Experience as a veterinary technician in Canada?
November 14, 2015 7:31 AM
My fiancee is considering a career change and is looking at options in the vet tech field. It seems like there are plenty of job opportunities where we live (Toronto) but not a lot of reliable information about salary, working conditions, etc. compared to info from the US.
We'd be super-appreciative if any vet techs in the Canadian context have any advice about what the job is like day-to-day. Enjoyable? Challenging? Paid well or not so much?
We'd be super-appreciative if any vet techs in the Canadian context have any advice about what the job is like day-to-day. Enjoyable? Challenging? Paid well or not so much?
BC guy here. I know a vet tech, or rather, I knew one. She worked at Subway as well as the vet's, because her Subway cheques were greater in value. Now she's doing... something else. Can't speak to the day to day, but she never said she liked it.
There's no money in it, and McDonalds has better career path options.
posted by Sternmeyer at 8:04 PM on November 14, 2015
There's no money in it, and McDonalds has better career path options.
posted by Sternmeyer at 8:04 PM on November 14, 2015
I am a licensed vet technologist in the US, so I don't know what it's like to practice in Canada. I think it's a great idea for your wife to talk to some registered technologists/technicians who currently practice. The general public, at least in the US, have a lot of misconceptions about what we do and generally think they know a lot more about the field than they actually do. Veterinary medicine is an incredibly dynamic field and is constantly evolving. I've worked with two Canadian RVTs in the states who moved to the states practice in very specific subspecialties of veterinary technology when there were not openings where they were located in Canada. I definitely would take anything a non-technician had to say with a huge grain of salt. Your fiance should find out what the accreditation process is like, get in touch with that accrediting body and ask for additional information or to be put in touch with district representatives.
posted by slime at 9:57 AM on November 15, 2015
posted by slime at 9:57 AM on November 15, 2015
My current experience in the American veterinary field tells me that this would have to be a career path of passion. In my current hospital, we have receptionists, vet assistants, and vet techs (licensed). While the technicians are paid the best, they certainly aren't paid as well as, say, nurses in the human medical field. Vet assistants do not need a degree or license and do most of the same work (they obviously don't get the same pay).
My advice would be to volunteer at a shelter or pursue jobs in animal hospitals first (receptionist, vet assistant) or volunteer at a shelter before she enrolls in school (essentially to try on the job before you take on more debt).
It is a very difficult job from every angle. You risk getting scratched and bit, contracting parasites, and you have to pick up poop. You will be expected to wrangle anxious dogs and fractious cats. You will have to learn not to react when someone tells you their pet has been vomiting up blood for the last week and didn't know if that was normal. People will call you cruel and heartless because you can't preform every service free of charge. You have to look someone in the eye and hand them the puppy you just spent hours nursing back to health, stressing that they should go straight to the other vet they said they would go to because your prices were too high, and call them the next day to follow up, only to find out he died because they decided to leave the dog at home alone for eight hours instead (this just happened in my hospital).
It is incredibly rewarding and fun. If you're interested in the medical side, you get to see and do some really cool things. Stay at a hospital long enough and you get to follow your patients from the cradle to the grave and really do become a part of your clients lives.
It is hard, rewarding work, but not very lucrative.
posted by smellyhipster at 5:08 PM on November 17, 2015
My advice would be to volunteer at a shelter or pursue jobs in animal hospitals first (receptionist, vet assistant) or volunteer at a shelter before she enrolls in school (essentially to try on the job before you take on more debt).
It is a very difficult job from every angle. You risk getting scratched and bit, contracting parasites, and you have to pick up poop. You will be expected to wrangle anxious dogs and fractious cats. You will have to learn not to react when someone tells you their pet has been vomiting up blood for the last week and didn't know if that was normal. People will call you cruel and heartless because you can't preform every service free of charge. You have to look someone in the eye and hand them the puppy you just spent hours nursing back to health, stressing that they should go straight to the other vet they said they would go to because your prices were too high, and call them the next day to follow up, only to find out he died because they decided to leave the dog at home alone for eight hours instead (this just happened in my hospital).
It is incredibly rewarding and fun. If you're interested in the medical side, you get to see and do some really cool things. Stay at a hospital long enough and you get to follow your patients from the cradle to the grave and really do become a part of your clients lives.
It is hard, rewarding work, but not very lucrative.
posted by smellyhipster at 5:08 PM on November 17, 2015
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posted by dotparker at 10:06 AM on November 14, 2015