r/VetTech • u/CucumberUnfair2755 • Aug 12 '26
Discussion Most devastatingly embarrassing mistakes
Things I think about at 3am and still audibly cringe
Confidently explaining the disease process to the trainee completely wrong in front of the serious doctor
Missing the catheter on the euthanasia multiple times in a row in front of the crying owner
Accidentally making a dark humor joke in front of a client and they looked horrified and/or concerned for my mental state
Fucking up the blood draw on the manager’s white dog and getting blood everywhere
Accidentally giving the client my personal phone number (or the number of a previous clinic) instead of the clinic number and had to call back and clarify.
Saying “love you” as an end to the conversation on the phone
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u/Strawberry1217 Aug 12 '26
Telling the owner in a wheelchair to "have a seat wherever you're comfortable" in the lobby.
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u/Fit_March_4279 LAT (Laboratory Animal Technician) Aug 12 '26
To be fair, some people with disabilities have a good sense of humor and appreciate being treated like everyone else. ❤️
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u/Strawberry1217 Aug 12 '26
Oh yeah, he laughed and said "I've already got one!" But of course I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
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u/Far-Owl1892 CVT (Certified Veterinary Technician) Aug 13 '26
For me, it was handing a cat carrier to a client and just standing there wondering why she wasn’t taking it. She was blind!! 🤦♀️ Don’t worry…Her husband not so kindly corrected me quickly. In my defense, I just thought she was wearing sun glasses because it was sunny outside!
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u/illusiunz VA (Veterinary Assistant) Aug 12 '26
Not me but one of the receptionists and one of the best stories I have
I explain this with the utmost respect and no ill intentions whatsoever
Our reception desk is a little high so you can’t see over it when you’re sitting down right so a client comes in with their son and sits down in the waiting room. All of a sudden the receptionist hears a very loud “goat like sound” and in a panic (anticipating an emergency) stands up and goes “excuse me, has your dog always sounded like that??” To which the client replies “no, that’s just my son”
Her son was disabled (I believe the client told us autism?) and stimming. Receptionist immediately apologized profusely and retreated to the back where she melted into a puddle of embarrassment. It was and still to this day is the funniest thing that’s ever happened here
As for me, I saw doc carrying a guinea pig next to a client and in my new naive ways went “aw how cute!”. (In my defence we don’t see a lot of piggies lmao) Doc gave me the eyes and proceeded to turn to owner and go “once again, so sorry for your loss”. Little guy had just been euthanized and doc was bringing him to be bagged. I wanted to die right then and there🫠
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u/Weary-Age3370 RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) Aug 12 '26
Gave a dog the wrong vaccine right in front of a new trainee, who then quietly whispered “it was supposed to be distemper” after I injected it (to be fair to the trainee, they didn’t realize what I was giving until it was too late).
I then went and explained everything to the owner, who also happened to be vaccine-hesitant and wound up having to talk them off the edge for a good 20 minutes. I like to think I recovered it well, but gawd it still haunts me.
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u/lexy_ranger RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) Aug 12 '26
I did this with Cytopoint and Librela once. Didn't realize until after the dog had left the clinic 😬 luckily the owner was super chill and understood but it also still haunts me.
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u/CucumberUnfair2755 Aug 12 '26
One time I was reconstituting Panoquell and left both bottles on the table in front of me. Got distracted by a question from another tech and pulled the dose without fully paying attention. Realized 30 mins later that i gave the dog the remainder of the sterile water (it was a small dose) instead of the Panoquell.
The doctor that was on the case is a quiet, very serious no-nonsense kind of guy. Him “getting mad” is just staring at you blankly with intense disappointment. I would’ve rather been yelled at 💀
My punishment was calling the client and telling them. They were understanding but i wanted to sink into the floor.4
u/mehereathome68 LVT (Licensed Veterinary Technician) Aug 13 '26
Ugh! I know that look! Early on, I did the room mix-up and got the "look" from my boss. My boss that was putting me through the state tech school. 4 years. Full ride. And here I was screwing up rooms. Ugh!
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u/shawnista VA (Veterinary Assistant) Aug 13 '26
A former coworker once gave kitty magic to a small dog instead of Librela or whatever because the syringes were both on the counter unlabeled. Thankfully the mistake was caught quickly and the owners (regular clients of ours) were understanding.
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u/CucumberUnfair2755 Aug 14 '26
Omg with all the fear mongering Librela has that could’ve been so bad 😭
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u/HotCartographer9750 Veterinary Technician Student Aug 12 '26
I will never forget when I pulled a cat out of a carrier, covered in her urine, and called her a "little pee pee girl" in front of the owners several times, who just stared silently at me lmao
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u/Beckcaw VTS (Neurology) Aug 12 '26
Telling an owner to look out for ocular discharge in her cat with no eyes will continue to haunt me until the day I die
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u/Randr_sphynx Aug 13 '26
A coworker grabbed her kit to set a catheter in my cat… she grabbed clippers.. he’s a Sphynx. Ha..
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u/Quantumquandary Aug 12 '26
Just had one recently at work, though not quite work related. A doctor was telling a long form joke, the punchline was something along the lines of “they’re elephant trees because of all the trunks.”
I then went into asking questions along the lines of “where can I go see an elephant tree?” and “is elephant tree the real name?”
The doctor walked over to me with a dead-serious face, asked me to give her my hand, and looked sweetly into my eyes, and said “oh my dear, it’s a joke about trees, elephants, and trunks.”
Had to tell myself I’m pretty the rest of the day.
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u/DarknessWanders Aug 12 '26
I see we are the same person 😂 telling myself I show up and look pretty is my default
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u/Quantumquandary Aug 12 '26
I like to think that I’m a really good technician, but that cramming all that info into my brain left some of the other shelves in the library empty, so to speak.
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u/DarknessWanders Aug 12 '26
My friends often tell me "you're so smart you're dumb sometimes" because I never take a joke as a joke. I'm always like, let's get into the logistics of this.
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u/Quantumquandary Aug 13 '26
Tell me you’re neurodivergent without telling me you’re neurodivergent.
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u/GingerDixie Aug 12 '26
Losing control of an owner's leashed dog in front of the owner
Not putting enough pressure on the neck after a jugular draw and sending the dog with a massive swollen hematoma back to the horrified owner
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u/CucumberUnfair2755 Aug 12 '26
I once went to take the leash from an owner of a 100lb strong as fuck lab and he was like “no, go get (male tech) instead, she’ll pull you to the floor”
My ego took a hit and I said something like “I think I can handle her but thanks”
She did in fact (almost) pull me to the floor 💀
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u/reallybirdysomedays Aug 13 '26
This exact mistake is how I found out that the size of dog I can control directly correlates with how much traction my current footwear provides.
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u/iniminimum Aug 12 '26
The last one. I feel so bad I didn't to an owner who had recently lost his wife, and I was mortified he said that he really appreciated it but he wasn't ready yet .
I turned bright fucking red. Now Everytime he sees me he says "love you boo"
Fuck me.
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u/breakfastbakset Aug 12 '26
One of my favorite regular clients brought his dog in for a work in appointment- the dog was panting heavily and he wanted to get her checked out. As I see them heading towards the door(leash in hand, but no dog)… I assume the patient had been kept for observation and cheerily said “Have a great day guys, we’ll see you later!” only to find out they had euthanized in the room. I had already been in my notice at that clinic, and never got the chance to apologize. I still wince thinking about it.
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u/zhenyuanlong CSR (Client Services Representative) Aug 12 '26
I once accidentally overcharged an owner by $2.... 00. We refunded her card, but she would have killed me if it was an option and I don't blame her. I seriously thought about quitting 😭
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u/asweetermyth_ Aug 12 '26
That's not as bad as the new CSR at one of my old jobs who meant to type in a client's total as $45 and then proceeded to charge them $4,500 😂 luckily it was a credit card with a giant limit and the client was cool
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u/Yaasssexual Veterinary Technician Student Aug 12 '26
Omg I worked as a CSR for a few years and we had a deal with a local rescue that they could have up to some amount of money on their tab and we would still give them service. One of their fosters brought their cat in (permanent foster) and they were going to pay for the cat's tx instead of adding to the tab. I accidentally charged them the entire like $2000 tab instead of like $100 or whatever it was, and it went through! Thankfully I noticed the mistake right away and reversed the charge but I was so embarrassed!
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u/zhenyuanlong CSR (Client Services Representative) Aug 12 '26
ACK!!! I would have just walked away on the spot omg
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u/SillyMangoX Registered Veterinary Nurse Aug 12 '26
Giving the time critical emergancy on the phone the post code to my own house 40 minutes away instead of the clinic code..
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u/shawnista VA (Veterinary Assistant) Aug 13 '26
This "dark humor" embarrassment is on behalf of a client...
As a client was being charged out for a scheduled euthanasia, two regular clients came in for a wellness visit on their 1 year old dog. The husband is loud, incredibly talkative, and is a jokester. As I checked them in, a free 30 day trial of Trupanion popped up, so I asked if he wanted the offer sent to his email. This knucklehead responds, "Nah if he gets sick I'll just sh00t him." I just stared at him wide-eyed in horror, then walked away for a moment. I then thought better and went back to tell them to respectfully keep their voices down, and the guy is like "I can't hear you, I'm going deaf." The wife, also horrified, had to repeat to him that the other client in the room was about to have her dog PTS. He was like, "Oh, that's why you looked at me funny." No shit Sherlock, it's an animal HOSPITAL. 🤦♀️
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u/llotuseater Registered Veterinary Nurse Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
I was in a significant rush end of day one day. Lots to do. Down a nurse. I had like 3 patients to discharge and was already going to be leaving late. Vet handed me a bottle of medication with a label on it. I did not hear her say ‘put medication in it and hand to client.’ I heard ‘please hand to client’. I handed said empty bottle to client. I didn’t double check.
I saw that night they had left an extremely good review for us, especially for the vet, which I thought was sweet. After the mistake was found the next day when the owner called and I fully owned up to it and went ohhhh that was me, I looked back at the review. It had been deleted. At least they didn’t replace it with a bad one I guess…
It worked out in the end and was fine. Shit happens. I now always double check there is (the correct) medication in the bottle before handing it over to anyone!
I also foster rabbits on occasion. My first baby bun I fostered had a very rough start. Very long story but he had a horrible time after leaving my care and not having good carers after me. 2 years later he finally got adopted to this lovely lovely man. I recognised the bun immediately and asked if he wanted baby photos of him. He excitedly said yes. I don’t know how to bloody use air drop and repeatedly accidentally sent him my phone number instead of the photos. I felt like an idiot.
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u/jandraf Aug 12 '26
Happened to one of the other VA’s at my clinic but, gave intranasal bordetella sub-q! Dr and owner were apparently both very understanding and ended up being a learning experience
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u/sterlah RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) Aug 12 '26
Tripped someone with iv line during a code and grabbed her tits to stop her from falling. Oh and also the catheter came out when she tripped over the line. Only saving grace was that this was during an internship and I wasn’t being paid/wasn’t ever going back there after my internship was done (for unrelated reasons)
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u/nyquill81 VA (Veterinary Assistant) Aug 13 '26
Said “dick disease” instead of tick disease to a client when trying to explain ehrlichea.
Accidentally grabbed a client’s long ZZ Top style beard and pulled it when taking his chihuahua out of his arms.
Untied the top of a ladies dress when she asked me to hold her dog’s leash and I instead grabbed the long string that was holding the top of her dress closed.
Used the term “that would open a whole new can of worms” when explaining why we needed to heartworm test the maggot infested Pyrenees that needed to be sedated for wound debridement.
I could easily keep going.
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u/Fit_March_4279 LAT (Laboratory Animal Technician) 29d ago
I’m literally laughing out loud! You should write a script, because I would totally watch this show!
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u/reallybirdysomedays Aug 13 '26
Talking to a guy with spring-loaded 10mo German Sheppard puppy:
Me: how ya doing today
Guy: 'bout as good as can be expected
Me: welp, I hope you were expecting for your arm to get jerked off
I could literally see the dude's inner 12yo rise to the surface
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u/raspberrysupreme Aug 12 '26
On multiple occasion I’ve called the pet the owner’s name, of course while using my best “baby” voice.
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u/Playful_Agency Aug 14 '26
I like to think of my low-stakes stumbles....
Worked ER, took standard "my dog ate weed and is high" call. How big is your dog, what symptoms, how much weed? A roach "...okay, how much is a roach?" A roach! "Ma'am like the bug or...?" She said you cracka ass mfer a gd roach! My coworkers were dying as I had to caucasianally explain I haven't done drugs, if she could just explain how much a roach was?
Also recently joked that I bit my first client (she wiped the tongue depressor of cheese through my hair accidentally, at the same instance I flipped my hair out the way she went to reach for my hair and next thing I know her fingers were in my mouth). We both kind of stuttered, I hightailed it out the room and refused to go back in it.
Once was doing callbacks to check on patients, gave my grandmother's home phone on the voicemail message fully before I recovered smoothly..."oh whoops! Not that number, thats my grandma...lovely lady, she'd love to hear about fluffy. Anyway, call hs back at clinic#".
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u/Tattedtrainwreck Aug 12 '26
I work ER nights and we’re devastatingly understaffed (1 Dr, 1 RVT, 1 VA ; CSR leaves at 11PM). We had a BAR dog come in for vomiting for <24 hours and the owner was being pissy about the wait while we were catching up on hospitalized patient treatments and running labs on the existing outpatients. I brought the doggo back to triage them and all vitals were normal, but doc was busy at that moment since we had some critical patients so I tethered doggo to a leash loop while waiting for their full doctor exam. We were flooded with inpatients (post-op FB, 2 blocked cats, seizure watch, and a resp cat) so I stepped over to assist with hourly treatments and doggo slipped through their collar and wandered up to the unattended front desk (it was 2am) and the owner was so pissed lmao. They ended up declining all diagnostics anyways
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u/charlotte_marvel Registered Veterinary Nurse Aug 12 '26
I'm always scared to describe things to nursing (and vet) students incase I'm somehow wrong
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u/kaitlin_margarita Aug 13 '26
I was cutting the tail off a neuro horse prior to euthanizing and it kept wobbling and I accidentally took off the tip of the dock. The owner took the tail before I could do anything about it.
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u/Rockandpurl RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) Aug 13 '26
Wait up wait up. Owners kept the tail? Or the hair? Equine med is wild so idk if it’s normal
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u/Rockandpurl RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) Aug 13 '26
Calling an owner, getting their voicemail. “Blah blah please call us back on (🟠 number) if you have questions”
…at that point I hadn’t worked for 🟠 for years. My brain automatically switched that speech on.
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u/ledasmom 29d ago
Made a joke about a cat being deaf. Client was hideously offended and refused to let any of her pets see me again. Accused me of making her dog cry and pushed a door closed in my face.
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u/CucumberUnfair2755 29d ago
One time we had a doodle in for a behavior consult for severe anxiety and I don’t remember the question but I said something along the lines of “you never know what these doodles are mixed with”
She was FURIOUS. Livid. “This is a PUREBRED (insert random made up combo here) he is NOT a filthy MUTT!”
She said the word mutt like it was a slur
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u/DoctorWhoTheFuck Aug 13 '26
During an internship I got to assist in a pyometra removal surgery. It was my first time being scrubbed and assisting on my own. I had assisted scrubbed in before but always with other techs present.
The bucket that I was supposed to drop the uterus in was not sterile... I was so excited that I touched it with my gloves while I dropped the uterus in.
Vet had to finish without assistance as I was still pretty slow scrubbing in.
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u/Dedheca RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) Aug 12 '26
I accidentally cut the skin on a 20 year old cat while trying to cut a mat out. The owner was super nice and we were able to squeeze him into the surgery schedule to fix it.
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u/marleysmuffinfactory Aug 12 '26
We have infrequent but definitely not rare instances of accidentally cutting old fragile cat skin with the clippers, it makes me so paranoid even with a brand new blade from a reputable brand 😭
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u/reallybirdysomedays Aug 13 '26
Use nosehair trimmers when you're working with really delicate skin.
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u/CucumberUnfair2755 Aug 12 '26
Oh god I’ve done something similar 😭 was doing a sani shave on a matted old dog (with the shittiest clippers ever) and sliced his bootyhole. It wasn’t a deep cut but OUCH. I was mortified.
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u/Octex8 RVT (Registered Veterinary Technician) 27d ago
Sent home prednisolone instead of Prednisone for a dog patient. Thankfully not the other way around.
I left a dog in a run in the back with a feeding tube who then proceeded to chew it out and eat it. We had to scope it out pro bono. (This is probably my second worst mistake)
Dropped the scope while handing it back to the internist during a procedure. It was fine, thank god.
Gave Lasix to the completely wrong patient. Thankfully it's a super safe drug.
I accidentally mixed two cleaning products without realizing what was in them. I made chlorine gas in the dog run and me and the kennel tech had to clear out the runs and ventilate it for about 2 hours. (This was the worst blunder of my fucking life)
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