r/VetTech

Long story short I am in PF. Which I know, I know they suck and I wish I had done more research before applying but it was cheap, online and I could simultaneously work at a clinic and get hands on experience while earning money and doing the school work.

I heard the first externship was hard and for the most part it wasn't too bad. I had a lot of good feedback on the things I did wrong that needed to be fixed and was able to fix things quickly-but I have this ONE person who no matter what I do they denies my submissions.

I mean they are questioning basically all of my rabies tags that weren't questioned at any point prior to this and one of my co-workers is in it too and she hasn't had any of these issues I'm having. I know logically this person isn't intentionally trying to sabotage me. But they are denying Rabies records that were approved by previous people. And I'm at my wits end. I'd gotten to the point that I had to start an oral steroid and rx strength antipruritic because I was getting so stressed that I broke out into hives for 2 weeks. Just got off my steroids about a week ago but they are coming back now because of all of this.

It feels like too much and I'm legitimately about to have a break down. I mean they are even saying I am lying about a date because I wrote a number weirdly so they can't accept it. I just needed to vent and let this out somewhere because I'm at the point where I genuinely think I won't be able to complete the externship because of this grader.

I graduated vet tech school last week, but now I’m taking the VTNE next Friday. I’ve been studying by reading textbooks, doing Quizlets, doing Kahoots, and using VetTechPrep religiously, at least 2 hours a day. I’ve taken two practice tests, and I did bad on both. Is the VTNE really this hard? I’ve worked so hard to graduate and to take this test and I really want to pass on my first try. Does anyone have any advice on how I can study better or does anyone have any stories on taking the VTNE?

I just started working at an AAHA accredited clinic. I'm starting to learn that the AAHA accreditation is a load of crap. I am an experienced credentialed technician and I was hired on to do their nurse appointments and to help train the assistants in between and take care of hospitalized patients. Day 1 was good. Much lower stress than I've been dealing with, decent flow to follow, etc. Day 2 is where the red flags started popping up. I overheard them start talking about training one of the newer assistants to monitor anesthesia. This person has zero vetmed background and hasn't even worked for this clinic for 90 days (tbh, I'm not sure how long she's been here, it may not have even been a month yet- yesterday was apparently her first day doing appointments solo). Tell me why tf they have made it clear that I am not going to be doing sx/anesthesia there, my job is nurse appointments, but that they are training an incredibly green assistant on anesthesia???? I understand what I was hired for and ya know, good for me, it's low stress for the most part. But why tf am I doing entire mornings of nail trims and anal glands and someone literally off the street is being "trained" in anesthesia monitoring??? I assumed that they had a fully trained sx/anesthesia team and that's why they didn't want/need me there. Low key, I'm burnt out and decided to have the mindset of "not my circus" for now. Well, yesterday red flag 2 popped up. They asked me if I had ever boxed a cat down. Honestly, it's been like, 16 years since I did that and I now know so much better and I know how bad that is. I didn't feel comfortable doing that at all but the way it was explained, the dr made it out to seem like this was an incredibly rare circumstance. I ended up making myself busy and not being involved. I figured it wouldn't come up again because this was an AAHA practice, so like why would that be a standard thing here? Boy was I confused about the AAHA standards. I was looking at my schedule for next week and I have a drop off scheduled with giant alerts that this cat can only be gassed down and is routinely sedated this way. From looking at the history, I couldn't find any medical indication that would indicate that iso was the safest sedation, just that they couldn't sedate it with injectables because it couldn't be handled (how can you get a cat in a box, but you cant pop it through the carrier with a needle?? Or grab a thick towel and gloves and squish it down to just injectables in?). One of the other doctors mentioned to me that boxing cats down is ​how they handle fractious cats. So I'm guessing this isn't quite a rare occurrence for them. Im disappointed because the case yesterday the Dr tried to act like this was super rare and not the standard they held themselves to, etc. And obviously our definitions of rare aren't the same.

How tf do AAHA hospitals work like this? Is it really appropriate for them to have someone off the street with minimal training monitoring anesthesia and to be boxing cats down?? I really don't know how to approach this. I guess I can talk to them about boxing the cats down next week, but I cant imagine these people just deciding to try injectables on this cat that they've been gassing down routinely for years because the new tech doesn't like it. Also, not to mention that this cat has probably been handled so poorly in the past and is so used to being gassed down that I have no doubt it will be extremely difficult to get injectables into.

At this point, I'm looking at non-clinical vetmed jobs and I plan to spend the weekend applying to them. Wish me luck because I was burnt out before I started this clinic and now I'm burnt out and disappointed in our field.

Hey all, looking for some input as we all have been burnt out, exhausted, and just fed up with certain places before, but that doesn’t mean we get to act like complete asses. Especially when we get along with most of the team.

Im looking to leave my current clinic, but before I leave i want to attend the CE event they pay for us all to attend over a weekend in the middle of the summer. This event is open to all staff, both FT and PT employees.

Im trying to decide when is a good time to turn my 2 weeks notice in, that wont affect the trip with my entire team (all doctors and staff are going) If I wait and turn it in until after we get back, I wont be able to go on a summer vacation with my partner which id like to be able to do and not worry about PTO hours. If i turn it in before we leave, i feel the doctors and my office manager will look at me as some troll, or person who is leeching off the trip/experience (which i am just internally at this moment) Any opinions or thoughts on the matter would be nice. Just want to know how you would feel if one of your team members attended a paid for, CE trip just to know that when you return, they wont be your coworker anymore.

TIA, everyone.

These past few months have been nothing but miserable in this clinic. I try so hard to come to work happy, ready to take on the day and do my best. I love my fellow assistants/techs, but the management has been so terrible to us. When I started it was so much better than it turned into. Not quite sure what flipped.

Management has become incredibly rude to all the staff. Calling names, making harmful and rude “jokes”. I’ve seen so many people cry including the doctors.

We have shift leads getting mad and raising voices at doctors for not doing vaccines at appointments when the reason why was explicitly written down by doctors.

Not to mention when nurses/doctors prefer to practice fear free standards we are told it’s not reasonable and still need to do certain things.

I really feel like I need to talk to someone about this before I leave…I just don’t know if I really should and if anything will actually come from it.

There is so much I can compartmentalize at work but I have never been able to compartmentalize people who make the choice to decline euthanasia.

Client calls yesterday because their dog isn't moving or eating for a couple of days, they dont want to pay for urgent care so want to wait until the next day. The CSR who took the call really felt like this was something that needed to be seen today so she got approval to waive the UC fees for them.

They come in and Holy shit.

2 pounds of laterally recumbent poodle is what they have with them. Hes obviously dehydrated, cant lift his head, is struggling to breathe, and barely alive. This dog is and has been actively trying to die and the client wont let him go. His temp was 92. We get him some O2 and all the heat while the Dr goes to talk to the client. This is not a patient who will get better and the best thing would be to ease his suffering and euthanize. Client say no. Dr tells them he is in significant pain and is actively dying and this is the kindest thing to do. No. They want to take him home. We do get permission to give him a small bonus of fluids and some pain meds. Something to make him more comfortable and probably help speed things along.

Client leaves and all of us try not to scream. There are tears of course. I try to comfort everyone because thats what helps me, but I cant actually do anything but check in and say we did all we could and we advocated and the clients made their choice. It just sucks because I cant say it gets easier to bear this particular burden. I can't offer anything better to make this situation suck less in our heads. The truth is that it never ever gets easier to deal with. Other than saying we did our best and gave what comfort we could, there is nothing else to say. In all my years doing this I have never found a way to make this situation easier to cope with.
Thanks for reading this. I just needed to get it out.

Ontario Canada btw

my dilemma. interested in biology and medicine, but do i choose animals, or humans.

i currently work in a cat shelter and LOVE cats. i give them meds, love learning about cats, i would totally love to work with them! if that was the only animal i worked with..

if i went into vet tech i would have to work with different animals; im not opposed per say, but i just dont have that much interest in learning about cows or sheep, birds, or even dogs tbh. im really only interested in cats. i know cat specialists exist, but do i want to go through minimum 4 years working with other animals?.. also, i know the pay is lower.

with humans, the biology is basically the same. and if its not, well thats more interesting lol. and i love learning about human biology, this is what i was originally interested in before i started at the cat shelter. i would not want to work bed side as interacting with patients is not something i want to do, so no to being a nurse; but im limited as i do not want to attend med school (ADHD + seems super daunting. tho i will say being a surgeon/anesthesiologist were my dream jobs…). so im not exactly sure what route exactly i would go. i do like kids tho, so working with them is an option as well.

since i dont know the exact route i want to go, it makes it a bit more difficult. in vet tech, you kinda do it all; xrays, surgery, giving meds, etc. in humans, you have a department and thats all you do; its more limited.

if anyone else was stuck in this decision at one point and could give me some advice/guidance i would really appreciate it!

What’s the consensus nowadays on dispensing IN midazolam in plastic syringes? When I first started several years ago, the protocol was to not store it in a plastic syringe due to it degrading the plastic & and losing effectiveness. Then when I worked in ER/speciality, they would dispense in a plastic syringe as approved by the neuro dept & keep in amber bags to protect from light. I mentioned this when I went back to GP and they’re hesitant to do that. I emailed the neurologist at my previous hospital and she confirmed plastic syringes were okay for about a year. I’ve read some articles that also state it’s okay to disp in syringes, they also last longer refrigerated.

Currently, we’re dispensing midaz in glass amber vials and are instructing owners to pull up the liquid when needed, but that’s tricky to do when it’s a small amount (like 1.5ml total at the bottom of a bottle) and it doesn’t have a top that can be punctured with the needle. The owners have to dip in the syringe (no needle) into the bottle and draw up the liquid then attach the atomizer.

Does anyone have any good on info on midaz in syringes? Is there an alternative that’s better than what we’re doing currently?

So I work with a few RVT's who have been in the industry for ages so they are knowledgeable and I trust their judgement and love learning from them since I'm a student. However, yesterday I had to collect urine via a urinary catheter twice for two different anesthetized patients. I gloved up with sterile gloves to collect the samples, used sterile lube and a sterile red rubber to collect these samples.

I have had two different senior techs tell me to do it this way and I firmly believe that it is the right way to do it just because you are putting something in a patient's bladder and you want the sample to also be as sterile as possible. I want to avoid introducing bacteria. BUT as I was doing this one of the senior techs who I've seen do this without gloves on saw me doing this and was confused as to why I was gloving up, and stated you don't need to do all of that to collect a sample.

I politely let her know that one of the DVM's asked me the last time when I collected a sample if I had done it using sterile techniques and if there was any chance of contamination, implying they want you to be gloved up and as sterile as I possibly could be. And mind you I have seen this RVT get a 'sterile' sample via a urinary catheter without wearing gloves or being as sterile as possible.

So now I'm kind of confused and just wanted to know what is the actual best practice? Am I just being a know-it-all or is there really no need to be as clean as possible while collecting a sample this way?

okay long post incoming.
i started working at a doggy daycare in 2021 during community college and fell in love with it. i wanted to drop out and work there full time but parents wanted me to go to school. my mom suggested vet tech and i agreed that i would like it and be good at it. i applied in 2023 and got in.
during school, i really liked it and what i was learning and did pretty well, not amazing but good! i would work at the daycare on breaks and if i came home.

my school required 60 hours at a vet so i decided to choose on the ones they are partnered with- it was an emergency vet.
a week into the emergency vet and i started getting panic attacks before work, at work, after work, anytime i would think about going there i would freak out. half my shifts were spent in the bathroom. i lasted a month before deciding it was too much for my mental health.
my school is also partnered with banfield and one of the teacher aids worked there and i liked him so i worked there for probably 3-4 months before i had to go on practicum.
while at banfield though, things were good until i had to do appointments alone and then would go back to vet and they would make me feel like i was bad at my job cause i forgot to ask a question or said the wrong thing to them so then the panic attacks came. i wasn’t going to work during practicum though so i took a break from them before going.

the practicum was 3 months at a large animal hospital and 3 months at a small animal hospital. the large animal hospital was amazing, i loved it so much. my school mainly focused on small animal so none of us were expected to know a whole bunch so it didn’t even feel like a job which could be why i loved it.
the small animal hospital was a little different and i was not as big of a fan. it could have been because it was nearing the end of school and summer time, i’m not really sure but i just wanted to do my stuff and get out of there which is what i did.
either way, i had panic attacks at both places, not nearly as bad at the emergency vet thanks to meds!

my initial plan was to graduate and work at banfield till i got more comfortable and then come to a vet closer to me but i haven’t been able to cause i was scared to go back to banfield and corporate stuff.
i graduated in may of 2025 and took my VTNE in october 2025 and passed (barely). ever since then i have been working at the doggy daycare and am now reaching a breaking point.
the hours, the pay, the staff, the bosses, even the dogs being so bad and no one cares cause the parents NEED them at daycare. i’m so lost but i can’t leave cause i don’t know what else i would do.
i’m nervous to go to a vet and have my panic attacks come back but i also don’t know what other options there are for vet techs who don’t necessarily want to be a vet tech if that makes sense. i struggle feeling like i am start enough to be a vet tech and can’t keep up with others as well. my perfect job is behind the scenes. i can still see the animals and care for them but i don’t have to always deal with people, sometimes is okay but i would to have to option to not if my mental health is bad for whatever reason especially now.
if anyone read all this, please give me advice! i’m struggling so much and feel so lost!!!!!

TLTR: i started working at a doggy daycare in 2021, went to vet tech school, graduated in 2025, passed my VTNE but am still working at the doggy daycare. i struggle with mental health and feel like i’m not smart enough to be a vet tech. i want to get a different job but i don’t know what else to do.

I’m beginning my first vet tech externship in a few days and I printed out all of the skills and the details bc I feel like I do better with a paper copy. Looking this enormous packet over, I’m honestly scared that I won’t have enough time to complete everything. Each skill typically demands a list of 10 things repeated 5x over.

I’m wondering how exactly it works when you begin your work at your clinic. Mine is going to be 8 hr shifts twice weekly, and for anyone who has already completed this or is in the midst of their clinicals, how many skills did you complete on average per shift? Was it just one or two? Did you always complete a skill? For the ones that require any sort of writing and not just a picture or video, did you complete that on the spot at the clinic or just gather the info then do it at home? How many hours of work post shift did you have to complete usually?