The Savvy VetTech

While there are fundamental principles that hold true across all neurologic exams, there are also significant differences in how these examinations are executed, depending on the patient.

Understanding the basics of neurologic examinations in both small and large animals will improve your ability to assist with these examinations and/or perform them independently.

Whether your income during tech school is coming from a job or coming from financial aid, it’s natural to feel financially squeezed at this time in your life. 

Although your funds may be limited, there are simple steps that you can take to minimize your financial stress and ensure that you start your career on firm financial footing. The most important of these steps is to set and follow a monthly budget. 

As a vet tech, you will likely find yourself communicating with people from a wide variety of age groups. You’re probably already doing this in your vet tech coursework, to some extent, but the frequency of these cross-generational interactions will only increase as you begin your career. In addition to likely working with coworkers of different ages, you will likely spend a significant portion of your time interacting with clients from across the spectrum of age ranges and generations. 

No matter the context, an awareness of generational differences can help improve your communication with your colleagues and clients.

If you’re like most vet tech students, you are probably trying to juggle a number of different responsibilities right now. Between your vet tech courses, a job, externships, pets, family, friends, and everything else going on in your life, it may seem like a huge challenge to stay completely on top of everything. 

So, how do you do it?

The Scenario: You’re working a quiet day shift at a small animal general practice. One of your coworkers comments that it is a slow day, prompting you to joke that they just jinxed the afternoon. Sure enough, the phone rings a few minutes later! It’s Mrs. Smith, a longtime client.

Mrs. Smith tells the receptionist that she saw her cat, Rudy, chewing some tinsel from the Christmas Tree a few days ago, but didn’t think much of it at the time.

When a dog presents for an acute onset of vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, pancreatitis will likely be near the top of the differential diagnosis list.

The veterinarian will likely recommend a full diagnostic workup, including a CBC, serum biochemistry, abdominal radiographs, an in-house IDEXX SNAP^® cPL and/or a Spec cPL to be submitted to a reference laboratory, and possibly an abdominal ultrasound.

You’re working in a small animal practice when a pet presents for antifreeze ingestion. The client is frantic, the veterinarian is hurriedly assembling a treatment plan, and the receptionist is trying to get a deposit.

What is your role in caring for this patient?

Ringworm is not a life-threatening condition, for humans or animals, but it can be a source of considerable stress and anxiety for both pet owners and veterinary team members! It’s easily spread and challenging to eliminate, so most of us will go to great lengths to avoid it. 

One of the most important facets of dealing with ringworm is environmental decontamination. Whether you’re cleaning an exam room after a patient with suspected ringworm or talking to a client about ringworm treatment, decontamination plays a crucial role.

Is a neat/tidy appearance part of professionalism in our industry? I think back to one day at work at the clinic when a colleague of mine was frantically searching for a lint roller.

She was really upset that she had a lot of fur on her clothes. Another colleague commented on how it was okay to be covered in fur since we work with animals.

Tattoos and piercings have become increasingly common in recent years… if you have one, you’re probably in good company!

In fact, a 2010 study by the Pew Research Center found that nearly 40% of millenials have tattoos, with approximately 7% of millenials having six or more tattoos.⁽¹⁾ Additionally, nearly 25% of millennials have a piercing somewhere other than an earlobe.⁽¹⁾

These numbers reflect a significant increase in tattoos and piercings, compared to earlier generations. But, in many situations, it is individuals from older generations who own and run veterinary practices. This may lead you to wonder whether it will be easy to find a vet tech job with piercings or tattoos.

As you approach the end of your schooling, you’re probably about to start looking for your first job as a vet tech. Whether you find potential employers through advertisements or word of mouth, there is a good chance that you will need to submit a resume at some point during the application process. Start working on your resume now, so that you have it available when an opportunity arises!

Follow these 8 tips to create a resume that will help you land your ideal first job as a vet tech.

The veterinary industry is diverse ‒ many different types of companies support the veterinary profession: diagnostic laboratories, pet nutrition companies, pharmaceutical firms, poison control agencies, insurance firms and distributors are just a few examples.

You have made it through vet tech school and now the VTNE^® is the last hurdle standing between you and your new career. You’ve heard about the exam, and you may have already started studying for it, but how much do you really know about the VTNE^®?