Assistant

You may have heard the terms veterinary technician and veterinary assistant. These are two distinct and different job types within the veterinary world. They shouldn’t be confused. The following is a quick overview of what a veterinary assistant does:

Veterinary Assistant Job Duties

Office Duties

Often office work is a part of the job of a veterinary assistant. The assistant may answer phones, schedule appointments, enter patient/owner information, and so forth. A specific veterinary assistant position may have varying degrees of this type of work.

Basic Animal Care

A veterinary assistant is often asked to take care of various tasks that don’t require advanced skills such as feeding animals, giving them water, and performing animal cleaning and grooming duties. They may shave animals to ready them for surgery or other treatment, give animals baths, or otherwise provide basic care.

Testing/Laboratory Assistance

Veterinary assistants may be asked to help with laboratory testing procedures such as blood drawing and imaging of various sorts (for instance taking X rays). While the actual testing procedures themselves will likely be handled by a veterinary technician or veterinarian, some assistance with this might be required and can be handled by a vet tech.

General Veterinarian Assistance

Veterinary assistants may assist vets with various aspects of animal treatment which require lower skill levels than those possessed by veterinarian technicians. They may administer medication to animals, hold animals in place to receive shots or other care, bring out medical charts, and bring animals to examination rooms so that veterinarians can examine or treat them.

Surgical Assistance and Post Operative Care

Veterinary assistants may assist physicians during surgery, again with non-technical and relatively low skill levels tasks. They may bring out surgical instruments or just be on hand to assist during operations. After undergoing surgery animals often need various specific types of care. They may need certain medications administered or have bandages of dressings put on or removed. These are tasks that a veterinary assistant may be asked to handle.

Cleaning Animal Cages

Though it is not particularly glamorous, cleaning up animal cages or other residential type areas is often a part of the work of a veterinary assistant. Cages need to be kept not only clean but sanitary, so veterinary assistants have to spend enough time to do a thorough job. They often not only clean but disinfect animal living and sleeping areas.

Veterinary Assistant Training

Education to become a veterinary assistant can be found at the same sorts of institutions that offer veterinary technology training – community colleges, vocational schools, technical schools, veterinary schools, and online schools. These programs usually award certificates or diplomas in veterinary assisting rather than a degree such as an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree. They often last a period of a few months rather than years.

Though not the most highly skilled branch of veterinary work, being a veterinarian assistant still offers the potentiality of earning a satisfactory living and getting a feel for veterinary work. It is a good career for someone to pursue if they are interested in veterinarian work but do not have a lot of time and money to put toward education and want to get a feel for the work before making a bigger commitment.