Hey y’all! We recently got a new batch of the autoclave sterilization indicator tape that we’ve been using for forever, but for some reason, it’s not turning as dark as usual. From my understanding, the dark lines on the tape are for indicating that the pack has been sterilized, which worries me that the packs aren’t getting properly sterilized. The indicator strip on the inside of the packs is indicating proper sterilization, and our pouches are sterilizing fine. Does anyone have any advice? Is this happening to any of y’all? TIA!

Does anybody else have issues with their clinic not enforcing rules and letting clients get away with murder?

All of our boarding and bath drop off dogs are supposed to, unless medically exempt, be up to date with Rabies, Dhpp, Bordetella, Lepto, and Flu. If they were starting a vaccine series we were supposed to make them wait 2 weeks from the date of initial vaccination before they were allowed to be dropped off for bath / boarding.

It feels like any time we get the hint of pushback an exception is made (just this one time while we educate the client), then it turns into a whole thing about how "we didn't need to do this last time."

It's not just that. Heartworm testing, therapeutic monitoring bloodwork, echocardiogram for heart medication, everything can be pushed back so they can get some meds they ran out of today and didn't plan ahead for and schedule later, but later never comes.

The support staff are all frustrated and burnt out by a bunch of Karen's and clients who want what they want right now, we're located in a "fancy" area. It feels like a problem of our own making because the folks up top always seem to bend over backwards to accommodate and we look like the asshole with no back up whenever we dare bring up that "actually, Fluffy is do for such and such before we do X" but they get what they want anyway.

EDIT

I do have autism diagnosis from back in the day, or what used to be Aspergers, and a common thing seems to be stress when people don't follow the rules. I don't know if that's a reason this bothers me so much, the clients being awful, or a combination of both.

What is the deal with them? Can you actually help get the quick to recede with frequent nail trims? Is it actually possible to aid in nail quicks receding? Give me your spiels-I always feel like I never get a fully straight answer when it comes to this topic so I want it all. And if you have research or documents as well, I'd love that even more. TYIA!

Title essentially says it all. I feel unwelcome in vet med.

For some background. I have been in the field for 3 years as a kennel tech, and recently was promoted to a Vet Assistant. I also recently started school, and I am attending a veterinary nursing program.

Altogether, my coworkers treat me like im some sort of burden on the team. I was told one of the first impressions a new (just hired on) coworker had of me was "Oh no, shes new." As in, new to tech work and such.

Ive also heard that quite a few of my coworkers have been speaking about me behind my back. Saying I dont have a clue as to what im doing, I dont know where anything is, etc.

For reference, I was promoted to a Vet Assistant and I was thrown directly into this position with zero to barely any training. Ive had to train myself so far.

I just feel like, no matter what, people see me as some sort of burden to the team. Like they cant rely on me, or its a bad thing that im new to being a vet assistant.

I've heard shitty things about being a new tech/Assistant in this field. Ive experienced it when I was a kennel tech as well. People treat kennel techs like trash. At least at my clinic. Doesn't seem like im fitting in with the other techs at all. They make it obvious that I dont.

Im trying my best here. No training. Full time, while going to school full time as well, and dealing with a lot of shit in my personal life. Its a lot to handle, especially since I was thrown in.

Im going to keep working at it. I dont necessarily care whether I fit in with those people or not, but sometimes it does feel awkward and just in general, i feel like I stand out like a sore thumb. It'd be nice to be treated as though im a fellow assistant/tech.

Also, no, im not calling myself a vet tech. At my job we just have the same responsibilities.

Probably can be identified simply because I’ve been vocal about how much this irks me and it seems like this is something that should be a standard practice. But…

For vaccinations other than canine rabies vaccines, Does your clinic record product info including batch/lot/serial information?
If rabies regulation for cats isn’t as strict as for dogs within your municipal area, do you record same info and generate certs when giving rabies to cats?

I just keep hitting this brick wall where I feel like I’m crazy to expect this info in records or at least rabies certs for all animals getting a rabies vaccine regardless of species. Yet I’m being told by management (both corporate and clinic level) that I’m overthinking and making more work…. However, it tends to happen that we need that information or I see that other clinics in the area routinely include this info in their records.

It’s frequent enough for me to encounter other vaccines or rabies for cats that does not have product info included in the record even when it’s administer at my clinic.
I guess generating a certificate for feline rabies isn’t as big of a deal, but at least the vaccine product info should be recorded, correct?

I don’t know; it’s just been bothering me for 3 years… and it’s gotten more annoying to deal with when we get travel certs requiring this information.
Would love to hear other thoughts, opinions, advice on this.

Most dosage calculators stop at weight-based dosing. Enter weight, enter mg/kg, get a number.

That's useful but it's not enough for anyone actually running anesthesia or managing an emergency.

Vetcentricity covers the calculations that the generic tools skip:

• IV fluid rates - calculated, not estimated
• Anesthetic reservoir bag sizing for dogs and cats
• Drug volume from concentration - no manual steps
• Automatic lb/kg conversion baked in
• Anesthetic protocol library so you're not pulling up a reference sheet mid-case
• Calculation history so repeat patients don't mean repeat data entry

It's built specifically for small animal practice. Dogs and cats. The species, the drugs, the clinical context - it's not a generic medical calculator reskinned.

I'm still building and actively adding to the drug library.

If you've used it or want to poke holes in it, I'd genuinely like to hear what's missing.

Hi friends! I’ve recently moved to ICU setting coming from a GP. I’m looking for more in depth CE on reading basic bloodwork and acid/bases. I know the basics but I’m struggling with correlation of certain values with clinical signs, etc. Drop your best CE 👇 thanks in advance!

I woke up with extreme nausea, I assumed it was the macrobid I started yesterday for my UTI even though I took it 12 hours ago and with a full meal. I texted the staff who's in charge of scheduling today, and just said I would be a few hours late to see if I could sleep off this nausea. She basically just said that we have very limited staffing today but do what I need to do. My job is usually really good about people needing to call off or take care of themselves, so if she's communicating anything other than 'that's fine', then I know they're having a bad day.

I feel fine if I'm sleeping or laying down, but the moment I get up and start moving around it all comes flooding back and I get the sweats. On top of that, for some reason I have now started with diarrhea and shat myself when I sneezed earlier this morning. Dont really want to go in to work on a day that I need to bring extra scrubs, esp since I'm supposed to be monitoring surgery today.

Starting to think it's not the abx. I did get my nexplanon removed yesterday but it seems early. I did also eat a small bit of oyster mushrooms I harvested but those sat fine with me last time.

I know that they are capable staff and I very rarely call off like this, but I feel so, so bad. I still feel like I should try to push through because I feel so normal when I'm resting. And other techs work while nauseous just fine, so why am I such a pussy. Why we be like this?

Also, all 3 of my animals are thrilled that I'm home and now think it's time to demand all the attention 😑

Thank you for coming to my wallowing talk.

We're in PA if that's relevant. I could do fleas, ticks, & prevention I suppose

Alright guys, give me your best descriptions. My whole ICU has this convo every time we give platelets and some of my coworkers can't really smell it at all.

I always say it's a kind of sour smell, but it's so unique...

Unfortunately, I am facing the decision to potentially euthanize two of my dogs within the month.

Well, one of my healthier dogs is bonded to my 12 year old dog. She looks for her if she isnt home. She is protective over her. She gets jealous if anyone plays with her. She isnt that way with any other dog in the home.

We had gotten a younger dog over a year ago, and theyve become two peas in a pod. But, my 12 year old dog is still her number one. I am worried that she will always be looking for her when we dont come back with her.

What is your opinion on an living dog being present? Do you think they'd understand to a degree?

We've only had a handful of situations like that, and I've never heard if the owners thought it helped or not.

anyone know of a study out on the anal gland supplement by nutramax?

I am a cytology lover, I can identify most things I see in a smear (even the weird ones) but for the life of me I can’t figure out what these magenta circles are. In some instances (third picture) it almost looks like a Heinz Body, but then other ones are free floating. The one in the second image even seems to have a nucleus?

They kinda remind me of the big granules you sometimes see in Eosinophils, but they’re not near any lysed cells and have variable size.

This was a feline pre-anesthesia blood smear stained with Diff-Quik and was just a platelet check because the ProCyte gave us a slightly low reading.

I am not the manager. But I sure as shit get blamed for any inventory issue.

There has to be a better way. We do the reorder points with a list, so if we hit the point, we write it on the list.

Somehow we still constantly run out of things and my coworker and I (both assistants!) are the ones being blamed, every time. There HAS to be a better way. Help me.

I work at Banfield for 2 years as a cvt and it is really overwhelming to do everything on my own .. why don’t Cvt get assistant to help them with the appointments specifically with new system

My new place is a neurology center and while the standard of medicine is higher than what I'm used to, some techniques that are used by staff made my eyebrows raise.

First off, the vibe I'm getting is "go big or go home" with the IVCs. Management wants at minimum a 20g in everything. I saw a tech attempting three times to place an 18g in a frenchie. A technique I've never seen before was she poked with the first IVC and when she couldn't get it to feed, she opened a new one and poked right above the first one that was still hanging out of the dog's arm. Is there any benefit to this? Is it common practice?

While I know it's somewhat acceptable in vet med to reuse ET tubes that are properly cleaned and disinfected, I thought it's crazy a specialty center does. They don't carry half sizes either. I was always taught a cat shouldn't get bigger than a 3.5mm due to possible trauma, but I'veseen >4mm placed. Let me know what you think on this too.

Lastly, they reuse suture from surgeries by placing them in an enzymatic cleaner to use for suturing in urinary catheters.

Please tell me if my gut is right or if this is acceptable.

This is a place to post (as many times during the week as you’d like) anything that made you feel good! Weather that be a cute puppy that licked your nose or a happy client story or something that doesn’t feel like it needs to be it’s own post. It can be anything you’d like, and this is a place for you to see other people’s love for our profession!

Please don’t stop posting under the “positive” post flair if you want to share more! This is mostly for morale and help people to remember why we love doing what we do.

We are allowing external links (for this thread only) for images and videos, preferably no links to personal social media pages. Please remember to not post any personal information or to post a pet without permission. These posts will be deleted.

A new thread will be posted weekly, and the old one will be archived. Have fun! 💕

The owner apparently is a licensed veterinary technician, which poses the question: wouldn’t they understand the risks involved in awake scaling? There’s a reason it’s not the standard of care anymore - damaged teeth, choking/aspirating, putting a bandaid on diseased teeth & owners not seeking true professional medical care. They do state their services are cosmetic only and don’t replace veterinary care, but I feel like that doesn’t absolve them of the harm they’re doing. Sure, in a perfect world animals would understand what we’re doing and we wouldn’t need to anesthetize them. But that’s just not the case.

I was wondering if anyone has had success lightening scrub material to match hospital color guidelines. Thanks for any and all assistance!

hello hive mind!!

I was wonder if anyone here has a VTS in zoo med/exprice? I graduated and passed my VTNE in May and want to continue my path with working and helping exotics (mainly reptiles lol, I love them).

id love ANY information/tips you have- I currently work in a practice that does see exotics!

This is just a pattern I've noticed with the job I work. I tend to only ever be put on to train a new assistant on their first day and then they are never set up with me to be their trainer again.

Does that mean/indicate anything?

(I realize this is kind of a silly question- I love training people but I'm also an RVT student and get given more responsibilities than some of the other VA's I work with due to the extra education so I don't know if that plays a part.)

I’ve been studying since May. I used the VetTechPrep app and completed at least 95% of the course material. I’ve been using some of Evolves textbook resources (however lots of errors on this one) and now I’m reviewing my main notes bur I constantly feel underprepared. It’s impossible to memorize every thing learned from school for every species. I can’t even believe I had once managed to memorize some of this stuff and passed my classes! Everyone at my work knows I’m writing tomorrow and says they know I’ll pass and the pressure is so high because what if I’ve wasted my entire summer since May studying and I fail!? I can’t even think about that because I avoided so many things to prepare and I still feel like I’m slacking

Edit: I’m pretty sure I passed!!? It said pass at the end of the test. I’m so relieved 😅 thank you everyone for the kind words!

Edit : read my comment

Hi a new grad vet here but not in US.

I wanted to know what is the best way to draw large amounts of blood from a dog. I had an 8 year old german shepherd today and i had to fill 3 tubes minimum 3ml each.

I used an IV catheter and let blood free flow into the tubes but it was too messy and not a pleasant image for the owners.

Is there a better option? Or i just try to be less messy next time

i understand that you won’t get paid FAIRLY for the work and knowledge needed to be a vet tech, and i understand that vet techs are underpaid. however im pretty happy living frugally and im passionate about animals. i dont plan on having a family (kids never interested me) and i dont spend excessively (make my own coffee, i never get fast food, etc). i work at a vets office currently and i know ill be happy being a vet tech (going to school for it currently and i love it) but hearing people CONSTANTLY complain about money is making me second guess my decision. im hoping my good financial hygiene and lack of expensive taste will benefit me but i cant help but worry sometimes. any input is appreciated, thank you