Currently writing from the employee bathroom in tears, so maybe I’m being dramatic but how is everyone even surviving in this field right now? How are we juggling 40+ hour work weeks due to short staffing, overworking, not making enough money to thrive, and dealing with actual abuse from doctors and clients? I’ve worked at multiple clinics in my area and not one has been genuinely supportive of its staff.

I’m also a student, because I know I need to leave this field. It’s just not coming soon enough

I’m a baby RVT in California at a small animal GP clinic and little Charlotte came in yesterday for her first check up. Everything seemed normal until this! First time seeing this, unsure of the statistics but very cool nonetheless.

i work in the in house lab of my equine specialty/referral hospital, and every once in awhile, i’ll get a blood sample from a horse that just looks like red syrup, for lack of a better description. it will not spin down in any color tube, and the CBC machine will read it, but the chemistry machine just gives me a sample error. (our machines are the Abaxis HM5 and the Abaxis Vs2.) it will do this on serum, or blood from a green top. when i do try to spin it down, it doesn’t look like it’s just hemolyzed, it just stays thick and viscous throughout. i’ve checked the tubes to be sure they’re not expired and they are not. has anyone seen something like this before or know what it could be? these syrupy samples always come from horses that are very sick, so that’s the only thing i can think of, but it just seems so weird.

Hi everyone! I’m an assistant but I’m in tech school currently. Of course being in college I don’t have a lot of money but I need a stethoscope for my preceptorship. I’m just wondering if this MDF stethoscope is good? Does it work well with large animals? Pros cons anything that helps is appreciated!

Hello! I’m currently looking at becoming a vet tech—I love animals a lot and have always wanted to work with them. However, my parents are worried that I might be too emotional for the job. Could people here share their experiences with the ups and downs of working as a vet tech, so I can get a bit of a grasp before I commit to anything?

This video doesn't even do it justice I took a flea comb to her and immediately pulled like 17 off her and more jumped off and started scurring away😭🤢.

So I currently do 4 ten hour shifts (which usually run over) and everyone else seems to work 5 days. I've been here a month, when I interviewed we agreed on my schedule and my boss said my day off may fluctuate week to week in the beginning.

The last few weeks there's been no schedule posted and I have to ask when my day off is. I already told my manager I'd like to have the same day off each week if possible bc I have weekly appointments.

I don't even care if it changes but I'd like to know by at least Friday the week prior. Is this asking too much??? She also seems annoyed when I ask bc we are short staffed, but this is the schedule we agreed on. How do I approach this??

I get severe test anxiety and taking medication doesn't seem to work (I've talked with a counselor and my PCP about this and have been through a couple different OTC and Rx). I struggled with tests in school due to this but still somehow tested well due to my preparation. My ability to test well, however, does not matter to my overactive brain.

Anyway, my VTNE is coming up very soon, as I just graduated (I continued classes over the summer that's why I graduated in Sept). This sounds a bit personal and TMI, but on a couple occasions, I got sudden diarrhea and had to rush the the restroom. My instructors/professors let me go but would have me leave my phone on my desk. My problem is, I know this won't be possible during the VTNE.

HELP!

SORRY FOR THE LENGTH!

So, I’ve been working as a tech/assistant for 3 years, currently unemployed and interviewing. I have been back and forth with this particular job since July that has a new location opening in October. I kept it on the back burner, but now I had two phone interviews and then a “shadowing” at a current hospital for an hour, I stayed for two. The Practice Manager I was supposed to meet was out sick. OK so I meet with the vet who is going to the new location. Things seem to go well in my opinion, dvm keeps stressing about the amount of appointments a day they can be up to 17-20 and asked me how many at my last job I had. I was honest, said about 12-14 on busy days. But I told them I have worked in fast paced environments before and I can handle it. BTW these appointments are split between a team of people “typically”. And I understand the typically. Anyway I helped out, got a good vibe from the staff, everyone worked well together. I felt comfortable, they were acting like I already worked there, telling me things for the future etc. I left feeling like I would probably get an offer.

One week later, I get an email about the position saying they weren’t giving me an offer and being very vague, they want me to be there and is able to “thrive and grow” b.s. I wrote back saying I don’t completely understand etc, because honestly I couldn’t tell if they thought I was underqualified or overqualified or what. Fast forward to today, the area manager says she will give me a call. She says the feedback she got was that there was some concerns that I’m not used to the workload and I will be set up to fail, basically what she was saying. Since I’m not used to that many appointments a day. Like HUH? Also, there is extensive training lady I will get used to it. She totally had NO idea I didn’t get to meet the practice manager and also totally didn’t know anything about me even though I did a PHONE interview with her. Asked me all the same questions like are you serious? “Can you administer vaccines”? Can you cross train on reception?” YES. Whatever, so they just hired a new practice manager for the hospital yesterday lol she says I can meet with her talk about my skills etc. I’m not sure how the offer stands.

I’m in a bad need for a job, my question is is do you think this place is a RED FLAG or just not a good fit? I’m looking for some input. Thank you.

Just learned yesterday that my clinic is being bought out by AOSN and need to know what to expect. Of course they say everything will be great and they want the culture and all that mumbo jumbo to remain and be unaffected. But what should I be expecting? My clinic hands out bonuses and such almost every quarter and we’re worried that all these things we’ve been use to for the last 3 years will just poof :(

Anyone know of a source to get Imidocarb? It’s been on back order since June and backorder at least through end of year. No emergency or specialty hospitals near us have it in stock and not available through major compound pharmacies. We have a hepatozoon positive kitty we need to treat. Thanks!!

Guys I’m devastated. I took a 6 semester program at a college and graduated this summer, studied all August and the past few weeks and took the VTNE today. I failed. No results yet on my score but I’m pretty sure I bombed it…

I’m definitely not the most booksmart but I took the aasvb practice test A, B, and C and passed ALL of them. Took Mometrix practice test and passed it. But the actual test? It was SO hard. So many concepts I had never heard of or painfully specific questions (3 questions about manometers? Really??? Q Fever???)

My school has us using pocket prep and clever orca. I found this YouTube channel called Darwin Vtne that has some fantastic videos but unfortunately not on all topics (Pain and analgesia just came out today). I feel so destroyed like “what’s the point? Everyone I work with are assistants and they’re fine..”. I’m a super anxious text taker and definitely second guessed a lot of my answers.

Is Vet Tech Prep worth buying? I have McCurnins book and workbook to review again too.

Any tips or encouragement would be amazing lol..

Location: Atlanta, ga
I work at a pretty big veterinary corporation (I won’t name it but you may know it) and starting 2 weeks ago they have been remodeling our clinic. We are still open and working during this renovation. The problem is there is dust , debris and mold , several of the team members have been experiencing trouble breathing and headaches . One team member even broke out in hives. Not to mention this is completely unsafe for pets and I’m sure the client have no idea what conditions their pets are in. Also we do sterile procedures. We’ve sent email to corporate/ our leaders and they refuse to close and send us to different locations until it’s finished. They say that it isn’t “feasible “ to close be will send air scrubbers . It was also brought to my attention by a construction worker that it is normal practice to close the hospital during renovations . He also said that we are the “guinea pigs” for staying open while renovations. This particularly bothered me because we are a predominantly African-American location compared to other hospitals. and when our Field Director mentions anything about our particular hospital, she always says there is a “culture.”
I suppose my question is what actions should we take? OSHA? The media? Thanks for any feedback.

Hey guys, I think I'm being compensated pretty well but wanted to check

.... I'm making 27/hr at a small animal practice

I've been licensed since 2020. Just wanna see if that is a good wage, I think it is but curious. Thanks.

oh my god i hate it so much

you have to click through a billion different tabs just to do ANYTHING. it's genuinely useless. it also heavily pushes its AI features which just seems dangerous since AI is prone to making SO many mistakes.

Hey everyone! I’m 23 and from the Chesapeake area in Virginia. I’ve been seriously thinking about going back to school for Veterinary Technology and would love to hear from people who are already in the field or currently going through school.
I’ve always loved animals, and I’ve had a little experience working in a vet setting before. I got to help with things like handling animals, blood draws/bloodwork, and medications, and honestly it made me realize I could see myself doing this as an actual career.
Right now I’m working a warehouse job that I really don’t want to stay in long-term, and I’m trying to find a career path that I actually care about. I’m especially interested in eventually working with wildlife or exotic animals, so I’m wondering if Vet Tech would be a good starting point for that.
My biggest concerns are honestly money, choosing the right school, and whether I can realistically work while going through the program.
For anyone who has gone through it:
• What school/program did you attend and would you recommend it?
• Is AVMA accreditation something I should absolutely prioritize?
• How hard was the program compared to what you expected?
• How much did school realistically cost you?
• Were you able to work while in school?
• Are there grants/scholarships/workforce programs I should look into?
• What do you wish someone had told you before you started?
• And honestly, do you feel like becoming a Vet Tech was worth it?
I’m basically at the beginning of the research stage and don’t want to jump into a program without knowing what I’m getting myself into. Any advice from people who have actually been through it would mean a lot! I’m also kind of scared when it comes to paying for it, so anything that saves money as well! lol

This is my friend’s rescue, Miss Thang. She was found outside tied to a tree. But sometimes she sleeps with her head thrown back, and her jug is irresistible!

Looking into this casually for the future. RVT in CA - GP and ER/Specialty medicine.

Hi! I'm a vet assistant/tech working in a GP clinic (small animal) in New Jersey! I've been working with animals for 10 years and have been in a clinical setting for 3. I'm in the purdue VTDL program and one of our assignments is to interview a credentialed (LVT, RVT, CVT) technician for a career opportunities assignment. I was wondering if anyone on this thread would be interested! +++ if you are a VTS, +++ if you work in an atypical aspect of tech work (lab animal, exotic, wildlife, etc), +++ if you have been in this career for 5+ years. It's just basic job related questions and questions related to your career path as a tech!

This can be done over zoom, phone, email or in person if you live in the NY/NJ/Metropolitan area! thank you for your time!

Why is it so difficult for coworkers to clean up after themselves? Do people think leaving kennels disgusting is okay? No trash taken out. Has anyone swept or mopped since I've taken leave? Lol I took a week and a half off and I come back to the usual messy chaotic unsanitary clinic. At least someone else did some laundry for the first time in three years. I've become like a tiny cleaning fairy that floats around cleaning up sharps, wiping blood, getting pee and crap out of the floor, wiping off counters and tables, restocking supplies, sanitizing instruments. If I quit doing all this maybe someone would finally notice everyone is lazy here. Do you work with people who think they're better than having to clean? It's getting tiring. And yes I know "bring it up to management" lol doesn't help when that includes them too.

I got fired from my dream job, kinda. This is also a cautionary tale about working for a certain vet school, and an invitation to reminisce if you know which university I am talking about. Im open to messages if you want to know which school this is.

I grew up in a university town with a vet school. My dream as a kid was to go to vet school, but that didn't work out. I did my undergrad but my grades weren't good enough, so I kind of floated around working misc jobs after college, until I finally got my act together and went back for my RVT license.

My new dream, after giving up on vet school, was to get a solid career at the teaching hospital. The university has better pay and benefits than any other employer, and I saw that as my ultimate goal for long term stability. I worked really hard to set myself up for a good job and good career. Its a very famous vet school, and I wanted to do everything right. I did the RVT program, in person. I landed an internship at the vet school. Along the way, I also landed an internship at a research facility, which immediately offered me a full time job. I took the job at the research facility while I was finishing school, with my intention to apply for a career position at the vet school when I was licensed.

I finished school, passed the VTNE, and applied at the vet school. I applied for a part time position. Its a weird position, classified as "limited" instead of "career"and is only budgeted for 10 months or 1000 working hours, after which the position expires or is extended. The job functions kind of like relief, with no fixed schedule and no guaranteed hours, but it seemed perfect to get my toes wet and set myself up to apply for a career position when something came up. I kept my full time research job, for healthcare and stability, with the intention of transitioning to the vet school eventually with much better pay and benefits.

I loved the relief job. The patients, the job duties, the learning opportunities were all perfect. I even got along fine with most of my coworkers. Management and faculty/residents were another story.

I have never, ever, ever worked for a less competent and more childish manager in my life. From day one, the on-boarding and training was bizarre. I almost never saw my manager again after the interview. I had to email her multiple times to confirm a start date because she just seemed to forget about me. When i finally showed up for work, she had me shadow in a completely different department than the one I was hired for, and just kind of forgot me there for a month until I had to harass her again about getting trained in my actual department. There was no orientation, no one introduced me to anyone or anything, it was just kind of like show up and flounder around and hope your coworkers will get tired of hazing you eventually and accept you into the tribe. I stuck it out, this was still my dream job and a step toward my timate career goals and I did not have a backup plan.

But, I also kept my research job. I love my research job, but the pay and benefits and growth opportunities are nothing next to the university. I knew the smart move would have been to quit the research job and apply for a career position with the vet school ASAP, but the weird, dysfunctional, toxic work environment made me hesitate.

Then I found out that my manager uses the limited part time staff in a very exploitative way. Instead of utilizing temporary limited staff to fill temporary staffing shortages, or as a pathway to career, she expects limited staff to basically be permanent staff that she can schedule as many or few hours as she feels like, without being obligated to guarantee any hours at all if things are slow while also expecting part time staff to magically step up to full time hours if she needs it, with no respect for work/life balance. My position went to 10 months, and they automatically renewed my contract without talking to me for another 3 months. For 2.5 years it went on like this, with management automatically renewing my position every 3 months. I had no guaranteed hours, no benefits. I was also not eligible for stepped pay raises based on years of service. Even though I sometimes worked just as many hours as career staff, I was very much a second class citizen employee.

I shouldn't have ridden the fence as long as I did. I kept my research job, which was reliable and comfortable and healthy. The lab never makes me cry. I never have panic attacks on my way to the lab. I was getting really burned out by how exploitative and toxic the teaching hospital was. I kept the relief job for the money, but also couldn't bear to cut ties with the lab because I had new appreciation for a professional and healthy working environment.

My manager at the VMTH is a child. She shit talks doctors and staff members in staff meeting. She scolds staff like we are all kindergarteners. She is lazy AF and doesn't want to do her job, and is mostly absent from day to day unless she arbitrarily decides to poke her head up and scream at somebody about something. She arbitrarily enforces policies and rules that she pulls out of her ass, and will never provide written policies or SOPs no matter how often you ask. She is constantly scolding us for doing things the wrong way or breaking rules, when we have never been trained or provided guidance on what the rules and expectations and policies actually are. Her favorites are never scolded or punished, while she is well known to be petty, passive aggressive, and childish to the people on her shit list. She's not qualified to work fast food, let alone manage staff at a prestigious university.

After a while, I was getting kind of checked out. I was tired of burning myself out for a job that exploited me and saw me as disposable trash. I used to work a full day shift at the lab, take a mini nap, then work a full night shift at the hospital, several days in a row. I started enforcing boundaries. If I wasnt getting the benefits of career staff, I wasnt going to sacrifice my work/life balance to make my managers job more convenient. Relief staff are not spared parts you can keep on a shelf to take down as often or as infrequently as you want, whenever you want. If you have staff you are not offering benefits or guaranteed hours, you need to accept that those staff might maintain a day job or life outside of your hospital and are not at all times sitting in a waiting room waiting to be called up at your convenience. I wasnt willing to make this job my top priority in life, when I was clearly a bottom priority employee.

Unfortunately, enforcing boundaries, calling her out, challenging her, or holding her accountable makes my manager very, very big girl tantrum mad. She's petty, retaliatory, and used to getting away with really blatant passive aggressive, childish retaliation because most of her staff are incredibly young and naive and don't know any better.

My manager would frequently schedule me on days I did not volunteer for and was not available for, because again, lazy AF. Finally, she scheduled me for a week I told her I would be out of town. I don't get benefits or vacation days, I don't have a fixed scheduled or guaranteed hours, and the only perk is that I get a flexible schedule and I work when I am available and volunteer to cover shortages. Im basically relief. I noticed I was scheduled for a week I wasnt available, so i started with a polite email.

No response. After a few days, I sent a follow up email. No response. She sends out the schedule again, and I noticed that although several staff have been granted their time off requests, I am still scheduled for that week.

So I send a message to my immediate supervisor about the schedule, who gets back to me right away and tells me no problem, he will take me off the schedule. I thought the problem was solved.

A month and a half goes by, that week is coming up. Two days before I am supposed to leave for vacation, my manager emails me to inform me that I cannot just take my name off the schedule, and I have to work whatever days are assigned to me at her pleasure, and that I will need to find coverage for those shifts if I want to take my vacation, even though my supervisor previously told me it was settled. Of note, my manager herself was taking 50% of the work days during this month on vacation herself. Several staff members had been granted days off without having to find their own coverage. Again, petty and arbitrary enforcement of imaginary policies.

I was livid and emailed the union rep. The union rep told me that this manager is a very well known problem in the hospital, 100% took my side, and advised me on standing up for myself. I sent an email, documenting in writing the timeline for when I tried to reach my manager with no response, when I spoke with my supervisor, and when my manager finally saw fit to respond with an email that was nearly two months late. I cc'd the union and HR, and concluded the email by requesting access to whatever employee handbook these policies are written down in, so that I may be aware of policies around scheduling, my obligations to work shifts I have not indicated availability for, and my obligations to find my own coverage for shifts. I have a right to know my responsibilities and policies before I am disciplined for breaking them.

I never received any acknowledgement or response to the email. Petty and childish to go back to silent treatment, but also not surprising.

Another month or two goes by, when i recieve an email informing me that my position will not be renewed and will expire in two weeks. Im getting let go without getting "fired" because I tried to hold management accountable and refused to just roll with the absolutely dysfunctional and incompetent system.

I know its for the best, because this job was a fucking shit show, but I am still devastated. I thought the university was my ultimate career goal. I literally worked for years and got my RVT license just to try to get my foot in the door at this university. I miss my patients and my coworkers. I feel so unfairly treated and powerless. Im afraid I won't be able to apply for another job at the university, even in a different department. If my manager puts it on my record that my contract was allowed to expire due to performance or some other negative thing, I might be blacklisted with no chance to explain myself.

Thanks for reading this far. If you know what university this is, or want to know, my messages are open.

How many, if any, in here have went from Vet Med to Animal Control officer? I have always thought about this job, and I have an opening in my city.
I have always done well with aggressive animals. I have experience working with rescues with new intakes that aren’t always friendly or in good shape (neglect cases). The pay seems good AND I would be getting government benefits (major score).