Veterinary Assistants

[Wonders12]

I love being a barn manager, but I’m considering a move so I need to broaden my options.

I’ve known some equine vets who have assistants who travel with them. They’re not CVT’s, but seem to do a lot of the same work. Record keeping, restraining, managing supplies, assisting with procedures, etc.

Do you know anything about (or have experience in) these positions? Qualifications, pay, how to find openings…

I would love to become a CVT, but I can’t justify the schooling for a drop in pay. Hell, I would love to become a DVM if I had the money and had actually thought ahead in life.

[khall]

I was a small animal and equine tech for several years. Low pay and no benefits. I did love the job especially equine tech which is my specialty. I do have a degree but it is a BS in Biology (had planned on going to vet school but got married instead) but not a VT certification. I already had a good bit of experience as a equine tech but not small animal tech before starting. as in lots of years of my own and other’s horses, handling stallions/foals etc and all the doctoring that goes with that. Teching is a great job if you can find the right vet to work for, but hard to make living wage that way.

[Horsegal984]

I work as a small animal speciality tech and while I love my job, it’s not easy and techs/assistants are grossly underpaid for the work they do. There’s just not the money to be made in vet medicine. When I worked in large animal it was worse, long hours in the cold and wet, sweltering heat in the summer, trying to politely wrangle rank and barely handled horses.

You will come home covered in urine and feces, with so many cuts and bruises your family will start to wonder if you’re being abused. You’ll see people at their worst and have to hold their hand through it. You’ll be treated like a moron, yelled at and hugged, sometimes all by the same client. By and large though, you have to do it because you really love the medicine side of it, not just because you love the animals.

It also helps to have a SO who makes decent money, or a second job. It’s hard to live comfortably on your own on a tech salary. I would assume more so on an assistants.

[hoopoe]

as other have said
low pay
little to no benefits
slim opportunity for advancement

I spent 20 years in vet clinical as a certified tech ( high honors, worked in a specialty clinic) and came out with no savings, no medical only marginal paid vacation. almost 1/4 of my take home was used to buy medical coverage. I refused to be one of the irresponsible people who does without medical coverage.

I now have a career in biotech and have saved enough money and stock that I have a hope of some day actually retiring.

If you are not a single income person, go for it. If you are, you should probably look more to the future and how you are going to stand on your own two feet in the long term.

Many states have strict laws for what an assistant or tech can do. They are two distinct positions. You will likely find info on line for your states vet tech association and the state rules for vet practice.

If I were you I would look more toward business management, be it a clinic or other horse industry job.

The majority of working with animals is really working with people. People can be pretty harsh on “The Help”

[Hulk]

I was a vet assistant for 20 years, now retired. I was not paid well. I worked long hours. (mega overtime) You take a beating as others above have posted. I did have a spouse with a decent respectable job always, that turned a blind eye to all my nonsense through the years. I guess I would have to say life is for living, and I lived mine doing what I wanted to do. I can look back and say wow what fun. I learned something everyday, and no 2 days were the same. I worked with animals. I didn’t need to makes lots of money to be happy. And I was able to spend a lot of time outside. I worked for a small and large animal practice. I guess it all boils down to what you need out of life to be happy or fulfilled.

[Texarkana]

OP- I did the same thing you are wanting to do. In my early 20s, I left a barn manager position for a (non-certified) vet tech position for the same reasons. Plus, my goal at the time was to become a vet.

My first go round as a vet tech, I was blessed to be hired at a university hospital. I received holidays, vacation, sick days, excellent benefits, and better than usual pay. And while I loved the work and my co-workers, it killed my dream of becoming a vet. The hospital was one of the most toxic and poorly managed work environments I have ever been in. A lot of disgruntled CVT/LVTs were “stuck” there because while there are plenty of job opportunities for vet techs, there are very few places where you can receive livable pay and benefits.

Veterinary medicine is my passion, but I have left the vet tech field full time because it’s not a viable career. I still do some part time vet tech work now and again (both small and large animal) and I see the same things across the board-- unbelievably low salaries, no benefits, no time off, poorly managed work environments, etc. It’s a high responsibility profession with a high risk of injury, yet vet techs are often compensated the same or worse than the high school kid bagging your groceries.

I say all this not to discourage you-- there ARE good places to work out there and the job can be extremely rewarding. If you end up at a good place, make sure you appreciate it!

One of my dream jobs would be to direct a vet tech certification program. But… I have a moral dilemma about doing so because it can be such a tough career with little room for advancement. I do wish AVMA would align the coursework and certification process so that earning a CVT could be used a “stepping stone” for someone who may want to continue their education down the line and earn a DVM. There are some damn fine CVTs out there who would make exceptional vets, yet it’s all but impossible for a working adult to drop everything and go back to school for up to eight years full time. Especially when you can’t even save up money for it because you only make $10/hr.

[SLW]

The vet tech’s at the equine focused practice where I worked were paid $11 an hour to start. Annual raises were about 25 cents per hour. No health care benefits, paid holidays or bonuses.

The one employee benefit was reduced rates to treat your personal animals but they were “fitted into” the schedule and if the day was full, your horse/pet got bumped off the day. I used a different vet clinic for my animals care since it became impossible to get them treated where I worked.

The good part is if you are working with a Top Gun doctor you will learn a lot and enjoy every minute of the day. We had that in an associate vet at the practice and to this day I still admire his work. He left the practice shortly after I did and is making big, positive waves at another practice.

[merrygoround]

And, some states like VA, require them to be licensed, however I have no idea of that increases pay or benefits.

[saratoga]

I agree with everyone. I did it for a few years after getting a BS in animal science…most clinics preferred CVTs orexperienced assistants, but I was able to get hired with my degree and background in working with animals. I really hated it…horrible pay, no health insurance, no PTO and even very difficult to take a day off without pay, physical work with lots of cleaning involved. I can say that I did learn a lot so I’m glad I did it, but no way is it a career you can live on if you are single. Like someone else said, universities at least pay enough to scrape by on and have excellent benefits but those jobs are thbe exceptions. And I would strongly discourage someone from investing the time and money to get certified…it just isn’t worth it, IMO.

[FalseImpression]

I am still baffled that the pay is so low in the US… here, a vet tech may start at $15/$16/hr… and with experience, it can go up. My DD’s friend makes $20/hr with only 3 years experience. She used to work for a large animal clinic but decided that she did not want to be broken (horses leaning on her, foals falling on her, being kicked and bitten…), so she switched back to small animals. Decent hours, good pay and benefits.

[gypsymare]

I tried it more for the experience. My degree is in aerospace engineering and I was contemplating a complete 180… Thinking about possibly trying to get into vet school. I made a whopping $9/hr in 2006. It made me realize that even being a vet is a daily grind. Vaccinations, fecals, ear infections, UTIs and neutering are 99% of the job. I don’t regret my time there because if all the knowledge I gained though. I worked in a mixed practice and I was also extremely underwhelmed with the amount of knowledge the vets had about horse feet and nutrition.