants hop from duty to duty. Expect to step in wherever needed!
Vet assistants need to be physically strong. Lifting dogs on and off exam tables is part of the job, but so is hauling heavy bags of food, bedding, kitty litter, and other supplies. Each veterinarian practice should have it’s own physical requirements. Make sure you know what is expected of you beforehand so you can commit to the level of strength needed.
Computer skills are a definite plus. Vet assistants often perform a lot of clerical work and billing, so it helps to know your way around a Mac or PC.
Besides vet clinics, animal hospitals, and emergency care centers, vet assistants are needed by any facility that houses or cares for animals. Animal shelters and humane societies often need vet assistants, as do research labs at universities and other facilities.
In addition, zoos and wildlife rehabilitation centers frequently hire vet assistants, so if your interests lie more in exotic or wild animals, being a vet assistant allows you to care for more than just domesticated animals.
If you are concerned about salary–and who isn’t–vet assistants earn a salary on par with many other careers that do not require a degree. Preschool teachers, receptionists, bank tellers and vet assistants all earn an average salary in the mid-$30,000 range.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics cites the average salary for vet assistants at over $36,000.
As indicated, a high school diploma or equivalency is all that is required by most employers. You Technically, you can be hired as a vet assistant and get on-the-job training.
In reality, however, it takes a good bit of luck to land a vet assistant job without any more experience or credentials than a high school degree. So many people want to work with animals that you’ll be up against job candidates with animal care experience or earn a veterinary assistant certificate.
To improve your chances of landing a job, you might want to consider earning your veterinary assistant certificate. Earning a veterinary assistant certificate takes about a year and teaches you what you need to know to begin work in the field of animal healthcare:
Earning your vet assistant certificate tells potential employers you are serious about working in a veterinary setting, know what the job entails, and will need little training.
Animal Behavior College has been training people for animal careers since 1997, and we offer excellent training for would-be vet assistants. Our comprehensive curriculum includes all you need to know to start working in a veterinary setting as soon as you earn your certificate.
ABC even provides real-world experience via our mentoring program known as an “externship.” Once students complete the online portion of the program, they are paired up with a nearby mentor facility to see what a real vet practice is like and to practice newly learned skills.
You can enroll anytime! Just call 800-795-3294 and an admissions counselor can help get you started!
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