If you have a passion for animals and would love a career that can literally save the lives of pets, you may want to look into how to be a veterinary assistant. As the name suggests, vet assistants work closely with veterinarians and vet techs, doing all sorts of support work such as:
- Greeting patients
- Weighing pets
- Cleaning and prepping exam and operating rooms
- Offering post-op care and monitoring
- Exercising, feeding, and watering animals
- Staffing the front desk
- Filing paperwork
- Making appointments
Best of all, you get to spend your working days taking care of animals and you don’t even have to get a college degree! You don’t really have to have any degree; a high school diploma is often the only education requirement.
However, if you’ve been trying to get a job as a vet assistant without any success, earning your certificate could help. Even though it’s not always required, employer’s generally favor candidates with job experience or that have earned their vet assistant certificate.
Online programs can teach you everything you need to know in order to work as a vet assistant, and Animal Behavior College’s course includes plenty of real-world experience. After finishing the online part of the program, students enter an externship in a local veterinary setting in order to get a real feel for the job.
Do I Have What it Takes to Become a Vet Assistant?
Being a vet assistant requires more personal characteristics than just a passion for animals. There are several qualities that help make it a good career fit. A veterinary assistant should have:
- Good people skills, including patience, empathy, and compassion
- A strong stomach for what you will see and what you will have to clean up
- The emotional resilience to handle exposure to pain and suffering
- The ability to understand and follow directions to the letter
- The capacity to handle pressure and stress
- Multi-tasking skills
- Physical strength and flexibility
I Check All the Boxes! Do I Need Certification?
Technically, you can be hired to work in a vet clinic without any degree or certification and acquire training by learning on the job, but the likelihood is pretty low and you will have to absorb everything on the fly. Applicants who have taken a structured veterinary assistant program including office etiquette and hospital procedures, animal restraint, pharmacy and pharmacology, surgical preparation and assisting, small animal nursing and more have the advantage of an academic foundation. Add experience to this by going to a school that includes hands on as part of their program and that’s even better. Earning a certificate of completion, like you can with ABC’s ABCVA program, will let potential employers know that you have taken and mastered a serious course of study.
Want to go even further? After graduation you could become an Approved Veterinary Assistant (AVA) through The National Association of Veterinary Technicians (NAVTA).
NAVTA, which promotes the vet tech profession, partnered with VetMedTeam to create, the AVA course. Students who complete and pass the AVA exam earn the distinction of Approved Veterinary Assistant.
Currently, only four courses of study have the approval of NAVTA, and ABC’s online veterinary assistant program is one of them. The program is available everywhere in the U.S. and in every Canadian province.
The veterinary community looks favorably on those who earn the NAVTA approved designation.
How Soon Can I Get Started?
Since ABC offers its program online, you can enroll anytime. Just contact us and set up an interview with an admissions counselor. Upon completion of the interview, suitable candidates may then apply for admission to the veterinary assistant program and, if applicable, financial aid.
How Long Does It Take to Become a Veterinary Assistant?
Students have a maximum of 18 months to complete ABC’s coursework and externship, but most finish in 12 months. After that, you have up to a year to pass the VetMedTech exam. Largely, the time it takes to complete the program depends on your discipline and determination, as well as the time you can set aside for coursework.
Will I Learn Everything I Need to Succeed?
ABC’s classes cover the career from A to Z. The stages include:
- Office etiquette and hospital procedures
- Animal restraint
- Exam room procedures
- Pharmacy and pharmacology
- Surgical preparation and assisting
- Small animal nursing
- Laboratory procedures
- Radiology and ultrasound imaging
- Career Building
In addition, after completion of coursework students complete an externship that provides 100 hours of hands-on experience. From the perspective of a future employer, that covers the bases!
I’m Definitely Interested!
To learn more about Animal Behavior College, explore our website or call us at 800-795-3294. We love putting people on the path to great careers!
